John Henderson's Travel Adventures in Rome and Beyond

July 25, 2025

Egypt: Planning a bucket list trip to Egypt? Here’s how to dive in before you go

(Director’s note. Egypt is such a fascinating country, to visit it is an education. But learn about it before you go. New Orleans-based writer Sadie Smith lists some ways to prep for Egypt in this guest blog.) A trip to Egypt is no mere holiday. It is a chance to step through a time […]

July 22, 2025

Dolce & Gabbana: Italian fashion enters theater of the weird in Rome exhibition

I attended Dolce & Gabbana’s exhibit at the gargantuan Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome Wednesday. The outfits on display, all from past fashion shows around the world, were outrageous. Bamboo miniskirts. Dresses made up entirely of flowers. One cloak depicted a canal scene from Venice. But it provided insight into one of the world’s leading fashion houses, one that earned €1.9 billion in sales last year. D&G also has an interesting history.

July 18, 2025

Video: My 10 Favorite Cities in the World

Continuing my addition of videos onto my website, I am doing my 10 Favorite Cities in the World. This comes two months after my video on my 10 Least Favorite Cities in the World. I wonder which will get a more negative reaction.

July 15, 2025

Tourist annoyances: 10 things that drive me crazy

It’s the height of tourist season around the world and if I hear one more tourist here in Rome say “Thank you” instead of “Grazie,” I’ll call the Carabinieri. There are so many things tourists do that annoy me that I decided to form a top 10 list. Feel free to add to it.

July 8, 2025

Skye: As world falls apart, this quiet, green and cold Scottish isle was worth half century of wait

Skye is one of the most popular destinations in the United Kingdom. Impossibly green. Sparsely populated. Incredible views. Adventurous outdoor activities. We took a precatious 3 1/2-hour drive from Inverness to spend three nights on neighboring Raasay Island. It was an expensive three days but with the world caving in elsewhere. this corner of northwest Europe was the perfect escape.

July 1, 2025

Inverness: The fabled train ride isn’t as nice as the city

An Instagram video of the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Inverness got me interested in taking it from Edinburgh. However, an investigation told me just taking the regular Scotrail train would be cheaper and we’d see the same scenery. Turns out, the scenery wasn’t really worth the train trip. But Inverness was. Compact downtown. Beautiful river walk. Languid Ness Islands. We’re glad we went.

June 24, 2025

Edinburgh: After 47 years, a new perspective on a Scottish gem

I first visited Edinburgh in 1978 as a naive, rookie backpacker on the first week of a solo around-the-world journey. Two weeks I visited again for the first time. Some things have changed but none nearly as much as I have. I came with a seasoned traveler’s perspective, an aversion for tourist traps and more money.

June 20, 2025

Video: The Raasay House on Raasay Island, Scotland:

I’ll be writing three blogs off my recent trip to Scotland, starting with Tuesday’s return to Edinburgh after 47 years. First, I wanted to tease the series with a short video on our hotel base on Raasay Island in the Scottish Highlands.

June 17, 2025

My Five Favorite Restaurants in Italy — Edition 2

Five years ago I wrote My Five Favorite Restaurants in Italy. I’ve traveled a lot around the country since then so it’s time for an update. I picked five, but No. 1 remains the same. Check it out and take it with you on your next trip to Italy. Note: I left out Rome as I annually write My Five Favorite Restaurants in the city.

June 8, 2025

Rome’s pro-Palestinian rally draws 300,000 hoping Meloni, Netanyahu notice

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Marina and I attended Rome’s massive pro-Palestinian rally Saturday and I talked to many of the supporters. They were equally enraged by the Israeli “genocide” and Italy prime minister Georgia Meloni’s inaction. However, they were quick to point out they were not antisemitic.

June 3, 2025

Wine wars: Why we get headaches from drinking wine in U.S. but rarely in Italy — Chapter 2

Since retiring to Rome 11 years ago and getting fairly heavily into wine, I rarely get headaches. Yet I always did in the U.S. So do my readers. I sought answers at a recent wine tasting of my favorite Piedmont wines as well as wine experts in the U.S. and California. The culprit isn’t sulfites as I always thought. It’s much more complicated.

May 27, 2025

Rome hotel guide: The world’s briefest (Hey, I live in an apartment!) offers four I can recommend

I don’t know why visitors always ask me to recommend a hotel in Rome. I don’t know. I live in apartments. But over the last few years I’ve taken Marina to six hotels in Rome for one-night “staycations.” It has given me a small glimpse at the hotel scene here. Unfortunately, two we visited have closed. For what it’s worth, here are four we can recommend.

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