When Fiona Burke saw the shocking images in lockdown, she knew she had to help. Now she spends four months each winter volunteering on the border, helping migrants who are battling the odds
When travel resumed after the first pandemic lockdown in 2020, Fiona Burke, who was 60, boarded a plane to Austin, Texas. She was one of the first post-Covid volunteers to arrive at a migrant centre for people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the US-Mexico border. “Stuck at home during lockdown and seeing images of children in cages, I felt compelled to help,” says Burke.
This idea of helping others, she believes, was drilled into her from a young age, growing up in Ireland and attending a Catholic school. “I am not a practising Catholic and have rebelled against the church in many ways but the nuns had a very big influence on me, subliminally. I always wanted to help people and we were fed that message a lot,” she says. This idea informed Burke’s first career as a Montessori teacher before she moved into a finance job later in life.
On the third leg of his South American trip, our writer heads to the remote city of Iquitos and braves a swim in the Amazon – despite the fearsome reputation of the local fish Part 1: The alternative Inca Trail Part 2: Exploring Lake Titicaca
It is an absolute truth, hard-wired into every explorer’s tales, that the Amazon is deadly dangerous. If the electric eels, piranhas, sting rays and caimans don’t get you, the hordes of biting insects and snakes will. Every living thing is ready to devour you or lay eggs under your skin.
And, in a world of water, swimming is particularly risky. When the naturalist, explorer and writer Redmond O’Hanlon ventured upriver, he claimed to have adapted a cricketers’ protective box to pee through: a barrier for the dreaded candiru fish that allegedly swims up the urethra and gets stuck. For men, amputation could be the only solution. But then in the world of old-fashioned exploration, it was mainly men who got to be explorers, and presumably, those who survived were cricketers, or had extremely tight-fitting swimming trunks.
It felt selfish, but at home I couldn’t finish a thought without being interrupted by my kids – so I packed my bags and headed to the coast
As the windscreen wipers cut back and forth, and my house disappeared in the rear-view mirror, I wondered if I was going to cry. I tried reminding myself that I was on my way to do something lovely: I’d booked a three-night stay at a hotel in Devon to work on my novel: my first ever solo writing retreat.
I was driving away from a world of chaos, leaving my seven-year-old weeping at the front door, my nine-year-old worrying about a science project, my mother-in-law unexpectedly in hospital, and my husband juggling it all.
Take a nostalgia trip at a newly-opened hotel in the bohemian heart of the French capital
A visit to Paris’s fifth arrondissement can make you feel unusually nostalgic in the current climate. Home to the Sorbonne, student-filled cafés and all-round Rive Gauche cool, it’s a world away from France on the brink of change. Also known as the Latin Quarter, le cinquième has ready supplies of retro charm and specialist shops to browse and lose yourself in.
On an early-evening wander, I come across a shop on rue des Écoles that sells mandolins and a rare bookshop on rue du Cardinal-Lemoine with a window display of ironic protest material, including a copy of the Watergate Cookbook. Near the Seine, you’ll find the Jardin des Plantes botanical gardens and the Natural History Museum, all just a stone’s throw away.
Travel-sized products make summer holiday packing a breeze
Many people find packing beauty products for travel a bit of a nightmare. You start to realise how much stuff you use on a daily basis before you even leave the house. Perhaps it’s time to scale back because, let’s face it, does anyone really need a choice of nine lipsticks and five serums for the sake of options? Well, actually, probably a beauty editor (it’s the job), hence we end up carting around everything and the kitchen sink. Decanting your products into smaller containers (Flying Tiger is a good place to get these) helps. But if you can’t be bothered with all that then get yourself minis, aka travel-sized products. They make packing a breeze and won’t weigh you or your luggage down. Their benefits, however, extend beyond travel – it’s an excellent way to trial a product without committing to a full-size option. And it’s much easier to carry around, say, a mini dry shampoo to zhoosh up your hair when you’re going out straight from work, than to lug around its cumbersome 200ml sister.
1. Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo £14, living proof.co.uk 2. Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist £23, tatcha.co.uk 3. Westman Atelier Petite Baby Cheeks Blush Stick £23, cultbeauty.co.uk 4. Murad Environmental Shield Essential-C Cleanser £15, johnlewis.co.uk 5. Hair By Sam McKnight Sundaze Sea Spray £14, sephora.co.uk 6. Dr Barbara Sturm Glow Drops £45, spacenk.com 7. Fresh Kombucha Facial Treatment Essence £34, fresh.com 8. Paula’s Choice Skin 2% BHA Perfecting Liquid £12, paulaschoice.co.uk 9. Hermès Hermessence Oud Alezan £176 for 4, hermes.com 10. La Mer The Concentrate £190, cremedelamer.com
At heart this is a local pub, but everything about it is dialled up a couple of notches
The Hero, 55 Shirland Road, London W9 2JD. Snacks £6-£13, starters £9-£14, mains £13-£18, desserts £8, wine from £32 a bottle
The Hero, a pub in London’s Maida Vale, is currently a middle-class rave fuelled by a crisp gavi and banging scotch eggs. You will hear it before you see it, as the sounds of the west London mob outside, smoking like it’s 1992, float towards you down tidy streets of wedding cake stucco. To get a sense of the place, however, let’s first pop into the gents at the back. There, standing side by side at the urinals, are two chaps who are not quite young but also not quite middle aged: tousled hair, many opinions, saggy jeans that have never seen better days because they came out of the box like this. One of them says: “I think it’s time I tried the country. I love the country.” The other says: “No, no, I’m all about the city. So many possibilities.”
From wildlife spotting to wine tasting and cargo boat sailing, discover new ways to explore the mainland and islands
A neat line of wooden houses on stilts sits over water, with fishing boats tied up between them. Marshland stretches as far as the eye can see, blending with the sky. In a mirror-like lagoon, salmon-pink flamingos stalk the shallows, their beaks trawling for crustaceans.
You're probably familiar with two of the most common ways to earn travel rewards: take a flight to accrue miles, or open a credit card—ideally one with a generous welcome bonus—that gives you points for purchases. But if you aren't a frequent flyer, don't want to open a bunch of travel card accounts (or can't, thanks either to your own credit or rules aimed at reducing churning), or aren't able to spend a ton of extra cash, there are other ways to rack up points and miles for your next vacation.
Maximize your existing card benefits
If you already have a card that earns you points and miles, you can leverage several strategies to rewards more quickly than you would just by swiping your card for everyday purchases. One obvious approach is to spend smarter by buying certain items at merchants that qualify for category bonuses (such as cleaning supplies at the grocery store).
Collect referral bonuses
Some issuers offer referral bonuses (typically 5,000 to 15,000 points) if someone signs up for a new card using your unique link. If you have a spouse or partner to refer, they could earn a sign-up bonus while you get the referral bonus, maximizing the points you can redeem together. You can also add an authorized user, which can help a family member build credit while you earn extra miles.
Link to other loyalty programs
You can also link your credit cards to other loyalty programs to earn bonus airline miles on unrelated spending (such as on dining or other travel). For example, connecting your Lyft account can net you extra Delta SkyMiles, Alaska Mileage Plan, Hilton Honors points, or Bilt Rewards points.
Shop via online portals
To earn even more—anywhere from 2X to 5X points—on top of your standard credit card rewards accrual, try using a shopping portal to make purchases with participating retailers you would shop directly with anyway. Some airlines also have their own shopping portals that link with your membership number to earn miles that go into your loyalty account.
If you have a handful of loyalty programs you could earn points with, consider using a tool like Cashback Monitor or add the Chrome extensions for several shopping portals to compare where you get the most bang for your buck. Note that the bonuses may be even greater around big shopping holidays.
