Travel Location: Cape-Town,South-Africa

Travel About: food-&-wine,nightlife,music

A wintery evening with snow on the mountains and drizzle in the air, but six Meridians were cosy at Alma Café in Rosebank among good company with good food and great live music.

Having heard about this place from neighbours I booked this as a trial evening, and from comments received, it will not be the last time.

Live music, good food, take your own booze – what could be better.

On booking, the owner’s Richard and Retha Tait asked us to take our own booze and glasses – what a pleasure – and after a couple of reminders, everyone remembered. “They’ve been struggling to realise their dream of a cafe cum breakfast cum music venue for some time, and so a few of us have jumped in to help and things seem to be coming together now,” said Gill Lanham, who describes herself as living across the road.

“It’s such a special place and, during the day, visitors from the humblest labourer to Andre Brink frequent the place. I volunteered to help for a month but I love it so much that I think I’ll stay two-hours each morning and carry on with dish-washing on Sundays,” said Gill.

While nibbling on chips and catching up, we were asked for our preference in food – we were fifty fifty, veggies and carnivores.

Richard and his son Jonathan sang the opening set with sixties hits from writers like Neil Young; Crosby, Stills Nash and Young – and Monty Python!

The cosy café seats about 26 diners but we noticed that two or three people popped in for music only. Sash windows and sections of bare brickwork and cupboards burdened by old tins, jars and mementos – something unusual wherever the eye leads.

Time for food. For the vegetarians it was a filling stuffed butternut with salad, while the carnivores tucked into bobotie. Everyone enjoyed their food, evidenced by empty plates.

Retha does a lot of the cooking, and all the baking, and is the typical “earth mother” type – an ex social worker. Richard is the typical mad musician – given to profanity laden outbursts……and either loved or loathed by the locals.

Time for the main act, Julia Conradie, 25, with her easy stage manner and worldly lyrics, showing talent that has tremendous potential to break through the barriers of acceptance.

Starting with a song by Alanis Morisette, she went on to sing original works in her deep voice in both languages. “If you can understand, it can touch your soul. It’s very powerful stuff,” said Be. This was echoed in Julia’s words: “If you can’t find peace within yourself, you can’t be with someone else.”

This bi-lingual singer-songwriter is disarmingly honest and has no problem exposing herself in a range of songs that astound in their individuality, from melancholy to playful. “Most of my songs are about breaking up, rather than love songs,” she laughed, while another song started out loving someone before turning to hate.

What a pleasure to savour the chord structures, from of a song written from a poem penned by her brother (who was in the audience), to Running, a smiling understanding of running away from love – a song she wrote in ten minutes.

The audience enjoyed singing along to one or two songs that they knew and then it was time for a second break, this time for desert. While some enjoyed coffee, including Irish, others indulged in a warm ginger pudding with custard or in the most delicious lemon meringue.

Captivating the audience it was no wonder that we were disappointed when Julia ended her set.

But next time we book we will ask for a table away from the bar. While people were asked to switch off cell phones, smoker’s weren’t asked to wait for the intervals, and the door doesn’t close very well.

Related Travel Entry

• Going Home…
  It's my last night in the township, but I don't think that it has hit me yet. It is nice that I have time to myself without any of the other volunteers here. I am just beginning to realize that I hav...
• Cape Town Cat-Ass-Trophy
  When I first arrived in Cape Town I was purring ecstatically because it was so warm! Meeow do I love the warm. I first stayed in Simons Town which is an old naval town, very quaint, lovely little sho...
• Here Goes !!!!
  We arrived in Cape Town and the heat hit us, the weather is lovely, 1st stop at the Ritz hotel, not bad. Nice room, lovely pool area, great food, fab revolving restaurant & friendly staff, What m...
• "43 P, Please!"
  After I wrote my last entry, I met up with Carl (from New York City) and we headed to the International Students reception at Falmer Bar in Falmer House. Free drinks and food were served! My kind of ...
• Seattle
  Finally made it...Now then, if you're an avid fan of this travel blog, you'll notice that I seem to have taken a crazy route from Victoria to Seattle. This is not the case. I am not crazy. It is mere...

