Travel Notes

When I travel, I keep notes, sometimes. After several trips, I am now setting up on online travel blog. I wish I had done it earlier. Since I plan to travel a lot in the near future it is time to start now. I record my trips for many reasons. I have had many interesting trips to Scotland, London, Manchester, Barcelona, The Netherlands, and the USA. On each trip, I learn many things. This includes things about the history, culture, architecture, famous figures, cuisine and quirky facts about the places I visit, and also it includes those lessons about life and travel that come up, and the things I learn from the people I meet. The main focus of this page is an online record of future trips, as they happen. So far, my favourite places have been San Francisco, Berkeley, New York City, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Barcelona, Girona, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands. I have visited other places but I won't mention the just okay places or the places I was not so keen on. So, the big question is can other places that I visit in future live up to these and perhaps even take a place on top of the list ahead of San Francisco and the East Bay?

September 17th 2007. The lessons learnt so far....

* You can have a great time on little cash. You don't need to travel in luxury to enjoy yourself. Hanging out in pretty places with a picnic, hours of exploring neighbourhoods, travelling around getting a tour of the area on a cheap all day unlimited local travel pass, shopping in local places... all of these are free or of little cost and fun (especially when the weather is nice). Making use of free galleries and musuems, enjoying special menus and special deals on activities can also keep costs down. Clocks with loud ticks are hated in dorm rooms. Ditto loud rustling plastic bags.

September 26th 2007. Hometown tourism

Okay, not as exotic as searching out foreign places (though I will be doing that soon) but for most of us there are things to do and see around us. Just that most of us don't have the time or inclination. Last weekend, I hosted a guest through the hospitality club. I have found hospitality club and couchsurfing great for helping me apppreciate my home city. I have answered many queries and showed guests around town. Last weekend, my guest was interested in art. I took her to the Laing Gallery, an independent art store called Colliers, the Side Galllery - documentary photograhy, the Baltic - most of the exhibition halls were closed as they were being changed, but the glass viewing box has great views over the city centre - and then we went to the Angle of the North by bus, a big outdoor sculpture. On the Sunday, I took her to see some of my favourite buildings and sculptures, and some of the other main tourist spots including St. James Park, the City Walls and Chinatown. We then went to Tynemouth to the coast. Pretty good!

If anyone has ever read any of the suggestions in the lonely planet guide to experimental travel, there are also some ideas for going on local or distant journeys with a different focus!