Most Viewed Travel Blogs (264)

okay, only a photon but - the first manned flight was not particularly impressive. It would have been impossible to guess, watching the Wright brothers fly 120 feet in their first attempt in 1903, that Lindbergh would, in 1927, fly the Atlantic. Completely impossible to guess that Lindbergh would be a guest of honour watching Apollo 11 head to the moon in 1969.

So a photon this week could be a mammal in - how long?

I want to know when I can teleport from London to Edinburgh - an hour and a half, flying time, usually. Because yesterday I got to Stansted at 6 pm and I got to Edinburgh at 11 pm and I'm a bit bored with the conventional ways of getting from A to B.

I see a lot of people did some extensive traveling around the globe. Well, I also did a bit of traveling in my day. I visited a number of neighboring states and I had an extended visit to Angola, and few shorter visits to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, & Botswana, all by courtesy of the South African Defense Force.

The hotels were generally bad and the food was worse, so we mostly slept in the open veld eating canned food and drinking water that we carried with us. I don’t think they had any airports at the time because we had to jump out the flossies (transport planes) from 600 feet. What I enjoyed most of these visits was the complete lack of passport control. They never asked us for passports. There were no delays in entering or leaving the country.

I even met a celebrity like Dr Jonas Savimbi on two occasions. He was such a charismatic man! I wonder why they assassinated him.

I did not find the people very friendly; they were shooting at us on sight without asking any questions. It is no wonder we went there armed to the teeth. Maybe they did not want to encourage tourism at the time.

No chance for a game of golf, but we did play some Hopscotch on the minefields.

Regrettably, I never got to see Luanda. We were 38 km from the Angolan capital when we decided to go home. It is strange that we never got to see the capitals of any of the countries that we visited. The only exception was Windhoek in Namibia, which we saw quite often. At least they had a better sense of humor, they did not shoot at us.

Actually, I would like to visit those countries again. I wonder if tourists are more welcome now.


May you enjoy this day.

PS. I’ll be missing for a few days. I’m leaving tonight.

Yesterday on the news I heard about the happiest cities of Europe complied by the E.U.’s Eurobarometer.
One of my favourite places in one of the 5th happiest cities of Europe.


Which city makes you happy ; that you enjoy visiting or living?

I’m looking for a specific kind of vehicle, and suddenly noticed a certain familiarity about my list. See if you can spot it.

Not too young - they’re too expensive.
Not too old - they’re too high maintenance
Number of owners - lots is a definite eyebrow-raiser
Fuel consumption - how heavy a drinker?
Performance when the going is tough
Comfort - definitely important
Looks - don't mind a bit tatty or dented, but not rusty

And I wouldn’t really want a vehicle which coughed, spluttered and emitted clouds of smoke when started up on a cold morning.

Yup. Very like a singles checklist

At least with vehicles I can check them on DVLA (our vehicle website) and see when they last had a roadworthy test. One possible turned out to be 10 years older than the ad said, and had 100K more on the clock. That’s a bit familiar too

Any advice? On vehicles, I mean, but all the funnier if they relate to singles too

I have this awesome, but old, Japanese guide book about living Japanese style and I so want to go, not a package tour, a real poke-around. Who wants to come along, even for just a few minutes, in imagination?

It all sounds so incredibly exotic. Chapter headings include

*exchanging greetings
*using the bath and toilet (Japanese ones ARE different!)
*using the public bath
*typhoons and earthquakes
*travelling on the cheap (I'll quote from that one in comments)

*visiting a hot spring

I posted a video, then deleted it, it was all street markets and Western-style entertainment, thanks but no thanks, got that here.

Anyone been? Even better, lived there?

Wow all the money siphoned out of this great state.

No wonder they built the biggest casino in the US at the border between Oklahoma and Texas. Winstar, an hour drive from Dallas. Mostly players are yes, Texans. High rollers they are many.

I drove many a times in Houston and San Antonio but not in Dallas and golly, the roads are built for the future.

Anyways while I'm enjoying my stay I just noticed how everything is "big" here.

I have never traveled abroad before and I am planning a trip to the Philippines in January. I will be arriving in Cebu and taking a ferry to Bohol. Upon my research on the internet, that seems like the typical tourist trip taken.

Of course, my research and my inquiries have turned up even more questions about traveling abroad that I can find answers for. For one, how safe is it to travel to the Philippines? I have discovered that kidnapping does indeed happen there and that theft and robberies are commonplace. Of course, being a smart traveler will help safeguard against dangers, but there is no guarantees in life either. In order to be a smart traveler, I felt I needed to write this blog to hopefully get some tips on traveling abroad from the more experienced than myself.

Here are some additional concerns that I do have, that I have heard from some other people...not sure how true they are or not. Any other things I should watch for would greatly be appreciated.

...My first hold over will be in South Korea. (I was told that I would have difficulty making it out of that airport because they are huge and very busy and that the signs will be written in a language other than English). That really does not make sense because it is an international airport. But, I have never been there so I don't know for sure.

...This leads to another concern. I will be traveling by myself...and of course being new to this experience, I myself am also responsible for any language barriers. Not everyone I am going to need to associate with will know English. How do you communicate or deal with situations like that?

...I was also told that security at airports look for people who are nervous and will take them for questioning. Sometimes that questioning can go bad really quick, especially if there are language barriers. There is a good chance I will be a little nervous at times being an unseasoned international traveler. Any advice about that?

...I was also told to be very careful in international airports, especially the Philippines about employees slipping things in your luggage and then asking for money from you to not report it. I was told to not have luggage with pockets on its outside and if you can, wrap your luggage. Also, don't help anyone carry their luggage because this is how drugs get transported and if you get caught carrying that luggage, of course you will be responsible for its contents.

...Also, are there any tips on getting great airfare rates?

...Anything else that a new international traveler should be careful with or it would be helpful if it is known about?

Thanks all for your advice.

Here is a link to Google Maps..expand the map with your mouse to the city level and hit Add Marker to mark the city you've visited then save the map and post it here so people can see where you've been..




Here's mine:



Have fun!!!!!

It's so disheartening to write a blog and then watch it sink steadily down the page and finally disappear into the wilderness behind that little square box labelled 2, and beyond. So, why condemn yourself to that very same fate by creating this one, you may well ask.

Because I can, that's why.

Friends, has anyone traveled? Can you recommend it? I am very afraid that I may get seasick.