GlamTravel

Amsterdam!

2012-04-25T21:44:00.001+01:00

I've just booked a weekend in Amsterdam, just for one night but I'm using flight times to my advantage (early departure from Bristol and evening flight back) to get near full two days.

Interestingly my flight is with KLM (booked with Delta randomly!) as they were about £25 cheaper then Easyjet, with the total cost working out at about £75 return (and no extra fees!). I'm getting good at sniffing bargains!

Did I mention that this is during the Olympics (one way to avoid the damn thing).

An American Adventure in 2013?

2012-03-16T14:01:00.001+00:00

I've been thinking. Next year I'll be 30 (eep!), so it might be a good idea to do the US trip I've been talking about. If possible I'd like to do a multi city trip (maybe a week on the East Coast and a week on the west) as that isn't much more in terms of flights (It was about £200 more for a London->Boston->Los Angeles multi trip then for a London to Boston return).

Suggestions for destinations, cheap but decent hotels (ie a bit like the UK Premier Inns) and things to do/see would be much appreciated!

Past Trips: Lille - March 2011

2012-03-11T14:16:00.000+00:00

This time last year, I took my first foreign trip in about 3 years to the city of Lille in France. I'd found some fairly reasonable fares from Exeter to Lille by train with Eurostar, I also managed to find a fairly reasonably priced room in the Hotel B&B in Euralille, just two Metro stops from Lille Europe station. So I booked up for two nights in mid March.

My trip didn't get off to a good start, I'd just boarded the train from Exeter Central to St David's (Exeter's main station) when I realised I'd left my camera at home. Luckily I'd left enough time to get a taxi back to my house, grab the camera then back to the station before the train to London. Because of works on the main line to London my train was diverted via a much slower route (taking the Waterloo route to Yeovil and then cutting up to rejoin the normal route at Castle Cary) which added about an hour onto the journey. All was going well until the train caught up a late running stopping service at Slough and then being held at the junction for Heathrow to let the Airport Express go in front. arriving at Paddington about 20 mins late.

Heading through England towards London

On arriving at Paddington I made a dash for the bridge to the Hammersmith and City line station (Paddington has two underground stations, the H&C has platforms in the mainline station, other lines have a seperate station outside the main entrance), only to find it barriered off, so headed for the main station, which was also shut, just the Bakerloo Line connecting with the H&C at Baker Street. So I squeezed onto the Bakerloo, and dashed up to the H&C platforms only to find a 10 minute wait for the next train. By this time it was getting close to 15 minutes before my Eurostar departed, check-in would have closed (officially closes 30 mins prior to departure for 2nd class passengers like myself) and I was expecting to have to wait for the next Eurostar that stopped at Lille. Well I arrived at Kings Cross/St Pancras station, ran towards the Eurostar check-in, showed my ticket to and told to run! Security pushed my stuff straight through the X-Ray and the French Border Police saw me running up with an open passport and waved me straight through. I made it onto the train with about 2 mins to spare before departure!

The journey to Lille was very quick and I took the opportunity to relax. But not for long as when I alighted I realised I couldn't find my phone. Oh Dear! So I thought I'd try and find the Hotel then see what I could do. So I took the metro to Grand Palais, and then spent about 20 minutes struggling to find the hotel. Turned out some wag had turned their cable tied sign around. Still the room was nice, even if the view was only good if you liked Autoroutes and TGVs (it overlooked the ringroad and the railway sidings). The good news was that I'd buried my phone deep in my bag rather then in my pocket.

I spent the rest of the day nosing around town and admiring the local architecture and fashion (no Jack Wills and the only Uggs were on a tramp!), the French are so stylish even the chavs looked smart! The city has a very Flemish feel to the architecture, especially around the town square. Though it was spoilt a little by construction work. The city centre was bustling with shoppers and I will admit to getting lost in some of the winding narrow streets of the old town.

(if you are wondering where everyone is this was taken on Sunday)

In the evening perused the guide book with a view to finding a good night out. The book suggested Wazemmes, so I caught the Metro to Wazemmes station to find the place deserted apart from a couple of gangs. I started to feel very unsafe and decided to beat a hasty retreat.

