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Category: Travel Journals
These are my actual, personal journals and offer a voyeuristic glance into my life as a full-time travel writer and blogger in Barcelona… and beyond.
We drank too much – wine and beer and gin and god knows what. I took some blurry drunken photos…
Leave a CommentMy biggest adventure yet.
2 CommentsThis month’s edition of Fuji X Passion magazine is now available and comes with an ebook featuring 100 or so of my best photos and the story my photography journey.
Leave a Comment“He’d do stupid things like that and mistake the attention he got in return for admiration.”
Leave a CommentWe’d been to Sarah’s parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. We’d eaten too much cake. I’d been drinking red wine. The sun was setting.
1 CommentI spent the weekend (8-9 August, 2020) with my old – roughly the same age as me – manual focus Canon 50mm f/1.8 on my…
9 CommentsAs if we needed another excuse to crack open a few cold ones, it’s International Beer Day (held on the first Friday of August each…
1 CommentMisadventure in Thailand, 2002. It was a crippling cramp that came from nowhere. I doubled over with the pain but my friends weren’t sympathetic to my…
4 CommentsSomething’s changed. I’ve changed, the world’s changed, this blog has changed.
6 CommentsJournal entry from 2016. Gloucester, England. Jack’s face was tanned and etched with thick purple scars that cracked their way up his face and over…
Leave a CommentIt was 10.45am when I woke up to Barcelona’s brilliant winter sun glaring through the huge doors and windows that opened onto my terrace. Normally…
Leave a CommentI was always at my happiest up in Barcelona’s Collserola mountains. I felt at peace, like I belonged, that I was free to be me.…
Leave a Comment“It often felt like only cool beer could relieve me from the heat.”
Leave a CommentEver imagined what it would be like to live in Barcelona and hustle a living as a travel blogger? This is an entry taken from my actual diary. Written in 2016, about a year or two after starting my career as a travel blogger in Barcelona, it sets the tone and, I think, hints at the challenges I faced while living off my wits.
Leave a CommentLight Breaks Where No Sun Shines (Poem by Dylan Thomas, Visuals by Ben Holbrook) Light breaks where no sun shines; Where no sea runs, the…
Leave a CommentTravelling with just one carry-on bag will help you save money, time, and even the world… Here you will find my personal minimalist travel packing…
Leave a CommentHow do you feel about travelling in your own country? I left Wales almost 11 years ago (to move to Barcelona and then London –…
Leave a CommentI’ve collaborated with UK recipe box home delivery service HelloFresh to share this quick, easy and extremely healthy vegetarian paella recipe that even the abuelos of Valencia would be proud of!
Leave a CommentA journey round my apartment in Gijón, Asturias (northern Spain) – with video.
4 CommentsWhen air travel is not only about getting somewhere, but about escaping everywhere.
Leave a CommentWhen I think of Wales, I think of home. I think of my friends and family… my sunburned youth. Of endless days at the beach, chasing waves and girls. Summers spent in soggy tents and cars without air conditioning.
4 CommentsDear friends, family and fellow drifters, I have some personal news that I wanted to share with you, a sort of quick life update…
54 CommentsI’ve been back home in España for a week now and have loved getting stuck back into my writing and photography. I feel so lucky…
1 CommentFrom island escapes and city breaks in Spain, France and Italy to cultural crusades in Jordan, these are the places I recommend visiting in 2019 (based on my experiences in 2018).
Leave a CommentI’ve been home in Wales for the last week or so, catching up with old friends and family. Drinking endless pints of Guinness and Gower…
Leave a CommentAn escape from the sticky July heat and maddening crowds of Barcelona.
2 CommentsNorthern Spain seems to have a way of drawing me back. For one reason or another I have visited this rugged “Green Coast” more than any other part of my adoptive home country.
Leave a CommentThoughts, reflections and photographs from my life in Barcelona.
10 Comments2017. It’s been a hell of a year. Not just for me, but for all of us. But I’m choosing to focus on the…
4 CommentsI was travelling through Santiago de Compostela recently and tried to capture the moments of pilgrims arriving at their final destination after hiking the Camino.
Continue ReadingPhoto Essay: A Pilgrim’s Arrival in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia (Northern Spain)
Leave a Comment And it’s not just because of the eternal sunshine and blissful city beaches…
Leave a CommentI found some old photos the other day. They were the photos I took on my very first day in Barcelona…
Leave a CommentI got more than I bargained for yesterday on my weekly ride along Carretera de les Aigües.
Leave a CommentHighlights from my last year of life and travel around Spain…
2 CommentsMusings, reflections and advice based on my multiple experiences of moving from the UK to beautiful Barcelona…
67 CommentsDear Holbrook Family, It’s been a little while since I saw you all. I hope you are all well and happy and in good health.…
4 CommentsOn Retreat in Aravell, La Seu d’Urgell, Catalonia
Leave a CommentLocated just an hour-and-a-bit up the coast from Barcelona, Salvador Dalí’s beloved hometown of Figueres makes for a surreal and sublime day-trip.
5 CommentsMy hope is that this little “travel manifesto” will act as a sort of self fulfilling prophecy and help me turn my dreams into reality. Here’s to the summer and getting away from it all!
Leave a CommentOn assignment in Girona, Catalonia. Summer 2015
6 CommentsMoving to Barcelona and finding my dream home, becoming a full-time travel writer and travelling across Spain and Portugal… the last year has been one hell of a ride. Whether you need a little inspiration for the new year or you just feeling nosey, this is the post for you.
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