TRIP + PLATE + 365 days
Madrid doesn’t have a river worth mentioning, no sea view, no ancient ruins on the scale of Rome. What it has instead is something harder to define and ultimately more addictive: an energy that runs later, eats better, and talks louder than almost any other European capital. I’ve been in every season — the city … Read more
Rome doesn’t ease you in gently. From the moment you step out of the airport transfer and into the city, it hits you all at once — ancient ruins sitting casually between modern apartment buildings, scooters weaving past 2,000-year-old walls, the smell of espresso from a bar that’s been in the same spot for decades. … Read more
There’s a version of Tokyo that exists in everyone’s imagination before they arrive — neon lights, bullet trains, vending machines on every corner, cherry blossoms over ancient temples. The surprising thing is that Tokyo actually delivers on all of it, and then keeps going. I’ve been multiple times, across different seasons, and the city has … Read more
If you’re planning a trip to Hong Kong in winter and wondering whether the timing is right, here’s the short answer: it’s one of the best times to go. I visited in January and came back with a clear view — not just of the city, but literally. The winter sky in Hong Kong is … Read more
Japan is one of those destinations that rewards preparation. Not because it’s difficult — in many ways it’s one of the easiest countries in the world to travel independently — but because a little planning upfront unlocks a completely different experience. The difference between a first-time visitor who prepared and one who didn’t is visible … Read more
I’ll be honest with you: Prague was one of those cities I thought I understood before I arrived. Cobblestone streets, a famous bridge, a castle on a hill — I’d seen the photos. What I wasn’t prepared for was the sheer density of it all. Standing on Charles Bridge at golden hour in July, the … Read more
Planning your first trip to Hong Kong and not sure where to start? I spent 4 days there in January and here’s the honest truth: nothing quite prepares you for the scale of it. Towers packed so tightly together they almost touch, streets buzzing with millions of people — and yet the whole city runs … Read more
There is a type of restaurant that every neighbourhood in Seoul quietly depends on, and that visitors almost never find. It doesn’t have a neon sign optimised for Instagram. It doesn’t run a delivery app promotion or pay for placement on food ranking websites. It simply opens at the same time every day, cooks the … Read more
There is a photograph on the wall of a restaurant in Berlin’s Mitte district that stops almost every first-time visitor in their tracks. It’s a portrait of a man in a striped polo shirt, taken sometime in the 1950s — relaxed, confident, with the kind of easy charisma that makes you look twice. He looks … Read more
There is a moment that happens to almost every visitor at the Tower of London, usually somewhere between the Crown Jewels and the Bloody Tower, when you stop walking and just stand still for a second. It’s not the weight of the stones or the darkness of the stairwells, though both are considerable. It’s the … Read more