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I am in Varna every other month. I have a villa some 20 minutes up the motorway. I feel safer in Varna than ever I could in the UK. I walk the streets at night and do so quite happily. I have never been hassled by a Bulgarian. After spending half my life in Egypt where hassle is the order of the day, I walked out of my hotel on my first morning in Bulgaria and couldn't believe it. I was totally ignored by everybody, including the local street dog. Bulgarians are polite, courteous and let you do your thing, but if you need any help they will go out of their way to help you.
Money changing is against the law in Bulgaria. When approached by a street money changer, just say, "No thank you". They won't hassle you, because they don't want to draw attention to themselves. I have not heard of changers snatching money and running off. What they would do is give you out-of-date Bulgarian or Russian money that is worthless or count out 10 notes into your hand in full view. It is only later that you find you only got six notes.
Change your money in the city centre, where you get a much better rate than at a seaside resort. And lastly, don't change your money in the UK, especially at the airport where the exchange rate is really bad, for you. I love Bulgaria, I love Varna, and I love its people. They are like the British used to be. Courteous, well-mannered, polite and a credit to their country.
Get the NYC DOT bicycle map (download or free at bike shops). Also note DOT has information on bridge closings. Sometimes if a bridge is closed they have a free van service. Stick to the paths on the map, watch out for pedestrians, and car doors. Good luck.
www.bikeforums.net is a good source of info. See info on avoiding bike theft. Hint: get a strong U lock and take the seat post with you.
Consider buying a folding bicycle in NYC and returning with it. bfold.com, nycewheels.com and others have folding bikes. Strida would be a good bicycle for touring NYC. Dahon make very nice general purpose folding bikes. Folding bikes can usually be brought on the subway and trains. A bit iffy on crowded buses.
I often visit Paris to see friends and family etc. Whenever I do so, I try to book all museum, travel and activities tickets in advance simply because I absolutely hate queueing.
In the last couple of years I've been using this online service called Allo-france, who sell everything from metro tickets to popular show tickets (lido de paris, moulin rouge, etc).
They're quite a small company which means they are very efficient at what they do and I have had excellent feedback from them.
I really recommend to anyone who is planning on going to Paris to at least buy their metro tickets in advance as they will struggle with the French metro ticket system when they get there. One of my favourites is also the Paris museum pass which gives you access to all museums across the city. Great for managing your time.
Vietnam Airlines, the state-owned airline, is the major carrier in Vietnam for domestic flights. A second domestic airline, Pacific Airlines, which is owned by Vietnam Airlines, also offers flights between Hanoi, HCMC and Danang.
Fares for domestic flights are fixed and determined by distance, although there are some discount fares for advance purchase (with restrictions), late night flights, and student and senior fares. Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines both offer similar levels of quality and safety, with Pacific Airlines offering slightly cheaper fares.
Neither Vietnam Airlines nor Pacific Airlines currently offer e-ticketing or online booking, although Vietnam Airlines has announced plans to start e-ticketing in early 2007.
A few tips for booking internal flights - book flights only once you are in Vietnam for cheaper prices, book online with Vietnam Airlines website, or their agents for savings.
Useful websites:
www.vietnamairlines.com.vn
www.guidevietnam.com/flight/vietnam-airlines/vietnam-domestic-flights.html
www.smiletravelvietnam.com/travelvietnam/vietnam-airlines.aspx
Just a tip about buying a ticket and recognising the train. This site is ace for planning times reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e.
Worth writing down the journey details and the Romanian for 'first-class ticket' and handing it over - no English spoken at the train station when I was there. But the Lonely Planet guide came to the rescue.
Once you have found the platform watch out. The noticeboard flagged two separate trains - one to Targa Mures and one to Bucharest. The Bucharest train stops at Sighisoara.
But the trains appear to arrive joined as one - late. So it can be confusing.
What seems to happen is that the first-class carriage is always carriage three.
If you are on the same train as me be prepared for 50 year-old rolling stock in first class.
The scenery is fantastic. Ranging from the awesome pollution of Copsa Mica to shepherds and their flocks.
