HAPPYTIMEBLOG

What’s happening at HappytimeBlog

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:48:13 +0000

As you’ve probably noticed there’s been a lot of changes here at HappytimeBlog – what I wanted to achieve with the re design was a sit that focused on our pictures, our videos and presented them in a beautiful way. While I do much prefer the new look… I’m still not happy, unfortunately unless we go down the road of a fully customised theme, its functionality OR style… And after trying this out for a while… I think I need to concentrate on functionality unfortunately. So the next time you come back it might look radically different… Again!

Come October we’re going to be leaving the UK once again, this time everything is a bit more permanent. We came home in July last year to start our wedding preparations… Now we’re all tied up and married our thoughts are back on the road… We’re going to be heading back to Cambodia, we have jobs lined up so we’re intending to use that as a base. HappytimeBlog now makes a steady income and team that with the jobs we have lined up… We should be set. Which brings me to my final announcement, HappytimeBlog taught me what blogging was, how to code a website, how to use social media and a million other things… But in doing that – every time I learned something new I had to go back to the beginning and apply it to every post, page and whatever else… This has always held me back a little and so I decided to start again in the form of:

Backpack around the world with BeforeYOUBackpack.com

I’ll be posting all my backpacking tips, advice and info there from now on and keep this site for my personal travels, there will of course be some cross over but how much yet I’m unsure.
BeforeYOUBackpack is still in it’s infancy but the initial reactions and interactions have amazed me a little. I completely underestimated the amazingly warm travel blogging community, how involved they would be and how supportive. Having HappytimeBlog behind me has given me some leverage but the can do attitude of some of the biggest players in the online and offline travel community has made it all worth the effort. It’s out of the starting blocks like a champion and if it continues to do as well as it is already… There will be no stopping it.

What I hoped for BeforeYOUBackpack was that it could become a cash cow, to help support our travels, to be full of keyword stuffed articles bloated for SEO purposes and whored out for ads…. But what has happened has changed my mind completely!!! It’s quickly growing into a great site and with the continued support of the readers, bloggers and travelers it will be a crime to ruin it and send it down the same road that I see many new travel blogs going down.

I urge you to come and say hello, get involved in the discussions and just have a look around… You will be glad you did!

Back to HappytimeBlog – I’ve always been torn between optimising things for SEO and creating revenue which can in turn give me more freedom for travel which will of course mean more content AND keeping it how it was when I started – warts an all – not being afraid to say fuck incase google stops looking… As yet I’m still not sure, there is probably a perfect balance between the two and I hope to explore that more.

One thing hasn’t changed… Me… I’m still a traveler and NOT a blogger… Like I’ve said before the day blogging stands in the way of traveling, I’ll stop. My heart lies with getting lost in a strange and beautiful country and if I’m always worrying about where the next WiFi signal is coming from then it will time to re-evaluate…
Thanks for sticking by me/us/HappytimeBlog I couldn’t be more sincere when I say… Thank you, it’s you – the readers of my little blog that give me a stage to share my travels, hopes and fears and for that (if I ever meet you) I’ll buy you a beer!

The all new HAPPYTIMEBLOG… Welcome!!!

Aaron and Georgie got Married

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:48:32 +0000

The reason it’s been all quiet on th HappytimeBlog front is because Georgie and I were being kept super duper busy with wedding plans… The day wen’t off without a hitch and even if I do say so myself it was the best day EVER…

There was a photo booth there too… Some of you may have noticed!

Click HERE to see the PHOTO BOOTH pictures

Picture of the Day: Carvings on Borobudur, Indonesia.

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:33:00 +0000

Travel Photo of the Day:

Intricate carvings that cover every wall of Borobudur, the world largest Buddhist stuppa. Sometimes when your staring at such a huge and impressive thing like Borobudur it’s easy to see past the smaller details. I often forget to slow right down and take in the details but I also think that that’s exactly where beauty of a place can often be found.

Norfolk Seals: Picture of the Day:

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:44:00 +0000

Travel Photo of the Day:

Norfolk Seals enjoying the beach at Horsey Gap, Norfolk. UK… Not far from where we call home! This seal is a baby one, it wasn’t bothered by me poiking a camera at it at all.

