During the 2009 blog trip, The Catalonia Experience we took a morning hike trough the Bergueda Mountains somewhere north of Barcelona. It was -10 but the scenery was beautiful, in the distance, the snow covered peaks are Andorra. Mucho Mucho Love… Come Join In.

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As the wheels hit the tarmac in Barcelona we were already struggling with my usual time difference incompetence. Somehow id managed to underestimate the flight time and take the hour off, instead of add it on… Some things will never change.
We blundered through the doors and into the lobby at the B Hotel only twenty minutes late and by the looks of things the other bloggers had hardly noticed, they were all chatting away had a drink in hand. While Georgie checked in I popped over and introduced myself, to be honest it was a really bizarre experience. I’m used to seeing most of these people as a picture the size of a postage stamp but here they all were, life size and sipping drinks.

Me and G rushed upstairs to drop our bags off and quickly freshen up but our flashy room managed to distract us for yet another ten minutes. The B Hotel is a sleek, modern affair with rich dark wood, big sheets of glass and metal all over the shop (you know the sort) and as anyone who knows Georgie knows- luxury is like her catnip! (See Europe A La Carte For a proper review of the B Hotel, Also B Hotel is running their B389 offer until the end of January…)

Back downstairs we all sat in a circle and done an awkward little “get to know you” exercise where we all talk about our on-line identities and endeavours… Not my bag at all. personally, I keep all that geeky stuff under my hat… Like Batman and Bruce Wayne, I keep my on-line life secret to protect those around me… From falling asleep! It was however slightly liberating to be able to natter freely about such things with people who knew what I was on about, unfortunately Georgie hadn’t boned up on the technical side of blogging and was literally baffled.
We were herded through to the dining room where a large table had been carefully set out, grabbed a seat and the wine began to flow. The table chit chat soon turned to our still absent itinerary but Leticia and Amaia (the two organisers of the Catalonia Experience) weren’t giving anything away, it wasn’t a problem though because the food had started to appear and it looked proper tasty!
Being a Euro-virgin I somewhat naively assumed the grub would be pretty much the same as the UK, perhaps of better quality and finer ingredients… But what I wasn’t prepared for was the sheer size of the portions. The “starter” salad landed on the table in front of me and I instantly regretted eating two bread rolls… Honestly, I’ve seen less fresh produce in entire allotments! The wine poured and drank well, the food kept coming and I very quickly realised I was going to need a new hole in my belt for this trip.

Georgie and I stuffed ourselves stupid and I slipped outside for a sensation of the smoky kind, not long after Georgie also found her way outside. Although all the food and wine had loosened the conversation, the main topic was still blogging and a few people had asked Georgie a few questions which were well above her station… She made a quick exit under the cloak of also being a smoker to come out and probe me for a quick blogging lesson… I smoked and Georgie crammed.

I should probably use this opportunity to explain, to those who don’t know, Georgie’s position in regards to the blog and how it wouldn’t work without her… What normally happens is thus: Georgie wakes up with an idea in her head, one of those ideas that most people never ever have, she presents the idea “at” me,
“Aaron! Lets go to Bac Ha market. I will be all hill-tribey and stuff and we can buy some hill tribe clothes and drink some Vietnamese coffee…”
What I do is hone the idea into something possible and work out how it can be done, which normally involves mucho mucho effort, guessing and plenty of luck. But in the end we find ourselves in places and with people that others just don’t see, this is when phase two of Georgie takes over – she busts out the video camera and that’s when the magic happens. So I suppose Georgie’s official Happytimeblog title would be “Director of Creative ideas and  moving pictures” (you can read more about both of us and what we do on our about page).

Cramming and smoking session over we retreated back to the dining room for the grand unveiling of the itinerary. We were all handed small briefcase like bags containing handfuls of leaflets and literature about various places around Barcelona before Leticia Got started on the good stuff:
Day 2:
-Shopping for ingredients at La Bouqueria Market, Barcelona.
-Cooking up the ingredients in traditional Catalan style at Cook & Taste.
-Bus ride to El Montanyà Spa Resort, Seva.
-Relax and enjoy the Spa.