Str. Garii 1-3
If you have problems with walking and mobility, avoid the big Metro interchanges as the distances between lignes can be vast - ie Chatelet, Republic etc. You can often change at a stop a bit further down. For wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs, the Metro remains almost completely inaccessible.
Paris taxi drivers seem to have a problem with carrying more than three people. We were surcharged for a family of three adults and one child with various excuses given, including an additional charge for luggage! Use the Metro whenever possible, and buy a carnet of 10 tickets for both adults and children (1/2 price).
If you are taking a short break to Paris and need to use the car to get to London (sadly we had to), Eurostar use NCP for the St Pancras station car park and this means a minimum £25.00 per day which can dampen the holiday spirit.
We used Lomax car park in Camden Town (15 minutes' walk) - very helpful staff, they will drive you to the station and pick you up on your return and, best of all, it's about £50 for four days.
Depending on where you have to travel to in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, then the time through AUH into town, or to "new" Dubai is much quicker than travelling to DXB airport. The time taken from touchdown to exiting the airport is much quicker.
Abu Dhabi International Airport, opposite Al Raha Beach (which happens to have a fine hotel, the AL Raha Beach Hotel)
Wetsuits for kids in Devon and Cornwall are cheap, they don't need top of the range (usually £35), just get the cheap ones (probably £10 or less). They give them sun protection, keep them warm if they are in and out of the water all day and give a bit of added buoyancy when they are learning to swim.
Get the ones with short arms and legs, you get more use out of them when they are growing fast, but remember to sun cream the lower arms and legs, or do like my kids do and wear a long UV sun suit underneath. Watch out if it's hot, especially if the kids are not going in the water much as they can get very hot with the black neoprene absorbing the heat.
They were the best things we ever bought, my daughter learned to swim in the sea when she was 4 in hers as she felt so confident.
You can buy them in surf shops (expensive), but also in most beach kiosks, bucket and spade shops in town and also in some supermarkets in beach towns. The ones from Decathlon in France are really good, and only 10 Euros.
Buenos Aires is one of the most remarkable places I have ever been. It's clean, classy, safe, and dirt cheap. The leather bags are at least 400 pounds cheaper than what you would buy on the high street.
Also they have miles and miles of shops on Florida and Avenida Santa Fe where you can buy anything for one third of the price in the US or UK.
We stayed at the art hotel in Recoleta which was a boutique hotel with contemporary art in the foyer, free internet access, great rooms and wet room bathrooms.
Beware the fake taxis in Buenos Aires. Because we'd been there for four days we realised that if they don't have a proper meter in the right hand corner and photographic id on the back of the driver's seat then don't get in. We used a taxi which charged us three times the price of a journey from the airport. We refused to pay and threatened to call the Policia!
If this happens to you get to your hotel and ask the concierge to translate... avoid at all costs.
Otherwise, BA is one of the safest cities in the world and the people are very nice. Palermo is great and so is Recoleta. Avoid San Telmo if you have to. Use taxis rather than buses as they are very cheap and the metro is great for getting around centrally. In taxis from the Newbery internal airport it should cost you no more than $14 and to the international around $50.
Try and go to the best steak restaurant in the Palermo area called La Cabrera, it's economical but BOOK AHEAD as it gets very busy.
Various.. please email me if you want any tips neillhenderson@hotmail.com(no spam)
Stay at the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion if you like quaintness and history, stay at the g Hotel if you prefer hip and contemporary lodging.
Also, tour the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, eat at the Gurney Drive food stalls and sample everything.
Don't try to take out illegal CDs or DVDs. Read The Star. Visit Kek Lok Si temple. Take the cable car, but arrive early: the lines are awful. Walk the canopy walk. Buy a Makansutra food guide. Indulge in a MacWaffle at Red Garden.
Trip report, with photos, at www.travelmusings.net
Trip report, with photos, at www.travelmusings.net
Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion:
www.cheongfatttzemansion.com/
g Hotel: www.ghotel.com.my/
Makansutra: www.makansutra.com/index.php
Travelmusings: www.travelmusings.net
If you are in a wheelchair visiting Sydney, getting into town is a breeze by using the subway from the airport to the centre of town.
