Welcome to the new independent country of Stockland! Not to be confused with Scotland, Stockland is in London, where we now live, so make sure your passport is up to date. (It's actually Stockwell, but more on that in a moment...) It's been quite some time since I posted here, that's true, but our voyages on Liberty this summer were brief and spanned no more than three weeks - the only time Liz could get off from work to spend on the boat. Sadly, as a result of ...

I'm back. Back in Liverpool from Budapest, Innsbruck, Turin, Sauze d'Oulx, and Paris. I know, it all sounds romantic and lovely - having been skiing, skating, up mountains in cable cars and funiculars, down steps into smoky bars, through bustling markets, and across cities by rumbling trams. But I have returned feeling rather like an old rubber dinghy - somewhat deflated. I should feel euphoric, yet I don't. The sheer richness of the past three weeks, the nove...

My father pulled a chair into the centre of the hotel room, stood on it and peered inside the chandelier. 'Just checking for microphones,' he said. He tapped the light fitting, then mimed a listening spy wearing headphones and pulling them away from his ears in shock. I laughed. It was 1964, and Hungary was very much under communist influence. The Duna Hotel in Budapest was plush, as I remember, though I was only nine years old. I was, however, already a James B...

We were welcomed aboard 'Er Baby' by the pleasant-sounding Austrian woman over the train PA system. The child concerned was one of the Austrian rail network's OBB trains, which daughter and I were catching from Innsbruck to Budapest. It's pronounced 'Er Bay-bay.' Unlike many babies it performed faultlessly. It was quiet, didn't smell, and was predictable in its habits. It also kept us informed without wailing - via the onboard digital display - exactly which sta...

Helen Mirren served me my afternoon kaffee at Cafe Munding in the old part of Innsbruck. She wasn't in the mood to be messed with. She wasn't retired, but did exude an air of being extremely dangerous. Plus she was dressed head-to-toe in a sort of black jumpsuit, obviously designed to allow unrestricted karate moves against any customer ordering anything difficult. Not that celebrities are in short supply. The other evening we were served in a hotel restauran...