If you want to combine your love of traveling with your love of writing and literature, here are some destinations you NEED to visit. You can walk the streets where some of your favorite writers found inspiration, and become inspired to write a best-selling novel of your own!
1: London, United Kingdom
It might seem obvious, but this is a must-see city for any book lovers and aspiring writers! From Shakespeare to the wonderful JK Rowling, many writers have lived or set their stories in London, leaving a strong literary presence in the city. Filled with history, culture, and a unique atmosphere, London is sure to inspire anyone!
Another obvious example, but one you should consider nonetheless. Paris is known for being a rich cultural center for all the arts, and literature is no exception! This city has inspired numerous writers from all over the world: Hemingway, Victor Hugo, Ivan Turgenev, and more! There’s just something about Paris that tickles the imagination, that brings out the artist in us, letting our creativity fly!
3: Kyoto, Japan
Kyoto is Japan’s former imperial capital, and it is now known as one of the country’s cultural centres. That fact led America to remove it from the atomic bomb target list because the Secretary of War wanted to preserve said culture. It’s a place filled with temples, shrines, gardens, and a delicious cuisine. If that doesn’t inspire you, I’m not sure what will.
Plenty of poets have sat in the beautiful gardens of Kyoto and found inspiration, and it’s the perfect place to sit and write or read your favourite novel.
4: Prague, Czech Republic
Prague is filled with magical and yet mysterious sights. The Prague Castle, the Old Town Square, Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock… It’s no wonder that the historical capital of Bohemia is the fifth most visited city in Europe! Its past as one of the cities behind the Iron Curtain also adds a layer of intrigue to an already marvellous destination. From fantasy to mystery, this city is sure to inspire any writer, and intrigue any fan of the Gothic.
5: Alexandria, Egypt
Founded by Alexander the Great, Alexandria has been around for millennia, becoming an international cultural centre. Museums, Opera houses, gardens, universities… You name it! This is the place to go if you want a mix of ancient history and modern innovation, with centuries of human ideals gathered in just one location. Be it for a story set in a futuristic landscape or centuries in the past, you’re bound to find something to stimulate your creativity.
6: Hamelin, Germany
Hamelin is a German town known for being the setting of the story Pied Piper. The fairy tale is said to be inspired by a historic event that starts the town’s records detailing how the children of the town had left a century before. While historians have long debated what exactly might have happened, the truth remains a mystery. To this day, the town still holds performances of the tale to this day, and the memory of that mysterious tragedy lives on.
7: Colmar, France
Colmar is situated in the northeastern region of Alsace, very near the French and German border. In fact, it belonged to the German Empire from 1871 to 1919 before it was returned to France after World War I. As a result its architecture mixes French and German influences, making it seem like a town straight out of a fairy tale. This is a must for anyone who loves stories that mix the historical and the fantastical.
8: Hallstatt, Austria
Historically wealthy due to its salt production, Hallstatt is a small town nestled between the Hallstatt Lake and the Dachstein Mountains. It is so small that it can be toured in just about 10 minutes! This is what perhaps makes it an ideal location for writers: the small town atmosphere, the isolation, and yet the beautiful architecture and contact with nature means that not only will you have inspiration all around, but you’ll have a peaceful environment to write.
9: Helsingør, Denmark
“To be, or not to be: that is the question.” Though those words were written by our good English friend Shakespeare, the setting of Hamlet is Kronborg castle, located in the Danish city of Helsingør. The play is performed annually at the castle’s courtyard. But if you’re not a fan of the Bard’s work, fear not, for Helsingør has plenty to offer for all sorts of writers. During the Industrial era the city was known for its shipyard and has since worked to redefine itself as a center of culture. Its many sights are sure to inspire writers of any genres!
10: Sighisoara, Romania
This city should be well familiar to vampire lovers. That’s right, the last – but by no means least – destination on our list is Sighisoara, home to the infamous Vlad the Impaler! While some might argue that this fact alone already makes Sighisoara a perfect destination for aspiring writers, there’s also a lot more to it than vampires. The walled Old Town, for example, is so well preserved that it has become an UNESCO world heritage site. Its nine towers make for an imposing and awe-inspiring sight, creating an atmosphere that is filled with something so unique that it’d be amazing to replicate in a story.
If you’ve travelled anywhere lately then the chances are you’ve heard about Airbnb. It’s become one of the most popular and easy-to-book lodging options, and it’s growing every day.
But does this mean that Airbnb is set to be the future of travel? Is your experience staying at an Airbnb location that much better than staying at a hotel? And does the daily growth in Airbnb’s popularity mean that Airbnb – and other services like it – are going to push the chain hotels and family owned bed and breakfasts out of business?
Let’s see.
