Trial by tapas

"Hi Owain, How are you down there in VLC? Fancy finding a needle in a haystack for CNN Traveller magazine? Let me know. Ta!" Well, the editor may as well have said that. What he actually said was nearer to this: "Get over to Madrid, sniff out six of the best tapas joints and file copy as soon as you can. I don't care if there are greasy prints on it." Now finding six of the best 'anythings' is always going to be a tricky job. My six best might not even make it into your twenty best, for example, but it's normally a fairly subjective decision. Not a massive problem, but there is the problem of finding six of the best tapas bars in a city that's heaving with them. So where do you start? Having a fairly sound knowledge of Madrid from previous visits I decided to narrow it down to the best in the barrio (neighbourhood). In La Latina, for example, you head straight to Cava Baja for the best selection of tapas bars in a row. I chose a Basque one, Taberna Txakolí, as it stood out in the crowd of Madrileños. So my 'best tapas bars' piece became a collection of tapas bars with the best angles. An old man's bar turned gastro tapas bar near Real Madrid's hallowed stadium (Iciar), a Michelin-star chef turning his hand to ensalada rusa at Sula and a place that's been famous for salsa drenched patatas bravas since 1963 (Docamar). But then again, if my best isn't good enough for you, it's probably best to start pounding the streets of Madrid for yourself. (cnntravellermagazine.com)

Finding Miss Platnum

Every once in a while you find a true star in the making. Romanian-born, Berlin-based Miss Platnum is one of them. Funny, funky and full of soul, she made me a convert to her infectious brand of Balkan Pop after one interview for the April-May issue of WizzIt magazine. A little bit hip-hop, a little bit gypsy horns and violins –with lyrics about fried chicken wings and forced marriages thrown in for good measure– Miss Platnum's 'sound' is not one I would usually be drawn to. But that soon changed. I had her MySpace page on loop while I transcribed the interview and I was singing tracks like "Give Me The Food" and "Come Marry Me" for the rest of the week. Admittedly, the lyrics lose some of their wicked irony coming out of my gob but I suppose I was just enjoying some refreshing lyrics in my ear and on my tongue. Makes a big change from all those faux soul divas who warble on sincerely about love, hurt and bling tings, I tell thee. Miss Platnum says: sing your heart out about something you really love and have a laugh while you do it. I say: you go girl! (myspace.com/missplatnum)

Hot dates

I love Europe. I love her cities, I love her food, I love her accents. But most of all, I love her capacity to have a good time. The gigs, the exhibitions, and the festivals happening across the Continent every month prove to me that there isn't a dull bone in her body. So throughout the three-and-a-bit years I've been compiling the easyJet magazine's events pages, I've been trying to convey that proof and convince people there's always something decent going on, wherever you are. When I first started writing the guide it was nine events squeezed onto half an A4 page with two pictures for illustration. Needless to say, I learned to pick the kind of events that would shine in a sentence and how to source a few eye-catching images. The calendar has since expanded to cover four-pages (I would love to take credit for that but I'm sure it was a design thing) but I still apply the same quality controls: could I get someone off their arse/interested with a sentence? Is my Latvian/Italian/Greek good enough to get a high-resolution picture out of the organisers? Have a look and see if you're moved this month. (ink-live.com/easyjet-inflight-magazine)

Creative strength

I've wanted to be a advertising copywriter for a long time. I was hooked after my first taste of the industry at London agency DMB&B. Okay, it was work experience, and the meatiest job I had was getting the tea/sugar ratio right for a dozen people at a time, but still – it planted a seed. Every day I would walk into its offices on Buckingham Palace Road, through the smooth sliding doors and enter into a polished glass palace of creativity. I felt like Michael J. Fox in The Secret of My Success. But it wasn't the flashy interiors that sold it. Nope. It was the artworker and copywriter I met, furiously brainstorming in a cluttered little office, that really got me going. I learned quickly that old fashioned creativity doesn't need a palace to make it feel at home. Just a pen, some paper and, in their case, a kilo of Mars bars courtesy of their biggest client would suffice. So when Adam (at Spinach Design – an independent graphic design agency) contacted me about copywriting a few ads for his drinks industry clients and a complete rewrite of his website, I couldn't wait for the feet up, pens out, bouncing of ideas to start. Sadly, no Mars bars were thrown across the room this time as I'm based a few miles away in Spain. Skype, however, ensured that all the convincing gesticulations, head shakes and lengthy 'mmmm, would that really work?' pauses weren't missed out. Let me know what you think of the results. (spinachdesign.com)

The little apple

Just like a method actor lives and breathes a role, I like to go that little bit further for an article. To the right, I am on the way to an upset tummy in the apple orchards of Villaviciosa. Researching a piece on Asturian sidra (cider), I spent a day tasting the full spectrum of near-ripe apples – from eyewateringly bitter to melt-in-the-mouth sweet – and a night in Oviedo knocking it back with the locals. Like the Valencians have their paddy fields and paella as symbols of regional pride, the Asturians have the lush orchards of the Cormarca de la Sidra (literally, Cidershire) and an abundance of sidra to be proud of. The article was a discovery of Las Rutas de las Manzanas y La Sidra (The Cider and Apple Routes) for the easyJet magazine, and an introduction to the wonderfully interactive (read: free drinks and pub games) Museo de la Sidra in Nava. (museodelasidra.com)

Toy story

Little Ibi is the mountainside pueblo with a sweet history. After decades scraping snow from the nearby peaks to make ice cream, the hard-grafting townsfolk turned their mitts to the manufacture of toys in the 1905. And they're still producing truckloads of both today. Obviously a place like this would sound like heaven on earth to most kids, so I wrote a cheery introductory feature for YeahBaby magazine (yeah, really). Lightly skipping over colourful tales of professional espionage, cutthroat competition and mass walkouts from the original three toy factories during Ibi's 'golden age' of toy making, I pointed young travellers to a more wholesome history at the town's Valencian Toy Museum. Packed full of classic toys. it's a refreshingly straightforward museum that lets the fruits of over a hundred years' labour speak for themselves. The article will feature in the December-January issue of YeahBaby magazine (bmibabymagazine.com)

Bloke's eye view

I normally write pretty neutral city guides. Simple little introductions to places I visit that wouldn't exclude too many tastes or budgets. That said, I'm a 28-year-old man. My opinion of a good way to spend time occasionally differs from that of a 42-year-old single mum with kids in tow. But I've never been one to spoon-feed addresses and must-sees. My belief is this: give a man a guidebook and he'll stay on the right track for a day; inspire that man to look around for interesting shit himself and he'll not get lost, bored or flustered for a lifetime. Writing a bloke-centric guide to Las Palmas, then, was a piece I was born to write. With strict instructions to find a few interesting things for lads to do – and without too much boorish ‘stag do’ fodder – I was dispatched by the easyJet magazine to find Gran Canaria’s beating, masculine heart for the November issue. Apologies to all those who feel left out. (ink-live.com/easyjet-inflight-magazine)