As you walk through the door, the comforting aroma of brewing coffee combines with the enticing scent of fresh, crumbly chocolate-chip scones. The décor is homey and eclectic, beckoning you in. Behind the counter awaits a tantalizing array of muffins, bagels, cupcakes, buttermilk pancakes and biscuits. Welcome to NOLA Bakery, in the heart of Tel Aviv...
Vlad Bykanov admits he wasn't a kid who could sit still for more than five minutes. And when you watch a video of him racing round an ice rink, fast enough to make your head spin, you understand why. Because this is a man with a real passion for skating – a passion so great that by the age of 16 he was already competing on the world scene and in his mid-20s representing Israel at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics...
Asne Seirstad definitely makes the cut in my list, for "The Bookseller of Kabul", a tale of post-Taliban Afghanistan but with a “personal” twist. After befriending Sultan Khan (who, for years, had defied the authorities and kept open a bookstore in the capital), the author was invited to move into his home, where she subsequently spent several months living with him and his extended family (his mother, his aunts, Khan’s two wives and five children).
If there's one thing you can't leave home without, it's travel insurance and I can't emphasise this enough. One of the first pieces of advice I give to someone planning a trip is, don't even think of hitting the road without it. When you're on the road, you have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst – and, as I found out over the years, things can and will go wrong, just when you're least expecting it...