Sign up for dining rewards
Most major airlines and some hotel chains also have dining rewards programs, including Delta SkyMiles Dining, American Airlines AAdvantage Dining, Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining, and United MileagePlus Dining. All you have to do is connect your credit card and use it when you dine at or get takeout from participating restaurants. You may even be eligible to earn bonus miles in the first month after you sign up. It doesn't hurt to register and simply earn bonuses in the background, and you can register multiple cards even if they're not travel rewards cards specifically.
Complete opinion surveys
Filling out surveys doesn't have the greatest ROI in terms of time vs. points earned, but it is another way to add to your mileage account without spending any money. The following airlines will award you small bonuses for completing opinion surveys:
Both banks and airlines have been known to offer points and miles bonuses as incentives to sign up or retain customers, so don't just toss mailed offers or delete emails without reading them.
For example, American Express and Chase have awarded points to anyone who enrolls in (free) features like mobile wallets and pay over time. Similarly, opening a new checking or savings account can earn you travel rewards. Bask Bank offers 2.5 AAdvantage miles (instead of interest) for every dollar saved, with points awarded monthly. Citibank also occasionally runs promotions with AAdvantage miles and ThankYou points. (Be sure to research interest rates and fees before deciding to open new accounts.)
Book a rental car with an airline promo code
Major rental car companies, including Avis, Alamo, Budget, Hertz, and National, will award airline miles (and/or hotel points) if you book with a promotion code. You typically need to be a member of the rental company's loyalty program and enter your frequent flyer information when making your reservation. However, note that you may pay a surcharge to receive airline or hotel credits, so it may not be worthwhile depending on how many points you are earning.
From the shores of an Alpine lake to the banks of the Dordogne river, our tipsters share their top spots for a holiday under canvas
Having been cycling across Europe for nearly two months, we’d become campsite connoisseurs. Natura Camp Karli stands out for being a tranquil oasis on the Istrian peninsula in Croatia. We loved pitching our tent in an olive grove, having been welcomed with a gift of handmade products. The facilities were simple, but excellent, with a covered area and stoves for cooking, as well as ample seating with a view. It’s a peaceful location, with the coast about six miles away. After a wonderful night’s sleep, drifting off to the gentle hum of insects, we left with an extra spring in our pedalling. Pitch from €25 Mary
On a blustery morning in May on Shoreham-by-Sea’s west beach, Eric Smith and George Short are pointing out treasures the waves have left on the tideline. Cuttlefish bones and balls of whelk eggs, they say, are evidence of recovering marine habitats.
“Just give nature a bit of space and it will come back,” says Smith, 76, a former lorry driver by trade, freediver by choice. He first started diving off the Sussex coast at the age of 11, and still recalls the underwater “garden of Eden” of his childhood, a kelp forest teeming with bream, lobsters and cuttlefish that stretched for 25 miles (40km) between Shoreham and Selsey Bill. It vanished after years of intensive trawling, a destructive form of fishing involving dragging heavy nets along the seabed.
Whelk eggs and seaweed. Photograph: Urszula Sołtys/the Guardian
In Brittany, modern regional trains with huge windows invite you to soak up the views. Our author’s final piece in her series takes in the line to Finistère
Many rail travellers just dash through France. The fast TGV trains gobble up the miles to be sure, but high-speed lines often defy the warp and weft of the landscape. Yet even on high-speed lines, there are some magic moments. I love the fleeting glimpses of Champagne vineyards between Paris and Strasbourg. On the high-speed line from Paris to Lyon, now over 40 years old, there are dramatic views of the Morvan massif as the railway climbs to almost 500 metres above sea level to skirt the striking granite landscapes of a region well off the regular tourist trails.
The high-speed lines are good for getting somewhere fast, but you need to branch off on to secondary routes to discover a very different France. The country is blessed with a fine network of rural railways. Last year the tourism authorities in Occitanie in the south of France won a Rail Tourism Award for their bold promotion of branch lines, nudging visitors out of their cars and on to trains to explore the gorgeous variety of landscapes which sweep from the Cévennes down to the Pyrenees.
