Heading to the UK and not sure you want to hit the main tourist spots? I don't blame you. While I love seeing them, there's something about doing other things - whether it is getting off the beaten path, following your passion (ghosts? beaches? food?), or relaxing. And while your family is discovering Victorian train stations in the Dales, or tromping around castles, you can discover your own spa holiday with Yorkshire spa breaks.

Thormodur Simonarson (1978) was born on a farm in Snaefellsnes, rural Iceland. His parents gave up farming soon after and built a guesthouse. At age 22 he ventured abroad and began to explore Europe on his own. For the next eight years he traveled to various places, both in and out of Iceland. Among his various jobs, he was a speed boner (title on the hiring contract) in the Falkland Islands as well as a crew member on a shrimping trawler in Arctic winter storms north of Iceland. 

Tired of the trips to Thailand? Is the thought of taking your wife to Paris or your kids to New York daunting you? Or have you spent the last family break on the foothills of Mount Fuji or packed your travel bags to Madrid only a million times before? Then these 5 great places are the perfect alternatives for a great family break!

 

The sun was shining when I stopped my motorbike by an old tractor in rural Norway. 15 years earlier, I had worked on a machine just like it for my brother-in-law and I was looking forward to telling him about it at the kitchen table one evening in the future. At the same moment I remembered what I had seen and tried in Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and England. My travelogue was getting too long for me to tell it over a single cup of tea.

Some holidays are meant for sightseeing, some are for rekindling the romance in your life, and yet some more are aimed at reconnecting with oneself. But, the best kinds of holidays are those that satisfy your creative as well as your culinary needs! If you are fed up with the takeaways and the buffets, then these 3 great gastronomical holiday destinations are where you should be heading!
 
Italy

Wandering Educators will remember the extraordinary photography of Ugo Cei - he has been featured as one of our photographers of the month. Now there is more goodness to see and read - Ugo recently published an excellent new ebook with his business partner, Massimiliano Cremascoli, called Urban Morocco. This book? It's an intimate glimpse into the vibrant culture of Morocco.

 

Pecan pie. Bananas foster. Red velvet cake. Lemon meringue pie. Doctor bird cake?!

Desserts in the South are well known for their sumptuous ingredients, bright flavors, and a dash of flare. And yet one dessert seems to stand apart—Doctor birds cake, more commonly called Hummingbird Cake.

I first heard of--and sampled--this sweet concoction a couple years ago in downtown Roanoke, Virginia. The combination of ripened bananas lapping up the sweetness of crushed pineapple gives the cake its signature sweetness, and dense yet airy texture.