Travel Notes – Travel Blog – Page 9 – ► Blogging About Travel

June 10, 2012June 17, 2012

Focus on Spain

To keep in the Poland-Ukraine 2012 spirit, I’ll focus on a different country playing in the tournament each day during the month of June; looking not so much at the national football team but more about travel to and visiting the country itself.

Plaza de Toros - Bullfighting Poster in Spain — Plaza de Toros – Bullfighting Poster in Spain

Today’s spotlight is on Spain.

The Spain football team start their game against Italy as current European and World Cup champions.

No team has won three European and World Cup finals on the trot; although France (Euro 1998 and WC 2000) and West Germany (Euro 1972 and WC 1974) were also double winners.

The reason we’re expanding a little on the football in this edition of ‘Focus on Spain’ is because it’s what the Spanish people would want; to take the media spotlight away from their ‘financial crisis’.

I’m not an economist so won’t comment too long on the ridiculous amount of money the Spanish banks claim to need.

But here’s a thought – instead of giving all that money to the Spanish banks why not give it to the people; who may then decide to put it in the bank, or invest in personal projects that the banks won’t help them with.

El Sardinero beach, in Santander (Cantabria, S... — El Sardinero beach, in Santander (Cantabria, Spain). (Photo: Wikipedia)

Travel in Spain

I remember hitch-hiking down the Spanish coast during the building boom years and seeing new white walls appear on almost every available plot of ocean view.

The building boom was soon followed by a tourist invasion; making it increasingly harder to find a spot of sand without a German towel on it first thing in the morning.

A beach full of towels is an interesting sight; especially when there’s no-one around – most reserve their spot then return to the hotel for breakfast (some even go back to bed) – and the wind picks up.

In 2012, sun-worshippers can find a place for their towel on some 539 Blue Flag Beaches in Spain.

Zaragoza, Aragon - Spain — Zaragoza, Aragon – Spain

While the Spanish sun, sea and sand still draws the crowds, visitors to Spain should think about travelling inland more; or at least move away from the beach and taste some real Spanish culture, that doesn’t consist solely of Sangria and Paella.

A drive from coast to coast across northern Spain – Barcelona to Bilbao – may not be the most scenic drive in the world but there are plenty of other routes in Spain to consider.

Spain also has its fair share of UNESCO World Heritage sites with 43 properties inscribed on the World Heritage List.

There’s never been a better time to visit Spain, but instead of going for the sunburn, perhaps consider being a culture vulture; at least some of the time.

Spain Tourism.

Short URL: http://tnot.es/ESfocus

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June 9, 2012June 17, 2012

Focus on Holland

English: A panorama of 4 segments of an Amster... — Amsterdam Canal (Photo: Wikipedia)

Today’s spotlight is on Holland.

There’s often some confusion about the name of the country; Holland or The Netherlands?

There’s actually two Hollands; North Holland (Capital: Haarlem) and South Holland (Capital: The Hague), which in turn are just two of twelve provinces making up the ‘The Kingdom of the Netherlands’.

In the age of political correctness Netherlands is becoming more commonly used but it doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as Holland.

As a teenager, I remember taking the ferry from Harwich (England) to the Hook of Holland (Hoek van Holland).

Most people we talked to on the boat were either going to Amsterdam or ‘Holland’. No-one ever said they were going to visit the Netherlands.

The Dutch themselves often use the word Holland when referring to more of The Netherlands than the North and South Holland provinces.

Even the Dutch Tourist office website like to cover all their bases but only refer potential visitors interested in travel to the Netherlands to one domain:

‘Welcome to Holland.com, the official website of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, where you receive all the information for your stay in Holland’.

In their ‘Orange Fever’ section – Holland Football Nation – we are also informed that:

‘Holland fans are characterized by their orange outfits. Find out why the color orange is so important to Holland fans’.

So that’s official.

For tourism and football purposes I’ll continue to use the word Holland.

Otherwise it’s The Netherlands when talking more widely about the country, or the monarchy ruling over The Kingdom of The Netherlands.

Short URL: http://tnot.es/NLfocus

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June 8, 2012February 22, 2013

Poland-Ukraine 2012

Today marks the start of the biggest sporting event in Eastern Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Poland and Ukraine have built brand spanking new stadiums and invested in improvements to their infrastructure for the 2012 European Chmpionships; or Euro 2012, for short.

I was hoping to visit all the stadiums before the tournament but something else came up over Easter.