Gare Lille Flandres

On my second day I discovered how little of France was open on a Sunday! My initial plan was to find a train over the border to Kortrijk in Belgium (which a friend had suggested visiting) for the morning and then exploring Lille in the afternoon, but things conspired against me - I got to the station to find the next train was due very soon and the queue for the ticket office was longer then the time before the train was due out, then chose to go back into the city and forgot about the whole idea!

Porte de Paris

In the end I decided to have a good walk around town admiring the architecture and visited the Palais de Beaux-Arts (the largest French gallery outside of Paris - only the Louvre is bigger). Beaux-Arts is well worth a visit, it's crowd free and has some fantastically detailed models of fortified towns in Northern France dating from the 17th century.

Model of Ath

The square outside Beaux-Arts was being used as the venue for a roller-skate race, which I watched the last lap of before walking though the centre and along the Quai de Wault. I then checked out the city hall before seeking food. In the evening I went out and took a few photos of the city landmarks at night.

Opera House

The City Hall tower

The journey back was very smooth with no mad rushes and I was back in Exeter about 4 hours after leaving Lille (with a 45 minute wait at Paddington) - I really want to go again! The French have a reputation for rudeness that I didn't see at all, everyone was polite and forgiving of my broken French (and fall back of "Parlez-Vous Anglais") - even the Transport Police hit squad who decided to blitz one of the Metro stations for ticketless travelers. My regret was that I didn't manage the borderhop to Kortrijk,

Back at St Pancras

Ideas...

2012-03-04T09:10:00.001+00:00

Something I was wondering was if I could put my quite formidable skills at travel planning to a more productive use then in my current job.

I initially considered developing a tour based on Japanese geek culture (ie the Giant Robot Statues, Harajuku, Anime Themeparks) but having looked into the regulations for such enterprises (payments in trust, repatriation bonds with the CAA), I don't think I could pull that off on my own. Though a friend sent me a link to someone doing similar things, (being a big geek, I'd love to do something similar myself) I was also considering PAX or ComicCon as other potential destinations..

So where from here?...

Daytripping

2012-02-27T22:18:00.000+00:00

I’ve just booked myself a day trip to Glasgow in June. Not the sanest of ideas when I live in the far South West of England. But with the combination of Easyjet having a sale and the ability to spend Nectar points on flights I grabbed some tickets for the princely sum of £13! Amusingly this is more then it will cost to park for the day at Bristol Airport.

Hopefully I'll be spending my time up there seeing a good friend of mine, but if she can't make it then I'll have a good look around.

On the subject of spontaneous day trips, I’ve been wondering where I can get to and back in a day for the least money. I set myself an nominal £50 budget with £60-70 as a maximum. One itinerary I managed to come up with was a trip to Manchester .

Cycle to Exeter Airport - Free
Fly to Manchester - £40
Train/Bus into the city - £4.50
Lunch and meeting friends - not including in the budget
Megabus back to Exeter - £12

Plus the extra of the bus back to Exeter airport to collect the bike the following day!
Think I might play with a few more travel sites over the next few days and see what else I can come up with

Update: The local airline has hiked their fees again (doubling of card fee and 'fuel recovery' fees) so it looks like that idea might be a non starter now.

Not a good place to live if you want to travel.

2012-02-18T12:56:00.000+00:00

I sometimes wonder if living some way from a major city is a hurdle to travel. I do have an airport on my doorstep, and it does have a range of domestic and ex-pat destinations (ie areas with a large British population), but most flights operate either weekly or a random selection of days, which doesn’t make it easy to plan a short break away. Plus the local airline is very expensive due to lack of competition. There are more flights from a larger airport about 70 miles away, but again they are mostly to holiday destinations but there are at least some flights to major cities (and long haul connections via Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam). Heathrow of course is about 3-4 hours away.

I guess when trying to do Europe on a budget it can be a bit off-putting that 2 days parking at the airport costs more then the flight does! (when flying from my city's airport I take the bus) I’m jealous of those who are within stepping distance of somewhere like Heathrow. Of course my finances are probably better off if I’m not near Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted.

Needless to say I do have some plans in the making, even if I will have to pay the parking...

Inspiration: Weekends Away

2012-01-21T13:31:00.000+00:00

Inspired by Mizhenka, I picked up the current issue of Lonely Planet as the 52 Best Weekends Away feature sounded quite interesting and like Mizhenka I’ve chosen 5 of my own to do (if I had the money!)