Travel Location: Paris,France

Travel About: architecture,big-city,nightlife,road-trip

7:15 Comenzamos el segundo día con ganas y nos pegamos el madrugón para no perder ni un rayo de sol. Desafortunadamente, lo que nos encontramos tras desayunar y salir a la calle es que está volviendo a llover intensamente. A las 8:15 ya estamos en carretera, y durante las dos primeras horas el chaparrón es constante.

Dejamos atrás ciudades como Angoulême, Poitiers (y su Futuroscope, que descartamos visitar), Tours (aquí perdimos mucho tiempo en encontrar la entrada a la autovía) y Orléans; fue en ésta última donde paramos a comer unos sandwiches de la “caja de la comida”, sobre las 13:15. En estos momentos hemos dejado atrás los nubarrones y disfrutamos de un tiempo agradable.

Tras esto tomó el volante Puro para llegar a Versalles casi dos horas después. Pese a que era temporada baja, la villa presentaba una invasión total de autobuses de turistas, sin duda atraídos por el mayor interés del lugar: visitar el Palacio de Versalles, fantasía hecha realidad por el afán de ostentación de Luis XIV y sus benditos sucesores…

Para empezar, tardamos media hora en aparcar. Luego tocó sacarse los tíckets (13,5 € por cabeza), que pagamos con sumo entusiasmo. El último trámite fue coger los cascos de la visita guiada (incluidos en el precio, claro).

Resuelto lo anterior, pudimos comenzar a pasearnos por los interminables pasillos y desmesurados salones del Palacio. El lugar es impresionante, difícilmente se puede imaginar algo más gigantesco, recargado y opulento. Dimos vueltas y vueltas pero aquello parecía no tener fin (de hecho, son 50.000 metros cuadrados de Palacio abiertos al público).

Las 800 hectáreas de jardines también tienen su miga (se alquilan cochecitos para recorrerlas…), y tan sólo echamos un vistazo general.

Como aspecto negativo de la visita, resaltaré la EXCESIVA presencia de turistas, especialmente orientales, a los que Puro empezó a coger cariño.

Nos fuimos de allí bastante cansados, la kilometrada matutina pasaba factura (600 km), y es que fue una de las mayores del viaje. Pero aún quedaba entrar en París y buscar el albergue. Puro me volvió a ceder el volante y nos metimos en la maraña de tráfico. A trancas y barrancas, entramos hasta el barrio de Clichy sin sufrir percances, pero cometiendo alguna que otra tropelía circulatoria.

Eran las 18:30 y ya estábamos en el albergue, con una habitación entera para nosotros. Subimos hasta el 6º piso cargando con las maletas por las escaleras (ascensor en reparación justo cuando llegábamos). Nos duchamos y salimos a cenar algo sencillo: McDonald’s.

Unas cervecitas en la terraza de un bar parisino sirvieron de relajado colofón a un día bastante duro. Ya en la habitación, aprovechamos para distraernos viendo unos capítulos de “Joey” en el portátil de Bur (que era lo único que había).

Con la iluminación de la Torre Eiffel entrando por la ventana, nos acostamos sobre las 23:15.

Distancia recorrida: 640 km

Gastos: 70 € (Gasolina, Peajes, Visita Versalles, Parking, Albergue, Cena, Cerveza)

Related Travel Entry

• Afternoon in Paris
  Well, I am back. I have been having the worse time getting caught up. I know it isn't jet lag. I think it is just being old. No, not me!Ok, luckily, my memory isn't gone yet.We took our final picture ...
• Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s (again), Soho, Camden Town Market, Warwick Castle, Stratford…and maybe a Good Frolic.
  Well, friends, about a week or so has passed since I’ve last managed to write on this blog. The main mental block about doing so comes down to one thing: the internet. My connection here is slow, if p...
• Canberra
  Canberra... think perfection, think blue skies, perfect clouds, tree lined streets, sunshine, kept parks, streamlined houses, roads that travel on perfect angles from each other, think smiling people,...
• Day 13: Norte Dame and The City of Paris
  Visit a French perfume house and then take the opportunity to visit some of the most celebrated icons of Europe. The Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Nôtre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées all await...
• Manchester United
  Well, we have officially completed our first travel adventure outside of London, one of many more to come no doubt. Ange somehow managed to round up a pair of tickets to the Manchester United v Blackb...

