Discover why we ended up in A Coruña, what there is to do, and where to find the best octopus you’ll ever eat.

To listen, hit play below or find episode in iTunes or Soundcloud:

Ayuntamiento of A Coruna at night

Things to do in A Coruña

We’ve been making the most of cool days to visit the many modern museums and galleries that are free, or close-to-free (€2 for the most part).

Neon jellies at the A Coruña Aquarium

So far, favourites include the aquarium with its Jules Verne “Nautillus” room; and the fine art museum (Museo de Bellas Artes) for a well-curated display of Gallician, Spainish and European works, plus a great temporary photography exhibition when we visited this week.

There’s plenty of good walking tracks, including that to the panoramic viewpoint of Monte San Pedro and along the kilometers of wonderful white-sand beach. We’re looking forward to the weather heating up, and spending some more time there.

Discover more

We’re making notes on everything we do here, and publishing them at http://visitacoruna.indietravelblogs.com — our new blogging site.

Thanks to Dave Dean from Too many adapters for exploring with us this week; and coming up with this suitable quote:

The best damn octopus I've had in my life... In A Coruña

Find out where in this week’s podcast — take a listen:

Why visit A Coruña, Spain? (Why not?!) by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 14/5: After a couple of hours of ITP work, I headed out to the supermarket and library, then made hamburgers for lunch. We both got so caught up with work that we almost forgot to go for our post-lunch walk, and only had time for a short one before I had to go to school.

I’d been planning to come home between classes, but as I left the first one, the secretary told me (dramatically) that I needed to get a Social Security number, and that it was urgent. I asked her where to go to get it and she spent the next 25 minutes trying to find out by searching online, roping in a student’s mother to help her. Eventually the address was found and I could leave, only half an hour after I’d wanted to!

In the evening, Oliva came around for a language exchange — Craig hid in the guest room and worked while she and I chatted.

Tuesday 15/5: Despite the secretary’s vehemence the day before, I didn’t go to the social security office — it’s only open in the morning and I had to be at school from 10-12:30. And it’s a half-hour walk away.

Craig on the beach.

After lunch, we went for a long walk along the beach, amusing ourselves by racing the tide around the promontory that divides the two beaches. We both made it, and were still laughing when another wave crashed up further than expected and Craig didn’t get out of the way in time.

Christmas is coming! Oh wait, no it isn't.

Yolanda came over for dinner, bringing fresh-laid eggs from her chickens as a gift. I put them to immediate use, since I’d half-prepared a tortilla but hadn’t added the eggs yet. It was almost a disaster, as the frying pan I was using was anything but non-stick, but we switched pans, Yoli came to the rescue when it was time to flip, and it turned out tasty.

Wednesday 16/5: I got up early to head to the Social Security office, where I was seen quickly and issued a number without any problems at all — in fact, it was the easiest and most pleasant bureaucratic experience thus far. The clerk was happy to be able to practice her English and gave me two copies of the official document so that I’d have one to give to my boss — amazing.

She’d mentioned that I might be able to get the NIE card (which the bank wanted) from the police station, so I stopped in there and waited for half an hour before giving up — there were too many people ahead of me. Instead, I went to the bank, where I was told that it was all looking promising, that I probably wouldn’t need a NIE card at all, and that I’d have to come back in the afternoon.

It doesn't look like much, but that promontory is a challenge to get around at high tide.

Back home, we got some work done then had a tasty chicken stirfry lunch before both heading out for our walk… to the bank. Luckily we didn’t have to spend much time there, the clerk (Nuria) took a copy of my passport and told me to come back on Friday. This left us with extra time, so we decided to walk back along the beach; since it was a beautiful day, there were people sunbathing and a few had even ventured into the water.

Oliva came over in the evening for another language exchange — we’d planned to do them on Fridays, but failed last week and this week she was away for the weekend. After she left Craig and I had soup for dinner and watched TV before bed.

Thursday 17/5: May 17 is a public holiday in Galicia — it’s Galician Language Day. We did absolutely nothing to celebrate the Galician language, but we did make the most of the festivo by working a lot less. We slept in then headed to Amy’s place for a goodbye brunch; her programme has ended and she’s heading back to the States. The food was great (blueberry pancakes!) and the company excellent; we’d met some of Amy’s friends before and she’d also invited Oliva and Guille.

Another view of the A Coruña beaches.

After a rest back home, we went on a mammoth walk all the way to the Millenium Obelisk; the weather was a little cool so it was perfect for walking. In the evening we played cards and watched some TV.

Friday 18/5: When I left the house to go to the bank, I optimistically told Craig that I’d be back in an hour. I was wrong.

The bank’s a 15-minute walk from our house, and I had to wait for Nuria to finish serving two other customers before she could get to me. What followed was a flurry of paper-moving and phone calls — she printed duplicates of the twenty or so essential documents and I had to sign most of them. To activate the account I had to put money in it, so Nuria gave me a bank book (!) which I had to take to the counter with me and then insert into a red machine so the transaction could be printed on the first page. Sadly, though, it turns out five euros wasn’t enough money, so I had to repeat the process; the teller who’d first served me was concerned he’d done it wrong, and abandoned his customer to come and ask me if everything was all right: “I’m sure I heard you say cinco,” he said.

Boats at A Coruña port.

Nuria set me up with internet banking and explained why I couldn’t have an ATM card: you can get one for free after your account registers an “official transaction” such as a wages. Otherwise it costs €15. Looks like I’ll be waiting a little longer!

After a lentil lunch, we got some work done then I headed to school for a couple of hours. Craig went to meet our friend Dave at the train station, arriving late due to technical issues (the all-important text never arrived) — but they made it home before I got back.

Since May 18 is the Day of the Museums, all of the museums were once again free to visit, so we dragged a tired Dave first to the aquarium and then to the Domus, before heading to the old town for a tapas dinner. We ended the night with a visit to Plaza Maria Pita, where the town hall was attractively lit up and a jazz band was playing.

Saturday 19/5: After a long sleep-in, Craig and Dave spent the morning working while I read my book. After a late lunch we headed to the art gallery, which is free to enter on Saturday afternoons, then decided to wander around the port. In the art gallery we’d seen a cool painting of a fortress on an island in the A Coruña bay, and we came across the fortress itself more or less by accident. It’s no longer on an island — the land between the ex-island and the coast has been reclaimed, so that we had no trouble getting to it. It now hosts the (free to enter) history and archaeology museum; we had a cursory wander around without really looking at the exhibits too closely.

By the time we got home it was after 8pm, so we prepared an early dinner and spent the evening chatting.

Sunday 20/5: Another lazy day. I slept in then chatted with Oscar for an hour or so while Craig and Dave worked; I eventually joined them and we spent a companionable couple of hours tapping away at laptops in near silence.

Dave and pulpo

At about 2.30pm we headed out to the pulpería in Plaza de España, where we enjoyed very very tasty octopus, potatoes and red wine for lunch. Afterwards, we went for an incredibly long walk: along the beach and around the coast to the Millenium Obelisk and the Monte de San Pedro. We caught the panoramic elevator up the cliff after waiting 20 minutes or so for it to descend, then wandered through the maze and around the park before heading slowly home again.

Linda and pulpo.

After a simple dinner, we all opened our laptops again, and spent another couple of hours tapping before bed.

Travel diary: the bureaucracy continues by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

However, you don’t want to miss out on the kangaroos, and one of the best ways to see them is to do a dusk tour by quad bike with KI Outdoor Action.

You’ll need your own vehicle to get there, as there is no public transport on the island, but cars can be hired if you book far enough in advance. Once you’ve arrived, though, the Outdoor Action team will sort you out with all the equipment and knowledge that you need to drive a quad bike through the dunes of Vivonne Bay — with kangaroo sightings guaranteed. Kangaroos are most active at dawn and dusk, so an evening tour is a great way to see them in action.

The Dusk Kangaroo Tour starts two hours before sunset, and riders receive a comprehensive lesson on how to use the bike before setting out. This will take between thirty and sixty minutes and you’ll get at least an hour on the bike. Almost anyone can join in, as there are smaller bikes available for kids as young as six, and if you’re not keen to ride you can go as a passenger in the larger guide vehicle.

For more on Australia, check out our Australia page.

Quad Biking on Kangaroo Island by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Eat

In 2009 a nationally-syndicated food magazine named Portland the “Foodiest Small Town in America”, and for good reason. The state of Maine has a long-running dedication to fresh, local ingredients. Of course, the fact that the city is located so close to the ocean is used to its fullest advantage; it is easy to access some of the freshest and least-expensive seafood in the country. Everything from oysters, mussels, clams, and the world-famous Maine lobster.

Just one of the tasty snacks available

In addition to the delicious seafood, Maine also utilizes its resources in fresh produce: sweetcorn, potatoes, and fiddleheads run rampant, and most restaurants proudly display signs indicating that all food is Maine-made. But apart from the delicious ingredients, Portland’s restaurant scene is famous for using these foods to create highly original dishes. Alongside the classic diners are Mexican and Asian-fusion restaurants that take creative liberties with traditional ingredients in order to make highly unique dishes.

Drink beer

There's a lot of beer on offer

American beer has developed a bad reputation worldwide, but that’s probably because most international travellers don’t make the pilgrimage up to Maine. The state of Maine has more breweries than almost any other state in the US; and the majority of Portland’s breweries are small and do not distribute very far. However, most of them are very friendly and happy to show people around in order to show off their brewing techniques and unique recipes.

If sampling local American beer is not your thing, there is also an incredible amount of imported beer shipped from all around the world. Novare Res Bier Cafe serves beer from that has been tracked down from some of the best locations in the world including Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, and England.

Watch a game

Maine is dubbed “Vacationland” for its nearly-perfect summer atmosphere, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the number-one sport to watch is the classic summer pastime: baseball. The Portland Sea Dogs, a minor-league team associated with the Boston Red Sox, play all summer long. Because of the relaxed atmosphere and a stadium which is large for the size of the city, tickets to a baseball game do not need to be reserved in advance and can run fairly cheap.

Portland Museum of Art

Even after the summer has ended it’s still easy to take in a professional sports match; the Portland Pirates (Maine’s local minor league hockey team), and the Maine Red Claws (the local basketball team), play games throughout the winter.

Take in the art scene

Like all other major sites in Maine, the Portland Art Museum places special emphasis on locally-produced works. However, the Museum also houses works by Picasso, Renoir, Winslow Homer and Rockwell Kent. If you don’t want to pay an entrance fee you can wander down to the Arts District which is full of great galleries and quirky antique shops.

Take a ferry to one of the local islands

Take advantage of the famous Maine coastline and catch a ferry to one of the local islands. Once you’ve arrived, talk a walk or a bike ride around to see some beautiful scenery and even more local art. Bring a picnic to eat on the beach, explore some of the tide pools, or just swim around in the Atlantic Ocean. There’s really no wrong way to spend a day on an island in Maine. 

Tips

Maine is one of the more remote areas of the United States, so public transportation is an option but not an easy one. The best idea is to rent a car, especially if you want to explore more of Maine’s natural landscape.

Maine weather is notoriously fickle, so bring a sweater with you wherever you go just in case.

If you’re ever lost or need advice don’t be afraid to talk to the locals. Maine is a notoriously friendly place!

Top five things to do in my hometown of Portland, ME, USA by Danielle May Steinman was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

To listen, hit play below or find episode in iTunes or Soundcloud:

Quotes on this article came from our rocking Facebook community who chipped in with what they wish they knew before starting long-term travel. Join us there or get your own Indie Travel Podcast Community account.

During the planning stage

This bit’s the most difficult: there’s so much to read, so much contradictory advice, so much to save, so much to organise. Rest assured, it’ll be worth it in the end!

[I wish I knew the] cost of all the medical shots. It can be more than your plane tickets ~Leanne Woodmass

Costs can be more than you expect; and while there’s lots of areas you can save a few (hundred) bucks, there’s three real essentials:

• Your transport
• Your insurance
• Your medical costs

Areas where you can save money, or put that cash back into experiences:

• Save on accommodation by hosteling or couchsurfing
• Don’t buy lots of “essential” travel gear. Pack light.
• Look carefully into your visa requirements; sometimes slightly shortening time in one country can save you a lot.
• Use a library and the internet to research; or look into ebooks rather than paperbacks.

You should have a fall-back fund as well: enough money to get you on the next flight home + 10% is enough for most people.

A program like Evernote is great for pulling together all the articles, information, government advisories and little snippets of advice you get from people. At some point, go through all your trip tags, and start mapping out your plan.

Couples can struggle with the how-to of planning a dream trip together. pack light!

Make sure you start with space in your bag, rather than having it overflowing on day 3! ~Heather Rodgers

Take a carry-on sized bag and nothing more. There’s a list of the best backpacks for travel here — all around 30 litres, which you should be able to pack with 10-12kg of stuff.

The unimportance of socks and underwear ~Barefoot Wallets

Three pairs of each is enough. You should definitely wash though. Learn how to wash clothes while travelling.

On airports and arriving

I don’t know about you, but airports make me nervous. I’ve been through dozens without problems (and hope to continue that unbroken record), but they always appear menacing to me. They don’t have to be fraught with stress though: they can be places to get excited about the adventures that are soon to come!

I wish I knew more about international airports and how immigration, customs, quarantine etc works. My parents really didn’t travel overseas when younger, so when I arrived at Hong Kong, I was just a sheep following others and luckily the airport staff were friendly and understanding. Trusting strangers in airport staff. Also about all the shonky people who hassle you for business outside the airport like foreign currency exchange people, taxi drivers, illegal taxi drivers etc. so a general better understanding of the arrival and departure processes and also different cultures etc. ~Guy Spouge

To cut down on airport-related stress:

• Read up about your airport online, and get an idea of where you’ll have to be, and where you’ll have to go.
• Plan your transit to the airport with delays in mind. We normally arrive an hour or so before the ‘recommended’ time.
• Be careful and intentional while packing your bag. You know you can’t carry a knife, bottle opener, and — in some places — liquids over a certain limit.
• Read up on the customs rules for both your departure point and about what you’re allowed to bring into your destination.
• Be careful! Having your head screwed on is your best bet for a safe trip
• Relax! There will almost always be someone around to help you out.
• On arrival, don’t let people take your bag, or usher you into an unlicensed taxi. Take your time, check your options.

Go on… have the time of your life.

Also see:

• How to work while travelling
• Art of Solo Travel
• Art of Couples’ Travel
• Preparing for long term travel
• Travel Safety: Safety Tips For Personal And Corporate Travellers

I’m sure you still have a million questions about your first big trip abroad (or more advice for those going). Fire away…

How to prepare for your first big trip by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 7/5: I had to make a couple of phone calls, first to make an appointment at the immigration office, and then to return a call we’d received from DHL the previous Friday. Neither went well. I called the number I had for the immigration office, and was told I had to call another number, and was told I had to call the first number. I eventually managed to make the appointment, but the woman at the other end of the line sounded doubtful that that was the right thing to have done.

DHL was worse. I couldn’t call using Skype because the number was blocked, so I called expensively on Craig’s cellphone; of course I was put on hold for ages. I was finally transferred to the correct person, who told me that a package had arrived for us (Craig’s replacement Kindle) and that we had to pay €110 in taxes on it. That’s 60% of its value. I was literally dumbstruck, and when I could speak again I couldn’t marshal good enough Spanish to argue with the woman, who wasn’t interested in understanding me anyway. I hung up and got very angry and very upset, and decided to go for a walk to calm down.

A typical dinner

I visited the library and did the shopping, and after lunch Craig and I recorded the podcast and worked on the ebooks. I had to head to school for the afternoon, but we had a pleasant evening reading and watching TV.

Tuesday 8/5: I seemed to get out of bed on the clumsy side, and spent the day dropping things, knocking things over, and walking into walls. My classes went well though, and lunch was tasty, but after I finished cooking we noticed that the sink was blocked. Craig searched online to try to learn how to unblock it and we tried all sorts of things, but to no avail. Eventually he texted the landlord (who lives downstairs), who fixed it the next day.

We headed out for a walk along the beach and through the city, and spent the afternoon working before blobbing in front of the TV. At least we were watching something in Spanish — Españoles en el Mundo. It’s about Spanish people living in different parts of the world, in this case first Philadelphia then Kenya.

Wednesday  9/5: While chatting with my Chilean friend Moroni, who’s now living in the Czech Republic, he told me that as the wife of an EU citizen I have the right to residency here in Spain. I couldn’t believe it — first that he hadn’t mentioned this earlier, second that I didn’t know. I’d assumed that I’d have to get residency in the UK to be able to benefit from Craig’s citizenship, which is a long painful process, but apparently it’s a lot easier here. I was incredibly frustrated — had I wasted a lot of time and money getting my working holiday visa? At least having it has taken the stress out of the application process, but arghhhh!

After a quick visit to school, where I met the last of my students, a lovely woman called Ana, I headed to the immigration office with Craig to hand in the documents for my work permit and ask about this new residence possibility. The poor woman who was helping us had to get up twice to go and ask someone else what the story was (a running theme, it seems), but she eventually gave me my all-important NIE number and a copy of my application and pointed us in the direction of the comisaria to register Craig as a resident. We couldn’t find it and were incredibly hungry, so we admitted defeat and headed to the shopping centre for kebabs for lunch.

I spent the next hour or so looking into residency options (and learned a lot) then headed back to school briefly, coming back with strawberries for a snack. In the evening, we walked along to Kiu Bar, off the Paseo Maritimo, to join a language exchange group that Amy is part of. Unfortunately there were six English speakers and only one Spaniard, but it was a pleasant (if sightly expensive) experience.

A Coruña beach

Thursday 10/5: As if to compensate for our spectacularly bad week, the weather finally sorted itself out, and Thursday was warm and clear; when we went for our walk on the beach in the afternoon, we both got down to just t-shirts — very exciting!

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, except for the landlord coming to visit to let us know that the water would be turned off from 10pm. Accordingly, at 9:30, Craig went to fill up a bucket and some water bottles… but it had already been cut off! And of course we didn’t have any water available. Craig wasn’t too bothered (he drank wine instead), but I really didn’t want to have to brush my teeth with orange juice — I managed to get a little out of the shower hose.

Friday 11/5: I was dozing in bed when I suddenly heard the sound of running water close by; I’d forgotten to turn off the shower the night before, and the water had come back on. Not the best start to the day, but at least I heard it come on and hadn’t wasted too much water.

The rest of the morning was spent in bureaucracy. First we went to the town hall to do the empadronamiento, or register as residents of A Coruña. We took a number and waited our turn, and were given forms to fill out. The clerk took the forms, our passports and the apartment contract, and was starting to make copies and do the data entry when she realised that the contract didn’t have the house number written on it. The street name, yes, and the apartment number as well, but the house number was noticeably missing. We all stared at each other in disbelief for a few seconds, Craig and I envisioning an extra hour of stuffing around, when the clerk asked if we had the landlords’ phone number. After a quick call to them, the problem was resolved by the clerk neatly writing the number in the space left for it on the contract; we got our copies of the application, and we could go.

Immigration office

After that, we walked to the bank that Amy had recommended, but as the person who helped her wasn’t at her desk, I talked to another employee instead. I didn’t envision any problems with opening an account as I had all the documentation I needed: a job contract and the all-important NIE number. Apparently not; she wanted an NIE number card. This was the first I’d heard of such a thing, and I learned later that they aren’t being issued anymore. Despite the teller talking to two or three of her colleagues, it couldn’t be resolved; she’d have to talk to someone higher up and I could come back on Monday.

Next, we headed to the comisaria, where we had a longer wait and another failure to achieve anything. As a citizen of the European Union, Craig has the right to residency, but has to register with the police within three months of arrival. He should get a certificate, which I use for my application — which also has to be submitted within three months of entering the country. Unfortunately, the immigration laws for EU citizens changed two weeks ago and now nobody knows exactly what’s going on, and they aren’t issuing any certificates. The clerk suggested that we fill in the application form for the certificate and use that in my application — it probably wouldn’t work, she said, but we just needed to submit something before the three months were up.

So we went back to the immigration office, and talked to a very grumpy official, who gave us the forms we needed and wrote a list of the four documents I need to submit to get residency: the unobtainable certificate, an actualised copy of our marriage certificate (such a thing does not exist), a photocopy of my entire passport (possible), and the empadronamiento certificate (hypothetically on its way). Not very promising really, but we’ll give it a go with the approximations that we have.

I was at school for most of the afternoon, and in the evening Oliva and Guille came over for dinner.

Saturday 12/5: Being the weekend, we were free from bureaucracy, and we headed out of the city to enjoy our freedom. Sadly, Oliva caught our bad luck — first she got a parking ticket, later she almost lost her SD card, and finally Guille dropped her phone and scratched it.

This didn’t stop us having an awesome day though. Alba had planned a fantastic route for the five of us, which took us even further north than we already were. We started our journey by wandering along the sand dunes and admiring the lagoon at Valdoviño, then checked out a couple of viewpoints before stopping for lunch in the wind in Cedeira.

