The best way to explore an off-beat destination

What do wild flamingos, Mediterranean beaches and fairytale towns all have in common? Here’s a little secret: you can find them all in France. Lovely readers, let me divulge one of my greatest travel pet peeves with you. Due to a pesky thing I call “Counting Countries Syndrome”, many people out there seem to think that stopping in one part of a country counts as having ‘done’ it, and once you’ve been there, it’s a tick off the bucket list, now doomed to die forever in the depths of your SD card. Let’s put an end to this silliness, shall we? Countries are countries, and cities… aren’t. Ticking off countries based on only a small part is like having a scoop of vanilla ice cream and saying “you’ve done ice cream”. Vanilla’s great, but about speculoos gelato with caramel drizzle and sprinkles, huh? That’s what this post is about today… I’m going to reveal to you some of the most droolw...

Afternoon tea in Paris is the perfect pause from sight seeing in the city of lights. What better way to give your weary feet a little break than by sipping tea in some of the prettiest surroundings imaginable. From high-end hotels to classic tea emporiums, here is our guide to the best afternoon teas in Paris. Nina’s This pretty in pink tea room is the epitome of femininity. The interior is heavily decorated in pastel pink and gold with a beautiful chandelier and plush arm chairs. There is a wide selection of tea flavours on offer but their signature one is the Marie-Antoinette made from apples and roses picked directly from the King‘s Kitchen Garden of Versailles which goes very nicely with a slice of their apple cake. 29 Rue Danielle Casanova, 75001 Paris, France Ladurée The tea room for ladies who lunch or in this case, ladies who take tea. Order a plate of candy-coloured macarons and pastel hued pastries to create a tailor made tea party that every girl dreams of. Choos...

Indian Ocean Sailing Adventure Reunion Island, France A unique team of researchers is freediving with dolphins & whales to study their complex communication system in new ways never seen before. We joined them on the water. Fabrice Schnoller is a man on a mission. He’s attempting to gather amazing new data for dolphin and whale research. But he’s not a scientist, he’s an engineer. His team has built an underwater 3-D camera with high-end microphones to capture complex communication between these incredible marine mammals from all directions. They’re able to distinguish which animal is creating which sound using sophisticated software. By sending freedivers into the ocean without noisy scuba gear or remote submarines, they can record intimate moments with detail not possible before. With help from researchers from the University of Paris, the team hopes to prove these intelligent creatures are actually talking to each other in their own language. I...