Travel Location: Arthur’s-Pass,New-Zealand

Travel About: natural-wonder,nightlife,train

Greymouth – Christchurch via Arthur’s Pass

We bought a 7 day rail pass so we could journey back to Auckland via some world famous train lines. We first caught a train to Greymouth where we had lunch before backing our tracks back to Arthur’s Pass National Park. It was meant to be one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world. We started off going over the canterbury plains , which is made up of the sediment that has been carried by the glaciers from the Southern Alps and then dumped. Then we slowly climbed up to the mountains, passing spectacular views of gorges, rivers, forests and the mountains themselves.

We got off at Arthur’s Pass where we went on a few short walks. We were lucky to see the mountains as the previous few days had been rainy and cloudy (apparently we had colder and wetter weather than the UK!!). We went on a walk up one of the sides of a mountain where we had great views of the valley north of Arthur’s Pass. We then climbed a lot of stairs to reach Devil’s Punchball Waterfall before catching the train back to Christchurch.

Christchurch – Kaikoura

The next day we caught the train to Kaikoura, where we got stunning views of the coast line on one side and the mountains on the other. The train goes along some stretches that are inaccessible by car. We also passed salt plains, which were an impressive pink colour.

Kaikoura is the place to go whale watching…but decided not to bother, as we had both been before! We really enjoyed pottering about the town… we went shopping…we found an amazing cafe which baked very yummy cakes….and had a very nice glass of wine with an interesting french lady we had met previously in Arthur’s Pass.

Kaikoura – Wellington

We caught the train up to Picton before catching the ferry to Wellington, where Tony very kindly came to pick us up from the station (check out all the stuff we were carrying!! Thank you Tony) Although in return for the lift we had to shift all this smelly garden waste to a skip outside the house…well we volunteered and it was quite good fun throwing it over the fence into the skip!

We loved Wellinton and staying at Tony and Megan’s so much we extended the one night we were going to stay, to three! We spent our time visiting our favourite cafe’s, visiting Freak Street(as Tony calls it) aka Cuba Street to the rest of Wellington. On Cuba Street we saw the bucket fountain and even avoided getting drenched by it. We also had a night out and even went for a boogie…yipee!! It was good fun and we sort of went for a dance crawl (instead of a pub crawl) as we visited about 5/6 bars and clubs, and had a dance in each! Tony you should put on your dancing shoes more often! We once again had a brilliant time in the capital and were very sad to leave…Thank you Tony and Megan for making us feel so welcome.

Related Travel Entry

• Bay of Islands/Auckland/Rotorua
  Right...lets bring things up to date a bit.The family from Yorkshire very kindly offered me a lift back to Auckland so I could get the bus down from there to Rotorua-a backpackers haven of a geotherma...
• A visit to Dargaville, Baylys Beach, Kai Iwi Lakes & the Waipoua Kauri Forest
  We had a fun weekend up around Dargaville, a town on the west coast of Northland. We stayed at the Kaihu Farm Hostel which Avani loved. There were lots of animals there that she liked, including cows...
• Bolivia: Crappy Busses, Endless Salt, & Backpack Thieves
  Greetings from the great continent of South America and the not so great country of Bolivia!!! We have had quite an adventure since I talked to you all last. I believe my last entry was typed in Coru...
• South Island Road Trip
  As some of you already know, I spent the last 2 weeks on a road trip in the South Island. The whole trip, while exhausting, was a total blast and absolutely chalked full of incredible scenery. Here's...
• Milford Track
  It’s been labeled the finest walk in the world – and after completing our five day, 33.5 mile journey, we just might agree.The Milford Track is just one of the many Great Walks here in New Zealand an...

