World Traveler

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I’m from England and have travelled there a fair bit but generally if I want a holiday I head straight to somewhere else in Europe as I always thought that they have nicer beaches. That was until I was introduced to Norfolk!

I went to a tiny place in the middle of no where called Sea Pauling but the beach stretches on for miles so there are plenty of other towns to choose from if you want more excitement. I was told that when you see the beach you think you’re in India or something, I laughed at that comment and thought that the person was just exaggerating. I walked up the huge sand dunes and when I reached to the top I was shocked. The beach was stunning and I never imagined that there was a place so beautiful just three hours from London. Obviously the sea is freezing but the sunsets were amazing! Plus you can go sand dune surfing – its so much fun but very tiring walking back up!

If you head to Norwich, you can hire canal boat and cruise down the river stopping at little towns along the way and there are even small boats that drive you to you and seel drinks and ice-creams, random! Norwich also has a fairly good nightlife. I never thought I would say it but you can actually have an excellent holiday in England and the weather there in the summer gets really hot (I don’t know if it’s ever going to be quite hot enough to go in the sea though!)

Read more about where to go in England……

London can be an amazing place to shop, if you know where to go and there are loads of fantastic markets with a great ambiance. Oxford Street is London’s main shopping Mecca and it will keep you busy for a good few ours as the street stretches from Marble Arch all the way to Tottenhamcourt Road and has high street shops, budget shops, designer wear and loads of department shops. Its packed everyday of the week so it can be quite stressful! Regent Street near by is good for designer brands and upmarket high street shops, plus there is Hamley’s toy shop which is huge and definitely the place for toys (adults will love it too
though!)

You can’t miss Portobello Market with its buzzing vibe, funky music blaring out and general funkiness. The market continues for about a mile and you can buy antiques, retro and second hand wear, up-and-coming
designer wear, the coolest clothes and some brilliant music. The main days are Friday and Saturday and there are loads of cafes and bars so you can make a day of it. Look out for the crazy man that caries an
8-foot wooden cross on his back - I always see him around everywhere and I have no idea why he does it!

Camden Market is another cool place to hang out, there are loads of different markets all in the same place, plus shopping on the main street, though nearly all the shops are shoe shops, crazy I know but great if you are looking for shoes! Camden is a very different area, you will see what I mean if you go there! Loads of punks and goths and generally people who look and dress very different, I love it as no one
has to “fit in” its more about fitting out! Camden is also a great place to go out with cafes, restaurants on the lock, bars and clubs.

Other markets include Spital Fields Market with is mostly hand made items like bags, clothes and jewellery. Covent Garden is good for some of the latest trends and Kilburn is good for bargain hunters.

Read more about London……

Snowboarding never really appealed to me, I always preferred a hot holiday rather than a cold one, probably because I’m from England so I don’t get to see the sun much. I was eventually persuaded to go on a snowboarding holiday in Scotland, in a small town called Avimore, near Inverness and I had the time of my life!

I was pretty scared at first and neither me nor my friend had been before and decided to do it the cheap way and not get an instructor. We hired out the boards and a few other bits, but forgetting the goggles so I spent the whole day squinting to try and get the snow out of my eyelashes, unsuccessfully!

We arrived, fully kitted out in our snow gear (minus the goggles of course!), and the first hurdle came as soon as we got out of the bus – getting up the slope! Instead of chair lifts there were T-bar’s, everyone else made it look easy, just stand, swipe the t-bar between your legs and glide up the mountain. My male friend went first and failed miserably getting dragged face down in the snow, while I stood back trying to conceal that fact that I was wetting myself with laughter he continues, making the same mistake each time. By this time I am finding it hard to breathe as I am laughing so much, luckily I get an offer from one of the instructors to help get me up the slope so I didn’t have to go through the same embarrassing face-in-snow procedure as my friend.

I found snowboarding fairly easy but had no idea how to stop so just threw myself back in the snow, obviously that’s not the proper way of doing things but it seemed to work for me, I also didn’t realise that people zig-zagged to ensure they didn’t go to fast – I’m pretty sure I must have come close to breaking the land speed record and was scared I was going to run someone down! My friend continued with his difficulties and even lost the board from his feet which knocked me off mine! How can you loose the board from your feet?? - Its attached!

All in all I had a great day and I would definitely consider doing it again, but maybe with a lesson or two next time!

Read more about the UK…….