After that, we visited the monastery of San Andrés de Teixido, which has a really interesting architectural style and which is obviously a tourist attraction because it abounds with stalls selling souvenirs, bread and honey. There’s a saying that everyone in the world will visit San Andrés, if not alive then dead, and if not dead, then reincarnated — probably as a snake or lizard.

Monasterio de San Andrés

Next, we visited Cabo Ortegal to see its lighthouse and the division between the Atlantic and the Cantabrian seas, before driving on to Punto Estaca de Bares to walk out to the northernmost point in Spain. The wind was fierce and the cliff high; the others piked out 50m before the end of the path and watched worriedly as Craig and I continued as far out onto the promontory as possible. (It was a wide path, not dangerous at all, really.)

Oliva, Alba and Linda in the wind

We we all cold after the chilly wind on the point, so we decided to make our next stop a cafe. We got a little lost finding one, but eventually parked in Viveiro and wandered its charming streets until we found a bar, where we squeezed into a back table to drink our hot chocolates (well, us girls had hot chocolates, Craig and Guille wanted to be different).

After that, all that remained was to drive the hour and a half back to A Coruña, where Oliva dropped off Alba and Guille and completely failed to find a park near her house (it really wasn’t her day). Luckily, the walk back was along the waterfront, which is always pleasant.

Sunday 13/5: We’d planned to head out on another excursion (to walk a bit of the Camino Inglés) but were tired after our big day the day before. Instead, we slept in, Craig brought me breakfast in bed, and we spent the day relaxing. I chatted with Oscar for a while, read my book, and did some research into working visas; Craig played games on his phone and read a bit too. We only left the house for lunch; we had a menu del día in a cafe near our place, which was delicious and incredibly filling, much better than last week’s offering.

Travel diary: the honeymoon’s over by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

The Via de la Plata differs from the other Ways in that it mostly follows an old Roman road, so the religious imagery present on the other Caminos is supplemented by Roman bridges, waymarkers and other structures.

Week one

We left Seville on Tuesday morning, after attending two masses and having our pilgrim passports stamped. The path took us past an old Roman city, which we visited before continuing on to our first stop of Guillena.

The rest of the week was characterised by shortish days, Craig developing enormous blisters and me not being able to talk because of my cold. There was a fair bit of road walking but some beautiful paths through forest and farmland as well.

Week two

Although we were starting to find our stride, week two was marked by challenges — my shoes bit the dust and Craig continued to battle his blisters. We walked through both Merida and Cáceres, which abounded with awesome Roman architecture, and had private rooms almost all week — which you appreciate when you’re usually sharing with eight other people.

Week three

It was a week of changes of plan: days that were going to be long that ended up being short, short days that ended up long. Plus, the longest leg of the whole walk at 40km, and one of the shortest at 11km. We passed through the old Roman city of Cáparra and increased the average length that we walked each day to a much more-respectable 26km.

Week four

After three weeks of slightly-chilly sunshine, the weather turned on us, pelting down and leaving us wet on arrival almost every day. We passed through the beautiful but impersonal city of Salamanca (where Craig bought some walking sandals which changed his life), we got off-track, slept in freezing conditions in Santa Marta, and walked through snow. Easter day was one of our favourites of the entire walk, involving mass (with procession), great food, an interesting walk and a warm albergue.

Week five

Week five was a fantastic one, full of interesting walks and great food. Late in week four we’d turned off the true Via de la Plata, taking the north-westerly Camino Sanabrés rather than continuing north to meet up with the Camino Francés, and we found the terrain much more to our liking: hills to climb, rivers to cross, deers to spot bounding across the path in front of us.

Week six

Despite one terrible day weather-wise (which we carefully planned around and mostly avoided), week six was amazing. Five days of shorter hikes, good food and well-maintained albergues culminated in our arrival in Santiago, in time to attend the midday pilgrim mass. We were in luck, the priests swung the huge incense burner known as the botafumeiro, a dramatic end to our long walk.

Some pilgrims experience disappointment on arriving in Santiago. I did when we finished the Camino Francés four years ago, so was expecting a bit of a let-down. But on the contrary, arriving was as satisfying and exciting as we could have hoped. The entrance to the city was more pleasant than the one we’d entered by last time, seeing the botafumeiro swing was an unexpected bonus, and we also rewarded ourselves with a very nice hotel room and dinner in a good restaurant. Throughout the weekend we met up with some of the people we’d met on the walk, and took advantage of the free pilgrim meal offered by the parador hotel, having a great lunch with pilgrims who’d walked or cycled some of the other routes.

Six weeks of the Via de la Plata [video] by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Volunteer

The easiest way to work on the road is to volunteer. You probably won’t make much (or any) money, but accommodation and sometimes food is often included, which considerably reduces your travel costs. Organisations like WWOOF match volunteers with hosts who require help on their farms. Some organisations are free to use (or just require a small joining fee) while others charge astronomical amounts — somewhat negating the idea of trying to save money!

Volunteer

Where to work

If you want to work, not just volunteer, first consider what kind of work you can do. If you can continue doing your existing job on the road, excellent — you probably won’t need a visa and will just have to talk to your boss or clients to make it work. It’s not recommended that you start a business while you travel, it’s just too stressful. Instead, start well in advance and see if it’s making money before you go. Otherwise, you’ll just have to choose a job that requires your presence in person — popular choices are bartending, office work or teaching English. If you aren’t skilled in one of these areas, a short training course before you go might strengthen your chances of finding work.

Then, decide which country you’d like to work in. You’ll need to do a bit of research to see how hard (or easy) it is to work in your destination of choice.

Visas

Check if you need a visa to work

Firstly, do you need a visa or work permit to be allowed to work in your destination? In some cases, the answer is no — for example, New Zealanders and Australians can work in each other’s country without any form of visa, and Europeans can work in other Schengen states. If you’re travelling further afield though, you’ll probably need some form of paperwork — and there might be more than one option to choose from.

Many countries offer working holiday visas to travellers aged 18-30. If you’re eligible, it might be a good option, although you can usually only work in each place of employment for a limited time (such as three months). If you’re planning to stay in one place for a longer time, you could consider a work visa, but that usually requires an offer of work, which might be hard to come by. Some student visas also allow you to work part-time while you’re studying, so if you’re planning to go to school while you’re away, this could be a good choice.

Make sure to look through all the options carefully and choose the visa that suits you best. If it’s expensive, weigh up how likely you are to use it before forking out.

Wages and cost of living

That’s another thing — how much are you actually going to earn in your destination? Do some research online to find out what the average wage is, and what people in your line of work can expect to earn. We didn’t do this when we went to Malta, and were surprised at how low the wages were — and how high the cost of living was. Six months of work funded our day-to-day lives, but we only saved enough for about another month of travel after that. If we’d done some research into what wages we could expect to receive, we would have chosen another destination.

Will you make enough money?

In contrast, the wages in the UK were more reasonable — but we still didn’t save much, because of the cost of living. Once we’d paid the rent and bought food for the week, we didn’t have much left over. Luckily, we found a happy balance in Australia — although the cost of living was high, our wages were even higher, and we managed to save a substantial amount.

Hit the internet

Next up, you need to find a job. How hard you look will depend on how committed you are to working. Either way, do a search on the internet to get some ideas about possible employers, and either make contact with them before you go or make a note of their details so you can drop in after you arrive. If you’re interested in a long-term contract, apply in advance as they might be able to help with (or completely organise) your visa. This is often the case with English-teaching jobs.

Of course, if you’re not too worried about what kind of work you do, you can just show up and see what work is on offer. It is worth making sure you do it legally, though — although under-the-table work is sometimes available, it’s not worth the stress of being caught — the punishment could be severe and there’s always the chance of being ripped off by an employer who takes advantage of your illegal status.

Working while travelling is a great way to make a bit of money and also get immersed in your destination. It just takes a bit of preparation.

How to work while travelling by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

To listen, hit play below or find episode in iTunes or Soundcloud:

Discover:

• Travel in Salta
• Transport in Salta
• Things to do in Salta
• Cheap accommodation in Salta
• Cloudhead non-profit in Salta
• Or take a look around the rest of South America

Let the photos commence!

[Show as slideshow]

Make sure you listen to the show too!

The Salta podcast by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 30/4: Since Tuesday was a holiday, we decided to do a few errands, such as getting me a sim card for the phone Oliva had given me. Unfortunately though, after waiting in line for twenty minutes and going through the interminable process of registering the sim (in Craig’s name, apparently I’d already bought too many sims), it turned out the phone was locked to another company.

Next, we headed to the library to pick up my library card (yay!) and enjoy the free wifi. Unfortunately, though, so many sites were blocked as to make the connection completely useless.

Instead, we went on a hunt for cafés with wifi and found one not far from home, where we worked for a couple of hours until our computer batteries were flat. After a bit of shopping and choripan for lunch, we found a bar just around the corner from our flat, where we spent another couple of hours.

In the evening, Oliva came around and we had burritos for dinner.

A Coruña is gorgeous

Tuesday 1/5: Being May Day, most of the shops were closed, including the bar we’d discovered the day before. Luckily though, we found two cafés to work in, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. In the middle had nachos for lunch and went for a long walk along the beach, across the isthmus and through the port.

In the evening, our neighbours came to visit to let us know they were happy for us to share their wifi for the next month, which is a huge relief for us — apparently getting the Internet set up will take at least two weeks and we were getting a bit sick of working in cafés.

Wednesday 2/5: I was all set to head out the door for my first English class, when my boss called to say the student had cancelled. Instead, I spent the morning at home with Craig and we went for a walk in the afternoon. I did have to teach my afternoon class, but luckily that went well.

In the evening, we worked on the Buenos Aires guidebook, sticking post-it notes all over the wall to get our heads around the different sections.

Thursday 3/5: My classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays run from 10am to 12:30, so I had to get up at a reasonable hour to get there on time. After work, we had a lentil lunch then went for a long walk around the paseo maritimo, with a visit to the Tower of Hercules halfway around.

Craig and the Tower of Hercules

Friday 4/5: I’d set an alarm in the hope of setting up a regular wake-up time, but the attempt failed miserably and we both slept in. When we eventually got up, we did some work before lunch, then headed out for a walk on the beach. Although the skies were blue when we left, they suddenly clouded over, and we were nowhere near shelter when the rain started.

Craig headed home for a Skype conversation with the BsAs guidebook author and I went to school to teach three classes, and in the evening we finally got around to watching Slumdog Millionaire, which we really enjoyed.

Saturday 5/5: A Coruña’s museums were having an open day with free entrance, so we took the opportunity to visit the aquarium, which with an entrance fee of €10 is by far the most expensive. We met Amy and Oliva outside the entrance and spent three hours wandering around enjoying the fish and learning some new Spanish vocabulary (my word of the day was rodaballos).

Seal at A Coruña Aquarium

We all headed to our own homes for lunch, but I met up with Oliva again at 4pm to go to the Domus museum, which is all about human beings. It was really fun and interactive; we tested our ability to jump, stretch and throw balls into holes, and measured our height, weight and blood pressure. We also saw a 3D movie all about African animals; it was very well done and I enjoyed being able to understand it.

Shark at A Coruña aquarium

Oliva’s parents were sitting in the row in front of us; after the movie I got to meet them. As we all walked back along the paseo maritimo together they gave me advice about what we should do in A Coruña while we’re here, and exhorted me to make their daughter speak more English. After that, Oliva and I spent another hour together enjoying the sun and laughing at a passing stag party, and I made her speak English.

In the evening we watched a Spanish TV show about Las Vegas; I regarded it as work since we’re currently working on a Las Vegas guide book.

Craig at work

Sunday 6/5: Craig brought me breakfast in bed after another glorious sleep in. Really, we are going to have to work out a sleep schedule but at the moment late nights and late mornings are working fine.

We spent the early afternoon working then headed out at around 3.30 to find a menu del día lunch. The first two places we went into (both with menu del dia signs outside) told us that they’d finished serving the menu since it was so late in the day, but we finally found a restaurant to eat in. The caldo gallego was a bit cold but my fish was tasty and at least it was good value for money.

Later on, we watched Spanish gameshows on TV and were amazed at how long the commercial breaks were, and how abruptly they start and finish — it was very strange.

Travel diary: settling into A Coruña by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Here at Indie Travel Podcast we’ve always wanted to tell our stories in a way that inspires people to travel more, and equips them to travel well. Whether that’s by suggesting an out-of-the-way place to visit, or asking questions to help us all get below the surface of the places we visit.

But we can’t be everywhere at once. We don’t have all the stories.

If you’re travelling this year, and you’d like to see your work published on the Indie Travel Podcast, we’d love to hear from you. We are looking for stories:

• from places all around the world.
• from your neighbourhood as well as exotic locales.
• that help people to travel more, or travel well.

We’re not interested in glossy sales language that tries to convince people this destination is just perfect, we’re interested in stories that show real people interacting with the place they are in, or stories that help people get a feel for a place they’ve never been — and that help them decide if it’s for them.

And what can we give you? Unfortunately, we can’t pay for every article you send in. In fact, we might not be able to pay you for any article you send us. But, from time to time, we commission work on a particular place or topic — and when we do, we always look to current writers first.

We can provide expert editing, so your stories look great. This might also mean we ask you to revise it a few times before it sees the light of day. This also means we don’t accept every story idea we get sent.

We can provide a great audience, so your work gets read. And if you have your own travel blog that might be some good exposure for people to find you.

Interested in joining us, sharing your travels and inspiring people to travel well? Drop us a line below, tell us a little about yourself, where you’re travelling, and what you’d like to write about. We’ll go from there.

We want you! Write for the Indie Travel Podcast by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Hit play below or find episode 232 in iTunes or SoundCloud.

What is the Via de la Plata?

The 1,000km Via de la Plata forms part of the network of pilgrimage tracks known as the Camino de Santiago (or Way of St James).

The actual route is far older than the legendary discovery of the apostle’s remains in the city of Santiago de Compostela; it was a Roman highway, linking Astorga in the north with Sevilla in the south.

Leaving Orense

As you walk, you mainly follow the actual Roman route; passing by mines, abandoned cities and still-occupied cities as you step on paving stones over 1,000 years old and cross bridges built a few centuries after Christ or in the middle ages.

The modern Via de la Plata — as is walked by pilgrims to Santiago — takes a westerly turn a few hundred kilometers north of Zamora on the Camino Sanabrés rather than heading up to Astorga and joining the Camino Francés.

Stand-out moments on the Camino

A 39-day walk filled with foreign landscapes, language problems (and joys), residents, snow, sun, and other travellers is certainly going to include some ups and downs.

A few include:
Couchsurfing with Alfonso and Ana in Triana, Seville. It was our first visit to Sevilla, but we’ll certainly be back for the wonderful hospitality and amazing city life.

Sevilla airport - very welcoming

Walking into Merida epitomised the Roman history aspect. Crossing the Roman bridge, going past the Mozarabic fortifications, continuing through to the massive aqueduct, then walking another hour to the lake that feeds the city… still!

Easter day was full of serendipity, the first day we really felt part of the community on the road that is the Camino. There was nice hiking through forest and alongside a dam (the nicest hiking to date), Easter mass and processions, great food in a tiny town, surprising coffee and apples in a crumbling village, then a great walk down to our destination, more great tapas, and a nice, warm albergue.

Listen to the podcast for more stories spread throughout it. We’ll try and write up some of the best experiences soon.

Celebrating ten years of marriage

So, why would you want to walk 1,000km? For many, it’s about the pilgrimage; others, the physical and mental challenge; for us, it was the answer to a pretty unique problem.

On the 20th of April, we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. Many people would celebrate with a dinner out, a party, or an overseas holiday. For us, “overseas” is more common than “at home”, and eating out seems to be more about writing reviews or convenience than it is about pure enjoyment. We were looking for something memorable, and something momentous.

I think we found it.

Resources for the Camino de Santiago

It can be hard to prepare for a walk like this, but we share some of the things we learned as we took on the Via de la Plata. Those learnings certainly apply to all of the Camino de Santiago routes — including the more popular Camino Francés. Start listening around 25:00 to forward to this.

To get inspired and start to learn more:

• The Way (movie)
• The Pilgrimage (Plus)
• Confraternity of St James (We can’t recommend their Via de la Plata guide Camino Francés guide is great
• Amigos of the Camino, Sevilla (Have a great flip-book of stages)
• ‘Our’ best source of Spanish information

And, we made it!

The goal -- Santiago cathedral.

We’re excited to be back podcasting, and back with you all again, but we’re also excited to have finished one of our biggest challenges yet: 1,030km from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela — and ten years of marriage as well!

The Via de la Plata and the Camino de Santiago by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Keep it simple: soap and shampoo

I used to carry body wash and a shower puff, because that was what I used at home. The body wash was heavy and got used up quickly, leaving a large almost-empty container cluttering up my bag and demanding replacement. And the shower puff was always wet; even when I wrapped it in two plastic bags, the water still managed to leak out and get into my clothes.

I also carried largish bottles of both shampoo and conditioner, reasoning that you got more value out of bigger containers. And my toiletries kit was full of bits and pieces that I hardly ever used at home but “thought I might need.”

You’d be surprised at how little you need to keep yourself clean. Soap still works well, and a two-in-one shampoo will not only keep your hair clean, it’ll double as body wash when you run out of soap. If you want to cut down to just one item, Lush makes a shampoo soap, which comes in a handy reusable tin — although we ran out of the shampoo soap after a week or so, we still use the tin to store regular soap in. Although the shampoo soap was fantastic, replacing it was a bit of a problem — it seems they don’t have Lush stores in small town Chile.

There's a lot of soap to choose from

Now, if I’m staying somewhere for awhile, I’ll buy a full-size soap and put it into the tin when we leave (sometimes force or a knife is required). I also usually have at least one individually-wrapped hotel-sized soap lurking at the bottom of the toiletries kit for emergencies or to use as a hand-washing soap.

Even if you’re exclusively staying in hotels and expect soap to be provided, it’s a good idea to have a small one to hand just in case — I’m surprised at how often I’ve had to pull out my reserve soap in a niceish hotel.

Deodorise

Deodorant is another essential. Choose a roll-on anti-perspiration in a plastic container: it’s less likely to break, leak or explode than other options and is usually under the 100ml carry-on allowance. Choose something with a light fragrance rather than something overpowering.

Roll-on deodorant is a better option for travel

Cologne or perfume?

Speaking of fragrance, sometimes you do just want to smell good — and fair enough too. But don’t pack an enormous bottle of your favourite scent — the glass is heavy and you’ll never get through it all. Instead, find a trial or tester-sized container and use that while you’re travelling. I found a tiny bottle of perfume with a handy roll-on applicator, which takes up almost no space in my bag but can be pulled out when I want to smell good.

However, bear in mind that some insects are attracted to strong fragrances, so use your secret stash sparingly.

Hand washing

It’s not just your body that needs to be clean — you need to think about your hands as well. Obviously, washing your hands before eating and after going to the toilet is basic hygiene, but sometimes this is easier said than done.

Your solution will vary depending on your destination. If you expect to get very dirty, a pack of antibacterial wet wipes might be a good option. However, they can be heavy and aren’t easily replaced, so a small bottle of hand-sanitising gel will probably be more useful. Keep it in an easily-accessible part of your bag, in a small ziplock bag to prevent leakages.

Of course, it’s not just you that gets dirty, your stuff needs to be cleaned too. Check out our article on washing your clothes while travelling.

Keep yourself clean while travelling by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 23/4: Since it was our first day in our new city, we decided to take an extensive wander around, keeping our eyes open for apartments for rent. Although our Couchsurfing host Yolanda had told us that it would be better to organise it all privately, we stopped into a couple of property agencies, which were spectacularly unhelpful.

Instead, we took photos of the many ads plastered on walls and lampposts, and sent text messages to the advertisers in the evening, after returning from a walk of at least 15km — and we thought the long walks were over! We had a menu del día lunch in the old town and visited one of the schools I’ve been in touch with about work. Plus I had an interview with the other one in the evening, which seemed to go well (especially since they offered me a part-time job a couple of days later). In the evening we made guacamole and pebre for a light dinner and chatted with Yolanda before bed.

Tuesday 24/4: Despite all of our work sending texts and making phone calls, we only had one positive response from our flat-hunting efforts. For some reason, none of the landlords are interested in a three-month let, they’d prefer to leave their flats empty while waiting for someone to sign up for a longer contract. We arranged to see our sole option, and spent half an hour looking around and chatting with the landlords before heading back to Yolanda’s place to think about it. The price was more than we’d hoped to pay, but still a lot less than New Zealand prices. We decided to go for it, and went back to talk to the landlords again.

Later, I met up with Fiona, the owner of Masterclass, for a chat about job possibilities. Although it looks like I won’t be able to work with her at the moment, she might have some work for me over the summer.

