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Published articles

From Sea Safaris to Northern Lights (Telegraph)

When I was invited on a press trip to the Arctic Circle in February to witness and write about the famous Northern Lights, I didn’t hesitate for a moment. Norway has always been one of my favourite countries. One side of my mother’s family comes from Norway, and we spent many happy holidays there when I was young, visiting relatives and staying at a pretty basic hytte (hut, or chalet) in the mountains north of Oslo where we’d spend long summer evenings collecting bilberries. But I’d never been to the north of the country, to Arctic Circle and the magical Lofoten and Vesterålen Islands. And yes, I did see the Northern Lights, and plenty more besides…

Northern Light hunting. I’m the one in the red coat.
© Oystein Lunde Ingvaldsen
Categories
Published articles

Five Reasons to Visit Petra (TIME Magazine)

I will never forget my first view of Petra’s Treasury (el-Khazneh), glimpsed one early morning over seven years ago after a long, winding walk through the ancient city’s famous Siq (canyon). I have returned many times since, and the view never fails to swipe my breath away. This view of Petra is an iconic one, and has hardly changed since the Nabateans carved their city out of the sheer rockface of the spectacular Shara mountains of southern Jordan around the first century BC. Then, two hundred years ago this year, on 22 August 1812, young Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt also experienced the same breathtaking view when he entered Petra after it had been lost for many hundreds of years. The city is now celebrating its rediscovery, and my piece for TIME Magazine, giving Five Reasons to Visit Petra, was published to coincide with the events. (If you are not a TIME subscriber you can read the PDF version here).

Image

The Treasury, Petra, as viewed from the Siq
© Gail Simmons
Categories
Published articles

Letter from Ramallah (Sunday Telegraph Magazine)

When in Ramallah, I was lucky enough to be offered a stay at the new five-star Mövenpick which has recently opened up in the city. It was a gorgeous and opulent hotel, as you’d expect from this luxury chain, and in any other part of the world, its existence would have been unremarkable. But the fact that its opened in a city which suffers from so many economic and other restrictions is testament to the enterprise of its people, and the vision of the Mövenpick hotel chain. As the general manager, Michael Goetz, told me: “To the Palestinians this is not only a hotel it’s a monument, a symbol of a new start, a good future, economic stability, of hope and peace.” Part of the interview I did with him was published as a ‘Letter From … Ramallah’ in the Sunday Telegraph’s SEVEN magazine (scroll down the page to see it).

The well-stocked bar at the Mövenpick, Ramallah
© Gail Simmons


Categories
Media Sounds

Sound Sculpture, BBC’s ‘Saturday Live’ programme

What I like about the British Media in general, and the BBC in particular, is that they’ll let just about anyone have a go at broadcasting if they have something reasonably interesting to say. I’d already appeared on the BBC’s From Our Own Correspondent  (twice) and on Excess Baggage (also twice – talking about Sinai and Palestine respectively). But on 30 June a rather different story was broadcast, on Radio 4’s Saturday morning programme, Saturday Live. This was part of their ‘Sound Sculpture’ series, where listeners pick a sound and describe what it means to them (great radio!).  So here’s my Sound Sculpture, which pops up around 12.30 minutes into the programme.

1970s Hoover steam iron
Categories
Published articles

Letter from Hinnøya (Sunday Telegraph magazine)

One of the most interesting (of many very interesting) characters I met in the Norwegian Arctic Circle in February was a Saami lady, Laila Inga. Along with her husband, Arilde, she ran a reindeer farm and was attempting to carry on her traditional, semi-Nomadic life helped by the technological aids of the modern world (skidoos in stead of dog sleighs, for example). But along with improvements in technology, life in the 21st century also brought her challenges, such as the fear that her kids would not want to carry on with the hard life of an Arctic reindeer herder. A very small part of my interview with her was published in the Sunday Telegraph’s magazine, SEVEN.

Laila Inga and her husband, Arilde
Categories
Sounds

Bethlehem Bells

When I was in Bethlehem earlier this month I stood in Manger Square and listened as the bells as they rang out from the ancient (4th Century) Church of the Nativity. I could hear the birds chirping in the background, and as the clanging faded mournfully away the mundane sounds of modern life – traffic, people – came to the fore once again …

Sunset in Bethlehem © Gail Simmons

…

Categories
Published articles

Letter from … Gozo (Telegraph’s SEVEN magazine)

When in Gozo a few weeks back I got into conversation with a taxi driver. Joey Xuereb was interesting, rather melancholy man with a baseball cap and thick Bronx accent who had recently returned to Gozo from new York where he worked as an elevator mechanic.  So when the Telegraph’s SEVEN magazine asked if I had any ideas for contributions to their ‘Letter from’ series I thought of Joey…

Categories
Published articles

A Weekend in Petra

Recently I was asked at short notice by Oryx, the excellent magazine of Qatar Airways, to write a little piece about visiting Petra for a weekend from Amman (and here it is in the May edition of the e-magazine, p. 22). I’ve visited Jordan many times, and travelled along the very ancient King’s Highway often, so was able to write it up from previous experience. It’s always nice to be asked to do a piece of work rather than have to pitch an idea, and always good to be able to oblige. And it reminded me why I love travel writing so much: it allows me to retrace a favourite journey in my imagination as vividly as if I were still there in real life.

Categories
Published articles

Eight Reasons to Visit Belfast (TIME Magazine)

One hundred years since the sinking of RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912 and a new ‘visitor experience’ is opening in the ill-fated liner’s home city, Belfast. I’d long wanted to visit the city – I’d heard such good things about how it had changed since the signing of the Good Friday agreement in 1998 – and was not disappointed. Quite apart from the city itself, which has a proud Victorian grandeur despite its small size (only 270,000 people), the Northern Irish people I met were outstandingly friendly and welcoming. And the new Titanic Belfast building itself is stunning. As the Michelin Guides would say, well worth a detour. Here’s my piece on it for TIME Magazine.

Murals on the so-called Peace Wall, Falls Road

 

The new Titanic Belfast visitor experience

 

Giant's Causeway, County Antrim
Categories
Media

A Perfect Day … in Oxford (TIME Magazine)

I always appreciate the chance to write about my home city of Oxford, which I thought I knew pretty well after 25 years of (mostly) living there. In this piece for TIME Magazine, however, I interviewed five eminent Oxford women about how they would spend a perfect day in the city.  And in doing so, I discovered some hidden nooks and secret crannies that were new even to me …

Port Meadow, Oxford (OxOx, Wikipedia Commons)