Inspiration - That Photo...(Part 2)

Last September, I posted a number of photos from my travels as a way of inspiring my readers to grab their backpacks and travel...even if this does mean going solo!  I thought I would do this again with a new batch of, what I hope you will find are, pictures that make you want to get out there in the big wide world too!

All photos were taken on my travels in the past year.  I hope you like them!

The view from the Vogel Cable Car above Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

Amsterdam street scene, Netherlands

The Tatras Mountains near Zakopane, Poland

The Jewish Quarter in Krakow, Poland

The Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden

A panoramic view of Positano, Italy

Temples at Paestum, Italy

Wooden sculpture in Tallinn, Estonia

Green space near the Parliament in Tallinn, Estonia

Yinka Shonibare sculpture at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, United Kingdom

The Plitvice National Park, Croatia

Sunset at Zadar, Croatia 

 Dusk at the Louvre in Paris, France

The Tuileries in Paris, France

One Year On - The TRGTALP Review of the Year So Far...

I know I said in my last post that this blog isn't about me writing about all the places I've visited; thus, leaving many readers relying on this site as a cure for insomnia.  Nevertheless, I thought it might be nice to review my year in travel so far and, rather than blather on about all the amazing neoclassical churches I visited or the many sites of Estrucan interest I encountered, I had the idea of picking out why each place provided the makings of some top trips that you too might want to take inspiration from too...

Best Budget Destination...
It has to be a tie between Budapest and Krakow!  The food and drink in these destinations is very good value.  A three course meal in a great restaurant in Krakow with alcoholic drink 9 Euros.  Who can argue with that?!  Plus, the dessert was the best tiramisu I have ever had...and, boy, have I wolfed down some  fine Italian marscarpone sponge desserts!

Fun and frolics in the Market Square in Krakow!

Worst Budget Destination...
This does no way imply I didn't enjoy myself here (see my post 'Hej Sverige - AKA Storming Stockholm with Friends') and I would certainly recommend a trip, but Stockholm provided one of my costlier trips this year.  I was prepared for the high living costs the Swedes have, but on several occassions I was still amazed at some of the prices I saw....and paid!  Prepare your wallet for a shock.

Photo-Bombing the Gamla Stan!

Most Satisfying Tourist Attraction...
The Szechenyi Baths, in Budapest, offer a great half day of fun and frolics in a thermal spa right in the heart of the city.  I loved every minute of sampling the different indoor pools and steam rooms before heading out to bathe in the thermally-heated outdoor pools in the glow of the yellow pastel hues of this amazing building!  The underground train ride to the baths is an event in itself, offering you a train carriage made from what seems like flimsy balsa wood and a network that makes the London Underground look like something out of 'The Jetsons'!

The Szechenyi Baths in Budapest

Best Day Trip...
Horrific as it is, the tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau was just incredible.  We all know the history, but to actually stand in the same place (in gas chambers, on train platforms and in camp accommodation) as the victims of the Holocaust was a truly humbling experience and one that will stay with me for life.

The enormous collection of shoes taken from the victims at Auschwitz

Best Accommodation...
The Budapest Bubble has to take this hands down!  It may not be the flashiest hostel on the scene, but what it lacks in pizzazz, it more than makes up for in charm and a brillianty warm welcome.  Olga and Gabor run a tight ship where fun and laughter rein!  On arrival I was treated to the best welcome I have ever had in a hostel that was fueled with alcohol and some hilarious chat...an hour before I made it to my room to drop my bag.  On top of this, Olga, makes sure everyone in the hostel feels welcome (sometimes with a shot of Palinka) and almost always takes her newfound friends out on the town; showing them the best nightspots that Budapest has to offer.  What this girl doesn't know about the bars of Budapest is not worth knowing.  On top of this, she is so lovely, it is like staying with a friend in their apartment!  If you visit this fine city, stay nowhere else.  I insist!  Don't believe me?  Well, then just read the reviews...

The Budapest Bubble

(at Hostelworld.com)

Best Travel Experience...
The title has to go Lake Bled in Slovenia.  In one day, I visited the awesome Vintner Gorge, walked to the top of the Ožujsko Viewpoint at the edge of the lake and then swam out to the island in the middle of Lake Bled.  The holy trinity of fantastic experiences!  All of this shared with a great, fun-loving couple from Manchester.  I was their gooseberry for the day, but one very happy gooseberry!

