100 Queen’s Gate Hotel: Door to Door
James Clark spends a night in the UK capital taking full advantage of 100 Queen’s Gate London’s door to door chauffeur offer. The doorbell rang bang on time to announce…
The Stafford: a London West End Delight
The Stafford London hotel in St James’s reopened its doors on 3 August 2020 after the COVID-19 lockdown. Eileen Wise and Roger Hermiston made their last pre-coronavirus London break staying…
Viktor Wynd: Gone with the Wynd
Viktor Wynd, proprietor of The Last Tuesday cocktail bar, Museum of Curiosities in East London and eccentric travel agency, Gone With The Wynd, chats with Travel Begins at 40 about his new…
London in the Time of Coronavirus
Photographer Charles Ashton took to the near desserted streets, bridges and underground stations of London to take these images of the UK capital shortly before it was locked down due…
David Hockney Drawing from Life
Prepping for his trip around Hockney Country in the Yorkshire Wolds, Mark Bibby Jackson takes a shorter and more intimate journey around the David Hockney : Drawing from Life exhibition…
Steven Edwards at Bingham Riverhouse
Great food, finest champagne and an amazing view on the river Thames. You can have all this at the new restaurant Steven Edwards at Bingham Riverhouse, Richmond. Opened on 5…
Aubrey Beardsley at Tate Britain, London
Aubrey Beardsley, a major new exhibition of over 200 works celebrating the artist’s brief but astonishing career opens 4 March at Tate Britain London. This will be the first exhibition…
London Underground : The Story of the Tube
Coral Glennie reviews Oliver Green’s loving account of the story of the London Underground, or Tube as it is referred to by Londoners. You don’t have to be a railway…
Troy: Myth and Reality at the British Museum
A new exhibition at The British Museum Troy: Myth and Reality is the first major Troy exhibition in the UK. Irene Caswell reviews it. The Trojan War lasted for 10…
The Clash: London Calling at the Museum of London
Forty years this December The Clash released London Calling, UK punk’s greatest – or second greatest long player (depending on your poison) – and an LP as famous for its sleeve…
Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh
In the lead up to the 100th anniversary of the discovery the tomb of the boy king a new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh…
Royal Horseguards Hotel – A Political Journey
Roger Hermiston and Eileen Wise stay at the Royal Horseguards Hotel London in the heat of the capital’s political turmoil and discover it a most appropriate venue. It was a…
Little Kolkata : Indian Tapas in London
Mark Bibby Jackson ventures to Little Kolkata in London’s Covent Garden to sample Indian tapas and emerges after a quite religious experience. Having spent many a year in Southeast Asia…
Room2 Hammersmith: Home From Home?
En route to Istanbul, Mark Bibby Jackson checks into the room2 Hammersmith, sister property of room2 Southampton, a new concept in hometels, to see if a hotel truly can feel…
Stanley Kubrick The Exhibition
Robert Spellman visits Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition at the Design Museum London, an extensive retrospective on the work of one of the twentieth century’s greatest filmmakers. The phrase “he’s done…
12 Summer Food Festivals in the UK and Ireland
It used to be that the British summer was more fleeting than an American Presidential visit, but whether it’s a consequence of climate change or fake news, summers too seem…
Strictly Come Dancing – 125 Years On
On 14 May, the world-famous Blackpool Tower celebrated its 125th anniversary, having opened for business way back in 1894. This celebration will in turn draw attention to one of the…
A Night in London Across the Ages
Roger Hermiston and Eileen Wise spend a night in London taking in Covent Garden and the West End before dining at Simpson’s in the Strand. Despite living the life of…
St Ermin’s Hotel Westminster: of Spies and Shards
Mark Bibby Jackson returns to the scene of one of his previous crimes to spend a night in St Ermin’s Hotel in London’s Westminster to discover a building with a…
Served to You on a Plate in Shoreditch
Mark Bibby Jackson samples the fare at Plate Restaurant in London’s Shoreditch to see how inclusive Arnaud Stevens’ restaurant is. On a recent Facebook debate a fellow travel journalist asked…
Discovering the Eastend through a London Food Tour
A walking food tour is a great way to explore a new area. Find a local guide with a good reputation who knows their home turf well and enjoys sharing…
Valentine’s Day Ideas for the Over 40s
It’s never too old to fall in love, nor to show you love that special someone. So, to provide some romantic inspiration, Travel Begins at 40 has rounded up a few…
Windrush: A Celebration at the Barbican
Writer and musician Anthony Joseph has said of his project Windrush: A Celebration, ‘How do we look at 70 years of musical and cultural impact?’ Indeed, so deeply entwined are…
London’s Tate Modern to Borough Market
Mark Bibby Jackson takes a stroll down memory lane in London’s South Bank, visiting the transformed Borough Market and popping in on the Tate Modern…