Gavin Haines 
A few puffs on a Marlboro and a damn good thrashing with some herbs – apparently that’s all it takes to stop a child from having nightmares. Or so the limpea healers in Quito’s San Francisco Market tell me. I show my polite, but not convinced face. Moments earlier I … Read more
He looked like Santa Claus and I remember him chopping wood in the yard with a cigarette between his bushy lips. I think he had a dog. This random memory of my only visit to Český Krumlov returns as my coach pulls into town. Disembarking, I follow in the footsteps … Read more
From the padded seat of her delivery cart, Jana Micova takes the reins of her two trusted steeds: Barna and Byka. Stacked neatly behind her are barrels of Pilsner Urquell, which Jana and her fillies will distribute to select pubs across Plzen, some of which have been receiving these horse … Read more
Like pilgrims flocking to the Holy Land, Smiths fans travel for days to be here. No distance is too great for true devotees, who cross oceans and time zones to reach this temple of popular culture. I’m at the Salford Lads Club in Greater Manchester, a Victorian youth centre immortalized … Read more
A William Wallace impersonator cuts a menacing figure on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. His face painted blue and white – the colors of the Scottish flag – he wears a fur coat and wields a mock medieval weapon, while rhapsodising in a thick Scottish accent about freedom. In case … Read more
Not that it likes to boast, but Cannes moves in famous circles. Every May the great and good of the movie industry descend on the small French town for the Cannes Film Festival, a red carpet event that transforms this Cote d’Azur resort into a celebrity circus. Actually, Cannes does … Read more