What is Airbnb?
Before we can examine the pros and cons of this new way of traveling, let’s get a little more familiar with it. Airbnb is an online hospitality company founded nearly ten years ago that provides short term rental options for travelers. The company prides itself on its often unbeatable prices, and homely accommodation options.
Rental options vary from houses and apartments to villas, and even castles! You can choose between having the whole place to yourself, having your own room in someone else’s home, or sharing a room with a stranger.
How quickly is Airbnb growing?
Though they started out as a small business in San Francisco, they now advertise and take bookings for nearly 3 million properties in 191 different countries!
Why is Airbnb so Popular?
Airbnb’s popularity has hit the roof lately, so why is it that people love it so much? Here are some of the reasons why Airbnb might just be the future of travel.
Travel like a local
Airbnb tell their customers that by booking with them they can “belong anywhere”, promoting the idea of becoming part of the local community while traveling.
Airbnb fans love being able to stay with a local who knows the area. They also love how this arrangement allows them to meet new people and experience their travel destination through an insider’s perspective.
It’s a more homely stay
Airbnb homes are exactly that, homes. So travelers can enjoy the personal touch of a local home. There’s no standard-hotel room, no perfectly designed lobby that makes you feel like a tourist. Whether you have the entire place to yourself, or if you’re staying with a host, Airbnb locations are meant to feel like home.
You can make use of the kitchen
One of the major disadvantages of staying in hotels is that it means you have to eat out all the time. With Airbnb, you’re staying in actual home with a kitchen that you can make use of whenever you fancy a bite to eat.
Cooking at your temporary home is obviously much cheaper than buying out all the time, and it means you can explore the local supermarket and eat like a local.
Airbnb is usually cheaper than hotels
Regardless of whether you choose to stay in a room in your host’s home, or book an entire place to yourself, Airbnb is usually much cheaper than hotels or even bed and breakfasts.
Hosts set their own rates per night, but for the average stay, several weeks in an Airbnb might cost the same as only a couple of nights in a hotel. And of course, the self-catered element of Airbnb stays makes the cost of your entire trip cheaper.
Travelers have also found that when traveling in groups, Airbnb stays can even be cheaper, and much more luxurious than hostels.
You’re not paying a big corporation
Whilst Airbnb of course takes a percentage of what you spend on your booking, most of what you pay will go to the local host. Why does it matter where your money’s going? It’s just much nicer to know that your money is going to a local family – it’s as though you’re doing your bit to give back to the local community.
There’s a home for everyone on Airbnb
Whether your budget is $10 or $1000 a night, Airbnb has a whole range of accommodation types. So whether you’re looking for budget accommodation, or luxury lodgings, you’re bound to find somewhere that’s perfect.
Are there any disadvantages to using Airbnb?
Nothing is perfect so of course, with Airbnb’s growing popularity, there has been the odd bad review, and the occasional flaw pointed out. Here are some of the disadvantages of using Airbnb (notice how there’s not nearly as many disadvantages as there advantages though!).
You don’t feel as pampered as you might in a hotel
If you love the feel of staying in a hotel, with staff ready to see to your every need, a maid to make your bed each morning, and maybe even sports or swimming facilities, then obviously Airbnb can’t offer you that.
Airbnb causes some problems for locals
Airbnb has also encountered a lot of criticism as its popularity continues to grow. There are areas where locals have complained that landlords using their properties for short term rental have contributed to the rise of long term rental rates, creating a shortage of affordable homes.
There are also those who claim that as of recently more Airbnb locations are showing up in “trendy” neighborhoods, meaning that locals are pushed out and their community changed. This causes problems not just for the locals, but also for travellers who were expecting to stay some place where they could interact with locals. Instead they find themselves surrounded by other Airbnb guests.
The quality of your stay depends on your host
Airbnb doesn’t actually own any of the properties advertised on its site, so any issues you have will be down to your host. There will of course be hosts that you don’t get on with, perhaps they’re rude, or their property isn’t up to scratch, or maybe they have some pretty backwards views (there have been reports of hosts being uncomfortable with homosexual couples).
To be honest though, that’s unfortunately something you could get anywhere, in hotels, hostels, you name it. Often, it’s just luck of the draw, and remember you can always read reviews before booking anywhere on Airbnb, so you can do your best to make sure you don’t end up with a nightmare host!
Is Airbnb the future of travel?
There’s no denying that Airbnb is continuously on the rise. People are loving the homely and affordable accommodation option, and with cheaper accommodation available, more people are able to travel all over the world.
The cheap price of Airbnb stays definitely contribute to its popularity, and could mean that Airbnb is set to overtake hostels as the typical budget accommodation type.
And on the other end of the scale, travelers have the chance to stay in their dream home, and explore the more luxurious listings on Airbnb.
