Steven Spielberg travel tips

If the landscapes of each US state had their own Miss America–style competition, California would be a serious contender for the crown.

A cellphone allows travelers to have a camera always at the ready. The latest phones offer multiple lenses with better resolution and enhanced macro and telephoto capabilities, enabling virtually every moment to be captured for posterity. This can be both a blessing and a curse. When should we be taking a photograph and when should we simply be taking the time to look and wonder at the world around us? Here are a few tips on when and what to shoot, and how to better frame what we see when we travel.

Ever since the 1950s glory days of the silver screen, film producers and directors such as Don Boyd (Elephant Rock, 1977) have raved about how the beauty, light and variety of the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka make it a perfect outdoor film set.

The “dreaming spires” of Oxford have starred in many a film (The Italian Job, Howard’s End, The History Boys), but it’s the college of Christ Church that’s most recognizable in the Harry Potter films, doubling up as the inimitable Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. From the cavernous wood-clad Great Hall and the echoey sixteenth-century staircase to the spooky cloisters and quadrangles, Christ Church makes the perfect setting for magical escapades.

Of all Europe’s countries, Poland is the one that has changed the most in recent decades. All of its major cities have been through a process of major reinvention, opening flashy new museums, laying out new parks and brushing up their heritage with a spate of renovation. There’s an awful lot of wild nature, too. Discover Polish mountain ranges and what cities to see with our pick of the best things to do in Poland.