Travel Location: Ljubljana,Slovenia

Travel About: architecture,art-&-museum,nightlife

We spent two nights in Ljubljana (lube-lee-ahna), and it quickly became one of my favorite cities in all Eastern Europe. It is a beautiful capital city, compact (260,000 people), and soaking in the arts. There is wonderful art everywhere, from the omnipresent graffiti to little galleries and open air exhibitions.

The hostel we stayed at was an art exhibit by itself. It was a converted prison, and we stayed in a former cell. The hostel, Celica, commissioned famous Slovenian artists to come and redecorate each cell (about 30) in the prison in their own unique styles.

Possibly the finest Eastern European capital city

Ours was a simple, yet beautiful cell with a bunk reachable by a ladder and small abstract art around the cell. There was an actual art gallery in the lobby with daily performances, such as theatre, music, etc.

Next door to the hostel is an area called Metelkova, which is basically Ljubljana’s answer to Copenhagen’s Christiania. Squatters took over an abandoned military barracks and turned it into a stunning complex of bars, clubs, art, and hippie stylings.

The government has not done anything about the complex yet, so currently these young, kind of crazy people live for free and hang out all day, drinking, performing, drinking, performing, etc. The second night we went out to several of the bars, each of which was bizarre, yet comfortable.

One bar had a crazy guy singing crazy songs in english with a video presentation behind him; the seating area next to the stage consisted of about twenty five car seats, pulled from used cars (very comfortable). Another club was blasting Rage Against the Machine in a large warehouse type building with upside down umbrellas lined with christmas lights.

Outside in the “quad” each building had strange, but cool video displays, outstanding graffiti, and skeleton dummies. A unique way to spend the night – and the beer was dirt cheap.

The main core of the city has some excellent architecture, sort of a mini-Vienna type center. There are countless outdoor cafes and many amazing desserts.

There was a theatre festival going on, and the jazz festival was just starting (missed Medeski, Martin and Wood / John Scofield / Jack DeJohnette by a day!). The city is crowned by its castle which, as usual, is slightly underwhelming but provides fantastic views of the city.

Later on I will do a separate entry for Ljubljana’s incredible graffiti, as I have tons of pictures of their unique stampings and tags.

A truly wonderful place, one of the finest capitals I have set foot in.

Related Travel Entry

• Canberra
  Canberra... think perfection, think blue skies, perfect clouds, tree lined streets, sunshine, kept parks, streamlined houses, roads that travel on perfect angles from each other, think smiling people,...
• C’mon England!
  After our morning Eurostar fiasco, we arrived in London: the land of the football (soccer) crazed fans, C’mon England! I became an England fan in 2002 during my first trip to Europe and we were in Lon...
• Ahh!! Vera Venezia!!
  By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was start...
• Canals are really cool
  It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train att...
• Día 2: Burdeos
  7:15 Comenzamos el segundo día con ganas y nos pegamos el madrugón para no perder ni un rayo de sol. Desafortunadamente, lo que nos encontramos tras desayunar y salir a la calle es que está volviendo...

Travel Location: Ko-Phangan,Thailand

Travel About: beach,island,nightlife

Following a gruelling 14hr journey from Phi Phi by ferry to Krabi, minibus to Surat Thani and another much delayed ferry, we have finally arrived in Koh Phan Ngan ahead of the masses to secure accom prior to the Full Moon Party on 6th December. To be honest we’re not entirely sure its a full moon on the 6th but the Kings 80th Birthday is on the 5th (public holiday) so most places will be closed particularly bars and such – hence it may well have been pushed back a day.

Frankly it won’t matter in the slightest because over the next few days 30,000 revellers will be descending on the island for the party on Haadrin beach. Of course since we’ve arrived early we had to get warmed up so last night we hit the beach to get a taste of what’s to come…

We hit the beach a lil early around 7pm and had a great Danish dinner at the Drop in Bar and then as you do, ran in to many of the fellow travellers we have met right across the country to date. With the Mellow Mountain looming at the far end of the beach we set off to check it out! Several Happy Shakes later with a great floating feelin we swanned back to the party which was now banging out hardcore trance and techno at various venues…each vying to outdo their neighbouring bar.