So Airbnb is definitely set to play a huge role in people’s travel experiences over the years to come, and despite it having a few flaws, Airbnb is here to stay, and might even change the way of travel.
Do you want to know more about traveling as a vegan?
Traveling as a vegan can take a little more thought and planning than people first realise.
If you want to be truly prepared to globe trot as a vegan, make sure you get our vegan travel eBook, where you’ll find no less than 20 tips on how to make vegan travel a little easier!
Everyone loves the idea of a road trip with their closest friends. It’s the ultimate adventure, hitting the road just to see where it ends. Then there’s the cheesy throwback songs that make for hours and hours of singalong car journeys.
It’s hard to imagine that it could get any better than that, but that’s when you start to consider the idea of a road trip in a country you’ve never been to before.
It’s one thing to take a road trip from your home town, in your own trusty vehicle, but starting somewhere completely new, and driving a route you’ve never driven before, in a hire car, that’s adventure.
The only trouble is that planning a road trip in a country that’s completely foreign to you can be a little more tricky. You need to go through the hassle of hiring a car, getting all your fellow road trippers to the starting point, and figuring out a route worth driving.
To help you plan a successful road trip in a foreign country, here are a few tips and pointers to guide you through the process.
Choosing who to take with you
An important part of planning your road trip is choosing who you want as your fellow road trippers. We all have certain friends or family members that we love to bits, but wouldn’t want to spend hours in a car with.
Driving can be stressful at the best of times, but when you’re driving a completely foreign route in another country, you want to be surrounded by those that, yes make you laugh and keep you entertained for the hours of monotonous driving, but also those that you can trust to be supportive, sensible, and helpful when you need them.
Choosing a driver
Once you’ve decided on your road trip group, you’ll need to decide on who’s driving. You might decide on just one of you, or maybe you want to switch up the driving responsibility, to avoid stressing and tiring out any one person.
When choosing a driver, you want to choose someone that’s confident driving in a foreign country, possibly on the opposite side of the road, depending on where you go.
If you’re all fairly young, it can be a good idea to delegate the most experienced driver as the driver of your trip. You should also look into the minimum age for hiring a car at your destination. Some countries won’t hire out cars to those under 21, and some will incur a ‘young driver charge’.
Hiring a car
Road tripping in a foreign country will usually involve hiring a car, and if this isn’t something you’ve done before, there are a few things to know beforehand.
Choosing a hire car company
There are thousands of car hire companies out there, and to avoid any problems with your trip, it can pay to go with a reputable company. You hear all sorts of car hire horror stories from those that tried to save a few bucks by going with independent and unheard of companies.
Different companies will offer car hire in different places, but if you’re looking for a few safe and reputable ones, try Europcar, Enterprise, Hertz or Sixt. These are all safe options to go with when hiring a car.
Protecting yourself
Car hire companies love to make money where they can. A simple scratch could end up costing you hundreds. So our advice is, always opt for that extra insurance they offer you when you pick up your car (and believe me, they will offer it!). It might be an extra expense, but you’ll have that added protection, and you can enjoy your road trip without constantly fretting about the car.
Also, take a quick video of your hire car before you drive off in it. If there are any existing scratches, bumps, dents or marks, make sure you have evidence that they were there when you picked up the car. It might sound pedantic, but you don’t want to be paying for anything that wasn’t your fault.
What do you want from a route?
The next decision you’re going to need to make when planning your road trip is what route to take. This can be pretty difficult to work out and plan, especially if you’ve never even visited the country you want to road trip through. Here are a few things to consider when planning what route you’re going to take.
Scenery
Even if you’re traveling with the most interesting of people, a boring drive is still a boring drive. If there’s nothing to see but road for miles, you might want to consider taking a different route that’s a little more scenic. Sure, a scenic route might take you a little longer, but having those photo-worthy spots to stop off at along the way can make all the difference.
If the route is interesting to drive, you’re less likely to get tired, bored and irritable. Instead, you’ll all marvel at the amazing sights along the way. There’ll be plenty more opportunities to pull over for a selfie, and that’s plenty more opportunities for the driver to have a break.
Gas stations
The last thing you want to happen on your road trip is for your fuel gage to drop to low, and there not to be a gas station for hundreds of miles.
When planning your route, check out how many gas stations there are along the way. If there’s loads, great. If they’re few and fair between, you might need to be a little more sensible with your fuel (no more wheel spins or doughnuts!).
Civilisation
Depending on where you’re heading on your road trip, you might find a route that’s beautiful and scenic, but there might not be any civilisation for miles.
Fair enough, you might be looking for a getaway, but what if you break down, or need to stop to use a restroom? What if you get a little peckish, or decide you want to stopover somewhere rather than driving through the night?
