Lara Dunston 
“Hello! Hello!” two skinny little kids call out as they peek from behind a dilapidated brick wall, a short distance down the lane from our villa in the tiny village of Tumbak Bayuh, Bali. “Hello!!!” we shout back and the kids smile shyly and scurry away. Opposite, at the entrance to another home, a young woman … Read more
For travellers who need some handholding, the only thing they’d probably miss from a holiday rental is a concierge. Being travel writers, we’re not the types to depend on one other than to score us a hard-to-get restaurant table, although we can certainly appreciate a good concierge. Occasionally we’ve been surprised to find a holiday rental … Read more
Our home away from home in Bali is a breezy villa in lush tropical gardens on the edge of a rural village called Tumbak Bayuh, not far from Canggu and a long way from Kuta. Wedged between rice paddies and a football field, with a dog in the backyard, the only way our experience of … Read more
I’m not going to name names, so don’t ask. But a Tokyo-based tour guide recommended to us emailed me to say he was away on a trip while we were in town. He apologised for not being there to meet us and kindly gave us his number in case we needed help. His one piece … Read more
Strolling the leafy lanes of the atmospheric quarter of Yanaka is like stepping back in time. Dotted with historic temples and traditional low-rise wooden houses, this laidback area is one of Tokyo’s oldest neighbourhoods, dating back to the Edo period (1603-1867). It’s also one of the few areas of the city to survive the Great … Read more