Lensography Retire Young and Travel The World...

British Travel 

Kew Gardens: Royal Botanical Gardens in London, England

Kew Gardens are probably the best and most famous botanical gardens in the world and the model on which many others are based. There are several interesting buildings including a royal palace and large glasshouses ranging from a few years old to sev...

The Lake District, England

The Lake District in Northern England is a beautiful, peaceful place with large expanses of water to hike around or just sit and look at, charming old hotels and good restaurants. It is a great area to drive around if you don't want to exert yourself...

Richmond upon Thames, West London

Richmond upon Thames is beautiful and historically fascinating borough in west London. Richmond Park was the royal hunting grounds and deer still roam free; Richmond Hill has the best view in London, loved by Turner and many other artists (and home...

The West Country, England (South West)

The ancient county of Wessex in Southwest England now consists of the counties of Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Cornwall. Craggy coastlines and a very mild climate make this area a favourite tourist destination for British and overseas visitors. Here...

Twickenham, West London, England

Twickenham is famous as the home of British rugby, the location of the international Rugby Stadium and Rugby Museum, but it is also an ancient town, which features in the Doomesday Book. It is just a mile from Richmond, over the bridge, or or a slig...

Travel: Wildlife Adventures 

Amazon Jungle Adventure (Brazil)

The Amazon and Rio Negro (The Black River) in Northern Brazil are wonderful places for a vacation. It is possible to stay in the jungle in a floating hotel, near the confluence of Amazon and Rio Negro or in the nearby city, Manaus the gateway to the...

Safari in Botswana, Africa

This article is about Safari holidays in Botswana, travel tips, advice and recommendation. Botswana is a beautiful country in southern Africa with a wide variety of wildlife viewing opportunities, from the classic safari vacation to the unique and w...

The Rain Forests of Borneo

Borneo, in Southeast Asia, is a beautiful country with unique wildlife. It is home to the illusive orangutan, proboscis monkey, Bornean clouded leopard and many other endangered species. It is a wonderful destination for more adventurous travelers, b...

Namibia. Big Cat Safari

Namibia is off the beaten track for the average beach/safari tourist. The desert, sand dunes and wildlife make it one of the best places in Africa to visit. This article is about where to go and the things to see in this wonderful safari destination,...

Photo Gallery: African Safari Photographs

After many years of world travel, in search of wild animals and beautiful scenery, I have published some of my African Safari photographs here: From Namiba, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia in Southern Africa, these photographs are available as postcar...

Travel: USA and Canada 

The Rocky Mountaineer Train, Canada

The Rocky Mountaineer is a luxury train that runs from Vancouver to Jasper via Kamloops, through the beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains. It is expensive and billed as being one of the best train journeys in the world, comparable with The Orient Expre...

The National Parks of USA in an RV

Should you rent an RV (i.e. campervan, mobile home) and explore America? This article gives travel advice for road-trips in America and details my experiences from when I took a career break and set off on a road-trip in an RV, round the national p...

Canada. Vancouver Island and the Rockies

Vancouver is a big city with an interesting history and a good range of restaurants and bars, that will keep a tourist busy for several days, but it is also in a fantastic location if you are interested in wildlife viewing. Whale watching is possible...

Travel: More Wildlife and Nature 

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru

Machu Picchu in Peru is one of those views that you just have to see once in your life. Everyone has seen the classic photo, always apparently taken from exactly the same place on the descent down a mountain towards the ancient site. My trip there, h...

Most Beautiful Waterfalls: Iguacu in Brazil

Iguacu (or Iguazu) waterfalls are some of the most impressive and beautiful in the world, not the biggest, widest nor tallest waterfall, but 275 separate waterfalls spread over a three-kilometre crescent between Argentina and Brazil. Most of the fall...

The Apes of Gibraltar

Gibraltar is the home of the "Barbary Ape", a kind of macaque monkey, but without a tail. It is a highly controversial place and has been a British territory since 1704 much to Spain annoyance, as it has a rather strategic location at the...

Rajasthan Tigers. Indian Safari

Ranthambore National Park has been a tiger reserve since Project Tiger started in 1972 and was formerly the hunting ground of the Maharajas of Jaipur in Eastern Rajasthan. It is now one of the best places to see Tigers in India, although a sighting...

Komodo Dragons of Indonesia

Komodo National Park is a fascinating place, with barren, desolate features and the rare, slow lumbering giant lizards that most people go there to see. These endangered animals live on a small group of islands between Sumbawa and Flores in the Indon...

Travel: Ancient Sites 

Pyramids of Mexico

Mexico is a fascinating country, with a huge variety of cultural things to see and do and an amazing history. There are a lot of ancient ruins in a good state of repair, some set in wonderful jungle settings. Here is a review of a cultural tour of...

