WRosie Boycott, Travel Editor elcome to this year’s Oldie travel supplement, Go Away. Holidays, as we all know, should be made in heaven and consumed on earth, but sometimes, sadly, they’re not. Loyd Grossman and his brother went inter-railing to Rome in their youth and sought out a beautiful pensione. As they were walking upstairs to the first-floor reception, a stretcher with a sheet over a dead body jammed them against the wall. ‘Your room could take some time to clean up,’ said the receptionist when they checked in. They did not stick around to find out how long.

Go Away is nothing like that: instead Oldie writers tell tales of wonderful trips to fabulous places. I hope you’ll enjoy it, but if any Loyd-like experiences do occur, be sure to let us know.

In association with

Published by The Oldie magazine, 65 Newman Street, London W1T 3EG

Assistant editor: Sonali Chapman Design: Joe Buckley, Gary Milne Advertising: Chris Mace, Corin West, Azmi Elkholy

For advertising enquiries, call Corin West on 020 7487 8406. For editorial enquiries, call 020 7436 8801 or email editorial@ theoldie.co.uk

Cover illustration by Arthur Robins

Travel with GO AWAY

4 Oldie Travel Awards The winners of our fourth annual awards revealed

19 Take a bow Julie Rixon explains the art of a particular feature of Japanese etiquette

Julie Rixon explains the art

21 Let me be your guide Clover Stroud’s guide to guidebooks

6 Art in high places Lizzie Enfield hikes through the Austrian Alps with some rather unusual companions

8 A garden paradise Rosie Boycott is in love with Madeira

25 A Nepalese odyssey A charity trek through the Himalayas by Andrew and Joan Charlett

26 Our woman in Oman Sophia Sackville-West finds that modern and ancient sit precariously together in Oman

10 The real Ivor the Engine Christian Wolmar takes a ride on the Welsh Highland Railway

13 Into the jungle Famous friends of The Oldie reveal whom they would leave behind on a jungle trek

16 Imperial Constantinople John Julius Norwich in Istanbul

30 A city that named a nation You’ll find much more than port in Porto, says Claire Daly

18 A North American dream Patrick Reyntiens went on a sixweek trip around North America and Canada

‘It’s an electoral registration form’

Right: One of Antony Gormley’s iron doppelgängers (see page 6)

January 2011 GO AWAY The Oldie 3