Guide to Having a Drink in London

Most of the pubs in London and throughout the United Kingdom are tied to a particular brewery and sell only that brewery’s beers. You see the name of the brewery on the sign outside. Independent pubs can sell more brands than a tied pub. Either way, you still have to choose from what may seem like a bewildering variety. The colorful names of individual brews don’t provide much help — you can only wonder what Pigswill, Dogs Bollocks, Hobgoblin, Old Thumper, Pommies Revenge, or Boondoggle taste like. Depending on all sorts of factors — the water, the hops, the fermentation technique, and so on — the brewery crafts the taste of any beer, whether on draught or in a bottle. You can get a few U.S. and international brands, but imports are more expensive than the home-brew.

When ordering beer in a pub, specify the type, the brand, and the amount (pint or halfpint) you want. Asking the bartender to recommend something based on your taste preferences is perfectly okay. Just remember that most English beer is served at room temperature. The following brief descriptions of the most common types of beer will come in handy in a pub:

• Bitter is what most locals drink. It’s a clear, yellowish, traditional beer with a strong flavor of hops. Real ale is a bitter that’s still fermenting (“alive”) when it arrives from the brewery; it’s pumped and served immediately.  
• Ale isn’t as strong as bitter and has a slightly sweeter taste. You can order light or pale ale in a bottle; export ale is a stronger variety.  
• Lager, when chilled, is probably the closest you can come to an American-style beer. Lager is available in bottles or on draught.  
• Shandy is equal parts bitter and lemonade (sometimes limeade or ginger beer); it’s for those who like a sweet beverage that’s only partially beer-like in taste.  
• Stout is a dark, rich, creamy version of ale. Guinness is the most popular brand. A black and tan is half lager and half stout.

See also: The Best Museum of London

The Best of London’s Performing Arts

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London's Urban Charms

London is one great city that has actually gotten better over the years. In deference to the millennium year 2000, the city dusted itself off and spruced itself up in ways that have benefited residents and visitors alike. The best museums of London, such as the Great Court in the British Museum, have been revamped with stunning results, and new museums, such as Tate Modern, have opened. Sleek, new bridges now span the Thames, and riverside areas have seen a flurry of development. Trafalgar Square has been joined to the National Gallery, making pedestrian access a breeze rather than a chore. All in all, London has shaken off its old mantle of hidebound traditionalism, has embraced multiculturalism, and is now high tech and cutting edge.

But the old fabric of London still remains and invites exploration. Despite all the improvements in public transit, London remains a city where walking is a joy that reveals no end of simple urban pleasures; Let me tell you about the best.

London is blessed with marvelous parks. You may have heard of them: Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, St. James’s Park, Green Park, and Regent’s Park. These carefully groomed havens, where you can stroll beneath stately trees, lounge on the grass, watch ducks in a pond, or admire the color of the springtime daffodils, were former royals-only hunting grounds. Now they’re part of every Londoner’s life and life’s blood, the green lungs of an otherwise congested city.

What could be more fun than just wandering around London’s streets? Try it. Pick a neighborhood — the City, Soho, Chelsea — then just stroll at will, taking note of the wealth of architectural styles, the curious reminders of days gone by, and the array of local sights, such as the blue, “famous-person-lived-here” plaques on house fronts. On some streets, you can almost hear the horses’ hooves clopping on the cobblestones as they did up until about 1915.

The South Bank and Southwark areas on the “other” side of the river have been opened for pedestrians and show off an ancient area of London that’s been completely revitalized. You can enjoy a waterside walk with city views from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge.

The variety of architectural styles adds to the beauty of the city. Because the Great Fire of 1666 burned down most of medieval London, the building and house styles that you see tend to range from the sober neoclassical of the early 18th century, to the more elegantly light-hearted Regency style of the early 19th century, to the heavier and less graceful Victorian period of the mid- to late 19th century. The human scale of London streets, with their long terraces of attached brick, stone, and stucco homes built around leafy squares, gives the city a charm and character that intrigues and delights the eye. London grew from a series of villages, and you can still find that village like character in many London neighborhoods.

See also: The Best of London’s Performing Arts

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The Best of London’s Performing Arts

London is a world capital, and that includes being a world capital of the performing arts. When the sun goes down, the curtain comes up.

Theater

For many visitors, going to the theater is reason enough to go to London. When actors of the highest caliber are on the boards — as they always are in London — you don’t need to think twice about going to the theater; you just go. The London theater scene is phenomenal, and prices are lower than in New York. Take your pick:long-running international-hit musicals, light comedies, hard-hitting dramas, new works in “fringe” venues, everything from William Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde to Neil LaBute, the modern musicals and beyond.

Opera

Opera buffs appreciate the fact that London has two major opera companies. International stars appear at the historic Royal Opera in Covent Garden, where operas are performed in their original languages. A few blocks away is the English National Opera, where every opera is sung in English by mostly British performers and the productions tend to be more adventuresome.