Egypt: Nile Cruise

The best way to see Ancient Egypt is to cruise along the Nile, although there is a lot to see in Cairo or the Valley of the Kings, for a few days, without traveling the length of the Nile. Many tourists also go to Egypt for the beaches, diving and sn...

Travel: City Breaks 

Marrakech Morocco North Africa

Marrakech is an interesting city, so close to Europe and yet so different in many ways. The contrast is particularly evident in the Medina, the old walled city, where motorbikes, donkeys and carts and cars jostle for right of way on the narrow dirty...

Salvador: Carnival City in Brazil

Tourists go to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival. Many Brazilians go to Salvador. It is a great carnival city in Brazil. It is also a beautiful photogenic, cultural city with plenty of things to keep a tourist busy. Salvador, in the state of Bahia, north...

Maharajas' Palace Hotels in India

India is a huge, fascinating country, with a long and interesting history and a wonderful variety of architectural and natural attractions. It would take many months of traveling to comprehensively explore India, but it is also possible to get a goo...

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is often described as the most beautiful city in the world, but has a reputation for being quite dangerous and crime-ridden. On my recent trip there Rio turned out to be a stunning and beautiful place, with wonderful views, hotels, re...

Exploring China

China is a fascinating place for a vacation. It is developing fast with some cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing very modern while others are still traditional and apparently unchanged for centuries. It is a country of contrast, with some wonderful...

Travel: Europe 

Berlin, Germany: City Guide

Berlin is a beautiful and historically fascinating city and has probably changed more than any other European city in recent times. Since the reunification of East and West Berlin and the removal of most of the infamous Berlin Wall, old landmark bui...

France in a Ferrari: Loire Valley, Brittany

The Loire Valley is a wonderful part of France, with many old picturesque towns and villages, beautiful architecture including some very impressive chateaux and of course fantastic food and wine. Brittany, by the coast and not far from Cornwall in t...

European Travel Highlights

A quick photographic tour of Europe to some of my favourite bits and links to a few more of my more detailed european travel articles, including: Tuscany in Italy Loire Valley and Brittany, France Gibraltar, U.K. (Near Spain) Richmond, London, Engla...

Tuscany, Italy: Beautiful Countryside, Art, History and Wine

Tuscany is beautiful part of Italy; a favourite destination for British and American tourists. The many picturesque medieval hill towns are relatively close together, separated by beautiful countyside, rolling hills, olive groves and vineyards making...

Hotel Reviews 

Asian Hotel Reviews

Here is a selection of hotel reviews, travel tips and advice from my many trips to Asia: Borneo, China, India, Malyasia, Hong Kong etc. from luxury hotels, such as the Intercontinental in Hong Kong and Sofitel Hyland in Shanghai to more basic guesth...

European Hotel Reviews

Here is a selection of otel reviews and recommendations from my many travels (both business and pleasure) around Europe: UK, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Italy, Sweden, Estonia, Poland and Russia and many other countries. In England, a beautiful old...

African Hotel Reviews

Here is a selection of hotel reviews from my many trips to Africa: Namibia, Botswana (Southern sub-Saharan African, north of South Africa), Egypt and Morocco (North Africa) - Safari vacations and cultural visits, travel recommendations and advice. ...

American Hotels (USA, Canada and South America)

Here are some hotel reviews from my many trips to USA, Canada, Mexico and South America: From lodges and wood cabins in Canada to old and new hotels in San Francisco and Silicon Valley in California and archeologists' lodgings in Mexico. Travel...

Worldwide Hotel Reviews

A selection of my hotel reviews from all over the world: Africa, Asia, India, Europe, America (North, South and Central) and links to other travel articles giving advice, recommendations and travel tips for a variety of world-wide holiday destinatio...

Classic Cars 

Ferrari 308 - Affordable classic (Magnum's car)

The Ferrari 308 is an affordable Classic car; inexpensive to run and purchase, but with looks that still turn heads. And of course you will look like Magnum star, Tom Selleck! The Ferrari 308 and the almost identical 328 that followed were mid-engi...

Budget Supercar: Jaguar XKR

The Jaguar XKR is now a used car bargain. A supercar as good in many ways as an Aston DB7 but far more affordable. The DB7 was supposed to be the new Jag coupe, to replace the old XJS, but was launched badged as an Aston Martin (both companies were...

Fiat 500 - Classic Italian Car

The Fiat 500 is a new retro-styled car based on the style of old classic 1960s car of the same name. This article is about the new Fiat 500 a modern interpretation of the classic Fiat 500 of the 1960s and a look at the original car, many of which st...

