TBU ’11: A List Of Top Non-Tens

MikeachimThe Everyday18 Comments

In the style of ieatmypigeon. With a dash of mobilelawyer-style list-hatred. And a dollop of laziness, because 10 is way too huge and my life is short.

Last Sunday I attended the second day of the Travel Bloggers Unite 2011 Conference in Manchester. I’ve always prided myself on being the kind of person that does things by halves, and this was no exception.

(Actually I was busy on Saturday, but it’s a good joke for no extra cost, so just shut the hell up).

Here are some lists of things I encountered during my time there. And because I hate top ten lists, these aren’t.Read More

Equipment Fail: 10 Traps of Travel Technology

MikeachimThe Everyday32 Comments

“Does technology make travel less interesting?”, asks Guardian journalist Vicky Baker in this article and on her blog. It’s a question we so rarely asked – maybe because it’s so tricky to answer. (After all, it’s technology that is allowing us to even ask the question, making hypocrites of us before we’ve even started).

So what are the dangers of our travel-gadget habits – and what can we do about them before we truly lose our way?

(Personal disclaimer: I love technology, and I hate technology. I hope that’s clear. Thx).

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The Blog Post I Least Want You To Read

MikeachimThe Everyday26 Comments

Clueless: The Blogging Years

One of the many Rules Of Successful Writing (because there’s more than two, so yes, I lied – get over it) is that all your first attempts will be terrible. Your first drafts will fail to convey anything except confusion. Your turns of phrase will horrify more people than the average song by Scouting For Girls. You will be one enormous fountaining mess of ineptitude, and you won’t know it for years. Rediscovered manuscripts will flay you with shame. Ideas that rang like cut crystal will now go *dink*. For the first time the length and breadth of your suckiness will be paraded before you. You will suffer.

So hey, let’s do some of that.Read More

Balderdash! – Busting 5 Myths About England

MikeachimEngland39 Comments

Ah, England!

The mist-shrouded Arthurian ruins, the rolling green hills dotted with sleepy hamlets, nuns on bikes free-wheeling over cattle grids, tankards of warm beer, castles and orchards, jodhpurs and shooting-sticks, where monocles legally replace spectacles and more than two people will automatically form a queue, where everything is quaint and quintessential and steeped and…

On and on.

Planning a first-time trip to England soon? It’s possibly you’ve been told things about the place. Silly things. Things that will mislead and ultimately disillusion you. And that’s no fun at all. So in the interests of having an exciting and fascinating holiday in a truly exciting and fascinating country, let’s burst a few bubbles here.Read More