Once downtown, buy a day or weekly pass. The rails are wheelchair friendly as are the Sydney Ferries. Using the ferries is a great way to explore the harbour and the city by getting off a various points. Some docks, like Neutral Bay, lead to steep hills up, so you may need to ask for a push, but if you smile, the Aussies will always help!
My recommendation is a visit to Manly.
North America's Disabled Adventurer.
www.bluechairbook.com
Very disorganised, catered chalets. Poor food, phone bills and internet disconnected for 1/3 of the season, heating and hot water not available twice throughout season with no alternative offered.
Not ATOL or ABTA registered (be warned).
I am a 28-year-old female who has been forced to live in somewhere worse than a male university digs (and that's truly saying something! When doing a season, go self-catered (as Nielsons, Crystals, Thomson unfortunately do not do seasonal accommodation).
I went to Marrakech for a girls' holiday last weekend, for four days and it was terrible. I had been before with my husband and really enjoyed it, but this time the annoying experiences outweighed the good ones. We were harassed to the point of being sworn at in Djemaa el Fna’s souks, especially the shops near to the square. We had a good idea of how to bargain; they quote a price, you quarter it, and the haggling begins. This was possible in the souks further inside, but the shopkeepers nearer the square were so hot tempered and arrogant that we couldn't be bothered to explore half the time.
Also, at the weekends, medicine is impossible to find. I fell ill and every pharmacy I walked past was closed. When I asked the hotel where I could find one that was open, they directed me to a pharmacist (a short walk away) and told me to read the sign showing which pharmacies were open. But not knowing French made it impossible to decipher this list. I walked 20 minutes in one direction with a hotel bellboy (who I requested to come with), only to find the pharmacy had closed down. And shops and supermarkets sell everything from TVs to nappies, but no aspirin or paracetamol! Our hotel was useless in this situation and showed no sympathy or support.
On our last night one of my friends was robbed as we were waiting for a taxi. Two young boys came up to her and with a knife while she was holding her camera, she gave it immediately. We tried to call for help but we didn't know who to trust. After making our way back to the hotel, the receptionist couldn't even call the police and ask them to come to the hotel to take a report (for insurance). Instead we were advised to get a taxi to the police station (bear in mind we didn't want to go back out because we all felt angry and upset). Having spent an hour in the police station we couldn’t wait to get back to London. We know robberies take place everywhere but the lack of support, care and sympathy in Marrakech was outrageous!
This is a website that contains all the information you need for visiting Moldova. All written by an Englishman living in Moldova.
The last time I flew to Venice, an air hostess announced 'For those of you on the right-hand side of the plane you will shortly have a wonderful view of Venice in the sunset. For those of you on the left, you really should have sat on the right!'
If you are planning to spend time in Sharm el-Sheikh and will not be going anywhere other than the Aqaba coast or St. Catherine's monastery, you do not need an Egyptian visa for which you will spend a lot of time standing in line for to change money to buy it and then to get the actual visa.
Just go directly to passport control. I've been here a couple of times and I've seen everyone paying for these visas, when they have no intention to either leave the resort or the Aqaba coast. The Egyptians are very happy to let entire planeloads of tourists pay for a visa they will not need.
The city centre is currently a maze of closed or temporary roads (sometimes even closed to pedestrians) while a large new shopping and residential centre is being developed.
Albert Dock is very difficult to reach at the present and the new main bus station is virtually out of use because most of the buses and passengers can't get there. You won't be seeing the river from the Pier Head because it is closed off for construction of a canal right in front of the landmark riverfront buildings, which also means that they cannot be seen in their proper perspective.
It's a shame but I'm posting this warning because too many people are raising false expectations of the 'experience' to be had wandering the city and to disappoint visitors' expectations is not clever.
Why not get friendly on your trip by learning a few key Swahili words!
I visited prisons in Kenya in 2005 and addressed the prisoners there in regards to their human rights and court cases.
To cut the tension (which one will need in this current political climate) start your introduction with 'mambo vipi'! The prisoners loved it because they thought it was funny coming from a Mizungo (white man). Basically, it means 'whats up?', but it worked everytime and had them rolling on the ground!
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