The stunningly beautiful Lake Bled in Slovenia

Best Journey...
I don't think it can get much better than being bussed about Slovenia to Lakes Bled and Bohinj with the stunning Julian Alps as background scenery.  Even the walk back from the Vintner Gorge back to the town of Bled was breathtaking.

The walk from the Vintner Gorge back to the town of Bled...incredibly beautiful!

Biggest Surprises...
The Baltic cities were a real surprise for me.  I did a two centre trip to both Riga in Latvia and Vilnius in Lithuania, last May, and have recently returned from another double-header involving Tallinn in Estonia and Helsinki in Finland.  All of these places were an absolute joy to visit; filled with historical sights, great food, welcoming people and some of the greenest cities I have ever seen.  Flying into Riga I was stunned to find the capital is surrounded by an abundance of forested land as far as the eye can see.  It looked fantastic!  And, as a result, the food from these green and pleasant lands is some of the freshest I've ever tasted.  Although, all very similar, they were all immensely satisfying and offered some pleasant sights and surprises along the way.  One other major bonus of these destinations is that they were not too crowded with tourists; so on several occassions I would find myself sharing tourist attractions with one or two other people or having them all to myself...mwa-ha-ha-ha!

The House of the Blackheads in Riga, Latvia

Vilnius Cathedral in Lithuania

Where next, readers?  Where should my next 'Best Journey' be?  Where will I find the next 'Biggest Surprise' on my travels?  And, where will be my next 'Best Day Trip'?  I would love to hear what you think!

The Freak Parade - Oddballs on the Road...

(Source - theatrefolk.com)



Let me tell you one truism about backpacking.  You can guarantee you are certain to meet some utter freaks on your journeys.  They are the hallmark of the budget travel experience and are bound to stick in your memory for longer than you'd hoped.  My advice?  Embrace these weirdos!  Enjoy their bizarre, off-the-wall company and savour their outlandish behaviour.  Not only will these people be fantastic for your self-esteem, they will provide you with a whole host of stories to carry with you on your journey to other like-minded people you meet and will serve as an entertaining aspect of your travels your family and friends will lap up on your return.

I could tell you about the old lady, travelling with her daughter in Bled, Slovenia; who thought it appropriate to wear the shortest nightwear going in a shared dorm room, as well as leave her false teeth in a small plastic tub on the shelf I shared with her.  Or the Belgian girl in Port Macquarie, with a rather skewed view of British eating habits, who asked my friend, if only English people ate English muffins.

Mushy was perhaps the weirdest, though.  Let me take you back to Airlie Beach, Australia - September, 2005.  A moment I remember vividly.  I was in Airlie Beach; a place that marks the jumping point for the Whitsunday Islands three day sailing trips.  On entering my hostel room, I was met by my fellow roomie, a young-ish, drink and drug addled guy who told me his name was 'Mushy'; so called thanks to his love of the hallucinogenic fungi!  I could hear the alarm bells ringing softly in my head, but thought nothing of it as he asked me about my travels so far and where I was heading to after Airlie Beach.  Mushy then went on to tell me about his life and how he had worked at a local hotel resort and was on his downtime and aiming to enjoy himself in Airlie Beach.  As I sorted out my stuff, Mushy piped up that he was a talented singer and had made the later rounds of the hit Australian show, 'Australian Idol'.  The alarm bells were ringing loudly now.  As I had already established the guy could barely speak let alone sing, I humoured him and said, "Really!  What did you sing?"  He told me he had wowed them with a performance of the Oasis hit 'Wonderwall'.  I had to see this.  I sat back on the bottom bunk and readied myself for this stellar performance.  Mushy kicked off his song, wailing the verses like a cat being strangled by an excitable pig and then come the chorus where he broke into some high energy dance moves that involved him spinning round a lot and touching the floor.  All the while, my fingernails are digging deep into the palm of my hand to stop myself from laughing.  He suddenly stopped, looked to me and gave me the 'what do you think' face, to which I replied, "You were robbed, Mushy!"  He kindly offered me some 'shrooms.  I politely declined, made an excuse and got the hell out of there.  I returned after an hour or so to find Mushy had, thankfully, taken his talents elsewhere and that an Aussie and Dutch man had turned up in the room.  We chatted for a bit and I then went out to meet some people I had met earlier on my trip up the Australian east coast.  The next morning I woke up with a start to hear the Aussie guy, from the bunk above the now departed Mushy, yelp, "Aw, shit!"  I got up to find him looking at his feet and back at the floor.  "F***ing *****!"  While everyone was out enjoying the nightlife in Airlie Beach, Mushy had clearly decided to have a night in to clip his toenails.  And, rather than clear them up like any normal person, he thought it best to leave the clippings on the floor where they fell...for everyone else to tread on!  Freak!