The key here is to pace yourself and drink plenty of Buckets (ultra strength Redbull being the key ingredient) and mingle from one bar to the next until you’re totally wasted and then drink thru it until 7am the following morning. The Beach is pretty nice until you realise everyone is relieving themselves in the sea or trying to get laid!

Fortunately i have pictures coz i dont remember a lot…god knows what the actual Full Moon party will be like – will probably have to take a waterproof disposable in case i end up in the sea, which tends to happen to me on pretty much every beach party to-date.

On the night of the Full Moon Party there was a real struggle to find a bus that didn’t have 50 tourists on the roof and when we eventually found one…we had to push it up the hills or walk to the top and wait for it to catch us up!

The party raged on from like 7pm to 12noon the following day (after parties and Silver Moon Party aside). We had envisioned staying on the beach all of the following day but as the tide came in it brought with it all the rubbish from the last 17hrs – hence we were ankle deep in scum and feelin shattered headed for home with our many new found friends….if you need specifics you’ll have to ask me in person!

On our way back to Bangkok we stopped off at Ko Tao but just for the day to see what all the fuss was about. Its considerably smaller than Koh Phan Ngan but the water is certainly no better and a farcry from the likes of those on the Andaman Coast. We tried to arrange it so that we took a night bus but we arrived in Bangkok at 2am so had to book into a hotel for our final night before flying to India!

Hopefully India will prove to be as fruitful as the last 5 weeks

Related Travel Entry

• surrounded by speedos
  So we left Bangkok on Thursday and we couldn't get out of there fast enough. One night was definetely enough with being bombarded by tuk tuk drivers who didn't speak any english and just wanted to ta...
• Perth to Darwin
  Hi Everyone,Hope you are all well at home, well I made it to sunny Oz in one peace thankfully! Landed in Perth, and had 6 nights there. The hostel was really nice, but have to get used to this hostel...
• Sitting in A Bungalow, Eating Pancakes in the Pouring Rain
  Day 4Our mutual decision was that the time had come to leave Phuket to find something a little quieter than this bustling tourist hub. It was unbelievably hot, so we took a Tuk Tuk to the bus terminal...
• Gili Islands, Lombok
  Ok, the Gili Islands better live up to their reputation. We've just arrived by boat and what a journey it was. Hell and nerve raising. I can honestly say I've never been on a boat, which normally fits...
• The ‘Real’ Fiji
  We decided to spend our first week touring Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, with the Feejee Experience (sister company to the good old Kiwi Experience). Aboard the familiar green bus we set about getti...

Travel Location: Killybegs,Ireland

Travel About: nightlife,road-trip

A sunny morning dawns on the day of Robin’s 29th Birthday! We spent most of the day driving through 6 counties (at least a part of them) – Donegal, Leitrum, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare. It was a long day of driving but we saw lots of countryside and ended up in the delightful town of Ennis. We went out for a good B-day meal and then made our way to Brogan’s Pub for some live traditional Irish music.

A sunny morning dawns on the day of Robin’s 29th Birthday!

Related Travel Entry

• Día 2: Burdeos
  7:15 Comenzamos el segundo día con ganas y nos pegamos el madrugón para no perder ni un rayo de sol. Desafortunadamente, lo que nos encontramos tras desayunar y salir a la calle es que está volviendo...
• St Louis to Oklahoma City
  Spending the night in the Blues bar showed the next morning when Chris pulled out into a four line highway heading into the oncoming traffic. Sensibly, I did not follow him, only to turn around and fi...
• Cliffs of Moher
  Departing Kilkenny at 9.30, I hit off for the Atlantic coast (some 120 miles away), passing by the Rock of Cashel en route. The Rock of Cashel (Co. Tipperary), with its well preserved ecclesiastical ...
• Live music at Alma Cafe, Rosebank
  A wintery evening with snow on the mountains and drizzle in the air, but six Meridians were cosy at Alma Café in Rosebank among good company with good food and great live music.Having heard ab...
• Train Journeys
  Greymouth - Christchurch via Arthur's PassWe bought a 7 day rail pass so we could journey back to Auckland via some world famous train lines. We first caught a train to Greymouth where we had lunch b...