In the evening, I finally got to meet Oliva, my language-exchange partner, and we had hot chocolate and pastries in a friendly cafe. We’ve been friends for over a year and it only occurred to her recently to tell me that her name wasn’t actually Maria, as it appears in her Skype account — now I’ve got to get used to calling her Oliva! She’s just as lovely and funny in person as she is online, and I’m looking forward to spending lots of time with her over the next three months.

We had kebabs for dinner on the way home, and I had another long chat with Yolanda.

Wednesday 25/4: The day started with another visit to the new landlords, who took our passport details and told us where the supermarkets were. While I was talking to them, Craig had an adventure trying to print off his boarding pass, and eventually had success after enlisting the help of almost everyone in the shop.

We walked together to the bus stop, and Craig caught the bus to the airport, where he arrived ridiculously early for his flight to England. The flight was very pleasant, and Kevin picked him up from Heathrow and took him back to his and Gail’s flash new house, where they had delicious home-made curry for dinner.

I, on the other hand, got to have fun with bureaucracy. First I visited the immigration office, where I waited for an hour or so before being called to talk to a typically dragon-like clerk. I explained that I had a visa that allowed me to stay in Spain for a year and was told that that simply wasn’t possible. She disappeared with my passport for quarter of an hour, and returned to tell me to come back the next day.

On the way home I joined the library, and I spent the afternoon reading and getting a bit of work done before having dinner with Yolanda.

Thursday 26/4: My day started back in the immigration office, where the clerk seemed quite happy to see me. She disappeared with my passport again before returning to tell me that yes, Spain has agreements with New Zealand and Canada, and that all I needed to do was get a job contract for three months and fill in a few forms — a process which might actually be a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

I visited the bank to find out what documents I need to get an account then went in to see my new bosses, who were happy to give me a contract but said it would take a while to get, since we are in Spain after all. The guy I’m taking over from, James, showed me around the school and explained what to do in each of the classes, so that was good. I spent the afternoon reading and chatting with Amy (Yolanda’s flatmate), then headed to the airport to meet Craig.

He’d spent the day at Heathrow, since Kevin could drop him off there before work, and taking public transport would have wasted a good couple of hours. At the airport, he got a bit of work done then met his sister Christina for lunch — she recently moved to London and seems to be enjoying herself. The flight back to A Coruña was delayed by half an hour or so because of high winds, but he made it out of security just in time for us to catch the 8:15 bus back to the city.

Moving day

After a light dinner, we headed to my new work, where the bosses (Ben and Jimmy) were throwing a goodbye party for James. It was great to meet all my new colleagues, who I’m sure I’ll see a lot of; they all seem really nice.

Friday 27/4: After a bit of a sleep-in, we packed up all our worldly possessions and walked the kilometre or so to our new apartment. The landlords showed us around, explaining in detail how things work, and we signed a contract and were given the keys.

We needed provisions, so we spent the afternoon visiting the various supermarkets in the area to get everything we needed. Of course we somehow managed to get lost, but that was okay because we stumbled across a well-decorated bar that had a great opening special: a drink and half-portion of food for €3.50. We decided that that would do for lunch and spent the next hour or so there, before returning to our place to prepare for our housewarming party.

We’d invited all our friends (Oliva, Yolanda and Amy) and they all came bearing tasty gifts. After giving them the grand tour of the apartment, we spent the evening chatting and snacking.

Tiny islands

Saturday 28/4: Although the forecast was for rain, the day dawned bright and sunny — a fact we were alerted to by a text from Oliva, who suggested an excursion. We agreed readily, and breakfasted rapidly before meeting her at her place (a five-minute walk away) and hopping in her car. She’d planned a fantastic itinerary, and we visited various beaches and ports, as well as a castle, before ending up in Sada, where we had a tasty lunch and stopped in at the market.

Linda and Oliva at the castle

After a rest in the afternoon, we met up with Oliva again in the evening, to discover the wonderful world of A Coruñian tapas. We were joined by her boyfriend Guille (who I’ve heard a lot about) and her friend Alba, and had a great evening visiting a couple of the most popular tapas bars. The boys both bailed early on, but Oliva, Alba and I headed to Valor for hot chocolate and good conversation before calling it a night.

Alba and Oliva in Caión, Spain

Sunday 29/4: After the early mornings of the Camino, a sleep-in is always welcome, but we took it to an extreme today! We had a light lunch of salad and lentils then got a bit of work done before heading out for a long walk on the beach. On our return, we recorded our first podcast in ages, then had a snack of cheese and crackers.

I headed out to meet Oliva and Alba in the afternoon, and we went for a drive to Caión, where there is a really nice paseo maritimo or seaside walk. We also drove to a couple of other beaches, and managed to get lost in a tiny Galician town on the way back to A Coruña — it was a real adventure.

Travel diary: Setting up in A Coruña by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

On the Argentinean side of the falls, visitors take a train to the Devil’s Throat walkway, which crosses some of the Iguazu River and ends at the top of the Devil’s Throat, the widest stretch of waterfall. You can also walk along the Upper and Lower Trails and see some of the smaller falls up close; or take a boat trip right up into the spray.

For more on Argentina, check out our Argentina page

Iguazu Falls, Argentinean side by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

This makes perfect sense if you understand that our home country of New Zealand has one of the worst internet connections in the developed world, and that free wifi access can be hard to come by. When you do find it, it’s almost always limited by size, as consumers pay per gigabyte of usage. And they pay A Lot.

However, this isn’t the case everywhere. In South East Asia it sometimes seems like every cafe has wifi, and in Europe some parks have their own connection. Even South America, which we thought would be more backwards, has better internet than New Zealand. It’s easy to find somewhere to connect, check your emails, and move on.

In contrast, finding an internet cafe can be more difficult. Since so many places have wifi, and so many people have devices that allow them to use this wifi, demand for internet cafés has decreased. And when you do find them, the computers are usually old and slow, and opening hours can be erratic. Not to mention the dangers of someone getting access to your passwords.

It’s important to be able to communicate, and the best way to do this is to bring a small device with you. What you choose will depend on your travelling style and who you’re travelling with.

Which device?

1. Smartphone/iPod touch

A small device like an iPhone or other smartphone is a great choice if you’re travelling alone. If the phone is unlocked you can buy a local sim card to allow you to make and receive calls at a fraction of the price you’ll pay for roaming charges. Your family will be able to get in touch with you and you’ve got a way of communicating with accommodation providers without breaking the bank or spending an hour looking for a pay phone (believe me, I’ve done it).

An iPhone could be the perfect travel device

The small size of a smartphone means you can bring it out unobtrusively to check for wifi almost wherever you are. And you can do almost everything you need to do: check and send emails, browse the internet and make cheap calls home using Skype. Not to mention the games.

If you’ve already got a good phone, or don’t want to be contacted, an iPod Touch has almost all the functions of an iPhone while being a lot cheaper and slimmer. I travel with one of these, and I keep it in a zip pocket where it can’t be seen.

2. Tablet/mini computer

If you’re travelling as a couple or with a friend, a larger device might be worth considering, as it’s easier to write with a full-size (or almost full-size) keyboard, and you can watch movies on it on rainy evenings. They’re still small enough that they won’t take up much space in your bag, but large enough to have a bit more functionality than a smartphone. Depending on the harddrive space, you could also use it as a storage space for your photos.

Options include the iPad, a Samsung tablet, or a small laptop like the Asus Eee PC. I used to have an Eee PC, which fit neatly into the top of my backpack, and which was great for writing emails and blog posts, and making Skype video calls. Eventually its lack of harddrive space started to cause a problem, and it died when the charging cable broke: it just couldn’t survive the treatment I gave it.

3. A full-size computer

If you’re planning to work on the road or do a lot of writing, it might be worth taking a full-sized laptop. Of course there’s an enormous range to choose from, but as a general rule the lighter the better. I’ve seen people travelling with four-kilogram beasts, and I can’t imagine what kind of damage that’s doing to their back. Weight was a major consideration when I chose the Eee PC, and was similarly important when I bought its successor: a MacBook Air. Sure, it wasn’t cheap, but it’s light, fast and easy-to-use; and it does everything I need it to do. Usually without having to stuff around downloading extra software for it.

Work anywhere with a full-size laptop

Whatever electronics you choose to take with you, it’s important not to flash it around. Petty thieves are everywhere; don’t give them opportunities to practice their art. Keep small devices in a zip pocket and larger devices in a locked bag. That said, depending on where you travel, you might be surprised at how common these types of devices are. As electronics are becoming cheaper and cheaper, they’re more and more within the reach of people with limited means.

It’s definitely worth taking some sort of electronic device with you, wherever you’re travelling — as long as there’s electricity available to charge it, of course. You’ll save time and probably money, you can be contacted and be in contact, and you can keep yourself entertained on those slow evenings when you just want to relax.

Why take electronics travelling? by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 16/4: Since there was a hospitalero on-site, we made an early start to avoid being forcibly kicked out of the albergue — for the previous few days nobody had been around to care if we left half an hour after the official time of 8am. Unfortunately, Orense is a sprawling town, and we spent over an hour walking alongside a busy highway, followed by half an hour up a steep secondary road. Luckily, things improved after that, except that the bar we’d been looking forward to was closed; the track entered a forest and we left the sound of cars behind us.

We finally got our coffee at kilometre 16, and after that there was only seven kilometres to go to our destination of Cea. The track continued to be interesting, passing through small villages, over a cute bridge, and through more forest.

On the way to Cea

On arrival in Cea, we checked into the albergue then had lunch in a bakery/cafe, where we relaxed for an extra hour or so while waiting for the supermarket to open at 4.30pm. We spent the rest of the day back at the albergue, resting and chatting with the group of French teenagers who were also staying there.

Tuesday 17/4: It was drizzling slightly when we left Cea at 8:45, carefully taking the short route (14km) to Castro-Dozon rather than the one that detours past a monastery and adds 8km to the total.

Cea town square

Although the weather cleared and the conversation was pleasant, we were both ready for a cafe to appear at about kilometre ten. Unfortunately we had to wait until Castro, where we had a coffee and tried to decide whether to stay in the albergue there or go on to Laxe. Our various guides gave us all sorts of contradictory information, and we’d just decided to stay when we checked the weather forecast for Wednesday — rain. We decided to go on, having a long day on Tuesday and a shorter one the next day. The supermarket provided lunch food and some vegetables for dinner, and we ate sandwiches in the square before setting off again.

Sadly, despite the fact that the GPS had indicated that our destination lay at least 18km away, Craig still trusted the hostel ad that said that it was only 15km from Castro, and was bitterly disappointed when he realised he’d have to walk a fair bit more. He made this discovery in Xestas, where our guide had said there was a bar but all we could find was a tobacco shop with a table and chairs in it. I asked the owner if it was possible to buy wine, and he looked confused for a minute before disappearing out the back and returning with a bottle of red and a questioning look. We smiled and nodded and asked if we could drink it there, which was apparently fine; he found some glasses and we proceeded to drink the whole bottle.

This made the next leg of the walk quite enjoyable, despite it being the wettest part of the day. We’d dried off by the time we finally reached Laxe, anyway. We pottered around the empty albergue until about 7:30, when we cooked dinner and a group of three Portuguese pilgrims we’d seen in Orense arrived. We thought it would just be the five of us, but the hospitalera arrived at 8pm with bad news — a large group of school kids would be staying in the albergue too.

They arrived at nine and spent the next half-hour making as much noise as possible, then headed out for dinner, returning loudly at 11:40. It was annoying that the rule about being inside and silent by ten didn’t seem to apply to them, and even more annoying that the lights in the bedroom that we were sharing with the Portuguese were on a sensor, so that anytime someone got up or moved around in bed, the lights went on. These annoyances, and the fact that the beautiful kitchen was equipped with only a small pot, three spoons and a rusty pan, meant that we weren’t overly impressed with the albergue. But at least it was warm and we ended up sleeping well.

Wednesday 18/4: Since the normal rules didn’t seem to apply, we stayed in bed until after we heard the school kids leave at about 8:45, then had a leisurely breakfast in the kitchen before making a move at around 9:30. Since we’d changed our plan, we only had about 10km to walk, which was great because the weather was as dire as the forecast had predicted. We were both wet through within two kilometres, but the fact that it was a pleasant walk and the idea that it was going to be a short one kept our spirits up.

Linda on the road

We arrived in Silleda at around midday and checked into a pension that had been over-advertised for the past hundred kilometres or so. Apparently its two parts are owned by different people: a man, who is responsible for the aggressive advertising, and a woman, who does the work of checking people in. Since we didn’t have a booking we chose to stay on the woman’s side, which was a good choice since there was only one other guest.

A quick trip to the supermarket stocked us up for the rest of the day, which we spent inside, in the warm, watching the rain fall and being happy not to be out in it. Craig cooked a tasty dinner and we watched a movie on the laptop before bed.

Thursday 19/4: The weather had improved dramatically from the day before, and our first leg of 7km was almost completely dry. We took a break in a cafe/bakery in Bandeiro, where we paid very little for coffee and a whole array of pastry snacks.

The next leg of the walk was unfortunately a lot wetter, with a sudden downfall soaking us in minutes. We waited out the second half of the squall in an oddly-placed bus shelter, and had completely dried off by the time we arrived in Seixo for our second break. We chatted for awhile with the Portuguese (who were already there) and just as we were about to go, our old friend Marina arrived. We put off our departure for a quick catch-up; it was interesting to hear what she’d been up to for the previous two weeks.

The last leg of the day was broken in half by a stop at the Ponte Ulla supermarket, since the town where the albergue is located doesn’t have a shop. After that the walk seemed like a bit of an effort, with the alternating sun, wind and rain making our clothing uncomfortable no matter what we did. But we made it, and had a tasty (if late) lunch in the well-equipped albergue, then relaxed before a pleasant (and also late) dinner.

Santiago fountain in Outeiro

Friday 20/4: We had to make an earlyish start if we wanted to make it to Santiago in time for the pilgrim mass at midday, so we set off at 8:05 and made good time until our first break an hour and a half later.

The first glimpse of the cathedral

It hadn’t rained during the first leg, but the skies opened during the second section, and once again we were wet through. Luckily the drizzle eventually stopped and the sun came out to dry us off, and we made it to Santiago by 11:30. After the compulsory photos and videos were taken, we headed inside the cathedral for mass; it was totally packed and we had to stand at the back. It was a beautiful service; a nun sang and the sermon was good (it was strange to be able to understand it, such a contrast to our arrival four years ago), and at the end they swung the botafumeiro — a huge incense burner that is only brought out on special occasions or when someone pays €250 for it. I was very, very excited.

After mass we headed to the pilgrim office to get our certificates then had a menu del día in a cafe we’d seen on the way into town. Then we headed to our flash hotel, where we were told we’d been given the best room on account of it being our anniversary. It was the only room on the fourth floor, with gorgeous stone walls and sloping ceiling, plus views of both the old town and the outskirts of the city.

The goal -- Santiago cathedral.

Since we didn’t have any suitable clothes for the nice dinner we planned to have to further celebrate our anniversary, we headed out to the shopping area to get some clothes. A couple of painful hours trawling the shops yielded some jeans, a shirt and a belt for Craig, and shoes, stockings and a blazer for me.

We’d been given a voucher for a drink and a tapa in a restaurant that’s part of the same group as the hotel, so after relaxing in comfortable surroundings for a few hours, we headed out to avail ourselves of it, and ended up having dinner there too — it was all delicious!

Saturday 21/4: All alarms were turned off, and we slept in as late as possible before heading out for a simple breakfast in a nearby cafe. Leaving there at about 11:30, we decided to wander past the parador to see if there was any places left for the pilgrim lunch, and we were in luck.

The parador hotel used to be a pilgrim hospital, and offers a free breakfast, lunch and dinner for ten pilgrims at each meal, which you can get on the first three days after having arrived in Santiago. When we arrived outside the garage, which is the meeting place, eight others were already waiting, so we had arrived at the perfect time.

A porter checked our certificates and wrote our names and ID card numbers in a book before writing out a coupon for us to give to the chef. Then we made our way through the hotel to the kitchen, where the chef served us up a generous meal of soup, meat and chickpeas, bread, fruit and wine — the same food that is given to the staff of the hotel. We ate in a small dining room on the first floor which is decorated with hand-drawn representations of the different Caminos, and it was a really enjoyable experience sharing a meal with other pilgrims, who all had different stories to tell about their pilgrimage.

Pilgrim meal in the parador

We spent the afternoon wandering around the city; apart from looking at souvenir shops, we also visited the modern art museum and I had a look around the fresh-food market while Craig headed back to the hotel for a rest.

In the evening, we visited the pilgrim museum (which was, oddly, all in Galician), then met up with Marina and two other pilgrims (Liz and Christine) and had a beer with them. After that, we all headed to Manolo’s for dinner, where we ran into the Germans and a father and son from Belgium who were friends of Liz’s. It was a pleasant evening, but sad to say goodbye to people we’d seen a lot of over the past few weeks — especially Marina, since we actually started the walk on the same day as her.

Back at the hotel, we continued the Camino theme by watching The Way, a movie about a father who walks the Camino Frances after his son dies shortly after starting it. It was fun to recognise some uniquely pilgrim moments, although it didn’t all ring true.

Sunday 22/4: Sadly, our preferred breakfast cafe was closed and we had to wander a little to find another, after which we packed up and checked out of our lovely hotel. We stopped by the cathedral to see the botafumeiro swing again, then had hot chocolate and churros in the Valor cafe, then collected our bags and walked to the train station.

The journey to A Coruña was swift and pleasant, and we had a snack in the station cafeteria before being picked up by our Couchsurfing host Yolanda. She took us on a tour of the city, showing us the important sights and explaining not to try to use the sea as a navigating tool. Since the city is shaped like a T protruding into the ocean, this makes a lot of sense!

We spent the evening chatting with Yoli and her flatmate Amy, then headed out for a walk around the area and a light dinner of hamburgers.

Travel diary: Via de la Plata, week six by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

There are all sorts of adventures to be had in Adelaide, if you just start looking for them, and one of the best is going kayaking with dolphins with Adventure Kayaking South Australia. The half-day tour takes place in Port Adelaide, about 30 minutes from the CBD and accessible by public transport.

Always aware of health and safety, our guide gave us a briefing and issued us with life jackets before explaining how to use the kayaks. Working together, we carried the kayaks down to the water and paddled out to meet the dolphins, who seemed to be waiting for us. David had explained that we couldn’t get too close to the dolphins, but that didn’t stop them coming to us — some of them swam alongside and under the kayaks, emerging with a smile on the other side.

Our first destination was a mangrove swamp. We paddled up a small creek and pulled to a stop in a clearing, where David explained the importance of mangroves to the environment and the economy. There were dolphins waiting for us when we emerged from the mangroves; we followed them upstream a little, where the water was warmer as a result of discharge from a nearby power plant. Eventually we had to turn around, and floated back past our starting point and into an inlet, where several ships have found their final resting place. David explained the history of each one, as well as telling us about the importance of the area for the local Aborigines, after which we turned and battled the tide back to the jetty.

A tour with Adventure Kayaking SA was more than just about kayaking, or dolphins, though both of those were certainly part of the experience. We also got a valuable insight into the culture and history of the area, as well as a bit of a workout!

For more on Australia, check out our Australia page.

Kayaking with dolphins with Adventure Kayaking SA by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

It’s a good idea to have a couple of tried-and-true recipes up your sleeve, that can be adapted for locally-obtainable ingredients. The following mince recipe is one of my staples — it can be used with nacho chips for nachos, or with tortillas and salad for burritos. It can be used for tacos or lasagne, can go in small pastries for an interesting finger-food option, and it can be frozen. Plus, if mince isn’t available, you can chop steak into thin strips and it works almost as well.

Versatile mince mix

Ingredients:
500g mince
One large onion
Two cans of chopped tomatoes (or about 10 fresh tomatoes, chopped finely and heated in a saucepan with a little water until soft)
One or two cans of mixed beans (or use soaked beans)
Three (or more) tablespoons of tomato paste
Oil for frying
Salt, pepper, chilli powder

Brown the mince in a frying pan or wok and drain to remove fat. Remove from frying pan. Chop the onions finely and fry until clear. Add other vegetables if you want, such as capsicum and mushrooms. Put the mince back in the pan and add tomatoes, tomato paste, beans and seasonings — I always add sweet Thai chilli sauce when available. Heat until bubbling then lower the heat and simmer for at least half an hour, until a lot of the liquid has steamed off and you’re left with a thick reddish mince mix.

Chop those onions

It’s pretty healthy, since it contains a lot of vegetables, and you can make it healthier still by serving it with a salad of locally-grown produce (carefully washed, of course). If avocados are available, a logical accompaniment is guacamole:

Linda’s guacamole

Ingredients:

Guacamole

One ripe avocado
One medium-sized tomato
Half an onion
Half a teaspoon of salt
A squeeze of lemon juice
One tablespoon of sour cream

Dice the onion into tiny pieces. Sprinkle the salt over the top of the chopped onion and squeeze in. Set aside. Chop the tomato into small (3mm cubed) pieces. Mash the avocado and stir in the lemon juice and sour cream. Add the tomato and onion and stir until mixed in. Easy.