Travel Photo: Baby Seals on the North Norfolk coast. UK

Discovering Zurich

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:37:28 +0000

Zurich is a low rise, cosmopolitan city that’s as pretty as it is charming. I don’t really know what I was expecting to discover, but, it wasn’t what we found…

The first real glimpse we got was probably the same as most people, the large open space of Zurich HB train station. We’d arrived from the airport but always busy – Hauptbahnhof train station serves up trains to all over Switzerland and internationally to Germany, Austria and France. It’s vast glass and iron ceilings take a moment to get to grips with and it’s one of those buildings that makes you realise just how small people really are.

I cant recommend enough the walk between the Hauptbahnhof station and Bellvue – in the heart of the old town. We just missed some bad weather but even under a heavy grey sky the walk along the river Limmat towards the Lake was refreshing (Georgie however felt a bit different… Thanks to a short skirt and a stiff breeze). The wide streets and low buildings made Zurich feel spacious where perhaps it wasn’t and as we came to Bellevue on the edge of Lake Zurich it was hard not to feel a little envious of the people that lived here and their way of life.
We met up with our chum Philipp who’d be putting us up for a few days and showing us around the place he calls home. He took us for an alfresco sausage lunch at “Sternen Grill” or “Gucci Sausage” as it’s locally known. Squeezed at the opening of a narrow alley is a busy stall (Look out for the yellow umbrellas) grilling and selling the sausages by the thousands to hungry passers by. The queue is always long but it moves fast, you get a choice of light or dark sausage (I recommend the light), a crusty bread roll and a little pot of mustard – This is powerful stuff! if it was in the UK it would carry a health and safety warning something along the lines of “Beware this mustard will literally burn the inside of your face!”

We took a seat amongst the hustle and bustle and did what friends that have been apart a while always do – catch up on the gossip.

I don’t think any post about Zurich would be complete without a nod in the direction of the Tram Network… It couldn’t be easier, cleaner or to be honest cheaper to get about, at every tram station is a pretty easy to read timetable, electronic signs and a ticket machine – with English instructions. Not that you need them because there are two large buttons one Yellow and one Green – Yellow for an hour travel card and Green for a full day – 4 and 8 Swiss francs. The travel cards work for the buses as well and for their price they’re a great way to get about… Both Georgie and I love a good tram! Ding Ding!

After we got settled at Philipp’s flat we took a tram back into the centre and strolled about the old town district of Altstadt. Wide main streets feed off into a hundred narrow cobbled alleys, they in turn sweep up and down hills and in and around beautiful old buildings such as
The Grossmünster – A Roman style church with twin towers, one of Zurich’s main churches and a dominant mark on the cityscape.
The Fraumünster Abbey – Another church and another key player in the Zurich skyline.
St. Peter – …Yet another church this lovely boasts the biggest clock face in all of Europe.
There’s a photo opportunity around every corner!

We met Mr Cheeky (Philipp) again after he’d finished work and he took us for “apro” – an after work drink to me or you, at an intimate little hotel bar called “Widder-Bar.” It’s small, dark and crowded… As are most of the good bars at that time, but it had everything we needed, boasting an impressive single malt whiskey collection and a fresh bowl of olives with every round of drinks. It’s still possible to smoke in bars in Zurich and I must say I enjoyed it, there’s definitely something to be said for little gems like that – a busy, chatty atmosphere, a light haze of cigarette smoke and the smell of wood and whiskey…
We got caught up in catching up and wandered out of the bar and back to Philipp’s a little on the wobbly side and feeling very charmed… Charmed by the city, charmed by the people and charmed by the lifestyle… But mostly charmed by the continental strength beer!

Recommendations:

Wander the old town district of Altstadt without a map or any plans – get lost and be thoroughly charmed.
Have an alfresco sausage lunch at “Sternen Grill” near the Bellevue tram station.
Find a shady alley with busy little bar and go for “apro” around 5 pm.

World Travel by the Loney Planet Bloggers

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Fri, 07 May 2010 14:28:29 +0000

For me… World travel is about finding a place and getting under the skin, exploring somewhere new and forming a conclusion. World travel certainly isn’t a new thing but it’s always going to be new for the individual and that’s why I read Travel Blogs.
Before I ever left my home in the UK I started reading the personal accounts of others who have wandered along a similar path to the one I was about to face, it gave me a wonderful insight because bloggers aren’t constrained as such – They are free to share their thoughts and feelings and most do this much better than any travel section in any Sunday newspaper.