Travel Location: Brighton,United-Kingdom

Travel About: food-&-wine,big-city,nightlife,tour

After I wrote my last entry, I met up with Carl (from New York City) and we headed to the International Students reception at Falmer Bar in Falmer House. Free drinks and food were served! My kind of night. I hadn’t eaten much all day so the drinks went to my head REALLY fast. Drinking is SUCH a social lubricant! I made some good friends that night–Carl, Greg, and two students from Wesleyan University. All of them live in Holland House except Greg. Supposedly, Holland House is THE place to be. Not to mention the fact that the floor I’m on is THE place to be within Holland House. The kitchen, which is right across from my room is the hang out place too, so I’m sure I’ll be spending many a night listening to laughing, talking, and music till all hours of the night. The English people on my floor are ridiculously nice–somehow, they all knew my name before I met them too. When I walk down the hall to my room, guys keep calling out my name and I’m like “umm…do I know you?” It’s a good time, though. I’ve met a guy named Kirk, who is a drama/film and video concentrator, a guy named Rich studying biochemistry, and a 27 year old first year named Dean. Also, I met someone named Ema last night. All of these people are British and extremely nice. It seems to be that British students are way nicer than many of the international students.

Anyways, after I left the reception, I went back to Holland House thinking that I would just go to bed since I was exhausted. However, everyone else had other plans for me. We ended up going out to the pubs that night. We walked around the lanes, which is a pedestrian cobble street area where a lot of pubs, restaurants, night clubs, shops and bars are located. We had such a huge group of people that me, Juliet (a 29 year old from USC), and Chris decided to break off and make our way around by ourselves. I’m so glad we did this because we found this great dive bar called The Victory where the atmosphere was great. The music was modern, the style of the pub was very English, and the bartenders were very cool. We decided that this was OUR bar. . However, once we hit up that bar we figured we’d go looking for the rest of the group, and we ended up finding them at a pub right around the corner from where we live called The Biscuit Factory. It was more so a bar than a pub in that it played loud, pumping music and it was big on mixed drinks rather than beer. However, it was a great place. On the way to the bars, though, we were stopped by this random, beat up woman asking Chris, “do you have 43 p, please?”. We weren’t sure if she was propositioning him or she just really needed that specific of an amount of money. I’ve noticed that in Brighton the women are rather white trash/slutty looking, and here they call these women “chavs” (sp?). Think Britney Spears, and you’ll see what I mean. I finished the night off at Holland House with some leftover KFC, a wonderful shower, and a few phone calls to home.

When I walk down the hall to my room, guys keep calling out my name and I’m like “umm…do I know you?”

Yesterday, I slept in FINALLY. I slept until about 1pm, after having gone to bed at 5am. Delightful! When I woke up, I rung up my Aunt Celia and Uncle Ray to find out if they wanted to get some lunch. We headed to George Street to a tavern where I got fish and chips (of course!). It was nice seeing them since I hadn’t gotten a chance to see them since I’ve arrived. After lunch, I sat around my room reading and putting away some more things. Then, Chris knocked on my door to see what I was up to since there was a scheduled dinner going on around 7pm for the international students. We headed out later on that evening to meet up with everyone and ended up at an AMAZING Thai restaurant. Really expensive, but honestly, the best Thai I’ve ever had. I had this amazing coconut rice and chicken stir fry meal that just blew my mind. Juliet and I shared it, so you’d think it would have been less expensive but for my half of the meal it came out to be TEN DOLLARS. Ridiculous! I won’t be splurging like that again. During dinner, though, I met another student named Ryan who lives in California, and he was a really down to earth, chill guy. It turns out he lives on my floor too like right down the hall from me. We all ended up going out to the bars later that night too. Ryan got sick, though, because he’s not used to this type of food all the time, so he ended up heading home after his first beer at The Biscuit Factory. So, Juliet, Chris, and I headed to the Farm Tavern where it was really packed, so then we decided to go the Victory bar again. It was a good time, and I found out a place to get pierced from the bartender, so that’s a good thing too. He was a cool guy (the bartender), he had his lip pierced too, so we had that in common. Plus, he’s British, so you can’t go wrong there! Ha!