If sour cream isn’t available, thickened cream also works, or just leave it out for a less-creamy flavour.

If you need something filling and don’t have much time, pikelets are a good option. The batter can be adapted to be sweet or savoury, and they can be a good finger-food option or form a part of a larger meal, accompanied by salad.

Travel fritters

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of flour
One teaspoon of baking powder (or one cup of self-rising flour instead of plain flour and baking powder)
One egg
Salt and pepper to taste
One cup of “something” (banana, cream-style corn, canned tuna and tomato: be creative)
Oil for frying

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper together. Add the egg and “something” and mix until combined. Heat about a tablespoon of oil in frypan and add tablespoons of batter (use a teaspoon if you want to make cute finger food). Cook until golden then flip.

You can add almost anything to a fritter. These ones have corn.

Three easy recipes for travel by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 9/4: Monday had a lot to live up to after our wonderful Easter Sunday, and it made a pretty good effort. We made a late start after a pleasant sleep-in in the warm dorm room, and made sure to have a coffee with breakfast to give us a kick start.

Luckily the temperatures were a lot more pleasant than the day before, and the first leg (to Mombuey) was only 9km. We had a coffee there and stocked up on food for lunch, which we ate 8km down the road in Cernadilla. After that, it was only another 10km or so to Asturianos, where we were thinking about stopping but decided not to, though we did have a truly excellent glass of wine each at the bar beside the albergue.

On the road to Palacios de Sanabria

Instead, we trekked on another three or four kilometres to Palacios de Sanabria (naughtily not following the detour and being told off by a roadworks foreman), where we got a private room and spent the evening in first one, then the other, local bar.

Tuesday 10/4: It was a cold morning, which made getting up a little difficult. We managed it though, and headed out the door at 8:40, running into José outside the bar where he’d just had breakfast. The walk was pleasant, through forests and tiny towns, and it only rained lightly. We arrived in Puebla de Sanabria at about 11:30 and got coffee and a light snack in a bar — except that the two tapas Craig ordered turned out to be enormous. We decided to call it lunch.

Further along, we visited three ATMs before being able to withdraw cash, and although we finally managed we were left wondering what the problem was. Surely our bank hasn’t blocked our cards again?

Puebla de Sanabria

The next 12km or so to Requejo were full of beautiful views and painful feet, and we were happy to arrive and have a long afternoon stretching in front of us. There were two albergues on offer: the basic, cheap one and a private one with all sorts of mod cons for €12 — which we chose so that Craig could get some work done using the wifi.

After a merienda (okay, second lunch), we worked for awhile then headed out to find wine and tapas in a local bar.

Wednesday 11/4: It was a latish start, as we enjoyed the warmth of the albergue before heading into the cold wind and relentless drizzle that awaited us. The road led us along the highway for awhile, and we decided to continue along it rather than take the marked route into the forest, as it would have added another kilometre or two to our journey — this was proved by the fact that we had been installed in the bar in the first town for a good twenty minutes when a French woman, who had stayed in the albergue and left at least 45 minutes before us, arrived.

A rainbow to start the day

We used the iPhone to check the weather and make an informed decision about when to leave the warm bar, which had been very nice to us in terms of coffee and food (mmm morcilla and tortilla). The next leg was a lot less windy and quite a lot less rainy, but we still arrived in Lubián soaked through.

We’d only walked 17km by that point, so although the albergue was warm and well-equipped, we decided to brave the second ascent of the day and head to Vilavella, where a new albergue was waiting for us.

This stretch, between Lubián and Vilavella, was without doubt our favourite section of the walk so far. The route was interesting and a bit challenging, with narrow paths, stream navigation and a pretty steep ascent to handle; but the weather was fantastic (no wind, only a little rain on the way into Vilavella) and we saw corzos (a type of deer). It was very exciting!

However, despite a bevy of signs pointing us out of town towards the old railway station, it transpired that the albergue was closed for repairs. When we were told this (in the town grocery store) we were literally speechless, and the shop attendant took pity on us and called the guesthouse to see if she could get us a good deal. Well, €30 is a lot more than we’d planned to pay, but at least we got a place to sleep out of the (by then quite heavy) rain. The menu del día on offer was tasty and we ate in a romantic corner of the otherwise-empty dining room. On the whole, a win of a day.

To A Gudiña

Thursday 12/4: The forecast seemed to think the weather would improve after 9am, so we slept in and left at about 9:30, after coffee in the bar downstairs. The wind was pretty fierce and the drizzle came and went, but it was a lovely walk through a rocky and barren landscape. We’d decided to have a short day, just 14km to A Gudiña, so although Craig was still having problems with his leg, it felt like a holiday. We took a break for coffee at O Cañizo, then only had an hour or so to go to get to A Gudiña, arriving at 1pm. Being the first to arrive, we had to call the hospitalero to let us in; Craig waited for him while I went to find bread for lunch, which we ate outside.

Friday 13/4: Looking out the window of the albergue in the morning, I saw nothing but blue skies. Unfortunately, out the other side was a wall of cloud — a juxtaposition which neatly summarises our day. We had to climb up into the clouds then walked along a ridgeline in the bright sunshine, enjoying the views of rolling hills covered in heather, a lake to the left, and the occasional glimpse of snow-topped mountains. A rainbow appeared and accompanied us for an hour or so, and we walked through several tiny villages — one had sheep being driven through it, another had a picnic area where we took a quick break.

The way divides

Our goal was Campobecerros, a small town where most of the other pilgrims were planning to stay for the night but didn’t. We saw Gunter and Paco (a Spanish guy) in the bar, where we ate a delicious vegetable soup for lunch.

Very soon after we set off, the rain set in, quickly drenching us then hanging around as drizzle to keep us miserable. After three or four kilometres of climbing, the rest of the walk was a steady downhill on a secondary road — not particularly exciting, and with the low cloud hiding everything from view, not particularly visually stimulating either.

Stunning views on the way out of A Gudiña

We arrived in our destination, Laza, at about 5:30, and checked in with the Civil Defence. The hot water wasn’t working so I headed out to find dinner instead of taking a shower — and it turned out to be a mission. The small shops didn’t offer much in the way of variety and the bakery remained steadfastly closed despite my three separate attempts (with the help of far too many locals) to find a way to buy bread. Eventually there was success and we had a tasty dinner of green beans with garlic and sausage, a vegetable omelette, and bread with olive oil. And wine, of course.

Saturday 14/4: The weather was fine when we set out at about 8:45, but it didn’t stay that way for long. As we started to climb the hill that dominated the terrain, the light rain got heavier and heavier until we were both soaked through. We had half an hour of respite before our break in Albergueria, where we had coffee in El Rincón del Peregrino, where the walls are covered in scallop shells bearing the names of other pilgrims who have passed there.

El Rincón del Peregino

We were drenched again by the time we got to Vilar do Barrio, where José and the Germans stopped for the night. Craig and I had soup and coffee for €2.50 each in a buffet restaurant, then headed out into blue skies. We passed through several small villages and were in the middle of a long boring stretch of secondary road when the thunder clapped off to our right (to the left was blue), and the hail hit. Luckily our jackets are pretty robust, so we just kept on going; it felt more like an adventure than a tragedy. It was, however, inconvenient to be wet through again.

We arrived in our final destination of Xunqueira at about 5pm, as some more hail started to fall. Luckily the albergue was open, so we had a short rest there before heading into town to buy food for dinner. It was a much more successful trip than the day before; we managed to buy everything we needed (including bread) in the first shop we came to.

Dinner was oil on bread, followed by soup, then pasta with chicken and veges in tomato sauce. Pretty good, actually.

Sunday 15/4: Once again, the day started with good weather, but this time it decided to stay that way — there was just a bit of drizzle now and then to break the boredom.

The walk wasn’t particularly interesting, being along the road for most of the way. We had a break in one of the chain of small towns, the first that offered an open bar (after about 9km). The next break was within sight of another bar — we ate our lunch on a park bench then had a glass of wine inside. It wasn’t until after we’d eaten that we realised that we could have had pulpo (octopus) from the temporary pulpo stand across the road… We decided to have some anyway and negotiated a small serving. It was tasty.

The rest of the walk, through an industrial estate and into Orense, was unremarkable except for the small town of Seix Albo, which was charming. We reached the albergue shortly before 4pm and the hospitalero kindly let us check in early, which was good because we were ready to collapse. Luckily the beds were comfortable because we spent the afternoon lying in them.

Travel diary: Via de la Plata, week five by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

While the architecture acts as a time machine, the inhabitants of Stockholm are probably the trendiest I’ve ever come into contact with: high-end shops are littered with beautiful blonde Swedes in impossibly tall heels regardless of the weather. In a nutshell Stockholm manages to be historic and completely modern all at the same time.

Central Station.

The walkway between Gamla Stan and Norrmalm.

Trefaldighets Church.

The Royal Palace.

Even in freezing weather, people in Stockholm manage to be quite fashionable.

The main church of the Gamla Stan, the "Old City."

Old stone houses.

The National Museum.

The reading area in the library of the Culture House.

Johannes Church.

The Nordic Museum.

In Djurgården, an old greenhouse was turned into a trendy cafe.

Stockholm, Sweden [photos] by Taylor McIntyre was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

1. Bulgogi (barbecued beef)

Bulgogi (pronounced pool-go-gee) is definitely one of the most popular among Westerners travelling in Korea and is probably among the country’s most famous grilled dishes. Beef is cut into thin strips and is left to sit in a marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper, sugar, onions, ginger and wine for at least four hours. It is cooked with garlic and onions and served like a stir-fry with rice. Sweet, savoury and delicious!

Bulgogi

2. Baechu kimchi (cabbage kimchi)

The one thing never missing from a Korean dinner table is the classic cabbage dish, kimchi. Kimchi is an acquired taste, but if you get the good stuff and eat it like the Koreans do (as a side to mix with the main dish), you will begin to see why it has lasted the test of time. Baechu Kimchi is the most traditional form of the dish and is made from whole heads of cabbage soaked in brine and hot spices. It is spicy, tangy and delicious when paired with other Korean foods.

Kimchi

3. Ggakdugi (radish kimchi)

This a kimchi dish in which radishes are used in place of cabbage. This is a somewhat cheaper version of kimchi and is served at roadside stands and most restaurants, as a side with all main courses. The radishes are parboiled and coated with red pepper powder, garlic and ginger.

4. Kimchi bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice)

This is a very quick and easy Korean dish that is commonly thrown together for lunch or a simple dinner. When kimchi has soured, Koreans fry it and add rice, some sort of meat and veggies, and let the flavours mix together. It is usually served in a big pile with a fried egg on top.

Kimchi bokkeumbap

5. Gimbap (rice wrapped in seaweed)

You can find gimbap on most city streets in Korea. This is another meal popular for its convenience and inexpensive ingredients. It’s also a pretty nutritious snack. First, you take dried seaweed and spread a layer of rice on top. Then other ingredients (usually sausage, ham, spinach, cucumber, carrots, crab meat or radishes) are added on top, and it’s rolled up into a sushi-style wrap.

Gimbap

Do you like Korean food? What’s missing from this list? Add your opinion in the comments below.

Top dishes to try in South Korea by Jemima Lopez was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 2/4: What we thought would be a nice, easy start to the week (just 20km to Salamanca), turned out to be the complete opposite. The first stage was a haze of pain for both of us, as Craig continued with his blisters and I discovered just how painful they could really be. The light on the horizon was the town halfway between Morille and Salamanca, Miranda de Azán, where we planned to stop for coffee. It was about 200m off the route, but we made the detour, lured by signs advertising a bar AND a restaurant. But no luck. The restaurant had closed down several months previously and the bar was closed on Mondays.

Craig collapsed on the side of the road while I headed to the lone shop to see what I could find. The shopkeeper didn’t sell coffee, nor did he have any hot water, but — moved by my plight — he called his son and asked him to bring the pot of coffee from his own kitchen bench, and then wouldn’t hear of taking any money for it. It was a real Camino moment, of someone going out of their way to help out (or at least making their son go out of his way).

After coffee, the world was a better place and both of us were able to walk, stride even, to Salamanca. There, we ran into the hospitaleros just outside the albergue, who opened it up for us to let us drop off our bags, despite us arriving well after the cut-off time. We headed out to find lunch, which was a textbook example of bad service, and which put me in a bad mood for the next hour or so — a state that was only alleviated by coffee and churros.

The main square in Salamanca

After checking into the albergue when it reopened at 4pm, we had a rest then headed out again to try to find a solution to Craig’s feet issues. The local sports shop yielded two answers: a pair of decent-looking socks, and a whole new pair of shoes, halfway between sandals and closed shoes. We bought them both and added a towel to replace the one Craig lost last week.

Back in the albergue, we cooked dinner and spent the evening chatting with the hospitaleros, José the crazy Spaniard, and our old friends Mimma and Marina. Mimma was heading back to Milan so we said our goodbyes; I gave her a hug and she stroked my cheek and said sweet things in Italian.

Tuesday 3/4: After a refreshing sleep in a room with no other pilgrims (thanks, Trevor), we had breakfast and headed out the door only five minutes late, at 8:05. It was an early start for us, but it worked out well, since it gave us extra time walking in the dry — Tuesday’s key words were certainly “wet” and “long”.

Our attempt to have a coffee in the first town was foiled by the bar being shut; luckily this wasn’t the case in the second town, since by then we were soaked through. The rain let up a little after our coffee, but we still stopped for another at the next town (Calzada de Valdunciel), where we also ate our lunch in the lobby of a building which houses the old folks’ club and the library.

The weather worsens

Our destination, El Cubo de Tierra del Vino, was 20km further on with no towns along the way to break the journey. Luckily the path was flat and wide, mostly following the road, but we were both footsore by the time we arrived. Craig’s new shoes held up extremely well, given that he walked almost 40km in them; he had a couple of sore points but a lot fewer than you might expect.

We were surprised to find so many pilgrims at the albergue, among them José, Toro, and Gunter. Craig and I had wanted to cook but the local shop didn’t have a wide selection on offer, and what there was was overpriced. Instead, we joined a group of the others for the menu del día at the local bar, where the waitress/chef seemed really put out that we wanted to spend money in her establishment.

Wednesday 4/4: Things seem a lot stricter in Castilla y Leon than they were in the previous region of Extremadura; most albergues have a rule that you have to leave before 8am, which is about 20 minutes before sunrise. This was the case in El Cubo del Vino as well, so we left dead on 8:00 (okay, 8:05) and had a pleasant first stage of around 13km to Villanueva de Campeán, where we ran into three pilgrims we’d met the night before, who were also having a coffee in the bar. Getting into the town took a bit of time, though — an old man stopped to greet us at the entrance and ended up telling us all about the nice Kiwi girl who works in the winery, the Semana Santa processions in Zamora and what he and his entire family think about them, and the politics of having two pilgrim albergues in the same small town. It was awesome.

Entering Zamora

We decided to make a slight detour off the marked way to have another coffee and a bocadillo in San Marcial, which gave us the energy we needed for the next 13km or so to Zamora.

After walking alongside the road for about 3km, the city came into view and it only took us about three hours to reach it across the flat plain. It was worth the effort though, the city is beautiful. It’s situated on a river, has an unbelievable amount of churches, and also has a town wall. The albergue was modern and well-appointed, and we were put into a room with a Dutch couple we’d met in Cubo del Vino.

I left Craig behind to frantically try to catch up on some work and headed to the supermarket. I ended up at one a lot further away than I’d planned to go, but found everything I needed for an enormous meal, which we cooked back in the albergue. While I was out, I saw a lot of people in procession costumes heading towards the cathedral — we planned to watch the procession but it was called off (for the first time since the thirties) because of rain.

Thursday 5/4: We headed out the door after a filling breakfast put on by the albergue, and made good time to the first town about 6km away, where we took a break and ate some candied almonds that you can only get a Easter-time.

Semana Santa bread in Zamora

The next leg (12km) to Montamarta was similarly successful, and we found a bar on the way out of town which furnished us with the coffee we needed. We had lunch in the square before heading on… And somehow managed to lose our way. We’d just slogged through 600m of sticky mud when a couple of farmers (working on a holiday, crazy) told us we were going the wrong way. Luckily we didn’t have to go back the way we came, a slightly less-muddy access road took us back to the highway, but on reaching the road we promptly went the wrong way again. Luckily Craig checked the map at the next intersection and there was a shortcut back to the road we actually wanted, and halfway along the shortcut we found Camino markers. All went well for awhile, until the markers took us along a very roundabout path to avoid walking along the highway — we decided to give up on the arrows and just follow the road. And just as well, too, because the bar we’d been hanging out for was on the side of the highway, but a good kilometre from the marked track.

After a drink there, we only had 4km to go to our destination of Riego del Camino. Halfway there, it started to rain. Luckily it was only a light shower, and we were a lot better off than Toro, who had got caught in a hailstorm.

Pilgrims on the road ahead

When we finally arrived at our albergue, we found the whole gang there: Toro, Gunter, Steffi, Holger and José. After a not-very-long rest, we all ventured out into the rain to Bar Pepe — José very kindly invited us all out for dinner.

Friday 6/4: Since we weren’t going to be kicked out at 8am, we stayed in bed a little later and rose to find that it was raining. This let up after a while, but this wasn’t the good news you might expect; it was replaced by snow. Actual snow. José ventured out first, followed by Toro (with plastic-bag gloves); the rest of us stayed behind to have a leisurely breakfast — luckily the hot water from the tap was warm enough to make coffee with.

Craig and I eventually left shortly after 9, and by the time we arrived at the next town 6km later, we were completely wet. Craig’s jacket seemed to have lost its waterproofing, and while mine is doing well, it doesn’t stop my legs from getting drenched.

We spent over an hour in the bar at Granja, examining an hour-by-hour weather report. It seemed to indicate that things would improve, though we weren’t sure we’d made the right decision (to continue) when there was a relatively heavy squall about 15 minutes down the road. Luckily, that was it; apart from a few sprinkles we were dry for the rest of the day. We could even sit down for lunch when we arrived at the bridge (8km after Granja) that was our waymark.

The wind was icy but we made good time on the 10km to Faramontanos de Tábara, where we planned to stay. Unfortunately, the refugio was being used for something to do with Easter (it being Good Friday, after all) so we couldn’t stay there. Instead, we had to continue for another 6km to Tábara, where we discovered that the albergue is located really really far away from the town centre.

Morning market in Tábara

Since the supermarket was shut, we didn’t have much option but to eat in the bar (back in town, a long long way from the albergue). Back in the albergue, everyone was so knackered that we turned the lights out at 9:30.

Saturday 7/4: After a pleasant sleep-in (broken only by Toro crashing around), we left the albergue at around 9am and stopped at the supermarket on the way out of town. Unfortunately the light rain got heavier and heavier until it felt like icy needles, but it let off and the sun even came out to dry us off.

After 10km or so, we had to choose between two routes; we chose the one that would take us to coffee. 4km further along, we stopped in a bar for half an hour or so then had a bocadillo lunch on the side of the road out of town. After that, it wasn’t too far to Santa Marta de Tera, where we stopped for the night. The only other pilgrim was another Spaniard called José, who we’d met the night before; the others had stayed in a private albergue a kilometre back along the road — and with good reason, since the low temperatures meant that the very basic refugio on offer wasn’t very pleasant.

In the afternoon we visited an eleventh-century church which features the oldest statue of Santiago the pilgrim, and drank cheap wine with José in a local bar.

Sunday 8/4: Easter Sunday was perhaps the most perfect day on the Camino so far. It didn’t start auspiciously — the albergue was freezing cold so we dressed hurriedly, and the bar where we’d planned to have our morning coffee was closed.

We set off into the frosty landscape, and although we walked fast, the time seemed to drag. We finally made it to Olleros de Tera at midday with coffee on our mind, but the church bells were ringing and we decided to go to mass instead.

Our attempts to hide at the back were foiled by the need for everyone to leave in a procession — the men walked around the church one way following a man holding a large crucifix, and the women walked the other behind a statue of the Virgin Mary. We all met up halfway and returned to the church together.

It was interesting that two women led the mass, something that we hadn’t seen before. A kind lady explained to us later that the priest had come the day before; he’s probably the one who has seven churches to look after, who is also in charge of the church we visited in Santa Marta the day before.

After mass, we found a bar (after asking around a bit), where we had our long-anticipated coffee and some very tasty tapas. I had my cheek stroked again by an older woman wishing us a “buen camino”, and we made our way out of town.

Craig at the fountain

Not only did we have more energy after coffee and a snack, we also had great weather. After leaving the albergue bundled up in almost all our clothes (for example, I was wearing a T-shirt, two merino tops, a fleece, a jacket with the hood up to keep my ears warm, and a scarf fashioned out of my merino longjohns), it was exciting to get down to just a T-shirt and feel the sun on our arms.

The walk was great too; a narrow bushwalk of a couple of kilometres took us to a dam, and after we crossed it we walked alongside the reservoir for a few more kilometres.