Day 3:
-Hike in the Bergueda Mountains.
-Lunch at Els Roures, Castellar del Riu, Berga.
-Quad bike excursion.
-Back to B Hotel, Barcelona.
-Dinner at La Vinoteca Torres

Day 4:
-Segway tour of Barcelona’s Gothic quarter.
So with that dinner was cleared away and a select few made a  beeline for the bar. Despite the early rise the following morning Nellie (from Wild Junket) was hell bent on hitting the town so the last few sensible people made their excuses and went off to bed while we rapped up warm and wandered up Grand Vie. A few steps outside the hotel we realised Nellie had also thought better of it and slipped off to bed too… Undeterred Georgie, Rich (Brilliant Trips), Keith (Velvet Escapes) and I found a nice little cafe with some smoked meats hanging on the walls and went in for a beer. Somewhere around 1am the place started to fill with locals who were only just sitting down to eat but the beer had started to hang heavy on the Catalonia Experience Crew so we strutted back to the hotel to pack our bags ready for day numero two…

Just to be VERY clear, this was indeed a paid for press trip sponsored by the Department of Tourism for Catalonia and if you want to know more about the HAPPYTIMEBLOG disclosure policy and how we handle free stuff then have a peek at our new Disclosure page.

Other posts related to The Catalonia Experience:
-#Catexp notes from Barcelona via Twitter
-Our Disclosure Policy

Tomorrow will be one week since we left the UK for Catalonia, we’re back now and I’m just about getting my head together after far too much free food and wine… Free I hear you cry! Yep, all completely free, in fact me and Georgie only spent €100 the whole time we were away. Why? Well because we were invited on a “blogging trip” called the Catalonia experience. A free trip put together by the Catalonian tourist board for a bunch of bloggers to drum up a bit of buzz I suppose. It’s probably best for me to now tell you why we accepted such an invitation… Or in other words, our disclosure policy.
I’ve never really had a goal for my blog, it started out as an easy way to keep in touch with people I left at home and that’s where it’s going to stay. Although I’ve always had integrity, I haven’t always given the full story, this isn’t because I’m trying to hide things from my readers, more because I’m trying be tactful. I’m conscious that happytimeblog is never really going to be a useful travel blog, If your after quality, feature rich content then your barking up the wrong tree. What I do is write about what I know and where I’ve been, Georgie and I have fun doing the things we love and we share our experience… That’s it! I’m not and never will be a slave to my blog, as soon as I stop enjoying blogging I’ll throw it  away just like I did with my roller skates.

• Happytimeblog Freebie Policy: I love them! I’m not going to pretend for a minute that any part of my blog or integrity is compromised by the odd freebie or two because although I’ll always be grateful of them, I’ll always be honest and that’s what’s important. If it aint my cup of tea then I’ll sell it and buy a cheap flight or get drunk.

• Happytimeblog Ads Policy: I don’t go much on ads personally but I will consider just about any advertising enquiry I get and if I feel they’re relevant ill use them, I hand pick them all to make sure they’re right for my blog and I charge a small fortune. I use a small number of affiliate schemes where I might be talking about a specific product or service that I use or enjoy but that’s about it.

As far as how this all affects you (the reader)… It doesn’t. You’ll read the posts, get hooked and read more.

I’ve got no problem with other bloggers using their blogs as money making tools as long as its ethically right, why shouldn’t bloggers be able to make money with their blogs! Many bloggers spend more hours blogging than most people do working and they deserve every penny they get! Of course some bloggers sell out and end up just churning out rubbish for the sole reason of making money but that’s up to them and their readers, I think its only fair to ask the same of my readers for my blog, live and let live… travel and let travel… Blog and let blog.

So far so good… As you may or may not, but should know, Georgie, I and a bunch of other travel bloggers are discovering Catalonia thanks to the Catalonia Experience and Catalonia’s tourist board. We haven’t stopped since we landed yesterday in Barcelona and there are no real signs of it happening any time soon. The itinerary that was kept hush hush until everyone had arrived and sat down for dinner has turned out to be crammed and a spare minute to tickle the keys has yet eluded me. But just to wet your whistle, below is all the Tweets from the hashtag #catexp which is what everyone here is using to Tweet from road.
What’s more there’s also a picture gallery from our morning at La Boqueria Market in Barcelona and our cookery class misadventures at Cook and Taste.

More to follow soon but for now we need to get our heads down in preparation for the snowy hike in the morning…

Tweets from all the bloggers here and those using the hastag #catexp:

For proper posts about our time on the Catalonia Experience see:
-Experiencing Catalonia | Day 1 Barcelona

Georgie’s travel-video diary – Georgie’s La La Land has undergone a facelift and is all singing and all dancing as a Vimeo channel.
You can see all her episodes from across South East Asia at www.vimeo.com/channels/lalaland or right here on our videos page. Either way they’re super fun and well worth a watch. As we venture out across Catalonia at the end of the week she’ll be adding more as we go so you should stay tuned… But if your lazy then why not subscribe to Georgie’s La La Land and get updates right up your inbox…

If you can’t wait until Thursday then here’s a little taster from Vang Vieng in Laos to wet that whistle of yours… Mucho Mucho Love… Come Join In…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Another little quote for those looking for travel inspiration…

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Emerson

More travel Inspiration posts:
Travel Inspiration #1

Over the last few days I’ve been playing around with Mobypicture.com and more precisely their Geo-tagged picture map feature. I’ve found a way to have a map embedded on any blog that automatically centres on the last picture uploaded. What’s more it’s all done from a mobile phone… Perfect for any Travel Blog…

Other features include:

• Micro-blogging and blogging brought together.
• Automatic posting to twitter and Facebook etc.
• One simple upload from any GPS enabled phone perfect for travellers on the road.
• Centres on last uploaded picture.