Alfa Romeo Spider (The Star of The Graduate Film)

The Alfa Romeo Spider was the beautiful star of the 1967 film, The Graduate, (also staring Dustin Hofman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross...) It was designed and manufactured by Pininfarina in Grugliasco Italy from 1966 to 1993 and its longevity was d...

Bad guys drive Jags: Jaguar XJ12/Daimler Double Six

The Jaguar XJ12 (AKA Daimler Double Six) is a beautiful big British luxury car with an enormous smooth powerful V12 engine and acres of leather and walnut inside. It's like a bargain Bentley, with the performance of a new Porsche Boxster (if not the...

Finance Articles 

Make Money In Any Market: Balance Your Portfolio

What is a "balanced" portfolio? Why should mixing different asset classes make your investment portfolio much less risky? Here is an explanation (and some of the maths) behind this useful risk reduction method. Most portfolios are highly...

How to get rich... Slowly

Ever wondered how to guarantee being rich one day? This is a method that really works: This article is about simple low risk ways to ensure that you live and eventually retire in the style you deserve. You can work really hard and earn lots of money...

Safe Investments For Uncertain Times

How to invest money in these difficult times? If you have a lump-sum to invest, or even if you just want to preserve what money you have accumulated, in these tough times, how would you invest for a comfortable life? The "Credit Crunch"...

Make Money From Home

There are many ways to make money from home and there is a lot of money out there on the internet to be had, but there are also a lot of people chasing the money. This article is about my research: The methods I have tried and the results I have achi...

Spread Trading with Stocks and Shares

How to make lots of money from financial spread trading. Or how not to lose all of your money... Financial spread trading is a very risky way of playing the stock-market, but does have the advantage of allowing you to make money no matter which way...

UK Specific Finance 

Invest in a tax-free ISA

In the UK Individual Savings Accounts or ISAs are little more than an official tax-wrapper into which other investments may be hidden from the tax-man, but they are a useful way to reduce tax. This article is about the advantages and disadvantages o...

National Saving Premium Bonds

In the UK most people have some National Savings and Investments (NS & I) Premium Bonds. They cost a pound each and give you the chance to win between £25 (minimum prize recently reduced from £50) and £1,000,000 every month for...

Trading Stocks and Shares Online

How to trade shares on line and which broker to use. Many online and high-street banks provide stock-broking services either online or by phone. This article is about what you need to get started and also some recommendations about brokers and inves...

Personal Pensions (and SIPPs)

Pensions are extremely important, but very boring and tend to be neglected until it is too late. Personal Pensions, SIPPs (Self Invested Personal Pensions) and Stakeholder Pensions are not the only way to financially prepare for life after work, but...

More Finance Articles 

Financial Engineering for Individuals and Small Companies

Financial Engineering is a complex process used by large companies to ensure that they can fulfill their financial obligations at certain times in the future. It is however just as relevant for individuals and small companies. We cannot accurately...

Technical Analysis (Charting)

Technical analysis is the art/science of using charts to predict the direction of financial markets (i.e. using the past to predict the future). Various different types of chart may be created and patterns within those charts, intersections of lines...

Absolute Investment Returns: Buy ZDP Shares (Zeros)

Zero Dividend Preference Shares are a little known sub-class of investment trust share (the safest variety of "Split-Capital" investment trust) which provide almost guaranteed capital gain with a defined end-date. Usually very safe, even in these tur...

Cameras 

Classic Cameras and 35mm Slide Photography

Digital photography is now so good, why would anyone still use film? Surprising a few people still do. The days of 35mm film photography may be numbered, but there are still some reasons to persevere with the old technology, even if you are just goi...

Which Digital SLR Camera?

There are so many good digital SLR cameras on the market now, with a wide range of prices and specifications, but which one should you buy and from which manufacturer? Why should you buy an SLR instead of a compact? What other features should you lo...

Which Compact Digital Camera?

Which digital compact camera is for you? This article covers the things to consider when buying a compact digital camera: Digital camera reviews; Which is the best digital compact camera? What type and size of sensor do you need? How many mega-pixe...

Best Digital Compact Camera: Canon Powershot G10, G11

The Canon Powershot G10 is a top of the range compact digital camera from one of the best producers of photography equipment. It is aimed at users of SLR cameras who occasionally need something a bit smaller, but still need good quality photographs a...

Photography Articles (and Photo Editing Software and Computers) 

How to Scan Photographs, Negatives and Slides

Do you still use a film camera, or do you have lots of 35mm negatives, slides or photographs from years ago that you want to get onto your computer? This article is about my experiences with digital film/slide scanners, a couple of scanner reviews,...