Our guide said there wasn’t anything in Vilar de Farfón, the last town before our destination of Rionegro, but shortly before arriving there we saw a yellow coffee cup painted on the rock and got very excited. The cup didn’t represent a cafe, though; it was the house of a South African missionary family who had set up a tiny albergue with a welcoming porch/kitchen area where you could enjoy an instant coffee and a chat with the host. As we were leaving an older couple arrived who recognised us from mass and we were given apples to eat on our way.

Rionegro in the sunset

The albergue at Rionegro is new and fantastic, equipped with a washing machine and dryer. We put all our clothes on to wash and headed out to the bar for wine and more tapas. However, disaster struck when we returned; someone had changed the setting on the washing machine and it had stopped partway through a long cycle without having finished washing our clothes. After reading the instruction manual carefully, we managed to put it on again, and stayed up late cycling the clothes through the dryer — we’d planned to hang them out for awhile but it wasn’t to be.

Travel diary: Via de la Plata, week four by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Politics

Political graffiti has been around for awhile, everything from scrawled messages of support (or censure) to party-funded advertising campaigns. It’s a foreign concept for me, from a country where graffiti is very much frowned upon, to see the more-familiar billboards and posters supplemented with painted messages. Some parties use stencils, others pay for a worker to freestyle spraypaint the names of candidates on walls throughout the city and beyond — along the motorways some of the slogans stand two metres high.

Now, most of the messages are either advertising or support, as is the case of the couple who redecorated the front of their house in blue and yellow to support the president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. But they didn’t just use the colours: they hired someone to use stencils of supportive phrases to create a unique design.

Messages of support for Cristina

Mood

However, during Argentina’s financial crisis of 2001, the messages weren’t so supportive. Quite the opposite, in fact. The atmosphere of the city was dark and so was the graffiti. So, a group of artists got together and decided to lighten the mood a little, with brightly-coloured murals of cartoon-like characters in various locations throughout the city.

More and more artists joined in, and many have distinct styles which means their work can be easily distinguished from that of other people. Some favour a cartoony style, others paint stylised animals, or usually do abstract designs. It can be interesting to wander around a neighbourhood looking for examples of one artist’s work, trying to see how their style has changed through the various works they’ve done.

Mural on the antiques market building, Palermo 'Hollywood', Buenos Aires

Collaboration

Also interesting is to see how some artists work together, creating a design that shows off the styles of all involved, different as those styles might be — a pink-and-white cartoon on a background of rust-red and dark-blue three-dimensional blocks, accompanied by a stencil of a gaucho playing the electric guitar, for example.

A fusion of styles

Although graffiti is technically illegal, like many of Argentina’s laws this is neither respected nor enforced, meaning that artists can paint freely during the day, they don’t have to hide what they’re doing. They need to get permission to paint private property, but many walls in the city are regarded as “public space”, free for anyone to use.

The ephemeral nature of graffiti means that a wander around to look at the art won’t be the same twice, as things get painted over, added to or removed. It’s like going through an art gallery, but one that’s alive, one whose artists are just around the corner planning their next work.

Creative use of stencil

We did a tour of the graffiti in the Collegiales and Palermo neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires with Graffiti Mundo, and it really opened our eyes to what goes on behind the paint on the wall — we learned about the history, about the artists, about the changing nature of the medium; as well as getting to see some truly high-quality art.

For more about Argentina, check out our Argentina country page.

Explore the street art of Buenos Aires by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

You can wander around the city and see a lot for yourself, but you’ll need a guide to help you get under the surface. The Hidden Path is a guided city tour specialising in street art and graffiti, whose knowledgeable guides help you to discover the urban art hidden in Berlin’s busy streets, providing you with an insight into the history of both the art and Berlin itself, away from the popular tourist sights of the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie or Potsdamer Platz.

Spaceman stencil art

The Hidden Path

We met our guide David on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in Kreuzberg, at the infamous Cottbusser Tor. From our meeting point could observe all the activity of the square, which is full of Berlin’s filthy charm and covered with tags of all colours. After a short introduction to the turbulent history of Kreuzberg, David led us to the first spots on our three-hour walking tour. He gave us an interesting explanation of the differences between the various forms of urban art and explained what graffiti culture was like before and after Berlin’s post-wall rebirth twenty years ago.

Plus, he told us all about who had painted the artwork we saw, as well as why and when the artwork was done. Supported by a backpack full of graffiti magazines and street-art books, he showed us additional pieces by artists whose artwork we admired first-hand on our tour — helping us to understand their styles and see recurrent themes.

During the tour I especially enjoyed the clever street art of Viktor Ash, who painted a floating astronaut on a typical Kreuzberg housing façade at Mariannenstraße. I was also fascinated when David explained the creative technique of Alexandre Farto, who uses explosives to create huge portraits of inspiring Berlin personalities on visible places spread all over the city. In general, I was overwhelmed by the abundance and diversity of urban art taking place in the public space of Berlin.

Chains

Garden warfare

But we didn’t just see graffiti and street art on our walking tour through Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. David also introduced us to the concept of guerilla gardening. This relatively new approach wants to develop the urban space by harnessing wasteland. It was amazing to see how residents embellish their environment by growing vegetables and fruits, by creating little gardens or by maintaining a little farm for donkeys and other animals.

An urban garden

The Hidden Path costs about €18 and group size is small — usually around five to ten people. The guides are keen to adjust their three-hour tours through the streets of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain to your wishes and expectations, and are always ready to share interesting anecdotes about the area as well as about the art you see — giving you a chance to learn a little history as well!

Rabbits

For more about Germany, check out our Germany country page.

Berlin street art tours with the Hidden Path by Julian Rappold was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 26/3: The week started as it meant to continue, with well-meant plans coming to nothing. Craig was in a bad mood because of his blisters, which rubbed off on me, and we trudged along in silence for most of the walk, which was pretty much all along the side of a road.

We’d been planning to head to Cañaveral, but as we walked further, the idea of a short day looked more and more appealing. We’d seen an ad in a previous albergue for Hostal Lindamar, which offered a dinner, breakfast and accommodation package for €14 — it sounded perfect and we’d decided to take them up on it; the only problem was that Hostal Lindamar was closed.

Roman milario

It was very lucky for us that the nearby albergue was open, because there was nothing else around for 10km in any direction, and it was also lucky that the albergue had pre-cooked food for sale — this was important, since we didn’t have enough food with us, having planned to shop in Cañaveral.

We spent the afternoon resting in the modern albergue and had a tasty dinner of pizza, salad and wine.

Sunset over the lake

Tuesday 27/3:Another day of changed plans. We left the albergue at Embalse de Alcantara at about 8:20, and followed the advice of a couple we’d met a few days previously, following the lake and then the road, rather than the marked Camino. This saved us some time and meant that we got to check out a cool Roman bridge.

We had a coffee and bought lunch food in Cañaveral, then continued onwards through light forest until we reached the turnoff to Grimaldo, where we planned to stop. But we both had so much energy and it was still quite early in the day, so we decided to continue on to Galisteo, 20km away.

The first 10km or so were fine but we were flagging for the last 10, and that was when things got difficult. At two points along the way, we had to be very alert, as the markers are erased or deliberately misleading. We made it through though, and even made it to Galisteo, where we found Cipri, Marina and Mimma (and some Germans, but they didn’t talk to us). The shops were shut, since we’d arrived after 8pm, so we had a tasty dinner of hamburgers and chips in the closest bar.

Cows under the Roman bridge

Wednesday 28/3: All of these changes of plans left us with a short day of just 11km — a holiday! We slept in, the walked up into the walled town to explore and do some shopping: me for snacks, Craig for blister plasters, and we both had separate, lovely encounters with the people serving us.

The walk to Carcaboso was all alongside the road, but was pleasantly broken up by a random man giving us a brochure for an albergue and explaining its location by repeating the word “carretera” (highway) several times, with appropriate hand gestures.

Cáparra

After checking in (to a private room with a double bed! Luxury!), we relaxed, had lunch, explored the town a little, then had dinner and turned in.

Thursday 29/3: Today was always going to be a long day, since there are no towns on the 39km stretch between Carcaboso and Aldeanueva del Camino. You can break up the journey by walking off-route, or by taking a taxi to a nearby hotel, but we decided just to do the whole leg.

We left early and walked through farmland for 10km before our first break, then continued on, reaching Cárparra at around 1:20. This old Roman city boasts a famous arch which the Junta de Extremadura has appropriated as the symbol of the Via de la Plata, and it appears on all the waymarkers — so it was great to see it in real life! We detoured down to the visitors’ centre, where we bought some water and had lunch before being kicked off the property, as it was 2pm and the centre was being closed for the afternoon.

The third stage was the most pleasant of the day, since we were refreshed after our break, but the fourth was more difficult. Just after our last mini-break, where I finally left behind my old black boots, we reached a point where we thought we could choose to walk alongside the road or follow the arrows in a more roundabout way. We chose the road way, and followed first a gravel road and then a well-defined track. Unfotunately, eventually the track disappeared into nothing and we found ourselves bushwhacking through long grass. After ten minutes of this, a tunnel under the motorway led us back to the provincial highway, which we followed all the way to Aldeanueva del Camino. There, we settled into the albergue before getting our pilgrim passports stamped at a small bookshop (and getting a free drink into the bargain) and having a menu del día at the Hogar del Pensionista bar.

Leaving behind the boots

Friday 30/3: Neither of us slept very well, in part because of the extremely soft beds, and in part because the Japanese pilgrim sharing our room got up loudly in the middle of the night and early in the morning. We ended up leaving Aldeanueva quite early (8:20, before sunrise) and followed the road to the equally-charming Baños del Montemayor. Craig’s blisters weren’t letting up, so he switched to jandals halfway there, and we packed his shoes into our bags while having coffee in a fantastic bar in Baños. It had a well inside! And a sheer rock wall!

Pilgrim fountain in Puerto de Béjar

The relatively flat terrain we’d been enjoying came to an end in Baños, and for the rest of the walk we rose steadily, then descended steeply before rising again to reach La Calzada de Béjar, where we stayed in a private albergue.

Just before the previous town (Puerto de Béjar), we left the region of Extremadura and entered Castilla y Leon. We already miss the perfectly-sized mojones (waymarkers) that we sat on for the last few hundred kilometres, but we felt that Puerto de Béjar had made a real effort to welcome us to the new region. There was an abundance of arrows and signposts with distances, a map of notable cities along the route, and a little fenced garden with seats, a bike rack, and a water fountain just for pilgrims! The water was tasty, too.

After arriving, we had a patched-together lunch of salami sandwiches then washed our clothes and rested for the rest of the afternoon before a light dinner and bed.

Saturday 31/3: Our departure was delayed since we got talking with the hospitalera, but once we got started we made good time. Our first break was in the next town of Valdacasa, where we enjoyed a coffee and free wifi in a bar called “El Peregrino”. The next town had a shop where we stocked up on lunch supplies, including half a skinny salami and some hard cheese.

On the way to Fuenterrobles

The last leg, to Fuenterroble, was a pleasant walk, and we were welcomed into the albergue by three Germans (Holger, Steffi and Gunter) who we’ve seen a lot of this week, since they stayed in the same albergues as us since Thursday. Craig finally felt like we were on the Camino when all five of us were sitting around, looking after our feet and complaining about blisters.

In the evening, Holger, Steffi and I cooked dinner together and we all ate in the dining room, where we were later joined by Toro (the Japanese guy) and José, a late-arriving pilgrim who’d walked almost 50km in one day.

Sunday 1/4: The day started well, with a communal breakfast put on by the hospitaleros. Toro and José had already left, but the Germans and a group of cyclists were still around.

The path was wide and flat, passing farms and crossing though open fields, and we didn’t need a real break until we had walked for about 14km and reached the top of a hill — a momentous occasion! This peak was not only the highest point of our journey, it also was one of many half-way points for us: halfway through our day and halfway through our Camino in terms of days.

The road to Morille

After an early lunch of salami, cheese and pickled-pepper bocadillos, we continued onwards and downwards, until we reached the town of San Pedro de Rozados. There, we ducked into a bar for a (pricy) beer and to decide if we were going to stay there or go on to the next town of Morille, 4.3km down the road. The encroaching storm, Craig’s feet, and the desire to arrive early in Salamanca the next day were all considered; we chose to continue.

The walk was easy, along a dirt road, but the darkening skies kept threatening to open on us, spitting occasionally to remind us that rain was on its way. Luckily, we beat it to Morcille, and even found an albergue (our various guides had been remarkably contradictory on the subject), where Toro was already established.

Travel diary: Via de la Plata, week three by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Jesús de Tavarangüe and Trinidad del Paraná are located near the city of Encarnación, Paraguay, and can be visited on organised tours or by public bus. Trinidad, the larger of the two sites, is 29km from the city, about 500m from the main highway north.

The bus to Jesús

Jesús is another 12km away, down a side road off the highway, and can be accessed by an infrequent and rickety bus.

The church at Jesús was never finished: construction started in about 1756, and although a lot of progress had been made, it wasn’t completed when the Jesuits were expelled. What you see today is similar to how the structure looked when it was abandoned.

Trinidad functioned as a town for about 60 years, and the ruins comprise more buildings than you’ll see at Jesús, including two churches, a bell tower and schoolrooms.

For more on Paraguay, check out our Paraguay page.

Jesús and Trinidad: Jesuit ruins in Paraguay by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 19/3: After the ferocious wind of the day before, we were glad that things had died down a bit! We left at about 8:05 and got off-track almost immediately — a trend that was to continue throughout the day. In our first stop, a small town called Calzadilla de Los Barros, we wandered around a fair bit before finding a cafe, and in our final destination, Zafra, our handy yellow arrows disappeared and we went the long way around to find the albergue.

The walk itself was lovely though, a wide path gently winding through fields planted with cereals. I can imagine it would be tough on a hot summer’s day as there was no shade, but today was freezing cold — we both left our jackets on all day, and I had my gloves on until noon.

We took a long break at Puebla de Sancho Pérez, only 4km from Zafra, where we enjoyed a beer and the free snack that came with it — in this case, chips and pieces of pork. The gastronomy continued when we had a ración of patatas con morcilla for a late lunch, and Dave the Englishman cooked paella for dinner.

Almost in Zafra

My shoes have bitten the dust, despite my attempts to repair them — a hole in the right sole is getting bigger and is causing blisters. So we went shopping and I bought a new pair of shoes, which I now have the fun of breaking in! Yay!

Tuesday 20/3: Tuesday was a difficult day for both of us, despite being a short day of walking at only 19km. The first four kilometres or so to Los Santos de Maimona were fine, and the town was lovely to walk through. The church was beautifully decorated, with an incredibly ornate door that we stopped to look at.

I changed back into my old shoes at our first break after 7km of walking, and my feet started to ache and didn’t stop. Craig’s blisters were giving him grief as well, so by the time we made it to Villafranca de los Barros, we were both about ready to fall over. Since there is no pilgrim albergue in the town, we made our way to the address of a pension we had the details of… But it was closed. We hobbled back to where we’d turned off and struggled up the hill to the other option, which at €18 each for the night wasn’t our first choice. As it turned out though, no other pilgrims arrived to share our room, so we had a private room with ensuite. And no bunks for a change!

After a rest, we caught up on some work using the wifi then headed out to do some shopping for dinner. We ended up having lentils on rice, it was surprisingly good.

Wednesday 21/3: Although a longer walk (27km), we both finished the day in a much better mood than the day before. Perhaps we’re finally finding our stride?

We set off at 7:50 and made good time, taking our first break after about 8km. We didn’t walk through any towns (though we did pass within a few kilometres of one) and the way was straight and flat — it really felt like we were walking the Roman road. Sometimes we could see flattish stones under the dirt of the road, which I’m pretty sure the Romans put there 2000 years ago. Crazy!

Towards Torremejía

We arrived in town footsore but coping, and checked into the first albergue we saw. Unfortunately it turns out that the other one would have probably been the better option since it is located in an old castle, but you win some, you lose some. At least we ended up with a private room again — only one other pilgrim was staying in the albergue.

After a shower and a rest, we headed out to explore Torremejía, but as it’s quite tiny there wasn’t a lot to see. We had coffee in a really cool cafe/bar, where we also tried teculamecula — a cake made from an old recipe, with the principal ingredients being almonds, eggs and sugar. It was delicious.

We had a cold dinner, since the albergue didn’t have a kitchen, and went to bed early — wearing all our thermals and swathed in blankets to protect against the 0 degree temperatures.

Thursday 22/3: Since we had 33km of walking ahead of us, we decided to make an early start, stepping out the door into the freezing-cold wind at 7:30. The first stage wasn’t much fun, with the wind chilling me to the bone and making my nose run, but I felt a lot better after the break.

We arrived in Merida at about 11 o’clock, and sat by the river admiring the Roman bridge for a while. As we were walking through town, we ran into “our group” (Marina, Mima, Cipri and Ernesto), who gave us directions to the albergue and seemed very disappointed in us that we weren’t planning to stay there and see more of Merida. We said our goodbyes, since we probably wouldn’t see them for a while, and continued on.

Roman bridge in Mérida

After passing the impressive aqueduct Los Milagros, we stopped for a coffee and tapas in a small bar, then headed on to Proserpina dam, which was also built by the Romans. Water from this dam flowed along the aqueduct we’d seen earlier to supply the city of Merida in Roman times.

After a short rest by the water, we pushed on again, walking along a road for a while then finally turning onto a dirt track through sparse forest. We had a late lunch of salami, brie and pickled-pepper sandwiches, then continued on to our final destination of Aljucén, where we checked into the albergue with relief before visiting the church and having a two-course dinner: couscous at the albergue and hamburgers at the bar.

Our lodgings in Alcuéscar

Friday 23/3: As always, we were the last to leave the albergue (at 7:55) but we soon passed a group of French walkers who’d been staying in the albergue too. We made extremely good time along the wide, flat paths through farms and sparse forest, and arrived in Alcuéscar before 1pm.

After a trip into town to get some groceries, I spent a lot of time washing all my clothes, and then we had lunch and a long rest. In the evening, the hospitaleros Pilar and Alfredo took us on a tour of the building and explained its history, and then we all went to a special mass where the priest read aloud a blessing in Spanish and kept losing his place as he added thoughts of his own. After that, we had dinner together in a dining room hidden in the depths of the monastery, and the conversation was a little stilted as the only other pilgrim, a Dutch woman, didn’t speak Spanish and Alfredo didn’t speak English (or Dutch, but then neither did the rest of us).

Saturday 24/3: After re-examining the map, we decided to change our plans for the next couple of days, in order to avoid staying in Valdesalor, where the refugio on offer is on the floor of the sports club’s changing rooms. Oddly, they’ve built a new albergue, and it’s ready to go — except it hasn’t been inaugurated.

Instead of walking 28km there the first day followed by 23km the next, we decided to have a short day today and a longer one tomorrow: 17 and 34, breaking our journey at Aldea del Cano.

We left late and walked for about 5km, neither of us in the best of moods. After a short break, though, things improved, and they improved even more after we detoured off the Camino at a small town and found an open bar to have a coffee in.

To Aldea del Cano

Along the way, which was pleasantly flat, we saw two cool Roman bridges and four milestones marking the Roman mile of about 1.5km. The albergue was open when we arrived in Aldea del Cano, and we freshened up before heading out to the shop before it shut at 2pm. I sat outside for awhile, chatting with the customers of the bar next door (exclusively men, it seemed). As we were just starting lunch, we were pleasantly surprised when first Cipri, then Mima and Marina walked in. They’d come all the way from Aljucén, where we’d stayed two nights before.

We had a lazy, even a little boring, afternoon and ate microwave lasagne for dinner before having a drink in the bar and heading to bed.

Sunday 25/3: Since daylight savings was starting, we made an intentionally late start so as not to be walking in the dark. Even leaving at 8:20, though, we managed to see the sunrise — a first for this walk!

We saw a sunrise!

Our first long stop was in Valdesalor, which we learned is a planned town that was built in the sixties. We found the bar and had a coffee, then continued on up and over the hill behind the town. We were both tired when we reached Cáceres 12km later, so we stopped in the first cafe we saw for another coffee, before abandoning our route in order to see a bit of the city. Marina had once again been disapproving that we weren’t going to stay in Cáceres and explore during the afternoon, but I don’t think an afternoon would do it justice, so perhaps it’s better not to try. A quick glimpse through the old town was at least enough to see how awesome and historical it is.

However, this wander through the old town was quite exhausting (it’s on a steep hill), and by the time we were out of the city centre we were tired and footsore. We found a cafe/bar for lunch, where we ate paella and bull meat and rested for some time.

Cáceres

The route from Cáceres to our final stop, Casar de Cáceres, included 3km of walking on the shoulder of a highway, followed by an interminable if shallow hill. We made it though, and almost immediately ran into Cipri, who had left Marina and Mima behind in Cáceres and come on alone.