After having a sufficiently amazing time, we headed back to Holland House where I hung out with some of the British students and international students in the kitchen on the third floor for a few minutes. I then realized how exhausted I was, so I went to my room, made myself a PB&J, ate some pretzels, called some people, and crashed around 1am.

I got to sleep in again today, since I had nothing until 2pm. At 1, Chris and I headed to campus to meet up with the Brighton/Hove coach tour that would be taking us around. The tour was GREAT. We were able to see gorgeous views of the South Downs (rolling green hills/countryside) as well as views of the Channel and the cliffs. Also, we travelled through an area known as Rottingdean where there are pubs that are 500 years old, and where Rudyard Kipling lived as well as a charming medieval church and a small, quaint village. I am DEFINITELY heading there very soon. I also plan to walk the South Downs on a nice day with a picnic with Chris and Juliet. The tour was nice because it gave you some great ideas for things to do that we might not have otherwise known. Also, we were shown where all the good night clubs are down by the beach underneath the streets as well was where NOT to go (such as West Street on a Friday or Saturday night). Our last stop on the tour was the Royal Pavilion where Queen Victoria lived for awhile as well as King George III and his family. The Royal Pavilion looks like the Taj Mahal in the middle of Brighton. It’s almost ridiculous looking because it is so ornately decorated and the architecture reflects that of Chinese and Indian inspirations. Fascinating! Because I’m so interested in history, I really enjoyed walking through the rooms and seeing all the beautiful furniture and decorations. The audio commentary really gave me a look into how the place was built, why it was built, and what it was like living there.

After taking the tour of the Royal Pavilion, Chris, Bryann (a girl from Sioux Falls), Jen (a girl from Seattle), Chris, Juliet, Greg, and I headed to the Lanes to see if we could find a good place to eat. We ran into some other people from Holland House as well as Leanne (the girl from Amsterdam) who said that they had found a good place to eat called Font. The place had a really great atmosphere–it had couches to sit on, a football game going on on a big screen TV, a bar, and two levels of seating. The prices were extremely reasonable too, and the food was delicious, but HEAVY. To walk off all the food, we all decided to walk our way to Brighton Pier and take in the carnival atmosphere and the Brighton scene. I have to say that I LOVE living so close to the channel because despite the cold wind, walking around the pier is beautiful and eerie at the same time.

Tonight will be pretty low key. Classes begin tomorrow, so I will not be going out even though Kirk asked me to go bowling. I also am planning on getting my laptop set up sometime tonight if Chris can get it working. I’ll write more soon! Safe travels, everyone!

Tips for nightlife in Brighton: Fridays and Saturdays are BAD for going out; Wednesdays at The HoneyBar/Club are excellent, Mondays are good at The Beach Club by the pier, and Thursdays are good at Font; Avoid West Street because it can get way too crowded and fights break out a lot. These are all tips from the bartender at Font who is originally from Whales but has lived here for years. Oh, and a good place to get pierced around here is called Punctured in the North Lanes.

Related Travel Entry

• Sophie’s Birthday
  Brighton is really cute! It's on a pebble beach and it's got a population of about half a million apparently. It feels quite happening. Lots of little alleys and the seafront is full of shops and bar...
• Seattle
  Finally made it...Now then, if you're an avid fan of this travel blog, you'll notice that I seem to have taken a crazy route from Victoria to Seattle. This is not the case. I am not crazy. It is mere...
• London
  Tuesday, 12/25/2007We’ve arrived! (London Heathrow airport, 1 pm, GMT)We met our good friend, Davin, and our soon-to-be good friend, Trent, at the London Heathrow airport.  From the airport, we t...
• London
  Friday, September 21st, 2007Good day ladies and gents!The Jewel Tower is a medieval tower (so cool, I know!!) built c. 1365 to house Edward III's treasures.It’s our third day in England and I’m alread...
• Our First Day
  Well, we've made it to London!  After a delay in the flight from L.A. to S.F., we made it on time to London in the morning.  We decided to save some money and take the tube into London, rath...

