Posted by msadmin on Friday, September 15th, 2006 , Posted in Destinations , Comments Off
Hi-ho.. .
I’ve added a hell of a lot of new stuff to the site of late.. so.. .
Be sure to check out the following:
over 25 New Videos (from Austria, The Greek Islands, Ibiza, Mexico, Poland, and coming soon: Italy & Chaos on the streets from the World Cup Final)
New Postcard Photo Selections (The 2006 Summary Shots: Set 1 & Set 2, and Top Picks from 2006: Nature & Life In Motion)
New Photo Galleries (For Portugal, Spain, Ibiza, The Tomatina Festival, and France – Provence & the Cote d’Azur)
New Posts (For Portugal, Spain, and France)
New Travel Survival Guide (Part 5!!!)
Posted by msadmin on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 , Posted in Portugal , Comments Off
Portugal was a great county. I loved every bit of it. From the relaxed atmosphere, to the friendly and helpful locals. The city of Lisbon was wonderful, and the beautiful coast lines and beaches were at times heavenly. The cuisine on offer everywhere was great and the prices seemed so much more reasonable than those in Spain or the rest of Western Europe.
I need to go back and explore more of Portugal as all I made time for was a stop in the Capital, Lisbon, and then relaxation time in the resort town of Lagos. I’m sure the rest of Portugal deserves to be explored as well, but from what I saw, Portugal had a lot of things going for it.
Lisbon was a top place. The city was busy but had an easy feel about it. The tram lines that link some parts of the city were amazing. Tiny little rickety things, I wonder how many of them fall off their tracks? The people seemed nice and the night life there was good too..
Lagos was a great escape. It was basically a beach town with excessive amounts of bars, and cheap restaurants that served great tapas and things. The surrounding towns around Lagos had the first surf I’d seen for quite some time and it was worth the wait. I spent most of my time in Lagos sleeping in and getting drunk – very hard to take.
So Portugal is a great destination for anyone wishing to have a low stress / high fun European holiday. I’ll definitely be back.
To check out my Photos from Portugal, click here.
Posted by msadmin on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 , Posted in Spain , Comments Off
Well I really loved Spain. However the distinct lack of self respect from the people in the areas through hair style sense – particularly the 33-50% of Spaniards that thought a “Mullet” was cool dragged my opinion of them down considerably. It was like a bad bad dream – more like a nightmare. What are they thinking..? And it was not just the men (although they were by far the worse offenders) it was also the women, who for some reason thought they looked hot with a mullet. WRONG. It makes me sick just thinking about it again.. I think I’m going to need therapy to get over all those filthy mullets fully..
And to further lower my opinion, whilst visiting Spain, I was robbed.. TWICE.. I’ve been to some pretty dodgy places this year, and until Spain have never had this kind of problem… Really disappointing because Spain was such a great country, and if it wasn’t for all the Mullets and Thieves I encountered, I would have said it was one of the best countries in Europe. Unfortunately I was left feeling angry (rubbed off from all those angry mullets most likely) and dismayed (from being robbed, not once but twice in the space of a few weeks)..
So for me, if you could somehow manage to sedate all those angry mullets and take to them with a set of clippers while they were under, and if the Spanish police actually did something to try and reduce crime, instead of beating up on tourists, Spain would have been one of my favourite places. And yes, you heard me right. I was told about two tourists who were mucking around on the streets of Barcelona. They were maybe causing a bit of a public nuisance, but were in no was causing any harm to anyone. Within a few minuets, two police rocked up, and within a few more minuets a van with a whole bunch of heavy military type police arrived and surrounded the two. By this point the tourists stopped messing around and waited to discuss the problem with the police. Next from behind one of the heavies, without warning took to the two with their police batons, which started a frenzy of blows, punches and kicks from all of them until the sorry tourists were a bloody mess on the ground. So the police had done what they could to diffuse the situation and packed themselves back into their van and disappeared. Well done. Pricks.
Ok, so on some positive points for Spain, there were some fantastic cities.. There were some fantastic tapas bars, and there were some great stretches of coast to relax on. Another highlight for my visit to Spain was spending time in the madness of Ibiza.. Check out ‘Part 5′ of A Holiday Survival Guide for more.
I was also lucky enough to make it to the Tomatina Festival which was possibly one of the best things I’ve done this year.. The Tomatina Festival is the world’s largest Tomato Fight. As you stand knee deep in tomatoes in the streets where it takes place with about twenty thousand other tomato lovers, you gain a new found appreciation for food. Apart from having my wallet relieved from my zipped-up security pocket (for the second time in the few weeks in this visit to Spain), it would have been a totally incredible experience. Sitting in the police station to make my report that afternoon, it was clear that I was not the only target for the day. GO GET A JOB YOU WANKERS..!!
To view photos from Spain visit the gallery:
Posted by msadmin on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 , Posted in A Travel Survival Guide, Dribble , Comments Off
A while ago I wrote about the worsening effects of wearing my Havianana Thongs (flip-flops to the rest of the world…) every day, day in – day out.
Now, I’m beginning to gain real concern. In between my big and index toes I now have hardening calices, and the most concerning effect is for most mornings I now wake up with numbness in my index toes..
I don’t know what to do except face the terrible thought of actually stuffing my feet back into those things called shoes for a while until the disease subsides…
Posted by msadmin on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 , Posted in Destinations, France , Comments Off
Originally heading back to France from the bottom of Spain seemed like an arduous task. It would have involved either sitting on a bus (probably totally booked with a broken toilet, as it seems to happen) for around 50 hours, or working through five to ten train rides, over probably the same amount of time. In the end, I made a smart choice and opted for the more relaxed scenic travel route, taking my time seeing some extra parts of Spain on the way, so it turned out to be actually quite a lot of fun.
I was very much looking forward to getting to France because I was catching up with family I hadn’t seen for ages. It was a much enjoyed break from Hostels and the associated smells of Feet and Ass. And it was really nice to experience privacy again, eat real food, and have a break from 67c Sangria and liters of rum for five Euro.
The South of France was absolutely magic. The Country side with Lavender farms and Vineyards splattered everywhere really complemented the historical towns and Bronze Age stone huts littering the hills.
It’s been a really nice treat to visit this region as it would have been something I probably would not have done on my own.
Posted by msadmin on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 , Posted in Destinations , Comments Off
Beating the long term travel blues: Party, Drink & Sun. Ibiza Island – Party capital of the world.
To see larger versions of these photos (and more) check out the Ibiza Gallery, here.
Also be sure to check out some of the videos from Ibiza in the Video Section of the site.
To explian, a short while ago I found myself feeling board and dismayed with my life on the road. I found myself saying (and you’re going to hate me for saying this) “I need a holiday from my holidays”, and yes, if I heard myself saying such nonsense whilst gainfully employed, I’d want to have a go too.. But never the less, moving to a new place every 1 to 7 days for nine months straight really takes it out of you, so I came up with a plan to beat this terrible ailment.
Party every day, get drunk every day, and go to the beach every day (for as long as you can..)
Such a simple plan, I only wish I thought of it sooner. All it takes is time (which you have plenty of when long term travelling, and money, which is something you don’t really have when long term travelling – but you gotta do what you gotta do..).
So have another look over the above photos and videos and see how this instalment of the Travel Survival Guide could possibly help inspire you to beat the travel blues if/ when you get the opportunity for long term travel..