Notting Hill Carnival happens once a year in the August Bank holiday (about the third week into August) and runs for two days, usually about 10am till 8pm but the times vary each year. The Sunday is supposedly the kid’s day but there are usually way more adults and it’s my preferred day as it isn’t so scary! Monday is the adult’s day and prepares yourself fully! There are two million people packed into a few small streets so a lot of the time there isn’t enough space to put your feet, there are crushes, pick pockets, fights and a lot of queuing, having said that there is also some fantastic music, dancing in the street, a huge variety of culture, loads of yummy food stalls, amazing costumes and a street parade.

It can be a brilliant day out, but it can also be absolute hell! Make sure you don’t carry any bags and have everything you need on your person, make sure you have cash – getting to an ATM is mission impossible, bring a carnival map even if you know the area as some streets are blocked off and then you get trapped because of all the stampedes of people trying to push through crowds, try to avoid roads like Ladbroke Grove as there are so many people in such a small space that its really scary because of all the pushing and shoving. I find it best to have a brief walk around and then find a spot where I like the music and stay there. Some of the music is part of the parade but there are various stages set up that don’t move, these are mainly around Westbourne Grove.

Read about more parties….

Glastonbury Festival is one of the largest festivals In Europe (third largest and about 100,000 people) and it was the first real festival that I have ever been to so I had no idea what to expect. I had heard a huge amount of stories about it being so hot, or so muddy, or so packed, so big but I still didn’t really know what was coming. The first hurdle is getting the tickets! Tickets sell out in a matter of seconds and the phones are constantly engaged, I have never managed to get through but tickets are usually on eBay and there is often people selling tickets at the gate (but I’m pretty sure that’s not allowed!)

Glastonbury is a few hours drive out of London so you can drive or take the train (train travellers are supplied with regular buses that ferry the festival visitors between the festival and the local train station (ticket holders only). The festival is absolutely huge and there is plenty of space for parking and camping. The festival itself runs over three or four days but many people arrive days before and start partying early, many people also stay on a few days after the festival as well

There are usually at least 6 stages all playing a variety of music from rock to dance music with loads of well known bands and DJ’s, mainly continuing the whole time through out the festival so you don’t have to sleep if you don’t want to! There is a place where you can charge up your phones, loads of amazing food stalls that even cater for vegans, some fabulous clothes stalls, shops and ATM’s - honestly, you can buy anything you want there

It can get really hot and there is no shade, it can also rain a lot and can get ridiculously muddy and slippy, I saw a good few people fall face first in the mud! My sister’s had been before and told me to wear the oldest raggiest clothes I had, but when I arrived everyone was dressed in fancy fairy costumes etc so I felt really under-dressed but, surprise, surprise, you can buy costumes there too

There is so much to see and just roaming around takes up most of your day so its pretty hard to get bored, although if its raining and your not prepared it can be a little trying at times, especially by the end of the weekend so make sure you go prepared. Its a crazy and fabulous festival to be enjoyed by all, children and dogs are welcome too!

Read about more parties…..

Budget Airlines in Europe are great value and you can get to so many places for as little as £1 one way (excluding tax). There are loads of budget airlines to choose from as well, giving you a wealth of choice for price and destination. There are quite a few airlines that do budget flights, the main ones that pop to mind are Easy Jet (www.easyjet.com) and Ryan Air (www.ryanair.com), just between these two airlines, there are flights all over Europe, to anywhere that you might possibly want to go. I generally find that Ryan Air’s flights are cheaper but they fly to random places that you haven’t really heard of rather than capital. Cities.

If you are visiting Europe its actually really low cost to take a quick visit to another country while you are there. Flights can be booked online or over the phone and an e-ticket is issued so you don’t need to have tickets delivered to a postal address. There are always special deals available and last minute options too. Both the above airlines also offer not quite as low cost options for hotels, hire cars, insurance and airport transfers. Skiing deals are also available and generally you can read about the area you are thinking about going to on these websites too, to help you get a better idea of where to go and when.

I have flown with Easy Jet plenty of times, flights are generally on time, there is no free food on-board but you can buy food. There is only a small selection of things available like sandwiches and cakes - watch out for the prices of these as they often cost more than the flight did!

More travel deals…

There’s one thing that you notice immediately when you visit London, everything is grey; the sky is grey, the buildings are grey, everyone wears grey and the people are grey! The next thing you will notice is how rude many of the people are, you’ll be lucky to get the time from someone in the street, most people just totally ignore you, some simply show a hand for you to talk to! And getting directions, oh, for that one you will get a reply but you wont ever get anywhere near where you asked to get to! Politeness and London are rarely found together, there is no “sorry” or “thank you”, “excuse me” yeah right! Everyone just pushes there way through, in their grey clothes, with their grey miserable faces.

