Blog

Madrid is the center point of Spain and the nation’s capital. I has everything: museums, palaces, markets, churches, and my favourite, amazing Art Deco Architecture. In Treks & Books, we explore Madrid’s top 10 sights and outline which literature and films used it for a setting. I’m a Toronto writer who pens Art Heist Technothrillers…

As a Toronto thriller and YA writer, I’m truly excited announce the launch of my new YouTube segment called Treks & Books. I’ve travelled to over 80 countries with my wife and my son has joined in the adventure. In each YouTube show, I will highlight the various destination cities I’ve travelled to throughout the…

Edinburgh, Scotland has the gothic architecture and the history to inspire writers. JK Rowling admits that Edinburgh Castle helped her dream up Hogwarts and that Grassmarket’s tight, brightly coloured shops made her think of Diagon Alley. She’s in good company. Sir Ian Rankin also writes about and lives in Edinburgh. The city features prominently in…

Jolly old England at the end of June pack a brawly and a jumper, right? Wrong. London was a sweltering 40c and the surrounding concrete made it worse. Even in shorts and a golf shirt, we had to down liters of water and take to the rare air conditioned shop for respite. Undaunted my family…

Our second last day in Madrid, my son insisted on traveling to Segovia by bullet train. Originally, I’d planned on driving which would take 1.5 hours there and back for a total of three hours. Instead we boarded the bullet train out of Chamartín station. This whisked us from Madrid to Segovia in a blistering…

Bilbao lays nestled in Basque country with its river flowing to the Bay of Biscay. Once a dirty shipping port, the city fell on hard times when steel and other industries shuttered their factories. The soot and grime that caked the buildings clung hard to the chock-a-block workers tenements that form the city. But the…

Yes, I needed an international drivers license (thanks CAA) and my wits about me, and my son navigating, but I managed. The key advantage I had was familiarity with driving on the right hand side! Our route was simple: Madrid to Bilbao and then across to Santiago de Compostela. My family and I picked up…