I’ve travelled in Poland and Ukraine a few times and brought back nothing but fond memories.

Here’s hoping the fans visiting the Euro 2012 host cities – from the Baltic coast to the Black Sea shore – return with the same good memories; even if their team doesn’t win the tournament.

Poland-Ukraine 2012 Host Cities

Poland’s host cities are Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw.

If you’re in Germany, Austria or Switzerland during the tournament you’ll be hearing about Danzig, Posen, Warschau (easy enough) and Breslau.

All four of the Polish host cities will stage three group games each; Gdansk and Warsaw then host a quarter-final game in the knockout stage.

One of the two semi-finals will also be played in Poland’s capital.

Four cities in Ukraine will also host three group games each: Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kiev and Lviv.

Donetsk and Kiev will both stage quarter-final matches; Donetsk a semi-final; and the Euro 2012 final will be played in Kiev – on Sunday, 1st July.

England play their games in Ukraine – two games in Donetsk, with one in Kiev sandwiched between them – but for some strange reason the English national team have decided to base themselves in Krakow, Poland.

Playing in Group D, even if England qualify from the group stage (as winners or runners-up) their quarter-final match will also be played in Ukraine.

If England finish second, their semi-final would then be in Ukraine too.

Surely having a base somewhere between Donetsk and Kiev would have made more sense; even Yalta – twinned with Margate.

Euro 2012 Host Cities in Poland and Ukraine

According to British tabloid, The Sun, the England players’ wives and girlfriends (WAGs) will be hiring a private jet to whisk them in and out of Ukraine for the games – from England.

The Teams – A Focus on The Countries

Over the course of the tournament I’ll focus on a different country playing in the tournament; not so much about the team but more about visiting the country.

Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine.

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June 8, 2012June 6, 2016

Travel in USA

From Alabama to Wyoming, theme parks to National Parks, there’s plenty of things to see and do in the United States of America.

My first visit to the United States was made on a PanAm flight, back in February 1988, when the Duke and Duchess of York visited Los Angeles.

I combined that photo assignment with a drive out to Las Vegas, to drop some small change in the slots; a spin down to the Mexican border (via San Diego), and walk-through to Tijuana; a flight across to Denver, for some skiing in Aspen; then an extended stop-over in New York, before flying back to Britain.

The triple bonus Air Miles that I earnt on my trans-Atlantic initiation helped finance a later visit to New Orleans and the Deep South; before Pan American were declared bankrupt, in January 1991.

That was my first ever ‘free flight’ and it felt good.

In the European winter of 1989, I stopped in Miami before hopping across the Caribbean (shortly after Hurricane Hugo caused deadly havoc in Puerto Rico) to the South American mainland.

Party Street - Orlando — Party Street – Orlando (US 94)

But my biggest US adventure would be saved for 1994, when the World Cup Finals were hosted in the United States.

England hadn’t qualified but that didn’t damp my desire to visit every World Cup venue – and then some – by Greyhound.

I was reading Jack Kerouac at the time and my youthful enthusiasm transfered much of his words into my own On The Road experience.

I would be back on American soil again; renting a room (or rather, my girlfriend did) in Upper New York City, while pursuing the possibilities of attending film school (the New York Film Academy was a major contender).

I was buying the books and reading the magazines but was torn between the idea of screen writing versus documentary film-making. The tuition fees weren’t cheap and new semester dates were still a way off.

When my girlfriend flew back to Europe, I bought another Greyhound pass and toured the coast all the way down to Miami and across to Texas.

Next time, I’ll have to to travel by train.

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June 7, 2012June 17, 2012

Travel in The Middle East

From Bahrain to Yemen, old world to oil world, the Middle East blends desert sand with capital gain; and brews a nice cup of coffee.

Map of The Middle East - TravelNotes.org — Map of The Middle East – TravelNotes.org

Egypt is often included in the Middle East but at Travel Notes we list the North African country in Africa; as do FIFA – Fédération Internationale de Football Association.

Likewise, although Cyprus and Turkey are shown on this map of The Middle East, we link to them from the Europe section.

Funnily enough, Israel play in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) but are slap bang in the middle of much of the Middle East’s political problems.

Perhaps that’s why they don’t play football with their Arab neighbours; who in footballing terms, all play in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

I’ve visited Israel a couple of times; once even combining it with a tour of Jordan; travelling between Eilat and Aqaba at the Wadi ‘Araba crossing and returning across the King Hussein Bridge in the north – from Amman to Jerusalem (al-Quds).

