https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/ Travel tales, photography and a dash of humor Sun, 24 May 2026 17:01:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-luggage-trackers-travel/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-luggage-trackers-travel/#respond Sat, 23 May 2026 01:00:51 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=38949 Travel can have many unknowns, which is a part of the thrill and excitement. Will you like the food? Will the people be nice? How will you fit all your souvenirs in your luggage to get them back home? However, some unknowns veer away from exciting and sprint toward anxiety-inducing. One of the worst of…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-luggage-trackers-travel/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-nd-filter-travel-photography/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-nd-filter-travel-photography/#respond Fri, 22 May 2026 00:17:06 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=38911 If you are packing a camera for a trip and trying to work out whether an ND filter is worth the space in the bag, the answer is yes, with one caveat: which ND. Variable, fixed, magnetic, square slot-in. Three stops, six, ten. Different filters do different jobs, and the wrong pick is the one…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-nd-filter-travel-photography/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-weeks-in-seychelles-itinerary/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-weeks-in-seychelles-itinerary/#respond Sun, 17 May 2026 00:11:11 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=38807 I grew up partly on Bird Island, a low coral island a thirty-minute flight north of the main Seychelles airport. My parents ran the lodge there for many years, and for a long stretch of my childhood that one small island, all sand, palms and nesting seabirds, was simply home. I am Seychellois, ninth-generation on…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-weeks-in-seychelles-itinerary/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-verona-itinerary/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-verona-itinerary/#comments Wed, 13 May 2026 15:01:08 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=38720 Two days in Verona is the right amount of time. You can comfortably tick off the Arena, the Romeo and Juliet circuit, and the big-hitter piazzas on Day 1, then move on to Castelvecchio, San Zeno, and Giardino Giusti on Day 2. Add an Arena opera if you’re visiting between mid-June and mid-September; even if…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-verona-itinerary/feed/ 2 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/where-to-stay-in-nyc/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/where-to-stay-in-nyc/#respond Sat, 09 May 2026 21:19:23 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=38669 We’ve stayed in New York City many times now, across five Manhattan neighbourhoods plus an apartment in Brooklyn. Our stays have ranged from a points-burn Times Square hotel on my first ever visit (back before Jess and I started travelling together), up to a Fifth Avenue five-star opposite Central Park. We’ve done budget-end, mid-range chain,…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/where-to-stay-in-nyc/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/gocity-pass-worth-it-by-city/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/gocity-pass-worth-it-by-city/#respond Fri, 08 May 2026 16:25:03 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=38643 We’ve bought GoCity passes in eight cities now. Most out of our own pocket, several for family and friends we were travelling with, and twice on press visits years ago (one Paris Pass, one London Pass, both disclosed). Over time the answer to “is the GoCity Pass worth it?” has become less of a yes-or-no…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/gocity-pass-worth-it-by-city/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/barbados-itinerary/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/barbados-itinerary/#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:57:08 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=38063 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/barbados-itinerary/feed/ 2 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-venice-itinerary/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-venice-itinerary/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:08:48 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=38322 I first fell in love with Venice when I was 15. I’d come with my parents, and a thunderstorm rolled in over St. Mark’s Square so dramatically that everyone else scattered. I had the whole piazza to myself, water pooling around the columns, pigeons gone, just me and one of the great squares of Europe.…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-venice-itinerary/feed/ 4 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/planning-a-trip-to-barbados/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/planning-a-trip-to-barbados/#respond Fri, 06 Mar 2026 02:44:42 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=37880 Jess and I have spent a fair bit of time exploring Barbados, and in that time we’ve covered pretty much every corner of the island. We’ve driven the wild east coast, eaten our way through the south, watched the sun set from the west, explored museums in Bridgetown, spotted wildlife, and wandered the beautiful beaches.…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/planning-a-trip-to-barbados/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/the-best-things-to-do-in-barbados/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/the-best-things-to-do-in-barbados/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:22:44 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=37683 Barbados at a glance: Barbados is well worth a trip, and five to seven days gives you enough time for the beaches plus the island’s history, food and wilder corners. Base yourself on the south or west coast for the calmest swimming, and set aside at least one day for the rugged Atlantic coast around…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/the-best-things-to-do-in-barbados/feed/ 4