After buying some of the famous cheese that’s made here, we found the albergue and chatted with a German couple who was already there, then showered and relaxed for a bit. Dinner was a menu del día at the bar across the road with Cipri and Marc (a pilgrim who’s travelling by bike), and I finished the evening by chatting to a French/Spanish couple who were also staying in the albergue (with their dog), and who we’d seen and chatted with several times throughout the day.

Travel diary: Via de la Plata, week two by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

1. Gamble

You won’t find anywhere else in the world that offers more opportunity to gamble than Las Vegas. From one-armed bandits (a.k.a. slot machines) to the World Series of poker, and everything in between, Vegas gives you the opportunity to bet on machines, cards, dice and every sport imaginable, in real time.

As a traveller looking to gamble, you’ll find yourself somewhere on “the strip” — seven miles of street containing the biggest casinos in the world. As a general rule, the fancier the casino, the higher the minimum bets at the tables. If you want to gamble but don’t want to put as much money at risk, consider one of the “off-strip” casinos or even head downtown to where Vegas got started, and play at one of the older Vegas casinos like Binion’s Horseshoe.

Slot machines

2. Eat

You would be hard-pressed to find a city with more culinary options than Las Vegas. Each major hotel/casino offers a different buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and also has multiple restaurants ranging from burger joints to Michelin-rated restaurants.

Some of my favourites include Lotus of Siam, an outstanding Thai restaurant if you’re willing to get off the strip; and Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, located in Ceasar’s Palace, which is a bit pricy but great if you’re willing to splurge. If you want to try a buffet (and you should do so at least once while you’re there), I’d suggest the dinner buffet at the Paris Casino, which serves food from five different regions of France.

Caesar's Palace

3. See a show

You simply can’t leave Vegas without having gone to a show. Whether you’re into musical acts, magicians, circus troupes or want a variety of everything, there will be something on offer that will interest you. Although the tickets aren’t necessarily cheap, the show will be amazing. I’d recommend the Penn & Teller show, or anything by Cirque de Soleil.

4. Shop

Shopping at Caesar's Palace

An important holiday activity for many travellers is shopping, and this could be considered a shopper’s paradise if ever there was one. Most of the major casinos have the equivalent of a small shopping mall under their roof, or you could visit the actual Vegas strip mall. Even if you don’t have money to spend on extravagant souvenirs, window-shopping here is like walking down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

5. Spa

Who doesn’t like a little pampering? Most of the hotels along the strip offer some form of spa package. The beauty of having options is if you don’t like what your hotel offers, or they’re full, you can usually just go next door or across the street. There are also dozens of spas off the strip as well, so don’t wait to book that massage!

6. Swim

The pools at some of the hotels are another major draw for some people. If you’ll be in Vegas while it’s hot, make sure you look at the pool options when booking your hotel. The Mandalay Bay hotel pool has a wave machine while the Hard Rock hosts a pool party on Sundays that is infamous.

7. Party

Speaking of parties, one thing on many a to-do list is to hit the clubs. There are far too many clubs available to list, with each usually offering something a little different on different nights of the week. The best bet is to do a little research into what’s available in accordance with the kind of music and scene you’re into. Don’t forget to dress the part.

8. Play golf

Vegas is really an adult playground with many options available outside of the casinos as well. One item on your list might be to spend the day at a local golf course and enjoy the Las Vegas golf scene. Some of the golf courses are so popular, they’ve hosted some big-money golf tournaments (and you’d expect nothing less from Vegas!). If the weather is nice, why not spend the day soaking up the sun before a night out on the town?

Head onto the golf course

9. Shoot

One option some friends of mine did during a bachelor party was to head to The Gun Store and fire off some guns. One of the few stores in the country that will let you “shoot a real machine gun”, this store is just one example of some of the crazy options available to you if you step outside the gambling mindset.

10. Drive

Another option for play off the strip isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’ve got the money to spend, you can rent a high-end car from Dream Car Rentals for half a day and drive the desert roads around Vegas. A Ferrari F-348 Spider will set you back $550/day, and a Lamborghini Gallardo is only $1159. Just watch out for the cops, and drive safe.

Las Vegas goodbye sign

For more on the USA, check out our USA page.

Ten fun things to do in Vegas by Travis Ball was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

We haven’t applied for many visas over the years — there was my UK spouse’s visa, which was a long and painful process, a visa for China that we didn’t end up using, and more recently one for Paraguay, but otherwise nothing too difficult. The truth is, we tend to choose destinations which don’t require visas. So I wasn’t prepared for the glorious bureaucracy that such a task involves.

Get your visa

Information

First, I needed to work out what I needed to do to get the visa. The Embassy of Spain website was very helpful, providing me with a list of documents I needed to put together and informing me of the price ($105.60, quite reasonable really). However, while it mentioned that 200 visas were available annually and that visas were generally issued within a few weeks of application, it didn’t tell me how many had already been issued or if I had to apply from New Zealand — quite an important point, given that I was in Argentina at the time.

Seems like issuing Working holiday visas is one of the most important things they do

I put together an email to the Spanish Embassy in Wellington, and got a response within two days: there were still visas available, I should send the application in a few weeks before I was planning to leave to go to Spain, and it all had to be done from New Zealand.

Fine. We rearranged our plans and headed home for the summer, partly to get the visa, partly to save money on flights, and partly to enjoy summer in Auckland. Then all I had to do was compile all the documents necessary to get the visa.

Collecting documents

Firstly, a doctor’s certificate. I had a pain in my leg anyway so went in to see my doctor, who sent me off to get blood tests. When I went back to discuss the results, I asked him to write me a certificate stating I was fit and healthy… but with the specific wording the visa required. He passed me over his computer, I typed it up, he printed it and signed it and I was away.

Next, a police certificate. A google search revealed that there’s no such thing in New Zealand, but that I could get the Ministry of Justice to do a criminal-record check and send me the results by post. I had to print out a form, fill it in and sign it by hand, then scan it back in and send it off. Luckily, a couple of weeks later the certificate arrived in the post, saying I had a clear record.

Proof of funds?

Thirdly, proof of funds, insurance and flights. Proof of funds was easy, I went to the bank and asked for a printout of my bank accounts. Proof of travel insurance required us to buy the insurance earlier than we usually would, but at least it was easy to print off the confirmation certificate. And flight information: well, I printed off the flight details for the four flights on three different airlines that will get us there (Auckland-Christchurch-Kuala Lumpur-London-Seville), but we don’t have a return ticket. I just hoped the amount of money in the bank was enough to cover that.

After that, I had to buy a courier bag so that the embassy could return my passport to me. I chose the most-expensive option (about $8) figuring that I really didn’t want my passport to get lost in the post.

Finally, I printed off the application form, filled it in and attached a passport photo to it. I wrote up a quick cover letter, paper-clipped it all together and put the documents, my passport and the courier bag into a folder. Sorted.

Sending

The website stated that the applications had to be handed in in person and paid for in cash or by bank cheque, and that there was an honorary consulate in Devonport, a ten-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland. However, when I rang the number there was no answer and no answerphone message apart from “I am unavailable, please leave a message.” I decided to just head over on the ferry, only to find a small tattered sign on the door saying that the consulate had closed. Argh!

The notice

I emailed my long-suffering contact at the embassy in Wellington, who said that I could send in the application by courier, and that I’d have to send a bank cheque. This was not a pleasing solution — bank cheques cost $5, I’d have to pay for another courier, and I’d already wasted $5 on the trip to Devonport (well, not wasted, it was a lovely trip and I had a nice conversation with two of my workmates, but still…). Luckily the nice bank teller responded to my sob story by waiving the bank cheque fee, and all I had to do next was courier off the documents. No worries.

Receiving

The website clearly stated that applicants shouldn’t contact the embassy to see how their application was going, but it was a hard ask, especially as I’d only managed to get the application away four weeks before our departure date. After ten days I started checking the post-office box every couple of days, then decided to use the tracking code on the courier bag to see if it had been sent. And it had! They hadn’t been lying when they said it would only take a couple of weeks to process — I received my visa’d passport two weeks to the day from when I’d sent it off. Awesome.

Of course, the process isn’t over, as the five photocopied pages that accompanied my passport informed me. No, I still have to get a foreign resident’s card on arrival in Spain, and apply for a work permit as well! But at least I’m on my way to being able to work in Spain.

I'm on the way

Getting a work and travel visa (or, the joy of visas) by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Monday 12/3: We made the most of what will probably be our last opportunity to do so for some time, and slept in. Then we spent the rest of the day running errands: first we booked tickets for Craig to go back to England to pick up the rest of our gear, and sent some Couchsurfing requests for A Coruña. Then we headed into the city to get our pilgrim passports (not from the cathedral, as it turns out, but from Hotel Simón nearby). We stopped by the police station to see about getting me an identity card, but the line was so long we decided to give up on it and go shopping instead.

Craig’s tiny backpack was just too small for all the stuff he needs for the Camino, so he wanted to get a new one. We had to catch a bus out to Camas and spent some time looking through the Decathlon store, eventually buying not only a bag, but also a new shirt for Craig and a pocket knife. We headed home after visiting the supermarket and having a coffee, and I rested while Craig played with the kids.

In the evening we introduced Ana and Alfonso to Vietnamese summer rolls, and had a nice evening chatting with them and drinking fine wine — Craig had managed to find a bottle of Ayala champagne for only €10, so we celebrated our impending departure in true style.

Tuesday 13/3: Alfonso told us there was a mass for pilgrims at 8:30 in the cathedral, and since we thought this would be a perfect start to our journey, we decided to go. We said a sad goodbye to Alfonso and the kids, and made it to the cathedral just on time, but there didn’t seem to be anything going on in the chapel where the mass was supposed to be. No matter; we wandered around the dark cavern of the cathedral until we found a service that had already started, and sat at the back with our bags beside us. As we were leaving, another mass in another alcove caught our attention, so we went to that one too.

Next, we needed to get a stamp in our pilgrim passports from the cathedral. This was going to pose a problem since the office where you get them opens at 11, and it was only 9am. Luckily though, as we approached the gates to the office, they opened to let a car out. We asked the woman who was opening them about the stamps, and she said she could help us. She ushered us into the office, stamped the passports, then let us out, locking the gates behind us.

The first part of the journey was uneventful. We got a little off-track when leaving Seville, but found our stride on the other side of the river. We walked through Camas, passing not far from the Decathlon we’d visited the day before, then continued on to Santiponce, where we had a coffee then explored the Roman ruins. There’s a theatre, thermal baths, and a huge complex of houses and an amphitheatre that was stunning to see. Although the house walls were not very high, there were several mosaic floors in very good condition.

We continued on, deciding to have lunch when we arrived in Guillena, our final stop for the day. Most of the route there was a straight line along a wide dirt track, so it was quite easy going. We were still exhausted by the time we arrived, though, and were grateful for the help offered by a woman who saw us looking lost at the police station (we weren’t, but the gesture was nice all the same).

Guillena at night

We settled into the albergue then headed out to the supermarket before a well-deserved rest. In the evening we went for a walk around town then met the other pilgrims at church for another mass. After the formal part of the service the priest asked us to come forward to give us a blessing and a little card with the church’s favourite Virgin Mary statue on it. Afterwards we all had a beer together in the local bar, along with the hospitalero (albergue host), Jacqueline. Because of the nature of this Camino, we’ll probably see most or all of the other pilgrims most nights for the next few weeks. There were seven of us that first night: a French couple, a Spanish man, an Italian woman and a Russian woman (all in their fifties or sixties), and Craig and me — who have already become “los jóvenes” (the young ones).

Wednesday 14/3: The others had all left when we got up at 7:30. We had a breakfast of coffee and magdalenas and were out the door just before 8:30, starting a short day of only 19km. Of course, since it was day two we were a bit slow to start, since our bodies were complaining about what we’d made them do the day before. We found a rhythm though, and enjoyed a pleasant walk along a dirt track with trees on either side. We saw rabbits and butterflies, and the birds were singing. For a while we had to walk along a road, which was hard on our feet, but soon a track appeared beside it — a lot more pleasant.

All five other pilgrims had already arrived when we made it to the albergue in Castilblanco, two of them welcomed us from the second-floor porch. We showered, laundered, shopped and lunched then gave in and had a nap — in good company though, everyone else was doing the same.

Castilblanco

I managed to cut myself with the new, sharp, pocket knife while trying to put dinner together, but otherwise the evening was uneventful and we all turned in early.

Thursday 15/3: Once again, everyone was gone by the time we got up, and we packed quickly and left without making coffee. It was a hard start to the day, made harder by Craig’s blisters, my cold, and 16km of walking along a road. A Dutch couple pulled their car over and got out for a chat with us while we were having a break; they’re planning on doing the Via de la Plata next year and are scoping it out. It was a good conversation until I scared them off with a coughing fit.

Things improved once we got off the road and entered the national park, which was full of cork trees. It was an undulating, pleasant walk… Right up until the end when we had to climb up and down a steep, rocky hillside. Luckily the town of Almadén de la Plata was at the foot of it! We went in with the other pilgrims for dinner; Mina (the Italian) cooked delicious pasta and chicken and we were joined by another Spanish guy who’s cycling the Camino.

Almaden de la Plata

Friday 16/3: Day four was certainly more pleasant than day three. We started off at about 8:25, and two minutes after walking out the door it started to rain. The rain continued off and on for the next few hours, with varying intensity but luckily not in complete downpours.

The walk itself was lovely, along a nice, soft, wide track that wound through a lightly forested national park. There was one serious climb about two-thirds of the way through, which Craig had problems with because of his blisters, but otherwise it was very easy going.

We met up with the other three when we arrived in El Real de la Jara, and all checked into a private albergue. There were three rooms and five of us (the French couple having continued on to the next town) so Craig and I had a room to ourselves — luxury!

Cows guarding a castle outside El Real de la Jara

We headed out to get lunch and buy some hayfever medicine as well as some blister plasters, then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the wifi connection before having dinner with the other pilgrims — Cipri (the Spaniard) had cooked a traditional garlic soup and rather forcefully invited us to share it. Saying no was not an option, but luckily it was absolutely delicious.

Saturday 17/3: Day five was another pleasant one, just 20km along a wide dirt road that wound through farmland. We crossed the border from Andalusia into Extremadura, saw two castles, and were barked at for about 15 minutes by a dog who didn’t like the fact we were walking alongside her paddock.

The last few kilometres were a bit of a struggle. On reaching the top of the hill just before our destination of Monasterio, we decided to take an extended break and have lunch at the picnic tables that seemed to be placed there for exactly that purpose. We chatted with a guy who’d pulled over in his car for a break and also with a pilgrim who’d come all the way from Almadén, where we’d stopped two nights before — he’s obviously in better condition than us!

In town, we visited the albergue, where we saw our three fellows as well as three or four other pilgrims. In the end though, we decided to stay in a guesthouse we’d seen advertised for the same price as the albergue. There was no kitchen or wifi but we got a private room with our own bathroom, instead of two bunks in a dorm. It felt like complete luxury!

After a shower and a rest, we decided to explore the town a little bit. We visited an old (fifteenth-century) church, and went to a mini-museum dedicated to the Via de la Plata, where we learned all sorts of things about our route and were given a map.

In Monasterio

On the way back through town, we finally managed to buy Craig some jandals. He was extremely excited, since it isn’t much fun to put walking shoes back onto blistered feet if there’s another option.

In the evening, we went to the bar below our accommodation and had our first menú del día of the trip — starter, main, dessert and a drink for €8 each. Win.

Sunday 18/3: The day started with a victory: we managed to leave by 8:05. Of course, losing the way about a kilometre down the road wasn’t so much of a win. We realised that we’d gone the wrong way but decided to keep on going instead of retracing our steps, and it worked out fine. We had a lovely walk along a stonewalled lane and hopped across a brook before coming to a road and trying to work out which way to go. We’d just decided to go left, when a car trundled down the road and pulled to a stop, both the driver and the passenger falling over themselves to inform us the we just had to turn left and we’d soon be back on the right path.

The right path wasn’t as pretty as the one we’d just left, but it was fairly straight and wide and we made good time. After a while we came out onto an open plain where the wind was fierce. I found it tough going but Craig had found victory over his blisters (almost) and has a windproof jacket, and really enjoyed himself.

Almost there! Fuente de Cantos, our last stop for the week.

We made it to Fuente de Cantos at around 1:30 and found a shop selling bread on the way to the albergue, which is located in an old convent– it’s airy and modern on the inside, and old and historical on the outside. Plus, it has wifi — which is how I’m able to post this travel diary!

After a rest, we went for a wander around town then visited the other half of the convent, which is now a museum-like space dedicated to the life and works of a local seventeenth-century artist. The guide was animated and informed and we spent an hour there without noticing it go by.

Travel diary — on the way to Santiago by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

On the surface Oslo is very much tied into history; walk down Akker Brygge, watch the changing of the guards at the royal palace, and get your fill of medieval churches.  However, underneath all the history is a young vibrant scene that is moving in its own direction. The neighbourhood of Grunnerløkka is filled with beautiful street art, live music, and open-air markets, and just minutes away is Majorstua where all the fashionable trendy residents shop and go for brunch. You can discover a lot just by wandering around, but if you want to find the best hidden gems of Oslo befriend the locals — they will show you places that aren’t in any tourist guide.

The historic square of Chrisitana Torv.

After the recent bombing, street art like this started appearing all over the city.

This is the Parlament building.

This is the royal palace, which is currently being renovated.

The guards put on a show every day at 1:30.

The city from the roof.

Akker Brygge at dusk.

Shopping for rings at an open-air market in Grunnerløkka.

This is the inside of a second-hand store called Råkk and Råll. It was like walking into a party.

Vigeland Sculpture Park.

A store in the neighborhood Grunnerløkka.

Another open-air market, called Youngstorget.

Oslo, Norway [photos] by Taylor McIntyre was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Take an architectural cruise through the city

It’s no secret that Jaipur is home to many fortresses and palaces, and a close look at them can give you a valuable insight into the history of the city itself. Each building has a story to tell, and the architecture is amazing. Although time has eroded a lot of these forts, leaving only a glimpse into what they once were, a wander through the halls and a peep through the fortifications will not leave you disappointed!

Amer Fort, one of the many forts of Jaipur

Tip: be your own guide: Since forts and palaces are huge in area, there’s a high chance that you’ll get lost while wandering through them. Good guides are available to take you around and explain what you’re seeing, but an audio tour is a much better option — it will allow you to be your own guide and enjoy the place at your own pace, while at the same time saving you from having to haggle over how much to pay your guide.

Watch out for: Amer Fort for its rich historical ambiance and a vast antique arena.

Visit the Govind Devji Temple and lose yourself to faith

Jaipur is home to numerous temples like Birla Mandir, Moti Doongri, Laxmi Narayan temple, and ISKCON Temple but no visit to Jaipur is complete without a visit to the temple of Jaipur — the Govind Devji temple. Located in the City Palace complex, the temple resonates with the pious chants of “Govind lala ki jai” (an expression of praise to Lord Krishna) and the atmosphere has a magical soothing effect on your senses from the moment you step onto the premises.

Govind Deoji Temple, Jaipur

Tip: be prepared to wait: The temple has irregular opening and closing times. So be ready to wait for the Lord to give you a glimpse inside.

Go shopping

Shopping finds a place in every traveller’s itinerary, especially when they visit a city like Jaipur. A shopping excursion is incomplete without a visit to the famous Bara Bazaar. These sprawling stores have everything you can think of such as cosmetics, shoes, perfumes, watches, kitchenware, table linen, trendy bags and much more. Antiques and local items make great mementoes, or grab something practical like a bag or other accessory.

While shopping in Jaipur can be done on any budget, you’ll need to use your bargaining skills to get the best deals.

Pots and Pans of Jaipur

Tip: enjoy it how you want to: Turn a deaf ear to constant pestering and avoid those pushy shopkeepers. If you find something you like, buy it immediately because chances are you’ll never find the same vendor again. Many shops are closed on Sundays.

Watch out for: Pots and pans in Jaipur.

Eat, eat, and eat!

From the local Rajasthani fare like mangodi, ker sangri and gatte ki sabzi in restaurants to the mouthwatering delicacies like kachories and dahi wadas on the streets — it’s all a feast! Dig in and indulge to your heart’s content.

Jalebis, a sweetmeat speciality of Jaipur

Tip: gather information from the local people: Try talking to the locals for information about good eating places in the area. There are many hole-in-the-wall shops that you will never find a mention of in any of the guidebooks or other touristy booklets.

Watch out for: A glass of lassi (cool summer drink made of yoghurt) in Lassiwala on MI Road.

This article can’t cover all that Jaipur has to offer — the city is a huge canvas, each brush stroke unique in its own way. One really has to set foot in this mystical land to complete the entire picture!

Have you been to Jaipur before? What were your impressions?

Feel free to add more to my to-do-list in the comments section below!

Four things to do in Jaipur, India by Arti Shah was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

We’ll be here just until Tuesday, which is when the real adventure begins: walking north a thousand kilometres with the aim of arriving in Santiago de Compostela on our tenth wedding anniversary.