Its generally less hassle to look people in the eye as you’ll either get someone try and start a fight with you, or some lunatic following you around all day. No one speaks to strangers, or even looks at them for that matter and London has more than its fair share of rudeness. Its a brilliant city with loads to see and do, so much so that you’ll never get bored, unfortunately its filled with rude people that make it feel like such a depressing place to be. When a shop assistant says “Hi” back when you enter the shop you get a shock and don’t even think about asking the bus driver if he has change as you’ll get shouted at!

http://www.worldtravelerjournal.com/what-to-do-in-bangkok/

First Class is soon to disappear in airline travel. At least, first class as we know it. MSNBC Travel reports on the latest trends in airline travel:

“Business-class has been upgraded to first-class standards at some airlines, and it’s encroaching on first-class,” says Edward Plaisted, chief executive of Skytrax, a U.K.-based airline and airport quality ranking company that assesses quality of first-class long haul flights. “First-class is at the stage where the section is filled by upgrades and frequent fliers.”

As a result, he predicts that some airlines will eliminate their first-class altogether. Skytrax research shows that around 35 airlines currently provide first-class service globally. This number doesn’t include smaller airlines that may offer first-class on domestic routes. Plaisted estimates that in the next five years, only 20 or 25 airlines will maintain the service.

And the airline travel providers that do keep first class? Well they are expected to become more luxurious. Truly first class airline travel. In the new first class airline travel, it will be more like staying in a hotel, the MSNBC story continues:

Aram Gesar, editor of New York-based AirGuide magazine and AirGuideonline.com, publications for frequent travelers, says “there will be more square footage and more cabin attendants but fewer seats.” What’s more, seats will be more like mini-suites with sliding doors so fliers can be left alone to sleep, dine or hold business meetings. Emirates already offers this for first-class fliers.

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When you head north in the U.K., you move out of the Lake District and onto the moors. The moors are wild, beautiful and great for cycling. You can go biking on the moors, getting a great adventure, and see some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world. The Yorkshire moors especially offer some great sitghts, as they have an amazing North Sea coastline. Plus, some of the friendliest people inhabit the northern moors.

Biking in Britain is improving

For quite some time now, biking in Britain has lagged behind the Continent. However, efforts are being made to make the moors more accessible by bike, and some of the cycleways are quite pleasant. And, back to the Yorkshire moors, you’ll see more than thistle and gray skies (and the pounding — and frigid! — North Sea surf). You can enjoy a visit to York, an historic town with Roman and Viking artifacts, and a majestic cathedral, York Minster.

North York Moors National Park also offers great riding, and to get there from York you will take the White Rose Cycle Route up through such placces as Thirsk and Selby. And if you’re tired of biking Britain by the time you get there, you will find plenty of hiking in North Moors National Park.

You can find more information about Biking routes in Britain by visiting the Sustrans Web site.

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My grandmother is Scottish. Scottish as in her parents are from Scotland. So I grew up loving Scotland. Bagpipes, the look of plaid, Robert Burns. And one of the things I love to wear is my ruana (serape) made from my grandmother’s McLachlan tartan. It’s imported from Scotland. But why do the Scottish have tartans anyway? Well, here goes. A brief look at the basics of the Scottish tartan:

In its earliest form, the tartan was made from undyed wool. Mostly, this meant that traditional covering was actual some shade of white or brown. However, as the scots learned to use other plants and animals to create different colors, the system became more sophisticated, incorporating stripes and multiple colors. Soon, clans and septs were designated by different colors and patterns.

But it didn’t stop there. Soon patterns and colors were incorporated to help others ascertain one’s rank in a clan. A servant’s tartan had only one color. Up through ranks, colors were added until the chief’s tartan, which had seven colors. There were even variations of tartans, including the Chief’s Sett, Women’s Sett, Mourning Sett, Royal Sett, District Sett, Clan Tartan, and Hunting Tartan. Today, however, most tartans fall into these categories: Modern, Ancient, Dress and Hunting. There are also versions of some tartan patterns denoted as “Weathered.” My tartan is a McLachlan Modern tartan, after my grandmother’s preference (now we match).

While the tartan was mainly used by highland Scots, there are tartans for clans from the lowlands, as well as Welsh and Irish tartans. But today, many people order whatever suits their fancy. However, in old Scottish tradition, only the “free” tartans could be worn by non-Scots or by those not of a particular clan: the Royal Stewart and the Blackwatch.
Today, though, it is possible to create your own tartan (although if you want it to be “official” it has to be approved and registered). Many countries have military tartans (like England), and some countries have their own tartans (like Canada and the U.S.). Even some companies create and register their own tartans.

The Scottish tradition of the tartan is truly something that is worldwide.