Have a look at our Geo-Tagged Picture map. (might still have issues with Internet explorer, that’s not the map, it’s my limited code knowledge).

Here’s How to do it:

1. Sign up for free account at www.Mobypicture.com.
2. Connect it with your social network services. i.e. Twitter and Facebook.
3. Download the mobile app or set your favourite (Mobypicture has it’s own apps but I use Twibble).
4. Upload some Geo-tagged pictures from a phone or computer and it will put them in your stream, post them on your MobyMap (if you click on your Username on the right sidebar you will see a link that says “Launch MobyMap”) and update your selected social networks.
5. FinallyPaste this code where you want the map to appear on a page on your blog or website:               <iframe width=”920″ height=”600″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ src=”http://www.mobypicture.com/user/YOUR USERNAME HERE/map/”></iframe>          (don’t just copy and paste… You WILL need to retype it or it won’t work!!!!!) There are a few options in that code too so you can customise it as much as you like i.e. size and border.

I’d love to know your thoughts and feedback or if you have a better way of doing it… Whatever leave a comment below or get in touch.

I know Geo-tagging isn’t a new thing but this is the best system I’ve found. What makes it great is it’s a free service, it looks much more elegant and easier to use than a simple Google map and it auto focuses on the most recent picture upload so site viewers don’t need to search through a mess of blue pins.
I’ve tried out Google and Flickr maps but this one knocks spots off them both in my eyes.

Last but no least… Next week we have been kindly invited on a blogging trip to Catalonia (Catalunya) in Spain for 3 nights. Information has been kept to a bare minimum except that we fly to Barcelona, should expect a spot of adventure and bring comfy shoes… What’s more it’s also my first trip to Europe (I know the UK is in fact in Europe, but I mean I’ve not been outside the UK… Inside Europe). Hopefully we’ll be able to microblog on Facebook and Twitter during the day while were out and about. If it has any holes they will show themselves then and if not then it will be a great addition to our blog. So keep your eyes peeled and see how we get on.
Why not stay updated on:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/happytimeblog
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/HAPPYTIMEBLOG/139393631747
Friend Feed: www.friendfeed.com/happytimeblog
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An old lady sitting in a shady part of Ubud’s market making offerings for the following market… If you’ve ever been to Bali you will have stepped on one for sure! Everyday the people of Bali make small offerings to the gods and leave them outside their shops, homes and even on motorbikes to bring good luck and good fortune for the coming day… Mucho Mucho Love… Come Join In

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Earlier today I was away with the fairies daydreaming about our next trip, while I could’ve let my mind wander all day about the things and places I want to do and see I also got thinking about the things I must remember NOT to do…

• Relying totally on Guide Books…

Its a rare sight, a traveller without a guide book. Now I’m not entirely opposed to them completely but the vast majority of travellers treat their guidebooks like bibles and obey their every word… This is, in my opinion, the worst mistake any traveller can make!
Guidebooks can be a great resource if used as a “guide” but I once heard someone say:

“I visit a place first and then take a peek at their guide book to see what I’ve missed… Then, if it takes my fancy, I’ll go back and fill in the gaps.”

If used in this way the guide books to exactly what they were intended for in the first place.
I’ve seen it too many times, the bus is due to arrive and as if by magic the bus is suddenly full of guidebooks (all the same brand) and everyone is literally on the same page, they all want the same rooms and to do the same things but its crucial to remember that the guidebook was written to help travellers explore a place and not to define it!
So I say put the guidebook down, arrive at a place and interact with other travellers and locals, ask your guest house about things to do and go out and explore, because there is a lot more to a place than what’s in any guidebook!.. So what if you end up in a grubby room and there is somewhere better around the corner, at least you would have met new people and been able to form your own opinions, if that’s not for you then maybe you shouldn’t have left home.

