We first used Context a couple of years ago when we were working on some stories in Rome. We were just starting to develop the germ of the idea for Grantourismo then, and in a way Context was part of our experiment. We wanted to see if walking tours such as those offered by Context could … 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
Strolling through the steamy streets of the East Village – it’s been a scorching couple of weeks here in New York – we occasionally stumble across a lush sanctuary, a luxuriant community garden offering refuge from the heat. These are New York’s secret gardens. Sometimes the community gardens come as a wonderful surprise – we … Read more
I can’t recall how New York writer David Farley and I first made contact, but I do remember that at the time of our email exchange Terence and I were ensconced in the library of my uncle and aunt’s house in Bendigo, Australia, gazing out at their English cottage garden as we wrote up our … Read more
The best Tokyo neighbourhoods are the laidback and local areas like Akasaka and the atmospheric Asakusa. While they rarely get a mention in magazines and with no notable sights to speak of, they are as local as ’hoods get with their buzzy izakayas, karaoke spots, pachinko parlours, and children’s parks, and that’s just the way … Read more