Cast aside your worldly worries for a few seconds and slide down my rabbit hole of travel reviews.
The Walking Critic isn't here to foist travel manuals down your throat, so let's kick that particular misnomer into touch. I'm not here to tell you where to go, what to see and how many hours you should spend looking at it.
I've been around travel long enough to know there are plenty of guidebooks for that, and I don't do manuals!
What interests me is what happens when you actually get there.
My reviews are narrated personal adventures. I take you with me. Sometimes the journey is luxurious, sometimes ridiculous, occasionally both. There will be hotels, resorts, ships, airlines, restaurants, tours, attractions and experiences. But the subject is never really the thing itself.
It's the experience.
Think of me as your slightly more worldly travelling companion who has already been down the road, stayed in the room, boarded the ship, eaten the dinner and occasionally wondered what on earth the marketing department was thinking.
I've spent four decades in travel and media and have grey hair to prove it. I've worked with cruise lines, hotels, resorts, airlines and tour operators around the world. I've promoted and sold their products, travelled extensively and listened to thousands of travellers tell me what made a trip wonderful—or what made them want to come home early.
I've watched the industry change enormously.
So I know the difference between what a brochure promises and what a traveller actually experiences.
But don't expect me to arrive with a sharpened axe.
Independent doesn't mean negative. It means I'm free to make up my own mind.
If something is brilliant, I'll say so. If something disappoints, I'll explain why. If something is wonderful but wildly overpriced, I'll probably mention that too. And if something is simply not for me, I'll tell you who I think it is for.
There is no prize for finding fault, and I have no particular point to prove.
I simply experienced something.
I have something to say about it.
That's my story as The Walking Critic.
And perhaps that's why my former newspaper editor once described me as a "really good tub read."
His words were better than mine.
He meant that after a long day, you might run a bath, pour yourself a drink, climb into the water and disappear down the rabbit hole with me for a while.
Like Alice in Wonderland, you never quite know what you'll find when you fall through.
That's the fun of travel.
And that's the fun of my reviews.
Reach out via the contact page or email me and start our journey together.
