Captivated by birds since he was a child, David Lindo has turned his hobby into a career. Now known as the Urban Birder, he’s on a mission to get everyone, particularly city-dwellers, better engaged with the nature around us. As we walk, heads low, checking phones for headlines, updates and messages, it’s not just lamppost […]
The entire Australian state of New South Wales is suffering through one of the worst droughts in history. So what’s the best way to help the local farmers and communities that have lost livelihoods and income? Visit them, says travel writer Jennifer Ennion. Green grass isn’t what you’d associate with severe drought. Cracked earth, gaunt […]
For six years, Matt Green walked along every street of New York City’s five boroughs. His footsteps have been recorded through a blog and a documentary called The World Before Your Feet. Michele Herrmann finds out why he wanted to explore his hometown in this way. New Yorkers walk around a lot. But since 2012, […]
Tours to Syria and northern Iraq are selling out, and tourist arrivals to both regions are on the up. But while the ‘caliphate’ may be over, is it safe to return yet? “You’re traveling through to … Erbil?” The flight check-in staffer raised her eyebrow as I wrestled my suitcase onto the luggage belt. “Are […]
Vienna’s coffeehouses were once synonymous with intellectual thought, where great minds met and sipped. Luke Waterson looks at how they became such legendary breeding grounds for innovative thought—and why they could become so once again. When you’ve spent as much time in as many of Vienna’s coffeehouses as I have, the first common denominator you’ll […]
This story was originally published in Smith Journal Volume 22. He’s scaled Everest twice, flown a balloon around the world in 11 days, and been camel riding with Vladimir Putin. Meet Fedor Konyukhov, 21st-century Russia’s most tireless adventurer. Fedor Konyukhov greets visitors to his Moscow workshop with a hand to the forehead—a blessing in the […]
After decades as one of the world’s largest contributors to plastic waste, India has pledged to be single-use plastic free by 2020. But what does that pledge look like in real-time? Huw Kingston finds out. It took me quite a while to find it. I’d searched the whole of our rather luxurious cabin at Reni […]
It’s not just the latest spa buzzword … Ayurveda pivots on 5,000 years of science and ancient wisdom, with holistic healing, preventative medicine, and the balance of physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing at its core. But is it all it’s cracked up to be? “Your dreams are vivid and your sleep is light, disturbed. You […]
After stumbling upon an ancient food forest in the ’70s, Geoff Lawton dedicated his life to agroforestry. Today, some scientists believe these edible forests might hold the key for feeding the entire planet. In 1975, Geoff Lawton was 21 years old, surfing with friends on the west coast of Morocco. It was something they did […]
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