My only regret is that I didn’t stay in the region a little longer and travel through Lebanon and Syria as well.

My visits to the border regions of Iran and Iraq, from Turkey, were far from happy moments – covering the Kurdish refugee crisis – although it was quite an experience getting my Iranian visa in Ankara and later watching the border guards in Iran flip through their books to find my name.

We didn’t have Internet and FTP in those days, so I had to hitch rides back to Turkey and catch a long-distance bus to Ankara, to get my film out through DHL.

It was worth it though, as the photo agency even sent me clips from a Japanese magazine that used the story.

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June 6, 2012June 17, 2012

City Guide Cover Photos

Calling all travel photographers who would like to see a photograph they’ve taken published on the cover of a travel guide.

Lonely Planet are looking for a stunning image for possible use on one of their new city guide covers. If you’ve got an eye for a photo that captures the essence of a city, that cover photo could well be yours.

Cover Photo Tips

Some of our travel photography tips will certainly help you but when shooting for covers you do need to think in a certain way; vertically.

Many aspiring photographers – not specialising in portraiture or architectural photography – tend to shoot almost entirely in landscape format; maybe influenced by how we see through television and computer screens, what fits best in their blogs, or works well as a generated thumbnail for featured posts.

Capture the City - Lonely Planet Guides — Capture the City – Lonely Planet Guides

As our eyes are aligned horizontally, it’s how we see the world; unless we take the time to study magazine and book covers, or use our cameras to look for different angles and produce stunning images by thinking graphically.

It’s also the shape of the camera screen; and a sign of laziness. You don’t need to turn your head to ‘see vertically’, just the camera.

Magazines and books usually need some space at the top of their covers for bleeding the title. In this case, Lonely Planet guides use white text. Blue skies are often a good choice for travel guide covers, but if you look at the examples above (or in a bookshop) you’ll see that’s not always the case.

Of course you could crop to format but why waste all those pixels. For every four or five photos you take horizontally, you should train yourself to turn the camera and look at the image in front of you – from top to bottom.

Sure we don’t always have the time and often just feel lucky to get something special in ‘that split second’.

I must admit, my first cover photo was shot horizontally.

Luckily there was enough blue sky and white snow for the editor of the Good Ski Guide to use my image of a downhill racer on his cover.

Get The Buzz

While I always get a buzz seeing my pictures used in travel guides or magazines, nothing beats the feeling of seeing an image you first composed through a camera viewfinder now staring back at you – and the passing public – from a shelf at the bookstore or local newsagent.

When that photo was published, I even had an old school friend (who I didn’t think was interested in skiing) stop me in the street and ask if that was my photo he had seen on the magazine cover.

Capture the City Competition

As with any competition, you can increase your chances of winning by properly reading the terms and conditions.

Lonely Planet would like your pictures to be in colour; in vertical, .jpg (or JPEG) format; have a maximum file size of 3MB; be submitted through the Lonely Planet Facebook page; not be digitally manipulated (except for cropping and re-sizing); and be taken within the last two years.

To stand a better chance of giving the publishers what they want, it helps to think specifically about their needs.

Lonely Planet would like an image that could be used on the cover of a city travel guidebook; an image that is simple in composition with something iconic to the destination; an image that would inspire someone to travel to the place (they like to say); and buy the book (I would say).

I’ve looked at some of the photos uploaded to Lonely Planet’s Capture the City competition on Facebook and most don’t seem to have followed the brief at all.

So before you enter, maybe take a look at what’s already there and ask yourself if you’d buy a book based solely on some of those images. I don’t think so.

City Guides to Choose From

Amsterdam, Angkor Wat & Siem Reap, Athens, Bangkok, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Cancun, Cozumel & Yucatan, Cape Town, Chicago, Copenhagen, Dubai, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Fez, Florence & Tuscany, Hanoi, Havana, Hong Kong & Macau, Istanbul, Ko Samui, Krakow, Kuala Lumpur, Kyoto, Las Vegas, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Marrakech, Melbourne, Mexico City, Miami, Milan, Montreal & Quebec City, Moscow, Munich & Bavaria, New Orleans, New York City, Paris, Prague, Puerto Vallarta, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, St Petersburg, Stockholm, Sydney, Tallinn, Tokyo, Toronto, Valencia, Vancouver, Venice, Vienna, Washington DC.

The competition closes on June 13th, 2012 at 11:59pm Pacific Time; so you’ve got a week to look through your recent archives or, better still, get out to one of those cities nearest to you this weekend and capture something special.