Excerpts from the February 2012 issue of Lonely Planet

Glimpsing Gaudi in Barcelona

Few architects have left their stamp on a city quite like Antoni Gaudi, who transformed Barcelona with swirling patterns, giddy spires and twisting rooftops. This year marks the 160th anniversary of the great man’s birth - and the 130th year since construction started on the Sagrada Familia cathedral - so head for the Catalan capital to discover the genius of this maverick architect. Park Güell and the Sagrada Familia are perennially busy sights, but be sure to visit the Palau Güell - one of Gaudi’s earliest works with an ornate arched entrance, the palace repoened last year. Guided Gaudi tours of his greatest hits are also available. (barcelonaguidebureau.com)

Drive an old banger through East Berlin

Despite having an engine like a sewing machine and an exhaust that can single-handedly burn a hole in the ozone layer, Trabant cars count as perhaps the most cherished relics of Communist East Germany. Hire a Trabi for the day and take a spin round Berlin, zipping through Checkpoint Charlie and towards the Stalinist facades and monumental towers of Karl-Marx-Allee. Drive carefully however - comrades were famously careful with their cars, knowing that the slightest bump could mean waiting years for a replacement. (trabantberlin.de)

Cycle through Quebec

In a continent where the car is king, Quebec's Route Verte is a firm riposte to the gas guzzlers. The biggest cycle network in the Americas, the ‘Green Route’ has more then 2,500 miles of trails weaving their way among the meadows, lakes and mountains of the eastern Canadian province. Some chunks of the route are manageable in just a few days - Quebec City and Montreal have extensive cycle networks - or alternatively take the route north from the outskirts of Montreal though the forested slopes of the Laurentians. Following the bed of an old railway line, the trail leads to the ski resort city of Mont-Tremblant, 50 miles away. (routeverte.com)

Take a direct train to France’s Vatican

How far can you travel by train from Britain without once having to move your suitcase from the rack. In the summer at least, as far as the medieval walled city of Avignon - one of the cultural highlights of Provence. Every Saturday morning during July and August, a direct train runs from London St Pancras to the city’s TGV station in less than six hours. In Avignon take in the Gothic bulk of the Palais des Papes, built for the pope in 1309 as an escape from the political intrigue of Rome (eurostar.com)

Go kayaking around Venice

Venice made its name as a proud nation of seafarers, so get in the spirit of Marco Polo and his ilk but exploring the Italian city by kayak. Venice Kayak offers guided tours, negotiating traffic jams of gondolas and vaporettos (waterbuses) clogging up the Grand Canal, and gliding along quieter waterways beneath handsome stone bridges and laundry lines. There’s also a chance to explore islands elsewhere in the Venetian Lagoon - including Torcello with its ancient churches. (venicekayak.com)

What would you want in a weekend away?

xoxo

Europe Progress: Jan 2012

2012-01-20T22:29:00.000+00:00

As of 2012 I've visited France, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland & Greece. I've also been on a day trip to Italy (from Switzerland) and have driven across Belgium and the Netherlands. In the UK I've visited Scotland and had day trips to Wales.

create your personalized map of europe

I'm not sure whether to count the countries I haven't spent at least one night in, or indeed those where my sole experience is that of a package holiday resort. Which would make the map look like this.

So I'm wondering where to spend my hard earned Nectar Points (Points = money towards Easyjet flights), Amsterdam is tempting, but so is Geneva and Barcelona. Decisions Decisions!

xoxo

An Intro

2012-01-11T15:30:00.000+00:00

Hello!

I made a resolution this year to make a Travelog detailing my travel adventures. So where to begin.. I'm a gender confused 20 something from Devon, UK, who has been bitten by the travel bug but doesn't have enough money to travel as much as I'd like, or as glamorously as I'd like.

Last year I took trips to Lille, Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester and Whitby on a pretty minimal budget and this year I'm planning Edinburgh (to see a friend), Berlin & Leipzig for the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival and if I have enough money maybe another trip aswell

Beyond that I'd like to do a long haul in 2013 (I'm going to be limited this year by the Olympics and the inevitable price hikes!), I'm pondering a trip to the US, I'd like to visit San Francisco but I also have friends in Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle that I'd like to meet (and seeing a city with a local is a lot better then pottering around on my own with with a guide book)

I'm not sure exactly what form this will take though. Am wondering whether to do my whole door to door experience or just to concentrate on the destination.

So welcome to the blog

xoxo