Maybe it was the place, but on returning to that very same hostel three days later, I was accosted by a young South Korean guy who leapt out of his bunk to photograph me.  So, so strange!  But, that's travel for you.  I urge you to expect the unexpected and, most of all, enjoy it!

Travel - One of Life's Great Teachers...

Something I learnt travelling...Slovenia is beautiful!  The sun setting over the gorgeous Lake Bohinj.

Travelling as an activity is a hugely satisfying leisure pursuit that can result in you seeing, tasting and experiencing much of what the World has to offer.  What has surprised me the most about travel, is how much I have got out of the act of travelling.

There is a danger this is going to sound like a CV or job application, but the things I have been lucky enough to learn on my travels have proved very useful in interviews for academic courses and in the hunt for jobs.  Presenting yourself at an interview to strangers, is no different to presenting yourself to the strangers you meet when you travel.  The only difference is you are probably wearing flip flops and a massive grin on your face during the latter scenario!  Travel, and especially solo travel, requires you to be confident enough to talk to complete strangers about yourself in an interesting way without being overbearing or intensely annoying.  Closely linked to this is the ability to listen to other people.  The number of times I have been involved in conversations where people are happy to talk about themselves for hours on end without taking much (if any) interest in your thoughts or background infuriates me.  And, to be honest, travel has taught me that these are the kind of people to avoid in all aspects of life.  However, do not let this stop you from reaching out...striking up a conversation with a random person can be a useful tool, in the right circumstances.  In work situations, I have successfully applied this principle, and have found myself talking to people who some of my colleagues were too afraid to engage with for fear of their status in the organisation, for example.  The trick is to listen.  I may make the mistake of assuming that life and work is like the rather flat/equal structure that exists amongst travellers, but I enjoy it and feel like I have gained a lot from it.

Travel has helped me realise I can enjoy my own company and get a lot done.  The time I get to be alone to think (often in a beautiful location) is a real luxury these days.  Without the distraction of other people, travelling solo (in particular) can allow you to really appreciate your destination; watching the people come and go, take in other cultures and also take pleasure in the scenery that lay before you as you look across the horizon.

Trust that intuition!  It is usually right.  Having put myself and having been put into a number of exciting and hair-raising situations, always go with your intuition.  Travel has acted as a useful training ground for my intuition, allowing me to make some great friends, avoid some not so great people, get involved in some great activities and stay away from some not so great travel diversions.  Judging the quality of a hostel at 20 paces or the best place to eat in the backstreets of Vilnius has proved so useful in everyday life.  The idea that I can use my experiences to forge a positive future, based on my judgement was a fantastic revelation.  I know...obvious for most people, but for me, knowing that I could decide what I wanted to do based on a number of factors was an eye-opener. 

Big deal!  So what!  Who cares?!  Having seen many different places, cultures and experiencing a fair few things during my travels, my sense of perspective has improved massively.  When things get stressful at work, I sometimes have to remind myself that I do have a sense of perspective, but it is the things that I have seen on my travels that helps me remember that in the grand scheme of things nothing really matters.  That deadline...yes, it is important, but so what?!  If it is a day late, it is inconvenient, but ultimately no-one died and there are far more important things to worry about in life.  Having seen the way that people live, work and what they have experienced, I am always mindful to count my blessings.  My first trip turned me into a right hippy.  I backpacked without any desire for all the possessions I owned back in the UK.  After about two weeks of travelling, I could have easily given them up for my backpack full of clothes and a couple of good paperbacks.  Stupidly idealistic and probably quite impractical, but what I took from that was the realisation that the 'stuff' we work so stupidly hard to accumulate to fill our homes is pretty worthless - 'mo money, mo problems' and all that!  What I did miss were my family and friends.  So, travel changed my perspective regarding where my priorities lie.  Before that first big trip, the accumulation of financial wealth and belongings was my main objective in life.  And, after that trip, I know that the only things that really matter are not fulfilling someone else's targets at work or generating cash for me to spend on a huge state-of-the-art flat screen TV or on the repayments for a new BMW, but family and the people around you.  Success, for me, is not measured in material wealth, but by the relationships you cultivate and maintain with the people around you.  Maybe this came to the fore during my trips, as travelling is a very people-centric activity that really helps you understand your fellow man.  Ultimately though, this aspect of discovery I have made on my travels is of greatest importance to me.

