Laura Hall

Cycling in Copenhagen tips for tourists:

- Stay on the right.
- Don’t even try it at rush hour (7-9am, 3-5pm).
- Keep your wits about you.
- The Harbour Ring Route is a great circular path to follow that shows you the city. Try it!
- DO NOT WALK IN THE BIKE LANE: IT IS FOR BIKES.

Inside the fortress that inspired Hamlet As Radiohead and the RSC launch an innovative reinterpretation of Hamlet, a visit to the play's setting in Denmark brings a new dimension to the tragedy.

www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...

I deviated. Ever thankful for a great editor who whipped me into shape...

To be or not to be... today I’m pondering if I will actually get this feature about Hamlet’s castle written or if I will deviate into a long-winded essay that has no place in anyone’s travel pages...

The 19 best pizzas in the world, ranked Is your stomach rumbling? Same.

What’s Copenhagen’s pizza of the moment? Find out here...
www.timeout.com/restaurants/...

12 of the best independent shops in Copenhagen From sleek interior stores to modern perfumiers and quirky sex shops, the Danish capital has no shortage of unusual shopping opportunities

This is more than a shopping guide. It’s a cultural dive into Copenhagen. Oh, and it includes a spot where you can buy a perfume that smells of the Battle of Trafalgar. You’re welcome.

www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

We all need this. I’ve seen the poetry that’s come from it and it made me cry. Lovely.

Absolutely genius. I love that. I also sometimes ask: who else do you think I should be talking to for stories like this? which opens up all sorts of fun new contacts

*precedent.

The town that stood up to the Nazis This October, a fishing town on the Danish Riviera remembers one of the greatest collective acts of resistance of World War Two: its role in the flight and escape of the Danish Jews.

Today seems a good time to repost this story from Denmark. 80 years ago, a town saved the Danish jews from the Nazis, risking their lives to hide them in their homes and take them in their boats overnight to freedom. Collective resistance has a precendent.

www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

Measuring the 'White Lotus effect': How TV and film locations impact travel As White Lotus season three is released, executive producer Mark Kamine explains the behind-the-scenes wrangling and key challenges when choosing a filming location.

“The White Lotus isn't the first drama to have an outsized effect on the travel industry...But what's interesting right now, in the digital age, is how quickly news about a streamed TV show setting can have an impact.”

My latest on BBC Travel today...

www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...

When is your book out? Exciting...

My MFA diary A personal diary following my late in life decision to take an MFA course in Creative Writing

My MFA Diary. I couldn’t find much about MFA programmes in the UK online so I’m writing a series about the one I’m on. Are they like the US MFAs? What is it like to go on one? Is it worth it? Let’s find out...

#writing #amwriting #writers #mfa #creativewriting

www.hellolaurahall.com/mfa-diary

Maybe we could build on this as a community?
I’d add:
- Denmark
- Finland
- Faroe Islands

Joining in with a bit of #yellow because I love this house in South Greenland.

#TravelAddicts
#TopTravelPics

The 50 best cities in the world for 2025 We polled thousands of locals to rank the world’s greatest cities. Ready?

Is your city one of Time Out’s 50 best cities in the world?

www.timeout.com/things-to-do...

The new museum trend helping us regain our lost attention In a Manchester art gallery, a quiet room with just three paintings is starting a mental health movement aimed at reclaiming our lost attention spans.

If you’re struggling with your attention span – and I know I am – maybe you should try this...

www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...

The seven travel trends that will shape 2025 As firms around the globe reveal how they think we'll be travelling in 2025, we look at why it matters – and what it says about us.

"You could say that perhaps we are looking for new anchors. Travel trends like stargazing, holiday romance, nostalgia tourism, and so on show us that people are searching to be reconnected to something bigger than themselves."

Philosophy + travel in my new BBC piece.

www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...

So happy you saw it Katherine!!!

A special one-off MODERN SCANDINAVIAN today looks at Greenland and what Trump and so many commentators are missing when they turn it into a strippable asset.

modernscandinavian.substack.com

Dried halibut and whale jerky: how a traditional Inuit diet fuelled an epic kayak adventure British chef Mike Keen paddled up the coast of Greenland eating only what local people did, and the health benefits led him to question the global food system

Meet the man who kayaked Greenland’s West Coast while eating an ancestral Inuit diet.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A statue in Copenhagen with a dusting of snow on the top

Woke up to snow in Copenhagen today. What a lovely start to the work year.

I took my kids arctic cocooning in Finland - here's what we learned Travel writer Laura Hall takes her kids arctic cocooning in Finland and discovers a whole new way to see the world.

Hanging out with trees and talking about how slowly they grow is somehow something I love to do now.

TL,DR: I went to Lapland with the kids, avoided all the santa schmaltz, went arctic cocooning in the forest and found a state of bliss.

www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/a...

Book recommendations apropos of nothing:

Modern Nature by Derek Jarman - just the most staggeringly beautiful memoir about life in the shadow of death, and gardening in the shadow of a power station.

The Baby on the Fire Escape by Julie Phillips - valuable portraits of creative motherhood.

Meet the de-influencers: The social media pros trying to burst the bubble of ‘perfect travel’ There’s a new kid in town, calling out clichéd images and misleading travel ideals. Laura Hall looks at the rise of the de-influencers.

My latest, out on Adventure.com, about Deinfluencing travel.

Reddit says it best: “Many of us are sick and tired of being treated as endless buying machines instead of people... We don’t need the latest, trendiest things to be happy.”

adventure.com/de-influence...

Wrapping up December with some stories about truly inspiring people: one kayaked Greenland while eating only Inuit food, and another is rethinking museums and adding mindfulness to them.

It’s a reminder that there are incredible people out there, not just the ones we read about on the front page.

What a book. I am intrigued...

Could the airship be the answer to sustainable air travel – or is it all a load of hot air? Amid talk of sustainable aviation fuel and electric flights, there's another form of air travel currently being mooted as a green alternative to flying: the airship.

Would you fly in an airship to the North Pole? Because soon you will be able to...

www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...

The journey began when I walked through the jawbones of a bowhead whale on my arrival to Disko Island. The great grey bones were pinned together as an archway; walking through them makes me think of Jonah being swallowed alive, and the madness of Captain Ahab.

My favourite story of the year: about a trip to Greenland to listen to a whale radio station, just published in Beau Monde Traveller.

#greenland

beaumondetraveler.com/3d-flip-book...