• Over Packing…

Its a common mistake and one that probably every single new traveller has made. For some reason when they’re in the camping supply shop buying a backpack they are confronted with a passionate urge to buy an SOS whistle, water purification tablets, emergency travel stretcher and all sorts of other “useful” things that would normally only be found in a hardcore explorers kit. It’s hard to explain why new travellers do it because any veteran traveller or guide book read properly will say the same thing:

“pack as little as possible”

For some reason this piece of advice is almost always ignored and I really think it’s one of the best pierces of travel advice there is.
Think of a backpack not as a travelling home but as an anchor, that will weigh any traveller down and complicate just about every aspect of actually “travelling”. If that’s not enough… Everything needed will be available, at a fraction of the price, whatever the destination!
Here’s a good site that may help – www.onebag.com

• Forgetting the Budget…

It’s the first thing all travellers think of and it really is important, make a budget and stick to it!
Don’t be tempted to have a splurge on silly things that are probably unnecessary anyway, like flash hotels or VIP buses, ride the local bus and break down the local – traveller borders, interact and see a place for what it really is. It’s all too easy to feel restricted by a tight budget but that’s completely missing the point, eating in restaurants that aren’t geared towards tourists can be a great experience and often at a fraction of the price and surely that’s exactly why the “traveller” leaves home in the first place. A budget should be looked at as a way to experience a place more authentically and not as a restriction.

• Getting angry…

This is something that happens all to often, it normally comes about when crossing borders over land or places where a carefully planned itinerary is suddenly controlled by an outside factor, such as a Cambodian bus driver who wants to make a detour to deliver ten bags of rice to his sisters restaurant. It’s easy to get mad and start shouting but in truth, loosing the plot and going all red in the face will only make matters worse. Sometimes a situation is really sh*t and there seems like no other way to be heard than by raising a fist but trust me, there is always another way. Travelling, by definition, is a journey, it’s not about the destination until you actually arrive so relax, get comfortable and enjoy it.

• Not backing up pictures…

Probably the most heartbreaking mistake to make of all, a traveller spends a lot of time carefully taking pictures of the beautiful places they visit and the beautiful people they meet only to pick up a virus at an internet cafe or have their camera stolen, either way all the memories are lost. It’s also such an unnecessary mistake to make because no matter where I’ve been there has always been a place to burn my pictures onto a DVD or CD and for a very reasonable price as well. Get into the habit of backing up photos regularly in any way possible because even if your £2000 camera is stolen the thing you will miss the most is those irreplaceable pictures of your travels.
A good resource for all things photography is Digital Photography School

Other posts you might find helpful:

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Settled amongst the mountains in the far north of Vietnam is Bac Ha, a small and relatively untouched  hillside town that for most of the week is quiet and sleepy. On Sunday however it’s all change, the surrounding hills are home to something like 10 different hilltribes: the Flower H’mong are the most vibrant, but other groups include Dzao, Giay (Nhang), Han (Hoa), Xa Fang, Lachi, Nung, Phula, Thai and Thulao and come Sunday morning the hills are alive with the sound of markets.
We headed there from Sapa another larger hillside town but it wasn’t easy, first we had to get a very early bus to Lao Cai and then from there a local bus to Bac Ha, which takes all day. There are tour buses that do the trip but because of the distance they charge a small fortune and this puts many tourists off. Anyway the local buses are always much more interesting and the road is very scenic if not a little rough!

The Sunday morning market starts early and it’s impossible to miss, what was a dusty, quiet town square turns into a car park for local buses and throngs of Flower H’mong people stroll past the few guest houses in town on their way to sell their wares. With their baskets strapped to their backs full of fruit, vegetables and textiles it makes for a wonderful scene and we didn’t see a single piece of tourist tat anywhere. Georgie loves a market and generally I do NOT but once your there it’s such an attack on the senses that I couldn’t help myself, I sat and smoked with some serious looking men what I hoped to be tobacco… A few coughs on my part soon had them laughing and within minutes I’d managed to reduce a whole crowd of serious tobacco buyers to a fit of coughing and giggling… Time to move on!
It is a real market in every sense of the word, it has wet parts and textile parts, livestock arrives and leaves on the back of motorbikes and the buzz about the place is almost overwhelming. Everything can be bought here from puppies to rice wine and if I recommend one thing it’s to sit down and try some home made hooch… It will certainly wake you up! I tried to chat with some men about which pig was best and which ones they were after but they were busy men and I probably stank a little too much of homemade moonshine from another stall.

The market lasts all day and unless your planning on staying in Bac Ha longer to explore the mountains around it then you will have to wander around to find a local bus with spare seats going your way. For some people this may be a bit hardcore because if your not on these buses the next ones will be a week later but to be honest the locals won’t see you stranded.
What struck me most about Bac Ha was it’s authenticity, even getting there was only possible the same way the locals do and once there we were in at the deep end. It’s not a market for tourists as such although there are bargains to be had but its a great way to spend a day and really get to see how some of Vietnam’s hilltribe people live…

Have a look at our posts and be inspired:

It Takes Two

Bac Ha Market Madness

The death bus to Bac Ha

So there you have it, look out for the “Off the beaten track” category and I will keep adding our favourites to it.