Classical music 

Every night, lovers of classical music have an embarrassment of riches to choose from. London is home to several world-class symphony orchestras. The London Symphony Orchestra plays at the Barbican Center, where good seats cost as little as £15. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performs at Cadogan Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. The newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall is home to four resident orchestras: the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Other renowned U.K. and European orchestras perform regularly in the city, as do internationally known chamber music ensembles. A summer highlight is the Proms concerts at Royal Albert Hall, featuring an international roster of the best orchestras and soloists in the world.

Ballet 

Dance aficionados can enjoy an evening at the Royal Ballet and/or the English National Ballet, both of which have regular London seasons. Smaller dance companies, from traditional to cutting edge, are at home in venues throughout the city.

See also: The Best Museum of London

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India: The Holy Varanasi

This is India. Brace yourself. You’re about to enter one of the most blindingly colourful, unrelentingly chaotic and unapologetically indiscreet places on earth. Varanasi takes no prisoners. But if you’re ready for it, this may just turn out to be your favourite stop of all. 

Also known at various times in history as Kashi (City of Life) and Benares, this is one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities and is regarded as one of Hinduism’s seven holy cities. Pilgrims come to the ghats lining the River Ganges here to wash away a lifetime of sins in the sacred waters or to cremate their loved ones. It’s a particularly auspicious place to die, since expiring here off ers moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death), making Varanasi the beating heart of the Hindu universe. Most visitors agree it’s a magical place, but it’s not for the faint-hearted. Here the most intimate rituals of life and death take place in public and the sights, sounds and smells in and around the ghats – not to mention the almost constant attention from touts – can be overwhelming. Persevere. Varanasi is unique, and a walk along the ghats or a boat ride on the river will live long in the memory. 

The old city of Varanasi is situated along the western bank of the Ganges and extends back from the riverbank ghats in a labyrinth of alleys called galis that are too narrow for traffic. They can be disorienting, but the popular hotels and restaurants are usually signposted and, however lost you become, you will eventually end up at a ghat and get your bearings. You can walk all the way along the ghats, apart from during and immediately after the monsoon, when the river level is too high. Most places of interest, and much of the accommodation, are in the old city. Behind the station is the peaceful Cantonment area, home to most of the top-end hotels. 

Thought to date back to around 1200 BC, Varanasi really rose to prominence in the 8th century AD, when Shankaracharya, a reformer of Hinduism, established Shiva worship as the principal sect. The Afghans destroyed Varanasi around AD 1300, after laying waste to nearby Sarnath, but the fanatical Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was the most destructive, looting and destroying almost all of the temples. The old city of Varanasi may look antique, but few buildings are more than a couple of hundred years old.

See also: 5 Ideas for India

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Peru: A Short Travel Guide

Clinging to the Andes, between the parched coastal desert and the drippy expanse of the Amazon rain forest  Peru offers such a wide range of experiences that it can be difficult to choose between them. Solemn pilgrimages honor gods both Christian and indigenous. Neon-lit discos get jam-packed with reveling youth. Ancient ruins regularly divulge bits of prehistory. And then, of course, there is the food – a bounty of sublime concoctions made from ingredients native and contemporary.

There’s north, there’s south, desert and jungle. There are museums to visit, lakes to ogle, waves to surf, labyrinthine cities to explore – and enough ancient ruins to keep archaeologists employed for centuries.

Where to start? This is a short Peru guide to a few essentials.

Lake Titicaca

Less a lake than a highland ocean, the Titicaca area is home to fantastical sights: floating islands made of totora reeds, pre-Columbian funerary towers and fertility temples full of stone phalluses. Far out.

Parque Nacional Manu 

Covering an area the size of Wales, this vast Amazon reserve protects cloud forest and rainforest ecosystems – making for maximum wildlife-spotting. Not to be missed: the clay licks that draw hundreds of squawking macaws.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina 

The eternally graceful city of Arequipa is home to this dazzling, citadel-sized monastery, which dates back to the 16th century. It even has its own cafe, serving pastries and espresso.

Lima Nightlife 

Tourism in Peru is devoted to the past, but Lima is all about the present. Here, discos spin international beats, lounges serve frothy fusion cocktails and restaurants draw late-night crowds with a bevy of inventive dishes.

Máncora 

This internationally famous surf spot has something for everyone – even folks who don’t hang ten. There’s horse riding, hot springs and beach combing to fill the days, while street parties and beach side bonfires light up the nights.

Nazca Lines 

The meaning behind these mysterious glyphs continues to elude scholars. Not that it matters. Their magnificence and breathtaking scale – which can only be appreciated from the air – make them a wonder to behold.

Kuélap 

Archaeology buffs refer to the Chachapoyas people’s mountaintop fortress as the ‘other Machu Picchu,’ but its unique stonework and proud position overlooking the Utcubamba valley make it a special – and incomparable – place to visit.

The Streets of Cuzco 

Once the capital of the Inca empire, tourist thronged Cuzco – the gateway to the mountaintop refuge of Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail – is lined with extraordinary cobblestone passageways and indigenous structures that have been inhabited continuously since pre-Hispanic times.