Monday 5/3: The day started early, with an alarm waking us at 3:50. We dressed quickly and arrived at the bus stop in time to catch the first bus to the airport, arriving there at around 5:30am. Since we already had our boarding passes, we just had to have our documents checked then walk the gauntlet of baggage-weighers — none of whom weighed ours, thank goodness, since our bags were certainly over the allowed carry-on weight of 7kg.

The flight was delayed; we spent an extra half-hour in the airport and another half-hour in the plane before it took off. When it did, we were heading to Dubai rather than straight to London, since a mechanical problem meant that the only plane available was too small to fly direct and needed a refuelling stop. The extra time on the plane was bad enough, but no provision had been made to load extra food on board, and the meals ran out extremely quickly. They even ran out of water! If I’d known that the flight was going to be so long, I would have pre-booked a meal, but we only found out about the change the night before.

Once in London, a succession of trains took us (shivering) to Chertsey, where we were welcomed with a glass of wine, hugs, and a hot meal. It’s always good to see Gail and Kevin, but I don’t think we were the best of company that first night because we’d been awake for about 25 hours. Bed called, and we listened.

Tuesday 6/3: We spent most of the day inside, working, but wandered into Chertsey town to see what had changed in the 20 months or so since we were there last. Later, we spent the evening at home with Gail and Kevin, flicking through their wedding album and watching the video as well.

Well, this Chertsey icon hadn't changed.

Wednesday 7/3: After a worky morning, we caught the train to Brighton, where we had lunch then met up with Dave (a friend of a friend), who lives there. He graciously played tour guide, showing us around the lanes and apologising for the weather, and we all wandered around the incredible Royal Pavilion. The building is impressive from the outside, but inside it’s breathtaking — each room decorated in a different version of opulence. The audio guide was great, it helped us understand what we were seeing without being overdone — on the whole, the pavilion was well worth the visit.

Later we walked along the beach to the marina, then headed back to Dave’s house for dinner. He cooked up a Thai feast and we enjoyed chatting with him and his fiancée Faye while their dog tried industriously to hump our legs.

In the Cheshire Cheese

Thursday 8/3: We started the day with a bit of work, then headed into London. After a light lunch, we visited the Museum of London, which we really enjoyed; there are several separate exhibits, each focusing on one era of London’s history. While we were there, there was a free guided tour of the Roman room, so we joined in — and really enjoyed it. The guide was informed and animated, and being able to listen rather than just read warded off museum fatigue.

We probably would have stayed longer, but we’d arranged to meet some ITP listeners and other travel bloggers at a a bar not far away. We had a few beers with listener Claire, Chris, Isabelle, Paul, Justin, Jayne and our mate Kyle, who showed up a bit later on. We’d planned to go out to dinner together, but ended up just eating in the bar (it was a bit of an adventure actually, involving a pager, several flights of narrow steps, and a fair bit of crowd navigation.)

Friday 9/3: The sleep-in might not have been the best idea — we planned to get a lot of work done and didn’t quite manage it. Ah well, we’re taking the microphone with us, hopefully we’ll be able to record podcasts during the walk. Craig at least managed to record an interview and I edited a couple of articles, so it wasn’t a complete write-off.

In the afternoon we headed into Chertsey to do some last-minute shopping, after which Gail took us out to Bracknell to see their new house, which isn’t quite finished. It’s awesome, though, and a lot bigger than the cute Chertsey house.

On another plane...

We swung home to pick up Kevin then headed out to a very nice Greek restaurant in a nearby town. The food was delicious and the company fantastic — what more could we want for out last evening in England?

Saturday 10/3: All four of us spent the morning packing and cleaning — Craig and I because we were leaving, and Gail and Kevin because some people were coming to view the house in the late morning — but they cancelled.

We had lunch together then Kevin dropped us at Gatwick Airport, where we had our documents checked, had a coffee then made our way to the gate. Despite the fact that the flight took off half an hour early, we still arrived “on time” and had to endure the trumpet fanfare that Ryanair plays to celebrate an on-time arrival. It’s not surprising that they have such a good record if they pad the flight times so much that a half-hour delay has no effect on a two-hour flight!

Ah, Spanish food. We love you.

We had to wait about 40 minutes for the bus to the centre of Seville, from where we walked to the house of Alfonso and Ana, our Couchsurfing hosts. They are genuinely lovely people who did everything imaginable to make us feel at home (including cooking a delicious meal) and their kids Alfoncito and Anita were amazingly welcoming and, well, cute.

Sunday 11/3: We got up at a reasonable hour to find the kids were well ahead of us, but they welcomed us into their games for the rest of the morning, with a brief stop for breakfast. Anita has some fantastic interactive books with magnets and figures — I know they’re designed for four-year-olds but I enjoyed them too.

At about midday, Alfonso took the kids, Craig, and me for a walk around the neighbourhood. We visited the oldest church in Seville, saw people fishing in the river, admired all the azulejos (ceramic tilework), and visited the monument that commemorates the first circumnavigation of the globe, which started from here.

After that, the family headed off for lunch with the grandparents, and Craig and I went into town. We had a rough plan of places to visit but we basically just wandered around, enjoying walking through the narrow cobblestone streets and green gardens as much as the destinations.

Plaza de España

The sites to see were pretty amazing, though. First up was Plaza de España, a square surrounded by a moat and backed by an intricate semicircular building that has a tower at either end. Along its length are azulejo paintings representing each region of Spain — it was truly impressive.

We had a tasty tapas lunch before heading the Metropol Parasol, a new four-level construction that includes a museum, a market, an open space, a restaurant, and an impressive undulating cover with a walkway that offers panoramic views of the city. We went up and followed the walkway around, then had a coffee before going back down.

Metropol Parasol

Our slow walk back home was broken by a quick stop for a beer — ah, it’s so great to be able to get a beer for less than $2! We spent the evening hanging out with the family.

All photos © 2012 Craig Martin

Travel diary: Chertsey and Seville by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

With some stunning shots from around the world, from New Zealand to the Americas, Europe and Asia, the Indie Travel Podcast Community has obviously been out and about, and trying to keep sand out of their camera lenses!

Without further ado, let us show you the shots that make us feel at home by the beach.

[Show as slideshow]

And our grand-prize winner, who walks away with a copy of Travel Safety and either Art of Solo Travel or Art of Couples’ Travel is… Tina Salhany! Well done, Tina!

Classically composed beach at Abel Tasman National Park

We’re also featuring Tina’s photo on our Facebook page this month. Great photos from everyone; more photo competitions are coming… after we’re off the Camino.

Check out how to improve your travel photography, and you might be in with a grin when it comes to the next one!

Beaches around the world + Photo competition winners! by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

There are lots of reasons why overseas travel might not be appropriate for your next trip — maybe you’re limited by time and a long plane trip will eat up too many of your precious hours. Maybe that same plane trip is prohibitively expensive. Or maybe you’re just not in the mood.

But staying in your home country or state doesn’t have to be a second-best option. Thousands or millions of tourists probably visit your home area every year — why shouldn’t you be one of them, even if you are a local? There’s probably heaps to do within a two-hour radius of your home: go and explore.

Why stay home?

1. See the sights

The tourist hotspots are hotspots for a reason. Tourists come to New Zealand for a lot of reasons, and most of them aren’t in our home city, Auckland. But Queenstown, Wellington, and Christchurch are all just short flights away.

2. Transport might be cheaper

When we travel around New Zealand, we often go on roadtrips — using our own car saves on hirage fees, and taking friends with us means we can split the petrol. But even if we’re flying, we usually spend a lot less on internal flights than we would if we were travelling internationally. We recently paid just $30 flights for flights to Christchurch, compared to a minimum of $150 to Australia, or around $600 return to one of the Pacific Islands.

Road trippin'!

3. Company

Since you’re not heading too far away, it might be easier to convince your friends to travel with you. We’ve travelled with friends both at home and abroad, and people seem to agree more readily to a local break. Or maybe it’s just that our friends like roadtrips!

4. You know the systems

Travel at home tends to be easier than travel abroad because you know how things work. You speak the language, the currency is familiar and you have a rough idea of how much things cost, which makes it easier to budget. You get the new experiences without unpleasant cultural misunderstandings. For us, experiencing a different culture is part of the fun of travel, but sometimes it’s not what you’re after — and that’s okay.

5. No currency or passport issues

A lot less planning is needed for a local holiday because you don’t need to change currency or organise a new passport to replace the one which has invariably just expired.

Travel at home can be a great experience — do it! Take a look at how to explore your own city, in How to be a tourist in your own backyard.

Explore your backyard: travel your own country by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

But first, of course, we have to get there. We’re not the kind to do anything directly, so our trip to Seville includes stops in Christchurch, Kuala Lumpur and London. We’ll get there eventually, though!

Saturday 25/2: Since our flight wasn’t until 1:30pm, we didn’t have to rush things on Saturday morning, our last morning in Auckland. It was a good thing too; I’d worked right up until the last possible minute and we’d had a great goodbye party the night before — where we’d also passed our car on to its new owner. However, we did still have to pack and clean so we couldn’t sleep in too late. We said goodbye to Chris and Sarah and Craig’s mum took us to the airport, with a stop at my mum’s place to leave our extra stuff in her spare-room cupboard.

Christchurch stencil art with flowery roadcone.

The flight was uneventful but slightly delayed and Anne was waiting when we arrived. We also ran into a couple of old school friends of mine at the airport, which was cool.

Norrie and Anne took us into Rangiora for a drink in the afternoon, and we went into Kaiapoi for dinner in the evening. The food at the Three Cows, where we ate, was amazing, but the service could have done with a fair bit of work.

Sunday 26/2: We made a lateish start for a drive to Hamner Springs with Norrie and Anne, where we had lunch in a cafe and enjoyed the hot pools for a couple of hours before driving back to Kaiapoi for a relaxed evening at home.

Monday 27/2: Norrie and Anne both had to work, and we decided to too. We spent most of the day at home apart from a walk into town to visit the supermarket, and had Vietnamese summer rolls for dinner.

Tuesday 28/2: Although we visited Christchurch last January, after its first earthquake, we hadn’t seen what damage the February 22 earthquake had done. We decided to drive into the city for lunch and had a walk around; It was sobering to see how much of Christchurch is off-limits. However, we were impressed with the Re:start complex of shops and cafés built out of shipping containers — I think it should stay that way, even after the city is rebuilt, it’s a really nice setup.

Linda and Oscar at Re:start

We had coffee with my friend Oscar, who has moved to Christchurch from Auckland — it was good to see him, although finding him was a bit of a mission, since he got a bit lost trying to get around the red zone. After we said goodbye to him, we had a shawarma from a food caravan that’s operating in the Re:start area, not far from the restaurant’s red-stickered ex-premises.

In the afternoon we went for a walk with Anne, Norrie and Brodie the dog then had a casual dinner at home.

Wednesday 29/2: Our last full day in the country was not without its issues. We were spending the morning trying to finish some last-minute work, when I suddenly had a problem with my eyes — I couldn’t see clearly out of one of them and got really stressed about it. Craig called my optometrist and made an appointment for me to see one in Rangiora as well.

While this was all happening, my sister Anna arrived for lunch with her husband Mat, Henry the baby and Marcus the au pair. The weather was great so we sat outside, but I probably wasn’t the best company because I was so stressed out!

The others headed into town for the afternoon while I went to the optometrist to be reassured that my eyes were fine and that it was probably just a migraine — I certainly had a headache by that point! They came back in the evening for a casual barbecue, which was very pleasant. Henry entertained us all by playing peekaboo behind the table, and charmed everyone by doling out sloppy kisses — Anne was won over almost immediately!

Thursday 1/3: Craig got up super-early in the hope of getting a full day’s work done before we left the country, and I joined him at a more reasonable hour to do some work and data-shuffling. Both Anne and Norrie had had to work, but Anne came home at around 1pm and cooked us Eggs Benedict (yum) for lunch before driving us to the airport. We had to make a quick detour to a courier company to drop off Craig’s Kindle, which had broken the day before in a classic case of terrible timing. What’s worse is that we couldn’t have the replacement sent to England or Spain, so Craig will be bookless for a while. Hopefully he’ll get the new one before we start the Camino, though!

We had a coffee at the airport and I spent some time in the bathroom drying out the contents of my small backpack after a water-bottle leak — I was hoping this was the last of the bad luck: it comes in threes, right? And I seem to have been right — after that everything went well. We got on the flight with no problems and I had a great seatmate on my other side: a Kiwi girl starting a nomadic journey. We chatted for a couple of hours then she went in hunt of spare seats to lie down on, leaving me with an empty seat beside me. The food was really expensive so Craig and I decided to just get one meal between us, but by the time the attendants got to us, they’d run out! However, we got to see Air Asia’s great service in action — someone who had ordered a meal didn’t want it, so a hostie offered it to us (to buy, of course). We also got to enjoy the rendition of “Happy Birthday” which the captain asked all the passengers to sing to a guy just across the aisle from Craig. It was a little surreal.

Our couchsurfing hosts

The flight was early and a shuttle was just about to leave when we came out of the airport, so we got into the city a lot earlier than we expected. The luck continued when we arrived at our hotel to find that there were no dorm beds available, so they upgraded us to a private room for free — win! We were knackered after the long day, so we went straight to bed.

Friday 2/3: After a good sleep, we woke up before nine and took advantage of the free coffee and toast on offer before heading out to explore the area near the hostel. We saw Times Square, the Pagoda Mall, and the Petronas Towers as well as wandering through some interesting-looking back streets. We had to check out at 12, so we packed up, had a coffee, then went to Chinatown for a tasty lunch and a look through the markets. After that, we visited the Central Market and had coffee at Old Town White Coffee before making our way to Kepong to meet our Couchsurfing hosts Dexter and Natalie. They picked us up from the station and took us back to their place, where we chatted for a couple of hours before heading out in the driving rain — they had to go to a meeting so they dropped us off at a nearby restaurant, where we had three dishes and a large beer for $NZ16. The rain let off enough for us to get home in relative dryness, and we watched an episode of QI before bed.

Saturday 3/3: We rose at a reasonable hour and headed to the Kepong morning markets with Dexter, Natalie, and their flatmate, Ice. The markets were crowded and sprawling with all sorts of fresh produce on offer — we bought what we needed for lunch and Dexter and Natalie plied us with tasty treats.

Kepong morning markets

Back at home, I taught Natalie and Ice how to make causa rellena and pebre, but made the mistake of deseeding the chillies with my fingers — and my hands stung for the rest of the day. I spent several hours nursing a bowl of ice water.

After a restful (and painful, in my case) afternoon, we all headed out for an evening of singing in Sanskrit (there was a bit of dancing too), followed by dinner and tailoring in Little India.

Linda, Dexter, Natalie and Ice in Little India

Sunday 4/3: We started the day a little later than planned, with a traditional Chinese Malaysian breakfast of dimsum and rice porridge. It was tasty, and unlike anything we’d ever had for breakfast before! After that, we said goodbye to Dexter and Natalie and Ice drove us to KLCC, where we caught the subway back to our hostel.

We’d been hoping to spend three nights with Dexter and Natalie, but on closer inspection of our itinerary and their address, we realised it wouldn’t be possible. We have to be at the airport by 6am on Monday morning, and it’s a 90-minute bus trip from the city. Even if we took the faster option, train, we still wouldn’t be able to get from Dexter and Natalie’s place to the train station at that time of the morning. So we’ve booked back into the hostel where we stayed the first night.

After checking in, we recorded a podcast then headed out to the aquarium in KLCC. It was great — full of interesting fish and a fair few non-aquatic animals. Later we met up with Gerard and Kieu from GQ Trippin for a street food dinner and good conversation before hitting the sack early in preparation for a loooong travel day the next day.

Gerard and Kieu in Jalan Alor

Travel diary: Christchurch and Kuala Lumpur by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Travel is a wonderful thing — you can get out of your comfort zone, explore new places and try new foods and experiences. But sometimes all of this is available right on your doorstep — there’s a whole lot to see in your backyard.

In this article, four ITP community members share their hometowns (or nearby) with us.

Lane and Juliet: Santa Fe, New Mexico

When travellers come to Santa Fe, New Mexico, they stuff themselves with green chilis, enjoy the Canyon Road art scene, visit historic adobe buildings, and buy crafts from Native American vendors. What visitors tend to overlook is the beauty of the surrounding mountains and the numerous hiking opportunities available in the region.

Plaza Blanca

One of our favorite hikes — or strolls — is just 45 minutes north of the city. We’re by no means the first people to discover the Plaza Blanca (the “White Place”). In the 1940s, Georgia O’Keeffe began painting this bleached, towering landscape. The Plaza Blanca is rife with slot canyons and boasts a sprawling boulder garden. It’s the perfect place to watch the the orange sunbeams of the day slide down the rugged chalk walls, as dusk approaches.

The Plaza Blanca is located on land owned by a local mosque. There’s a small parking lot, but few other amenities. Bring water, sunscreen and a broad-rimmed hat. In the summer months be aware of rattlesnakes intent on basking on a rock with a view. From Santa Fe, take US 84 north to Abiquiu. Address: 41174 Fictitious St at the Dar al-Islam mosque. The mosque is open sporadically to visitors and photographers.

Grapevine

Adam Groffman: Grapevine, Texas

After travelling around the world for nearly 18 months, I returned to my old hometown of Grapevine, Texas. (If you’ve ever flown through Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, you’ve been there, too!) From cupcake shops to upscale wineries, my visit to Grapevine was as surprising as anywhere else I’d travelled.

Michela Baxter: Columbus, Ohio

This past summer, in an effort to get to know my city better, I committed to a 30 Day City Challenge – experiencing 30 new things in 30 days in the city I live in, and I wrote about it on my website. It was such a great way to break out of my comfort zone of the same-old, same-old routine and get to know Columbus, OH better.

30-day challenge

It’s easy to take for granted all of the great things that the place you call home has to offer. So snap out of your same-old routine and explore your own city! Plan a 30 Day City Challenge and experience your home with fresh eyes and an open mind. Find 30 new things you’ve never done in your city before — and do them in 30 days! Explore new restaurants, museum exhibits, community festivals… you get the picture. And don’t forget to document as you go. Observe the details, people watch, and take your camera along. And tweet about it using #30DayCityChallenge.

Spencer Quong: Yosemite National Park

Spencer blogs at Wandering Minstrel.

View over Yosemite Valley

Although under-appreciated and often neglected, the National Park system is one of the wonders of the United States. The parks range from the Denali National Park beneath the shadow of the massive mountain in Alaska to the arid Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in the sunburnt desert of Arizona. One of the grandest parks is Yosemite National Park, located in the middle of California. While it was not the first national park (Yellowstone), it was the first land set aside for preservation by the US Government in 1864 by Abraham Lincoln. Some may know it from Ansel Adams’ stunning, yet simple photography or efforts of naturalists, John Muir and President Theodore Roosevelt, to preserve Yosemite and other wilderness across America. 

Yosemite is just a four-hour drive from San Francisco and six hours from Los Angeles and is a must-see if you are coming to California. Most people visit Yosemite Valley, where five-thousand-foot granite walls tower over you. Sadly, tourism between late spring to early fall can make the traffic and crowds in the Valley unbearable (even to most of the bears).  While I believe that the finest locations in Yosemite are those only accessible by rope or backpack, certainly there are places where you can experience the magnificence of the park without the crowds. One way to do this is to visit Yosemite in the winter.

Snow valley

There are opportunities to go snowshoeing, skiing (downhill and cross-country), and snowman-making near Badger Pass or hiking in the Valley where it is “usually” above freezing during the day. Those with a thick fur can camp and those without can choose from a wide range of (heated) housing options. And, certainly, nothing is better than a cup of cocoa or a glass of wine in front of the tree-sized fireplace in the Ahwannee hotel. But better than the lack of crowds is the appreciation of the beauty of the senseless. 

Thanks to everyone who helped kick off our community week. If you have stories to share, you can get a free account and leave your story in the comments.

Explore my backyard: stories from community members by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

For more about Uruguay, check out our Uruguay page.

Rounding up sheep at Panagea Estancia, Uruguay by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

In 2007 and 2008, we spent about six months jumping in and out of Austria. It’s a small country, but one that we love to return to. We’ve travelled from the smallest of towns (like Sankt Anna am Aigen) to the famous boutique cities (Innsbruck and Salzburg spring to mind) and, of course, the capital, Vienna. This, then, is our pick of the best things to see and do.

1. Discover Vienna.

There’s always more to see in this tranquilly beautiful capital, from the architecture to the parks to the world-class museums in Museumsquartier. A Third Man tour is highly recommended.

A Vienna street -- busy and beautiful

Listen to our free Vienna audio guide here.

2. Ski or hike in Innsbruck.

Flying into Innsbruck is as much a treat for you as it is a challenge for the pilot, as the city is positioned between two rows of mountains — which are great for skiing in winter and hiking in summer.

