https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/ Travel tales, photography and a dash of humor Sat, 17 Oct 2026 16:18:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/day-trips-from-prague/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/day-trips-from-prague/#respond Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:57:15 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=39007 The best day trip from Prague is Kutná Hora. It’s about an hour from the main station by train, the Sedlec Ossuary and St Barbara’s Cathedral are two of the more memorable buildings in the country, and you’ll be back in Prague for dinner. If you can spare a night rather than a day, spend…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/day-trips-from-prague/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/iniu-rg-10000-review/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/iniu-rg-10000-review/#comments Sat, 10 Oct 2026 17:04:16 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=43400 The INIU P63 is the power bank that lives in my camera bag, and we already recommend two INIU packs in our guide to the best power banks for travel. So when INIU asked if I’d review the RG-10000, their first rugged power bank, I was curious to see what a sealed, tougher version of…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/iniu-rg-10000-review/feed/ 2 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/travel-gear-deals/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/travel-gear-deals/#respond Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:24:12 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=42997 I’ve been travelling more or less full time since 2009, when I went to Australia for a year and never really stopped. In that time I’ve bought, worn out and replaced most of the kinds of kit on this page at least once. So when Amazon runs its second Prime sale of the year in…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/travel-gear-deals/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-travel-duffel-bag/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-travel-duffel-bag/#respond Sun, 04 Oct 2026 16:38:53 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=43351 I’ve been travelling full time since 2010, and a duffel of one kind or another regularly makes it into our packing setup. Right now there are two in the house: a leather Floto that Jess gave me as an anniversary present a few years ago, and a pair of thin Outdoor Products duffels that pack…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-travel-duffel-bag/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/3-days-in-prague-itinerary/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/3-days-in-prague-itinerary/#respond Sat, 03 Oct 2026 18:21:53 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=43282 Three days is enough time to see Prague well, as long as you put the days in the right order. I first visited Prague back in the 2000s and returned to the city in September 2026 with Jess, on her first visit. We spent five nights in the Old Town and walked four full days…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/3-days-in-prague-itinerary/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-headlamp/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-headlamp/#respond Thu, 01 Oct 2026 22:57:24 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=43134 I’ve been using Black Diamond headlamps since around 2000, and as a professional photographer I’ve spent a good number of winter nights in places like Finland, Iceland and Scotland standing next to a tripod waiting for the northern lights to do something. Jess has two Black Diamonds she bought for her Kilimanjaro climb in 2014.…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-headlamp/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-camera-backpack-for-hiking/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-camera-backpack-for-hiking/#respond Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:12:29 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=42947 I’ve been carrying cameras up hills for over fifteen years as a professional travel photographer, on moorland in Cornwall, on waterfall hikes in Iceland where it rained more or less continuously, and on day hikes across the US. For most of that time I’ve done it with two very different setups: a dedicated camera backpack…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-camera-backpack-for-hiking/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-castles-in-scotland/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-castles-in-scotland/#respond Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:28:12 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=42627 Jess and I lived in Edinburgh for four years, and I’ve stood at and photographed every castle on this list myself. Scotland doesn’t make shortlisting easy. There are castles on sea cliffs, castles on islands in lochs, castles that are still family homes and castles that are three crumbling walls and a view. This guide…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-castles-in-scotland/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-castle-hotels-in-scotland/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-castle-hotels-in-scotland/#respond Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:10:20 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=42682 For a good few of the years we lived in Scotland, my birthday worked like this: sometime in January, Jess would disappear into a browser for an evening, and in February we’d find ourselves checking into a castle. February in Scotland is nobody’s idea of peak season, which worked well in our favour. The rates…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-castle-hotels-in-scotland/feed/ 0 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-mobile-alabama/ https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-mobile-alabama/#respond Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:52:48 +0000 https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/?p=42532 Mobile is the nearest coastal city to home for us. We live in Montgomery, about two and a half hours up I-65, and when we want salt air, live oaks and a proper plate of oysters without crossing a state line, Mobile is where we point the car. It’s also one of the most historically…]]> https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/2-days-in-mobile-alabama/feed/ 0