Check that there’s at least some nearby civilisation on your route, whether it’s a nearby town, or even just a motel or garage. It could make all the difference in your journey.
A worthwhile destination
Generally, the point of road trips isn’t just to drive aimlessly. If you want your trip to have direction, you want to have a worthwhile destination, somewhere that you’re all looking forward to arriving at.
Without an exciting destination, the drive is going to get boring pretty quickly, and before long you’ll start asking yourself where you’re even going.
Pick a good destination and you’ll have an exciting car journey there, with something to look forward to, and you’ll have plenty of stories to go over and memories to relive and recount on the journey home.
To sum up…
Whilst it might be easy to hop in a car and go when you’re starting from your home town, it takes a little more planning before you can set off on a road trip in a foreign country. It might be more effort during the planing stage, but it will be well worth it when you set off, trust me.
If you want to see just how amazing a road trip in a foreign country can be, check out the video of our Croatia road trip – you might just be inspired to start planning your own trip!
Croatia is becoming more and more popular as a travel destination, so we decided to check it out for ourselves.
We took a road trip from Zagreb, to Plitvice Lakes National Park, to Skradin and Krka National Park. And I think it’s safe to say, that if you want to see everything Croatia has to offer, a road trip is the way to do it.
Here’s a video of our travels and adventures through Croatia!
This article might be a slightly controversial one. Putting down resort holidays probably touches many nerves. There are obviously millions of people who do love a getaway to an all inclusive resort, if there wasn’t, there wouldn’t be so many package holiday providers.
But, those that class themselves as travel addicts, rather than just occasional holiday goers, will often do their best to avoid resort holidays. Why? Here are some of the reasons. If you’re a frequent resort goer, you might not like to hear some of these!
There’s not normally any culture to be seen in a resort
All inclusive resorts might be fun and cheap, but they don’t offer much by way of culture. Travel addicts love to learn about the culture of the places they visit, and immerse themselves in it.
In a resort, you’re kept very much separate from the culture and reality of your destination, and so authentic cultural experiences are hard to come by. If you’ve had a few different resort holidays, you probably noticed that they’re all much the same. Okay, so some might have a slightly better pool, or a wider choice of buffet items, but basically, all resorts boil down to a pool or two, some sun loungers, free food and amateur entertainment.
There are always excursions, but often these ‘cultural’ excursions are staged, showing you perhaps an overly put-on representation of local life. They’re also often pretty costly, and quite frankly, not worth it at all. You might pay hundreds to visit some local town, when you could quite as easily catch a bus, or walk there by yourself, and learn about the town from those who really know it, the locals.
You don’t get to experience life as a local
Part of the fun of traveling is that you experience different places, and imagine what it’s like to be a local. But when you’re kept completely separate from local life, you don’t actually see what life in your destination is like.
The novelty of exploring local facilities and lifestyles is what makes a holiday. Even exploring a foreign supermarket can be exciting. But in a resort, you see the same things most days, things that you could find anywhere, none of which really represent local life at all.
You don’t get to meet as many different people
When you go on an all inclusive holiday, you’re normally packed into a resort with hundreds of other people from your home country. And they’re usually all there for one reason and one reason only: to soak up the sun.
There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just that if you’re used to traveling to different places, you’ll know that half of the fun is meeting new people from all over the world.
Sure you might meet the odd person from somewhere you’ve never heard of, and have a quick conversation about what their life is like. But you’re not going to meet such a diverse group of people when the only place you’re traveling to is a resort.
Actual experiences are hard to come by
With any other type of holiday, you’re going to come back ranting and raving about all the amazing and maybe even life changing experiences you had on your travels.
A lot of actual experiences happen as a result of spontaneity – maybe you stumbled across an undiscovered lake to swim in, or decided to take a train to somewhere completely random. You’re not going to find experiences like these in resorts. In a resort, your excursions are usually planned right down to the minute. There’s no room for adventure or spontaneity.
You’re limited to the all inclusive dining options
At first, people are amazed by the amount of choice at all inclusive buffet, but after a few days, you start to realise that it’s all much the same. You start to recognise yesterday’s leftovers in today’s mashup of food options. And in fairness, more often than not, you can get some pretty decent food at an all inclusive place. The only trouble is that you’re eating pretty much the same thing each day, in the same environment, with the same people.
If you’re a travel addict, you probably prefer the excitement that comes with trying out new dishes in local restaurants. You get to meet some of the locals, and try authentic local food. And what’s more, rather than grabbing a plate yourself, and piling as much food as physically possible on it, you actually service. You get to interact with waiters and waitresses, be served delicious dishes, and maybe even have a chat with them.
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