Our misadventures: round-the-world pub crawls, Kilimanjaro, travel field guides and the people we meet.
Ever wondered why everyone is staring at you when you travel? From the professional café stare of France and Italy’s full head-to-toe inspection to Georgia, where staring appears to be a national spectator sport, we investigate one of travel’s great mysteries: what exactly are they looking at?
Travel YouTuber Steve Marsh has never met a ferry he didn’t fancy, a rainstorm he wouldn’t film, or a slightly questionable journey he wouldn’t attempt. We celebrate Scotland’s cheeriest ambassador for ferries, miserable weather and wonderfully unnecessary adventures.
From “Hey guys!” and mirror-waving to hidden gems with 14,000 Google reviews, we investigate the strange rituals every travel influencer seems legally required to perform. Pack your tiny microphone, charge the drone and prepare to be absolutely INSANE.
Flying is one of humanity’s greatest achievements, so naturally we spend it fighting over armrests, removing our shoes and standing up 15 minutes before the plane doors open. Welcome aboard our unofficial field guide to humanity at 35,000 feet.
British trains are a magnificent social experiment involving delayed services, seat hunters, bag owners, Tube pole huggers and people eating boiled eggs at 7am. Welcome aboard our unofficial field guide to Britain on the move.
Airports do strange things to perfectly normal people. From Olympic-speed gate runners and professional queue tutters to 6am Scampi Fries and passengers who suddenly forget what a passport is, welcome to our entirely unofficial field guide to airport humanity.
My second around-the-world adventure included Russian sparkling wine in Baku, a surprise Oktoberfest pub in Dubai, chow mein mountains in Nepal, heat exhaustion on a Singapore sightseeing bus, a mysterious Seoul hotel, advanced bowing lessons in Tokyo, suspicious airline staff in Los Angeles and frozen champagne somewhere over the Atlantic. In other words, a perfectly normal holiday.
Most pub crawls involve a few streets and a sensible journey home. Ours involved eight countries, four continents, 25,000 miles and a growing inability to remember what day it was. It started with a pint in Heathrow Terminal 2 and somehow ended with seven slightly confused travellers standing in New York wondering how any of this had happened.
I boarded a Moscow train convinced everyone hated me. The passengers looked stern, the atmosphere was silent and one grandmother appeared personally offended by my existence. Then I opened a bottle of vodka. Within an hour the carriage had transformed into a travelling dinner party complete with stories, snacks and several new friends.
Armed with just a few words of Mandarin, I travelled across China using a communication strategy based largely on train noises, airplane impressions and farmyard animals. Somehow it worked. Whether I was ordering chicken, finding transport or buying supplies, the less dignity I retained, the more successful the conversation became.
Tipple Tours is known for wine tastings, brewery visits and discovering local drinks in unusual places. So how did we end up organising treks up Africa's highest mountain where alcohol was almost entirely absent? Thanks to Andre, Aloyce and an incredible local team, our guests conquered Kilimanjaro, discovered spectacular scenery and learned that sometimes the best travel stories don't come from the bottle. Although, judging by the celebrations afterwards, a cold drink at the end certainly didn't hurt.
Every tour begins the same way. Polite smiles, cautious introductions and that unspoken agreement that everyone will behave like reasonable adults. Then the first drinks arrive and within about 45 minutes, the group quietly transforms into something far more interesting. No matter where you are, whether it’s deep in a Moldovan wine cellar or hopping between breweries in the US, the same characters always show up. Different faces, same personalities. It’s like the universe is running a very specific casting call.
The stories behind Tipple Tours: a 25,000-mile pub crawl, a vodka-fuelled Russian train, frozen Champagne disasters and field guides to the people you meet in airports, on trains and on tour.
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