Linda hiking in the mountains above Innsbruck

3. Get around by train.

The train network in Austria is excellent, and the carriages are clean, comfortable and usually equipped with power sockets. There are lots of discounts available on the rather pricy tickets, or use a Eurail pass.

The Westbahnhof will become familiar to frequent travellers

4. Eat at a heuriger.

These farm restaurants can only sell locally-produced food; usually a variety of cold-cut meats, cheeses and pickles. Accompany your meal with a glass of local wine, and you’ll be in heaven.

Typical heuriger fare -- best accompanied by a bottle of wine

5. Go wine-tasting.

You can visit the wineries themselves, or go to a local vinothek (wine-tasting room and shop). Many towns (including some very very small ones) have a vinothek, where you can try local wines and wines from further afield for a small fee.

The weinweg wine trail in St Anna am Aigen

6. Head to the countryside.

Austria’s cities are incredible, but the small towns nestled in valleys and on hillsides have a charm of their own.

Oh, and expect snow in the winter

7. Visit Melk.

Made famous by Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, Melk’s sumptuous monastery sits high and impressive, overlooking the Donau and a small but interesting town below.

Melk Cathedral -- amazing inside and out

8. Eat wiener schnitzel.

Preferably in Wien (otherwise known as Vienna). It’ll be served with fries or cold potato salad, and will quite likely be the size of a large plate. Make sure you’re hungry before you order one! Wash it down with beer or Almdudler: Austria’s local softdrink is hard to find outside of the country, and it’s really good.

Wiener schnitzel in Wien ... or Vienna in English

9. Go to a Christmas market and drink gluhwein.

Christmas markets pop up all over Europe in late November, but Vienna’s are a bit different. For one thing, there’s not just one market; several are scattered throughout the city –- and the setting is incredible. Warm yourself up with a glass of gluhwein (mulled wine) or a hot chocolate.

Cute display of gifts in a Christmas night market

Learn more about travel in Austria >>

But that’s only nine things to do in Austria! You must know some more — add your ideas or questions in the comments.

Nine best things to do in Austria by Craig Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

This list comprises the places we’ve loved the most, and the places we’re most fascinated by. We’d love to hear your recommendations too — so let us know your favourite places in the comments.

Listen to episode 230 for free in iTunes, or hit play below:

Luang Prabang, Laos

The most beautiful city in Laos, Luang Prabang seems to marry a romantic view of the east with modern life in one easy sweep. Travellers can arrive by river and then wind as high up the hills as they wish.

Delicious streetfood at the night markets of Luang Prabang, Laos

The UNESCO-listed old town is home to truly original craft markets, delicious morning food markets, and a myriad of emerging cafes and bars to fit the mix of expats and travellers. Laos has only been ‘open’ to visitors since the mid 1990s, but in Luang Prabang you can see the best of what tourism money can do.

Suzhou, China

Its canals have given Suzhou the name the “Venice of the Orient”, but today it is known for the Suzhou gardens: stunning gardens built by the aristocracy in pursuit of aesthetic perfection.

Suzhou can form a day trip from Shanghai, but we highly recommend taking a few days here to explore the rich cultural offerings of the city, rather than skipping through and seeing only the main sites.

Click here for more information on Suzhou or China tours.

Suzhou canal boat

Battambang, Cambodia

A fun diversion between the main destinations of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Battambang is a place to chill out and relax. It’s also home to a fabulous tuktuk tour, taking you to the country’s only winery, temples rebuilt from the desecration of the Pol Pot era, a bat cave at dusk, and the genius of the bamboo train.

Read more on Cambodia.

Osaka, Japan

Osaka castle

This little city is somewhat cheaper than Tokyo, but still offers all the entertainment you can find in the Japanese capital. Like many Japanese cities, it suffered severe damage in World War II, but several important buildings remain — like the Osaka Castle.

As Steffi wrote, “Osaka is famous for three things: its friendly, straightforward (by Japanese standards) locals that speak a particularly colourful dialect known as Osaka-ben; its good, cheap and plentiful food; and its night life and entertainment.” That’s reason enough for this Japanese city to be top of our list when we visit.

See the Osaka city guide or things to do in Osaka for more ideas.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The bustling, scooter-filled city of Ho Chi Minh is something to behold! Electrical wires tangle, crossing the road is an exercise in faith, and everyone’s vision of a chaotic South East Asian city is fulfilled.

The city itself is fun to explore and filled with pho — a delicious noodle soup that’s second to none. There’s plenty to do, no matter if you want to search the markets, party hard, explore wartime history, or go further back to colonial French or pre-European settlement.

Want to travel Indochina? Explore our Asia travel advice.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai in northern Thailand is an excellent getaway from the big cities. The compact central city is easy to navigate by foot or scooter; there’s fantastic food — in restaurants, from street vendors and the fresh food markets; and the place’s history is fascinating too. Once the capital of Thailand, that honour moved to Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, and then Bangkok, as it is today.

The city is a great stopping-off point if you are moving towards the border with Burma, China, or Laos, but you might just find yourself stuck there, as a growing community of expats have found.

Click here for more information on Chiang Mai or Thailand holidays.

Varanasi, India

“The city is a maze of narrow lanes and quaint alleyways which are filled with colourful shops selling interesting items, people walking up and down, and even the occasional cow roaming aimlessly around. Clearly Varanasi is a city with a heart — everyone finds a place here,” wrote Arti in her piece on what some claim as the world’s oldest city.

Washing in the Ganges - Varanasi, India

It certainly appealed to Indie Travel Podcast writer Kurt too: Once in Varanasi, any backpacker will quickly learn that this ancient city embodies the best and worst aspects of India today. Watching hundreds of pilgrims come slowly down the ghats (long series of steps) to bathe in the Ganges, is a spectacular sight. Being on the river at 5am for sunrise adds to the experience – the sun compounds the drama. It is as if the sun comes up in slow motion on purpose, to gradually reveal timeless sights and sounds.”

Go on… Have a listen:

It’s somewhere we’d love to visit. How about you? Where do you think are the best places in Asia? Let us know in the comments.

Best places in Asia by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

This means that if you’re keen to ride a camel, the Aussie outback will provide you with myriad opportunities. We visited Pichi Richi camel tours during our six-day tour from Adelaide to Alice Springs with Adventure Tours Australia.

Pichi Richi Camel Farm is located in Quorn, in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, and there are a wide range of tours on offer — from a half-hour ride around the farm to four-day safaris. We chose the shortest option, sadly not having four days to spare, and mounted our camels with the help of owner Graham.

Riding a camel is an experience and a half — they move their bodies in surprising ways that takes a little getting used to. It would have been nice to have had more time, but our short walk around the farm was a good introduction to camel-riding.

For more on Australia, check out our Australia page.

Camel riding in Quorn, South Australia by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

From hackers sending false press releases and security updates (some of which are reported as fact) to the use of government travel advisories to put economic or political pressure on tourism-driven economies, people looking at travel advisories have to be astute readers.

Most of us use public sources to investigate safety issues in our upcoming destinations: your government advisories, news stories, blog searches, Travel safety on Facebook (yes, that last one’s ours) are all go-to resources. Now, there’s a service that brings all this together.

Tripsentry automates security searches

This new website — still in beta — attempts to bring together results from public sources then group them into useful sections, like “safety and security” or “natural disaster and weather”. You can then sign up for email alerts when they update the data.

Co-founder Adam Sculthorpe told me, “We’re not in the business of creating the advice and we’re not fully automated, we look at every piece of new and amended advice, track it, summarize and prioritize it and make it searchable and accessible.” Once something is in the system, they keep a history of changes, so you can what changes the sources are making.

As a service, it shows promise – although preliminary searches do pop up some strange results. A search for Auckland gave me this strange duplicate:

The first result for Auckland, New Zealand seems completely unrelated:

Information from the Australian Government about… the UK, Europe and North Africa.

How reliable are public sources?

Tripsentry’s technology and the way it displays information have moved forward in leaps and bounds in the month I’ve been playing with it. Developer Brian Campbell told me, “All sources of information are publicly available. We are essentially curating this advice by geo-locating, applying severity and category information, cross referencing and aggregating the advice.”

As a way of curating information, it’s not too bad (despite the teething issues I’ve noted above — always an issue when a website is in public beta). But all that information is public, so the big question is can you trust the sources?

Are public sources up to date?

I know that governments can take ages to sign off on their security briefings. Private intelligence can sometimes be weeks ahead of the official word.

How non-partisan are they?

A government travel advisory can effect another government’s credit ratings, not to mention their tourism income. They can be a political weapon in addition to giving advice to citizens.

How ‘black’ do they go?

You can bet the bank that public sources won’t tell you if an anti-terrorist team are working in your destination. You won’t see it on CNN either, but you might see it on the news a day or two later. For really up-to-date briefings, you need the pros.

How good are the analysts?

Tripsentry are manually selecting the data they post, but once again — it’s from public sources. They can’t tell you if the source has been hacked or the intelligence is bad. For that, you need access to private intel sources, and professional analysts who spend all day every day making judgement calls on multiple data streams.

Travel Safety and your trip

At the end of the day, you want to be safe while you travel. There’s no question about that.

While I’m quite well-versed in the everyday practicalities of travel safety, I’m no intelligence expert. Tripsentry provides me with a good level of general knowledge, and access to their sources so I can keep digging. That’s enough for me in most of the places I go, and they are doing an ever-better job at providing this.

But if I felt threatened, or I was considering cancelling a trip based on safety issues, my concerns over their source material would leave me cold. I’d be paying for a unique safety advisory from the pros.

See:

• Tripsentry to see if their beta searches pulls up useful advice for your upcoming destinations.
• See all the Indie Travel Podcast travel safety stories here.
• Travel Safety alerts on Facebook

Travel Safety Alerts by Craig Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Click play to hear this podcast, or find episode 229 in iTunes — it’s free!

Adventure in Belize

Lily Girma set out to try every adventure sport and adventure tour in Belize over three months, and reckon’s she’s failed! That’s a whole lot of adventure for what many people imagine is a small country given over to diving.

It’s true that Belize has one of the world’s largest ocean reefs, and diving abounds, but she also discovered lush forests; caving, canyoning and rapelling treks; and an ability to tie this into Mayan and Garifuna culture.

Into the dark! Adventure in Belize

Hiking in the lush forest of Belize

Food and Cooking in Belize

Cleaning conches to make a conch stew

Grating away for a home-made coconut milk

Yummy conch stew, served with rice.

Beating plaintains in a 'mata'

Kristin Fuhrmann-Simmons investigated food and family travel. When we spoke, she had recently arrived in Belize and was exploring restaurants, kitchens, and family homes in a glut of food tourism.

She was surprised at the passion she found for food, with everyday conversations wrapped around the best produce, the perfect recipe, and how that all blended into culture and place.

The new flavours are definitely having their effect. “Once you taste what fresh should be, you’ll never want to go back to your grocery store and get something under cellophane ever again,” she says.

The man, pictured left, is beating plantains in a Garifuna mata or mortar and pestle to make fufu for the traditional fish stew called hudut.

Learn more about all these foods (and the fun Kristin’s had in preparing them!) in the podcast:

Remember, you can download almost every Indie Travel Podcast from iTunes, and it’s free.

Kristin and Lily were both part of the Road Warrior program, a project run by Belize Tourism and MatadorU.

Adventure, food and fun in Belize by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of judging these wealthy tourists for displaying their money so ostentatiously and for (probably) damaging the environment with their petrol-guzzling machines, but it’s important to remember that the locals rely on the harbour for their livelihood. The tourism brings money into the economy and most, if not all, locals have their own boat for fishing, scalloping, crabbing, or catching whatever else is in season.  

When I was in Nantucket, I stayed with a local family — who let me tag along to check their crab pots and have dinner with them on the water. We didn’t catch anything that day, but I hope to return for another go. These photos are from that outing.

Families fishing at an old Nantucket lighthouse.

An old fishing boat making its way back into the harbour.

This is Kenny, the owner of the boat, and part of the family that I lived with.

This is a buoy that marked where certain crab pots were. Seagulls had overtaken this buoy and the area smelled awful, but the light was too perfect for me to pass up a photo.

On the boat ride out to check the crab pots.

Some of the locals' boats at the public harbour.

Learn how to improve your travel photography here on the Indie Travel Podcast.

Nantucket’s harbour [photos] by Taylor McIntyre was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Firstly, what is mate? It’s a tea-like beverage drunk through a straw (bombilla) out of a small gourd-shaped cup (also called a mate). You can drink alone, but mate is generally shared: the cup is passed around and everyone drinks out of the same vessel. It’s more than just a hot drink, it’s a way to connect with the people you’re with.

There’s usually one person in charge, who fills the mate with yerba mate (a bitter, tea-like herb) and adds water. Mate is quite different to tea, where very few leaves are used. Instead, the cup is half- or three-quarter-filled with yerba, which means there isn’t much space left for water. The person in charge has the first drink, as the first brew can be quite strong — and bitter too. Some people add sugar, others drink their mate cold, but the general rule is hot and bitter.

Mates and bombillas

Drinking

After drinking and refilling the cup with water from a thermos, the person in charge will then pass the mate to another member of the group, who drinks as well then passes it back. If it’s your turn, you should drink all of the liquid; when it’s run out you’ll hear a sucking sound — quite like the one you probably used to make while drinking soft drinks through a straw as a kid. But don’t think about your mum telling you off back then: this noise is perfectly acceptable when drinking mate.

Don’t say thanks

When you’re done, pass the mate back to the person with the thermos, who’ll top it up and pass it on. But don’t say thanks — “gracias” in this context means you’ve had enough and don’t want another round. Of course, if that’s true, feel free to say it. If you notice that you’re being left out, you probably said “gracias” by mistake, which is exactly what happened to me the first time I drank mate — I felt quite offended that my hosts didn’t want to keep sharing with me. It wasn’t until the next day that I realised that I’d effectively told them that I didn’t want any more. Now, after a bit of practice, I can drink mate with the best of them!

Sip carefully

Equipment

Since mate-drinking is such an institution, Argentina and Uruguay are replete with related products and services. Street vendors sell cups and bombillas, some personalised while you wait. A bombilla straw makes a nice souvenir, since it’s small enough to fit into any corner of your backpack, though it isn’t particularly useful outside South America.

Locals drink mate on the go, often carrying thermoses of hot water tucked under one arm, which need to be refilled when empty. In the city you can buy water from a vendor’s cart of thermoses, and most service stations have hot water dispensers, where you can fill up your thermos for one peso (about 30 cents). At home, electric kettles often have two settings: one to boil the coffee, like in the rest of the world, and the other to maintain the water at mate-drinking temperature (about 60-70 degrees).

Mate has a strong, distinct flavour that might not be to your taste at first, but it’s worth trying to accustom yourself to it, because sharing a mate with locals in Argentina and Uruguay is a great way to immerse yourself in the culture of the region.

For more on Argentina, check out our Argentina country page.

A beginner’s guide to drinking mate by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Listen and comment right below, or find episode 228 in iTunes:

Do you need travel insurance?

If you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel.

While we haven’t always had travel insurance, it’s now a no-brainer for us to buy travel insurance before we leave home. We’re not too worried about our things being stolen, but if we have an accident the medical costs could bankrupt us and leave us stranded.

When choosing your holiday travel insurance, you need to think about what matter most to you, then choose a policy which ticks all the boxes.

Finding the right travel insurance

Online searches are the obvious place to start, but they’re not always the best place to finish. In addition to online research, pick up the phone and talk to some of the vendors you’re looking at. You can ask them the questions below, and also see if they can offer you any discounts on the advertised price. It’s always worth a go!

Three main types of travel insurance

There are three main types of travel insurance policy:
Single trip, normally with a time limit of 30 days; sometimes less, sometimes more.

Multi trip, which will cover you for multiple trips returning to your homeland over a period of time. These trips are normally time-limited at one month as well.

Backpackers, which can vary widely in its meaning: it could be for smaller payouts on items, it could be for long periods of time, it could be extra cover for adventurous activities. Backpacker travel insurance really does mean different things to different companies — so read the small print.

If you have any questions at all about your coverage, pick up the phone and ask. The wait times and treatment you experience as a potential customer won’t neccessarily show you how good their customer service is, but it might give you a good indication of what’s to come. We’ve not bought insurance from some vendors because their pre-sales staff didn’t know their product and couldn’t answer our questions.

Your bus?

Questions to ask about travel insurance

• Do I need a home address? (This one’s for long-term nomads).
• Must I be in my country of origin when I start and finish the trip? Or the policy?
• Does it cover each country you are going to?
• It is more expensive for some countries?
• If so, can you specify when you’ll be in the expensive ones?
• Does insurance cover flights home in case of emergencies?
• What about cancellations or bankruptcy on the airline or tour company’s part?
• How do you make a claim and what’s the average response time?

Here are a few things to look for when choosing your insurance to make sure that you will be covered on your adventure:

Covered for medical?

Cancellation: It’s no fun if you fall ill before you leave and can not go on your trip. To claim though, you have to buy your insurance policy when you buy your trip. Not all insurance policies cover cancellation, so please read the policy wording relevant to you carefully.

Lost or stolen gear: most travel insurance policies have a per-item value limit — make sure its high enough to cover your gear or choose a policy that allows you to increase the limit.

Medical expenses over and above evacuation: check that your cover includes emergency treatment while away and transport to bring you home — remembering that insurance providers will usually insist on getting you home as soon as you are fit enough to travel.

Adventurous activities: look carefully at what your policy covers – you may find that you are not covered to do all of the adventurous activities that you are planning while you’re away.

Personal liability: Accidents happen. If it’s found to be your fault and someone decides to sue you, you want to be covered.

‘Things to look for’ thanks to WorldNomads

Recording purchases

So how can you make sure you’re actually going to get what you claim? This is the big question and one that makes me really sceptical about insurance. Obviously travellers are not going to keep all their paperwork!

We try to:

• Scan or photograph receipts and the serial numbers of high-priced items.
• Keep receipts of ATM withdrawals and foreign currency conversions
• Keep them locally, upload them to dropbox and email them to ourselves.
• We use flickr.com and label insurance-based pictures as private.
• Try to create believable evidence regarding our possessions.

A shot like this, with details of serial numbers

Acting responsibly

A few years back now, we interviewed Graham Kingaby from WorldNomads insurance. We asked him all sorts of questions about the travel insurance game, and how travellers can best protect themselves.

Graham’s main tip was to act as if you were uninsured. If companies can prove you were acting negligently, they will invalidate your claim. And no-one wants that.

Get a travel insurance quote

• If you’re in the UK, you can get a quote from the Post Office travel insurance people.
• Try Allianz Travel Insurance
• Use the WorldNomads quick quote generator below:

Travel Insurance.
Simple & Flexible.

• They'll cover your Adventure
• You can claim online
• Indefinitely extend your policy
• Free travel safety advice
• Give back to the places you travel

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Travel insurance questions?

Have travel insurance questions? Stories to share that will help the Community? Please leave them in the comments section below:

How to buy travel insurance by Craig and Linda was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Here’s some of our favourite shots from the evening — taken between polishing off dumplings, running into friends, and enjoying the live music.

Click any image to enlarge.

[Show as slideshow]

What now? Take a look at more Auckland travel ideas or get inspired to travel in Asia.

Auckland lantern festival in photos by Craig Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

We caught a minivan from Bangkok central and were met at the Ayutthaya end by our guide Nhoi from Ayutthaya Boat and Travel. After a quick stop at the office to pick up bikes and another guide, we were off.

The first stop was at one of the most beautiful information centres I’d ever been in, full of intricate models and informative signage. Next we headed to the old palace complex, and wandered around the temples there. We stopped for a coconut juice at the giant reclining Buddha, and saw more temples on the way back to the office. Our guide was informative without overwhelming us with information, and I felt like I’d learned a lot about the city during our short tour.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of the day. We tuktuked down to the river where we were ushered onto a riverboat, set up with a table and chairs. The two guides and the boat pilot came on board laden down with dishes, which they then proceeded to serve to us. There was far more than we could ever have eaten, though we gave it our best shot. Nhoi also introduced us to Roti Sai Mai, an Ayutthayan sweet – basically sweet pancakes rolled around candy floss.

After a slow cruise down the river, admiring the ancient architecture and feeding the fishes outside the temple, it was time to return to dock and from there to Bangkok. It was a day with a little of everything: exercise, culture and tasty food – and what more can you ask for than that?

For more on Thailand, check out our Thailand page.

Ayutthaya, Thailand, by bike and boat by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Many tourists visit by organised tour, usually as part of a day tour that takes in some of Rio’s other sights — such as the Selarón steps, the cathedral and the Sugar Loaf. You can visit independently by catching the Trem do Corcovado (Corcovado train) for R$36, by hiring a car or taking a taxi — or you can just walk, which is what we did.

The views of Rio and the Christ on the way up the hill are well worth the walk, as are the views from the very top of the hill. A minibus service is provided for the last stretch, so you can save a little energy there. Entrance to the statue complex itself is R$17.75 (more on the weekend).

For more on Brazil, check out our Brazil page.

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by Linda Martin was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.