Stories behind the stories. By Travel Writer, Amy McPherson
If you have been following me for a while, you’ll see that I am in and out of Italy a lot. Yes, most of my work has been around Italy. Yes, last year’s Tour de France Grand Depart from Italy gave me more reasons to go. But in truth, I do genuinely like the country. …
(Feature image credit to Natalia Santolaya) For all that could have been, this year had been a great year. I did spend most of the first months of the year grieving after the loss of my cat, the year has been kind. One of the biggest opportunity came in the form of the world’s biggest …
5-7 April 2024, a major cycle tourism gathering was held in the beautiful city of Bologna in Italy. I was actually cycling at the time was unable to attend, but I am wholly passionate about cycle tourism as one of the most sustainable (and healthy) method of seeing the world that I am sharing this …
I was on an assignment in Annecy when the phone call came. “Your cat has cancer. I am sorry.” I don’t mean to begin a start with and end, but sometimes that’s how life is. Something needed to end before something begins, and this is the story of the end. And it began with my …
(Feature image credit: Francesca Lasca) You know, I’ve planned this post since 1 January after my thank you letter to 2022. I mean, it’s the day of a new year right? And you’d think I woud have had my acts together. No, unfortunately, as it always is, I wasn’t ready to post. I had so …
Dear readers, Is it Christmas time already? Gosh this year went fast. I am writing this, as it happens, on the shortest day of the year: the Winter Solace. It is also the anniversary of my cat, Kitty’s death. Two years ago, I had to let her go, and for two years, I still shed …
I recently went to Puglia on assignment to check out some of the different styles of accommodation and to explore the Salento Coast with Yuniquly. I’ve never been before, and while the different regions of Puglia has different history and architecture, there was one thing on my list to see: the iconic Trulli houses of …
There is a lot of war going on. There has always been a lot of war going on. A few years back I wrote a story on Snowshoeing around Sarajevo for Destinasian magazine. During that trip, I got to experience the quiet winter wonderland in the mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and received the warm …
It has been two years since I went to the Maldives. It isn’t a trip I usually would take, as the destination is mostly associated (by marketing) with luxury resorts that are more popular for romantic holidays and honeymoons rather than the scruffy someone like me, who loves the wide open outdoors of the mountains. …
You know how everyone was baking bread in 2020? I’ll admit, so was I. At the same time, I decided with all the time on my hands that I’d start drawing again. If you have been following me on Instagram, you’ll have seen some of the drawings of birds and marine life I’ve done in …
Australia opens up for tourists today, and for most of us in the world, we get to travel again, it’s a happy day, but then again, I’ve learned to reset my perception on happiness. I’ve learned that even from the deepest woe, comes lessons that we can all learn from, then the event that made …
I went back to Sydney for a brief visit in December. My first long haul trip and I was giddy about it. The idea of being stuck on a plane for 24 hours, the idea of having to faff about with the Australian Border Control, the idea of just being far far away. Two years …
As much as I dislike the resort culture, there is something about Tenerife that keeps luring me back. Perhaps it’s the convenience of a direct flight. Perhaps it’s the warmth of the sun all year round. One thing is for sure, it definitely isn’t the resorts. I mean, they are perfectly fine, as resorts go, …
2020 had been quiet, like everywhere else, travel restrictions meant many of us are limited to moving about in our own areas/regions. During this time, many people took up an outdoor hobby – cycling, running, paddle boarding – to keep active and to keep fit. How suitable it was then, that my first big trip …
It’s one of those things that I used to take for granted – the joy of packing. As a travel writer I was always on the go, and packing became more of an instinct rather than a pleasurable process. Then, came 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic took over our lives, affecting absolutely everyone on this …
Continued from Cycling five countries: Part 1 I left you with a rest day in Dublin, where I spent most of the day walking dazed around town and hanging out with Oscar Wilde while being heavily medicated with cold and flu tablets. In a way, it was a revelation how much our bodies can take …
For me, every cycle tour begins the same way: with a fall. You read a few posts ago that I don’t particularly balance well. So cycling at a fast pace, having to deal with clipping on and off, deal with obstructions like a loose running dog or even just trying to get around curving road …
It was Friday the 13th. On top of that, it was the day of the full moon. I am not a superstitious person, but last week I couldn’t help if the cosmos was at play, when I hit a new low. I do not remember the last time I had such a bad day, it …
When I realised today that it has been two whole months since my last post, I knew I was in trouble. It feels like I am hiking on a misty path without a compass, just feeling my way forwards unable to see the immediate future ahead. I had really hoped this year would be a …
Anyone who has ever cycled with me knows that I am that cyclist who always miss the signs and get terribly lost if I ever break away from the group. So you would understand the concern among my friends when I mentioned I was going on a self-guided walking trip to France alone. “Please don’t …
Oscar Wilde was quoted to have said (or wrote) “I drink to keep body and soul apart”, and when I woke up with a pounding head this morning, I felt that my body and soul are certainly apart. Problem is, I had not a drop to drink. I am mid-way through a five country cycle …
Here’s a small confession. I don’t have great balance. It’s something to do with my middle ear, something that has always been there giving me the occasional vertigo attacks, and the inability to watch action movies on big screen. So it’s no surprise that ever since I picked up cycling, I have fallen and crashed …
Celebrating 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci's death in France and visiting chateaux of the Loire Valley.
[Product review] “Oh, you have already uploaded your Instagram photos? I just asked the restaurant, they don’t have Wifi and roaming is so expensive,” said a fellow writer who sat next to me during the recent trip to Charleston in the US. Throughout the entire trip, we were practically inseparable. The next day, someone else …
