Arriving at a holiday rental is a bit like checking into a hotel room… you snoop around the place, pull back the curtains, bounce on the bed, open cupboards and drawers, and you look in the fridge. When we needed to do some shopping, farm to home delivery in Austin was just what we needed. … Read more
Some holiday rental owners leave guests little more than teabags and milk, but when we checked into Rusty Irons’ impressive home in Austin, Texas we opened the fridge to find an array of goodies to get us started and a pantry that is a museum to local produce. Most of the delectables come from Austin, or if … Read more
We may have decided not to use guidebooks as part of our local travel experiment, but we’re certainly not discarding the map, which, as far as we’re concerned, is often all you ever need to explore a city. Well a guide ‘Not for Tourists’, was one guide with great mapping, but also one that helped … Read more
Threads of Life is a gorgeous fair trade gallery-cum-shop in Ubud that sells exquisite handmade textiles from Bali and the rest of the Indonesia that are ethically produced. Forget the tourist markets. This is my pick for a one-stop shop for your Bali take-homes. Most visitors to Bali buy their souvenirs – masks, carvings, sarongs, and … Read more
The artistic, cultural and spiritual heart of Bali for centuries, Ubud is serenely located up in the hills in lush jungle, surrounded by rice-paddies. Lined with galleries, cafés and craft shops, its narrow streets are a delight to wander. There’s no denying that Ubud has become increasingly commercial and its economy is more tourist-focused than ever. … Read more