Nettop Computer: Acer Veriton N260G Review

Nettop computers are the new fashion: inexpensive, very low power-consumption; very small and quiet (making them ideal for use as a media-centre PC) They are also ideal as a second computer or for the kids to use and can be left on all day without d...

Apple Computers: Macbooks and iMacs

Apple make some wonderful stylish consumer devices, which also function very well, but do they make good computers and software? The standard macbook looks cute and very well made, but it is quite expensive compared to most of the competition. The op...

GIMP FREE Photo Editing Software

GIMP is a free photo-editing tool similar to Adobe Photoshop, which can be used for anything from simple red-eye reduction, cropping and image size or file format changing to full professional photo retouching. GIMP was originally written for Linux,...

Wildlife and Travel Photography 

Wildlife & Travel Photo Gallery

After many years of traveling the world and taking photos, mostly of wildlife and nature and I have published some of them in a Zazzle Gallery. Here is a selection of some of these photographs and links to the associated Zazzle productions; cards and...

Photo Gallery: African Safari Photographs

After many years of world travel, in search of wild animals and beautiful scenery, I have published some of my African Safari photographs here: From Namiba, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia in Southern Africa, these photographs are available as postcar...

Wildlife & Travel Photo Gallery

After many years of traveling the world and taking photos, mostly of wildlife and nature and I have published some of them in a Zazzle Gallery. Here is a selection of some of these photographs and links to the associated Zazzle productions; cards and...

Worldwide Travel Photography

This article is about travel-photography all over the world including Brazil, China, Peru, USA, Canada, UK, Morocco, Mexico, Egypt, India, Thailand. I have published several travel photography articles, which I have listed below with some of the ph...

Wildlife and Nature Photography

Wildlife Photography from all over the world: I have been travelling the world taking photographs of animals and nature for many years, so here are some of my photographs and some of my experiences, travel tips, recommendations and advice. I have w...

More Wildlife Photography 

Monkey Photos (Primates from all over the world)

After many years of traveling the world, taking nature and wildlife photographs I noticed that a large proportion of these are of monkeys and by popular demand I have compiled a selection of these photographs in a single article. Some of these are al...

Creative Writing 

Creative Writing (for money)

Are you a writer, or would you like to be a writer, or just make a little extra money by writing articles from home? There are many writing communities on the internet. Many of these concentrate on consumer reviews, but some (e.g. Helium) are more o...

My Blog: AndyPo's Musings...

Here is my blog: Mostly about clever finance ideas (I hope) but also travel, photography, classic cars... etc. I am a semi-professional travel photographer (i.e. I once sold a few photos) and semi-retired consultant physicist (i.e. unemployed boffi...

HiFi Turntables (Record Players, Gramophones...) and Home Cinema 

Home Theater Projectors (Home Cinema)

Home cinema projectors allow the real feel of a cinema or film theater in your own home; enormous picture for a reasonable price. The price of LCD and Plasma flat panel screens and televisions has come down a lot in price the largest sizes available...

The Best HiFi Turntable (The Gyrodec)

This article is about HiFi turntables and playing vinyl records, but mostly a review of the Michell Gyrodec, possibly the best HiFi turntable (record deck) currently available. The Michell Gyrodec was designed several decades ago and is as much a de...

How to Choose a Blu Ray Player

The format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD has finally been won, with Blu-ray the only survivor after most of the film studios backed just that format, about a year ago. Both formats output "Full HD" (1080p resolution) and Full HD televisions are also...

Home Cinema / Theater

This is a compilation of articles, reviews and recommendations about home-cinema/home-theatre and HiFi: Reviews of Blu-ray players, LCD televisions, home-cinema-projectors, Nettop and Media PCs and HiFi equipment. The pros and cons of LCD v Plasma t...

How To Choose The Best Television For You

How do you choose a television? What size do you need to get a full Home Cinema effect? LCD or Plasma? Projector or flat-panel. I have covered all of these subjects in the article below. Please also see the full review of an excellent, relatively i...

Theatre Reviews 

The 39 Steps, London West End Play Review

A review of the play: The 39 Steps which is probably the best west-end theatre play on in London, England, at the moment (in my opinion) The 39 Steps is currently playing at the Criterion Theatre, which is in the middle of Piccadilly Circus in the...

More About Me... 

A detailed lensography

Richmond upon Thames, West London

Richmond upon Thames is beautiful and historically fascinating borough in west London. Richmond Park was the royal hunting grounds and deer still roam free; Richmond Hill has the best view in London, loved by Turner and many other artists (and home...

AndyPo: A Lensography

This lens is all about me, just in case you are interested; My life from South West England to Oxford University, London, then the rest of the world: lots of photos and a few links to some of my other favourite lenses... And some of travel and wild...