Look at it as an assignment and see if you can perform under pressure.

► If you win the competition, thanks to reading this blog post, I’ll send you $50 through PayPal as well.

● To be eligible for this additional prize, you will need to post in the comments before the closing date.

Short URL: http://tnot.es/city

Capture the City quiz: can you identify the city from the photo? (lonelyplanet.com)
Capture the City: 5 of our favourite photos so far (lonelyplanet.com)

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June 6, 2012June 6, 2016

Travel in Latin America

From Anguilla to Venezuela, sailing in the Caribbean to trekking in the Andes, Latin America is a world of wonderful contrasts.

Map of Latin America - TravelNotes.org — Map of Latin America – TravelNotes.org

I first visited Latin America in 1989, landing in Puerto Rico (from Miami) not long after Huricanne Hugo.

The Publishers failed to buy the idea, but I had already sold it to myself.

A continent was in the headlines, yet somehow the full story seemed missing.

South America is so far removed from England, and as the publishers said: ‘Our interest in Latin America is slight’.

Besides, the Brits and other Europeans continued to head for Australia, and the Asia stopover; to the hill tribes in Chiang Mai, and their daughters in Patpong; to the moon parties on the glorious beaches at Goa and the relative cheapness of India; and to the tempting fake brand shopping in Hong Kong and Singapore.

I felt an urge to get behind the emerging headlines, as an eyewitness to the process of democratic shake-up in Spanish America; the fall of Augosto Pinochet (Chile) and Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua), along with the capture of Manuel Noriega in Panama.

Machu Picchu - Lost City of the Incas — Machu Picchu – Lost City of the Incas. First published in the APA Insight Guide to Peru.

Old Lands in the News could have been the title of my proposal, instead I bought slow-speed Fujichrome for my cameras and set out to take pictures for an expanding travel guidebook series; sell photo features to adventure travel magazines and syndicate stock photos through international picture agencies; while collecting more material for my Nomadic Gatherings manuscript.

At least that was the plan, and it might have worked; had I not been a victim of the notorious pilfering in Peru.

That minor mishap apart, I managed to travel through every country in South and Central America during an eventful six months; mostly by bus, with a little float down the Amazon thrown in.

Many travellers enjoy Central America, it’s culture, the climate and the chance to learn Spanish in a wonderful environment.

There are trekking possibilities, ancient ruins to discover, countless colourful festivals; and it’s just across the border from the United States.

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June 5, 2012June 16, 2012

Travel in Europe

From Albania to Vatican City, Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, Europe is culturally eclectic and full of lavish history.

Map of Europe - TravelNotes.org — Map of Europe – TravelNotes.org

Being born and based in Europe, I have had plenty of opportunities to travel around the continent almost endlessly.

While I filled time doing mundane jobs to finance the next big (three to six months) adventure, I always felt like going somewhere new; even just for a weekend.

Looking back, it appeared much more of an experience when every country had border guards waiting to stamp your passport, and each border crossing offered the chance to handle a different currency.

The €uro really isn’t that exciting – unless you have a suitcase full of 500 notes.

After leaving school at sixteen – washing cars; working on building sites; and then in an office, to get me through the winter – I was ready to see more of the world.

For two teenagers living on the English Isle, and bored with the prospect of a life suit and tied to an office nine to five, with the large liquid lunches that accompanied it, a tour of Europe seemed to offer them the adventure of literary boyhood.

We set out to hitch-hike from Scandinavia to the sunny South of France; with something really basic, like 150 pounds in our pockets and all our clothes packed on our backs.

Moving on – after two summers spent hitch-hiking south – I upgraded to train travel; with the help of monthly Inter Rail cards.

We called them cards, but they were actually like little notebooks; where we had to fill out the journey, before the conductor came along.

Today there are a variety of rail passes split into regions and validity lengths, but in those days we could travel all over Western Europe (and, if memory serves me right, Morocco) for one month and one purchase price; without the restrictions many rail operators impose on the modern Global Pass.

Long night-trains meant saving on accommodation costs, at the expense of missing out on the scenery. Back then no-one bothered us when we slept in train stations or on the beach either.

Fly or Drive

With Budget Airlines offering cheap flights to almost anywhere, the skies above Europe are now filled with people visiting the major cities for a few days at a time.

Being a tourist is fine, if you’re strapped for time, but you should consider travelling by car; to get off the beaten track and discover what each individual country is really about.