So, travel...the great educator!  You don't believe me?!  Well, all I can say is go find out for yourself, you may be surprised what you learn.

Please feel free to comment below on any things that travel has taught you.  I would love to hear your views on this!

Inspiration - That Photo...

When I'm deciding on where I want to travel, I take a lot of inspiration from photos I have seen in newspapers, magazines and on the Internet; via my day-dreaming browsing on Google and friends' Facebook photos of their travels. What grabs me is 'that photo'...the one picture where you look in awe at a place or scene that looks so magical, so unreal that you feel that you have to see it for yourself to confirm it exists. Spotting a photo of Lake Bled, in Slovenia, via Facebook, was one of the driving forces for my trip to Slovenia this year. Seeing the place for myself and swimming in the warm waters of the lake was just phenomenal.

My photo from the Ozujsko viewpoint at Lake Bled

These places are often, for me, the stand out element of any trip. So, below (as a departure from my usual ramblings) are a few of my photographs of my favourite amazing places that I hope inspire you. Please feel free to suggest some of your favourites in the comment box below.


The tiled rooftops of Dubrovnik, Croatia


Trakai, Lithuania


The beautiful Chrysler Building, New York


Budapest, Hungary

The view across to Rangitoto in Auckland, New Zealand


Dusk at Milford Sound, New Zealand
The sun setting on The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Australia


The Reichstag in Berlin, Germany


The soft sands and clear blue waters of Makriamos Beach, near Thassos Town, Greece


Angkor Wat, Cambodia


The incredible Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands, Australia


Le Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris, France.

Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya, Thailand

USA...Tick! France...Tick! Azerbaijan...erm...

Location, Location, Location!

On a recent flight, I was surrounded by a party heading to Slovenia to...erm, party.  One of the group, exclaimed to the others a few minutes after we took off, "when we land, this will be my 50th country!  And, all before my 30th birthday too!"  The milestone birthday, it turns out, was being celebrated in Slovenia, so the girl in question made it to her target by a whisker!  This little story got me thinking...do we travel to put a notch on our proverbial hostel bedpost or is this just a satisfying byproduct of a wide and varied travel diet?  For those of you that were wondering, I have made it to 24 countries - so long as you count Monaco and the Vatican City as independent states.  I think that is pretty impressive for someone who has never taken a gap year that wends through a number of South East Asian and South American countries or is that flush with cash.

Some people take this tick-listing of countries visited to an extreme.  Take, for example, Kashi Sammadar, who has visited all of the countries of the World.  Or even our own Queen Elizabeth II who has visited 116 countries to date.  You can compare your travels to Liz's on this BBC News website - 'Have you been where the Queen's been?'

Though, sad to admit it, I quite like seeing where and how many places I have visited.  I love updating my travel map on Facebook; putting virtual pins into a map to highlight the cities and countries I have trampled with my size nines.  I look at the gaps on the map and think, 'I really must visit ... or ...'.  I do this, not to ensure I fill in those gaps, but help me think about the places I would like to travel to, not the ones I feel I should visit simply to pin on my map.  My travels this year have included four new countries and hopefully, a fifth before the year is out.  I realised looking at my map, I had not really seen much of Eastern Europe, but for a short break to Prague a few years back.  So, when I saw the flights to Hungary, Latvia and Slovenia at a reasonable price, I jumped at the chance to see these countries and cultures that had previously been virgin territory for me.

As for the girl at the start of the post, she may have achieved her 50 countries mostly via travel through her work commitments.  For all I know, she could have been a pilot or stewardess; jetting all over the world on a daily basis.  She might be filthy rich, with a purse deep enough to allow her the opportunity to travel lots and see a whole host of countries.  It is easy to become cynical about such people - mocking their approach to travel.  Besides, we all enjoy travel for different reasons.  Either way, we all have something in common...we like to travel.  Therefore, I am always in admiration for those people that are lucky enough to visit so many places.  They make me want to travel more as I reason with myself, 'if they can do it, so can I!'  I often fail to remember that they may have more time or cash at their disposal, but still the desire to travel remains.  So, look to your tick-listers as inspiration, a source of ideas for future destinations and most of all enjoy the experience of travel, seeing it not simply as a chance to 'tick' another place off on a list of places you have travelled to.