With huge views taking in four countries – on a good day – the Isle of Man’s fells and peaks offer walkers a true sense of untapped adventure
There’s a magic pool in Ballaglass Glen. Scored deep into the ancient flagstone, amid the oak, larch and beech, it’s fed by a cascade, spangled with shafts of sunlight and probably hides mooinjer veggey – Manx Gaelic for the mythical “little people”. As I slid my tired legs into the numbingly cold water, I felt a sense of exhilaration.
It had been the most glorious of days, tackling my first of the island’s eight new summit walks; between them, these medium-to-challenging routes conquer 25 of the Isle of Man’s 300-metre-plus peaks. The island might not be big – just 33 miles by 13 miles at its longest and widest points – but it has plenty of rugged terrain and satisfying highs.
Effective April 30, 2024 Airbnb, the global vacation rental giant, announced a significant policy change: the prohibition of all indoor security cameras in its listings worldwide. This decision, aims to bolster the privacy of guests and address longstanding concerns about hidden cameras. While the majority of Airbnb’s over 7 million listings did not report having […]
There are a lot of reasons someone might choose to be child free, either for a short time or permanently. Some folks just don’t have any desire to be parents, some can’t afford to be parents, and some parents just need a break from their kids from time to time (which is totally normal and okay). Whether it’s a lifestyle choice or just a weekend, going places where you’re guaranteed to see no children can be a godsend.
Of course, just because you’re not bringing any kids doesn’t mean other people won’t. Some folks seem to believe that children should be welcome everywhere, in every situation, no matter what. And some people can’t afford childcare and have no choice but to bring their kids places they might rather not. Whatever the reason, you can’t always guarantee you’ll have a child-free experience—unless you plan ahead and choose your destinations wisely. Here are some of the best places to go when you don’t want to be around any kids.
55+ communities
If your desire to see no kids is an active lifestyle choice, you might consider living in a 55+ community following the 80/20 rule. These communities require that 80% of the homes be occupied by at least one person aged 55 or younger, which leads to two important scenarios: One, you can still live there even if you’re not yet 55 years old as long as there’s an opening and the ratio works out; and two, the chances of having kids in the community is very low. Not impossible, of course, but people with young children are unlikely to view a 55+ community as an ideal place for their kiddos to make friends and live their best lives. If you’re hoping to avoid kids pretty much all the time, this might be your solution.
Child-free resorts and cruises
If you’re planning a vacation or other kind of trip and want to deal with as few children as possible, you have a lot more options than you think:
Hotels and resorts. It’s actually pretty easy to identify adults-only hotels and resorts. Expedia has a whole category you can select to view adults-only hotels, for example, and the site Adulty Hotels maintains a listing of several hundred hotels that exclude children that you can search. And if you’re looking for a really adult resort, you can seek out “sex-positive” vacation spots where you can let it all hang out.
Cruises. There are more adults-only cruise options than you might think. Although often promoted as the ideal family vacation with ships littered with kiddie activities, there are a lot of adults-only options to choose from—heck, even Disney offers them. All of the cruises offered by Virgin Voyages are adults-only, for example, as are all Viking river cruises. And most cruise companies offer at least some adults-only cruises, you just need to look for them.
Restaurants
If you’re just looking for a night out without dealing with screaming kids or misbehaving pre-teens, finding an adults-only restaurant is just the ticket. While many restaurants aren’t specifically no-kids-allowed, there’s a growing trend of restaurants advertisingthemselvesas “adults-only,” promising a dining experience free of chicken fingers and the buzz of multiple screens designed to (hopefully) keep youngsters occupied while the adults attempt to have a conversation.
There’s no easy directory of adults-only eateries, but a quick Google search in your area will reveal them—or use the age-old tactic of making a few phone calls to ask what their age policies might be.
Spas
Few spas will be explicitly adults-only (and there’s actually a trend of more family-centric spa offerings), but if you find a kid getting a facial or having a schvitz in the steam room, rest assured it’s still rare. If you’re looking to have a child-free experience for a few hours, book yourself a couple of treatments at a nice spa and enjoy the silence.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
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