Village markets selling regional produce are a thrill to stumble upon. Most stalls offer little slices of cheese, salami and hams to sample.

Driving around Europe, I find myself concentrating on particular regions within different countries and am always amazed at just how much more there is to discover each time I return to a country I thought I was familiar with.

San Marino - The Postcard Republic — San Marino – The Postcard Republic

I no longer buy travel guides but always have a good map of the country and regions I’ll be travelling in; especially maps with scenic routes marked and interesting places underlined.

Tourist information offices and good hotels in your destination will usually provide free city maps and often have pamphlets about some of the major attractions in the area.

European Sightseeing Tips

It might be easy to ‘do San Marino in a day’ (The Postcard Republic) but we can never say that we truly know France or Italy; even if we’re resident expats.

To avoid the sightseeing crowds, always start your day early. Try and get to the popular places before ten; nine, even. If you have to, skip the hotel breakfast and grab something to eat when the masses start to arrive at around ten-thirty and before they park themselves at all the best tables, for lunch.

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June 4, 2012June 16, 2012

Travel in Asia

From Afghanistan to Vietnam, Islam to Buddhism, you’re sure to find a place for your soul in Asia.

Map of Asia - TravelNotes.org — Map of Asia – TravelNotes.org

Asia is a traveller’s favourite; the overland route first mapped out in the pages of Lonely Planet.

With a phrasebook in one hand and chopsticks in the other, budget travellers can go further for less.

I first visited Asia in 1988, spending six weeks in China; after attending the Seoul Olympics, via an Air India flight to Japan.

Hong Kong was very much the gateway to China and still had the feeling a piece of the former British Empire about it; with its noon-day gun tradition.

Flying on down to Australia, it would be the following Spring before I visited the real South-East Asia; with the traveller’s famous little yellow book in my hand.

A few years later, I would tour the Indian sub-continent and I’d be back a third time for an unscheduled Christmas in Beijing.

In between those visits, I’d be travelling through Russia and the (then) Central Asian Republics in what was still the C.I.S – Commonwealth of Independent States – shortly after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Playing Mahjong in China – photos.travelnotes.org

Interestingly, it’s still my first visit to China in ’88 that I remember the most fondly; the Mahjong in the park and gold teeth smiles.

The big machine was in momentum all around. Many were afraid to speak; the Sino-Chinese summit was still a long way off; and with that, the most memorable picture to come out of China of a lone protester standing in the line of an advancing tank column in Tian’men Square.

Visit China today and you’ll find that the Chairman Mao suits are disappearing and gold teeth cost a lot more than they did back then.

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June 3, 2012October 21, 2015

Travel in Africa

From Algeria to Zimbabwe, pyramids to safaris, Africa has so much to offer the adventurous traveller.

Map of Africa - TravelNotes.org — Map of Africa – TravelNotes.org

Welcome to the world’s second-largest continent.

I don’t claim to have visited all the countries in Africa, nor half of them, but I have travelled through West Africa, the Southern portion of the continent, and parts of North Africa.

When you go into Africa, you have to decide what it is you want.

Overland tours are a great way to see some of Africa’s diversity. You’ll see a lot more of the land travelling across it; although not everyone has the time to travel from Cairo to Cape Town, by bicycle.

For holiday-makers, a two week break in Kenya, blends beautiful beaches with loaded game parks – as the tourist brochures would have it.

There is snow on the peak of Kilimanjaro, and minerals in the ground; bulging rivers and enormous deserts; wealth and poverty.

Some of the tribes are picturesque and famous, while others survive in the bush and would rather be left alone with their spirits, than be clothed by commercialism.

This is the First, not the Third World; and mystic writers cover the traditional peoples well enough for the reader to fantasize about their lives.

Then there are the countries ruled by the largest tribe. Rife with corruption they provide ridiculous wealth to a few close relatives, and poverty for the masses.

This is the real Africa, and to come away from here leaves one asking questions about change. The soul-searching is hard, the questions complex, and helpful solutions harder still.

Life in much of Africa is on the streets, everything is bought and sold in the markets. The clothes on the women are light and colourful, and music from the heart of Africa beats deep in all souls.

If you’re on a guided tour in Africa, your chances of encountering problems are minimal. Tour operators make it their business to know the areas they travel to, so you are never at any undue risk.

Africa Travel Tips:
If you’re travelling alone in Africa, be sure to keep up-to-date with local news; so that you’re fully aware of potential hot spots.