It’s easy to dismiss Yiddish as a relic of a bygone age when Jews schlepped around in shtetls, moaning about their tsores. But recent news from Canada proves it’s not just boobas and boffins who still rely on the old mother tongue. Devotees, it seems, turn up in unexpected places. Police their have banned citizens Continue reading

From the blue lagoons of Borneo to the isolated islands of Langkawi, Malaysia has long been one of the world’s top honeymoon destinations – a once-in-a-lifetime location where romance cannot fail to flourish. But there is much more sparkle to this Asian jewel than swaying palms and sunny shores. Paradise, it seems, has been unfairly Continue reading

By day, Universal Studios theme park in Orlando pulsates to the screams from its 60-mile-an-hour roller coasters, high-tech thrill rides and epic film and stunt shows. But when the sun goes down during October, the screams become the bloodcurdling kind as this family-friendly holiday destination transforms into a twilight zone of terror. Americans love Halloween so Continue reading

I have three excuses for crashing my snowmobile into a tree. 1) I was blinded by the Arctic sun’s glare. 2) I was knackered by a night in an ice hotel. 3) I really like Die Hard films. I didn’t feel much like John McClane while being detached from the thorny branches of a birch tree Continue reading

Passport control at Las Vegas’s McCarran Airport, and I’m braced for a grilling from a immigration officer trained to make innocent holidaymakers feel like KGB spies infiltrating Cold War West Berlin. But a quick glance into this particular border guard’s booth suggests I’m in for an easy ride. He has stylishly accessorised his cubicle with Continue reading

The Caribbean has many seductive selling points to tempt British tourists. There’s the laid-back beach life, tin-roofed rum shacks, tropical fruits to tingle the taste buds and the most exotic oceans this side of the equator. Add local smiles as warm as the weather and a makeshift cricket match on every street corner and it’s Continue reading

Grappling with the complexities of crossing the road in a city of one thousand temples and ten million scooters demands the wisdom and patience of the Buddha himself. Two attributes I clearly lack. Consequently, my introduction to this mesmerising East Asian capital was not the leg-shaking view from the 101st floor of the world’s tallest Continue reading

Maybe it was just the wine talking, but after merrily trekking across South Africa’s Western Cape, sniffing, swirling and sipping a cellar’s worth of vintage reds and classic whites, I was confident my well-oiled taste buds were up to the challenge of a dinner party hosted by the country’s hardest-nosed wine critic. After all, I’d Continue reading

There is something seriously dodgy about Disneyland Paris’s new hotel. In fact, you could say it’s a virtual deathtrap. Outside, the hotel’s sign hangs precariously between the twisted metal frames of once lavish balconies. The grounds are choked with weeds, the windows cracked and driveway reduced to rubble. Inside, the dimly-lit reception has an ominous air. Continue reading

My beloved has longed to see Florence since childhood. To walk its cobblestone paths and piazzas, sip espresso in its elegant cafes and gaze upon its Roman palaces. All the chatter before our Mediterranean cruise was about the rare beauty of Italy’s renaissance city, built by Julius Caesar himself and eulogised by Mark Twain as “the fairest picture on our planet”. So when Crystal Serenity docked in Livorno, the gateway Continue reading