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Planing a Trip to Mexico

Traveling in Mexico requires little planning. You’ll rarely have trouble finding suit - able accommodation on any budget, and travel by road or plane within Mexico is easy. If you have limited time and specific goals, work out a detailed itinerary and reserve accommodations in advance. If this is your first trip to Mexico, be ready for more crowds, noise, bustle and poverty than you might be accustomed to. But don’t worry – most Mexicans will be only too happy to help you feel at home in their country. Invest a little time before your trip in learning even just a few phrases of Spanish – every word you know will make your trip that little bit easier and more enjoyable.

The tropic of Cancer cuts across Mexico just north of Mazatlán, so this stretch of coast is officially tropical. The driest months, when it may not rain at all, are from November to April. These months are also the coolest, with temperatures averaging a comfortable 26° to 29°C.

The hottest months, May to October, are also the wettest, and the hottest and wettest of all are June, July and August. Rainfall increases as you move south from Mazatlán toward Acapulco, with Acapulco receiving twice as much rain as Mazatlán. The Oaxaca coast is drier but closer in average rainfall to Acapulco than Mazatlán. May to October are also extremely humid, and it’s generally more humid the further south you move.

The peak holiday periods are July and August, mid-December to early January, and a week either side of Easter. At these times, resorts attract big tourist crowds, room prices go up, and rooms and public transport are heavily booked, so reservations are recommended. November to April are reliably dry, warm, blissful and popular months for travel among North Americans and Europeans.

The water on Mexico’s Pacific coast is perfect for swimming all year long. Diving and snorkeling can be good year-round, but visibility is usually highest (except during plankton blooms) in the dry winter months. Fun surf can be reasonably expected year-round, but waves are biggest from May through to November. Deep-sea fishing, also practiced all year, has its own species-specific seasons. Bird -watchers often prefer winter visits, when birds migrate down to the coastal lagoons from North America. Whale-watching is best from January to March.

Don't leave home without:

- Adequate insurance

- All the necessary paperwork if you’re driving

- Waterproof sandals if you’ll be boating

- Clothes to cope with Mexico’s climatic variations and air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned rooms (and buses)

- Any specific toiletries you require, including contact-lens solutions and contraceptives, as these can be difficult to obtain in Mexico; also consider carrying a copy of prescriptions for any medications you will take with you – this might save you from scrutiny at customs

- A flashlight for some of those not-so-well-lit streets and stairways – and for power outages

- An inconspicuous container for money and valuables, such as a small, slim wallet or an under-the-clothes pouch or money belt

- Sun protection: a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen

- A small padlock

- A small Spanish dictionary and/or phrasebook

- A backpack for carrying it all – you can make it reasonably theft-proof with small padlocks; a light daypack, too, is useful.

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5 Ideas for Traveling Through India

Hampi  

Today’s surreal boulderscape of Hampi was once the glorious and cosmopolitan Vijayanagar, capital of a powerful Hindu empire. Still glorious in ruins, its temples and royal structures combine sublimely with the terrain: giant rocks balance on skinny pedestals near an ancient elephant garage; temples tuck into crevices between boulders; and round coracle boats fl oat by rice paddies and bathing buff aloes near a gargantuan bathtub for a queen. While in India, watching the sunset cast a rosy glow over the dreamy landscape, you might just forget what planet you’re on.

Cuppa in a Hill Station 

The valleys, deserts, and palmlined beaches are all well and good, but it can get hot down there! India’s princes and British colonials long used the country’s cool mountain towns as refuges from the summer heat, and today the hill stations still have lush forests, crisp mountain air and picturesque tea plantations. Curl up under a blanket with a steaming cup of local tea, look out over misty hills at swooping mountain birds, and experience India’s cool side.

Neighbourhood Markets 

Shopaholics: be careful not to lose control. Those with no interest in shopping: get in touch with your consumerist side. India’s markets have something you want, guaranteed (though you may not have known this beforehand), with a fun haggle to go with it. The range of technicolor saris, glittering gold and silver bling, mounds of rainbow vermilion, aromatic fresh spices, stainless-steel head massagers, bangles and bobby pins, motorcycle bumper stickers, heaping piles of fruit, Bollywood-star-silk-screened pajamas, and marigold and coconut off erings is, well, astounding.

Riding the Rails

India’s quintessential journey is still the long train ride. Domestic flights are increasingly common, but as the train’s 20 million daily passengers will tell you, you can’t watch the Indian landscape change from dry valley to lush mountain forest to limegreen rice paddies on a plane. The train’s also where you can hang out with families and other domestic travellers, learning about Indian culture the old-fashioned way – over a cup of tea, to the rhythm of the rails.

Puducherry Savoir Faire 

A little pocket of France in Tamil Nadu? Pourquoi pas? In this former French colony, yellow houses line cobblestone streets, grand cathedrals are adorned with architectural frou-frou, and the croissants are the real deal. But Puducherry’s also a Tamil town – with all the history, temples and hustle and bustle that go along with that – and a classic retreat town, too, with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at its heart. Turns out that yoga, pain chocolat, Hindu gods and colonial-era architecture make for an atmospheric melange, in India.

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