If your about to set off on an adventure to travel the world or even if your already treading a path then pay attention… There’s a small but perfectly formed movement of Travel bloggers called the Blogsherpa’s, selected by Lonely Planet to feed their Blogsherpa site they stretch around the world and their websites are full of helpful advice and information. We’ve all clubbed together to make a Squidoo Lens (a website that features every world travel article we write) and any would be world traveller or world travel veteran can make a quick stop and see what we’re all saying about our little corners of the globe.

Lonely Planet has selected the cream of the travel blogger crop to take part in their blogsherpa Beta program. All of the bloggers below syndicate their content live to the Lonely Planet website so that you can view their articles by location as you research travel destinations. The LP bloggers have banded together to bring you a complete, up to date view of the world by syndicating their content live to this squidoo lens. Sit back and take a trip.

Stop by, have a look, share with everyone you know because this is real world travel brought together by real world travellers… In real time and full of amazing inspiration and world travel advice – All in one place!

May 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Download | Zurich.

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:42:07 +0000

The Desktop wallpaper download for May 2010 comes from our extended stay in Zurich. I’ve been living with this on my own desktop for a while now and I am still a little amazed that I managed to take it… We were “stranded” in Zurich due to the volcanic ash cloud and decided not to let it get to us, down in the centre of Zurich near the Bellevue Tram station was a small fun fair set up and because of the views out across Zurich lake we felt it was a must… I hope this looks as good on your desktop as it does on mine…

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Zurich Photo Essay: Sechseläuten festival

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:34:24 +0000

This is the latest in our Full Width Photo Essay series, this time it’s at the Sechseläuten festival in Zurich, Switzerland. We, along with hundreds of thousands of other people have found ourselves stranded in Europe due to the Icelandic volcano eruption. Luckily as you can see below – Every volcanic ash cloud has a silver lining…

<<< Previous Photo Essay: Bangkok, Thailand.

1. The festivities start as far as Munich central station.

2. The parade marches on by.

3. Sunshine + Sechseläuten festival = a great day in Zurich.

4. Children dressed up march through the streets of Zurich.

5. People dash from the sidelines to give the ones they like a flower in exchange for a kiss.

6. Baloons fill the air as people let loose and enjoy the Sechseläuten festival.

7. The streets around Bellevue tram station get crazy crowded.

8. The snowman is burned to see how good the summer will be... We're told this year that is was "average".

9. Rapping it up at the river side - Georgie wears Pink.

10. Zurich river twinkles at night after the Sechseläuten festival.

If you were in Zurich for Sechseläuten festival and have a picture you want to share or think is better than mine then please add the link in the comments section… Mucho Mucho Love…

First Impressions of Zurich

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:11:50 +0000

After making a lucky escape from the UK due to the Icelandic volcano eruption we touched down in Zurich without actually knowing it was happening. We wandered effortlessly through the airport to the train station and found our way to Zurich central. we were due to meet our host Cheeky Phillip at Bellevue Tram station so we thought we would use our toes and walk it, strolling alongside the river that runs right through the middle of Zurich.

Bellevue tram station is in the heart of old Zurich and situated right next to lake Zurich, it was actually the perfect place to take some coffee and watch the world roll by. I have only been to two European cities but what has struck me most about them is their ease, not just from a tourists point of view but in general, the people seem to be relaxed and almost carefree as if there are no worries at all in continental Europe.
Sitting next to the lake surrounded by charming old buildings that are all fairly low rise gave off a sense of space which just added to that easy going feeling. we had an hour to kill and with no worries about finding a place to stay we just sat, we drank and we let Zurich come to us.

Travel update:

We have woke up this morning to hear that our flight back home has been cancelled, after seeing what’s available it looks like the soonest we can return home is Friday, I can’t say this bothers us but we are the lucky ones I suppose, we have no plans and the situation can’t be helped…

April 2010 desktop wallpaper download…

aaron@happytimeblog.co.uk (Aaron "Danger" Bradford) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 07:00:22 +0000

This months desktop wallpaper download comes all the way from Cambodia, Sihanoukville to be exact. The coast and Islands of Cambodia are beautiful and unspoilt (if you know where to Look!) This picture was taken at the very far end of Serendipity beach, quiet and well away from the action it rivals beaches found in neighbouring Thailand… And I’m a Thailand beach man through and through!

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