Travel Location: Seattle,United-States

Travel About: food-&-wine,big-city,hiking,nightlife,market

Finally made it…

Now then, if you’re an avid fan of this travel blog, you’ll notice that I seem to have taken a crazy route from Victoria to Seattle. This is not the case. I am not crazy. It is merely a technical hitch in this software, and I am assured that it is under investigation. So now you can sleep tight. If you’re really interested, the route was as follows:

Scenery and seafood

Ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, bus from Port Angeles to Sequim, bus from Sequim to Port Townsend, bus from Port Townsend to Poulsbo, bus from Poulsbo to Bainbridge Ferry Terminal, ferry from Bainbridge to Seattle. Yes we could have taken the Clipper, but that was way more exciting and super cheap – the buses came to a total of about $3.50 each, and the ferry only charged in one direction, assuming that everyone who takes it one way will automatically take it back. Luckily they charge westbound. Ha ha, look at us beating the system!

Anyways, I digress, I’m in Seattle remember. Anyways, got off the ferry, and onto another bus to our hotel. Yeah, turns out it’s a motel. Oh well, I’m sure it’ll be lovely. Yes, a smoking room will have to do. Nice. Dumped our bags and hopped quick smart back into town!

On first impressions, downtown Seattle is not that nice. Not that the city itself isn’t nice, it’s fine, but the streets are overrun with homeless people, and an awful lot of begging goes on. It’s quite a sorry sight.

We headed to the world famous Pike Place Market, but it was gone 5, so most places were shut. After a bit of a wander down the pier, Mike decided he was hungry, so it was off to Quiznos, where we sat playing scrabble for an hour (well you can’t play tourist all of the time!). After that, we took the free trolley through town and on to Chinatown.

The thing about some Americans is that it’s often difficult to tell if they’re nuts, or just really friendly. So if a woman walks up to you and asks you what you’re looking for, and you offer half an answer in order to sound polite, and you tell her that you were looking for somewhere to eat (I wasn’t hungry when we went to Quiznos). So she tells you that she knows loads of good places, and if we like she’ll take us. Now is she crazy, and is she gonna take us down a dark alley and do nasty things? Unlikely, it’s about 6.30 in the evening, in broad daylight on a fairly busy street. Or is she just trying to be really friendly, helping out two people who were clearly tourists? In the end we figured she was just being friendly, if a bit odd, but aired on the side of caution, taking her advice on a general direction of good restaurants, and then parting company.

As it turned out, we should have been much more afraid of our waitress. Found a nice little restaurant, and had some dumplings, a few beers, and a very pleasant long chat. Upon paying our bill, we asked the young lady who had served us to point us in the direction of a particular bar, Howl at the Moon. I had been to one (not realising it was a chain bar) in New Orleans, and had had a great night. We showed it to her on our little map of downtown. As far as we could see, it was only a couple of blocks away, but we weren’t 100% sure where the restaurant was located. But like I say, it turns out the waitress was nuts. Either that or she had only arrived in Seattle herself that day, or maybe had never seen a map before. After turning it upside down and the right way around again 4 times, she suddenly declared that it was very very far away. “Really? How long will it take us to walk there?” “30 mins. Maybe 20 if you walk very fast.” Seriously, it was only about 3 blocks away. We thanked the crazy lady and left.

In the end we just called into a dingy little bar on the way home. We got directions for the next day, and had a beer. There were little tickets in a dispenser behind the bar, and Mike’s curiosity got the better of him, and he bought 2. It turns out they were a lottery game, you just peel off a label and see what you get. We got nothing, which was highly disappointing, given the $1000 and $10,000 prizes that had been scratched off as already won. So I decided to give it one more go, and bought another 2. Mike peeled his off – nothing. Imagine my surprise and delight when, on peeling away the label, I found a winning strike through the symbols, just like the bartender had said I needed to win!! I won!! I had actually won on the lottery ticket!! I was rich!!

I won a dollar.

Oh well, I was still very happy with my win. Elated, we headed home.

Next morning, it was up and out early. Hold on now, I’ve not told you why yet. Ok, let’s go back a few days here, to the boats in Vancouver. Remember Clint? Not sure if I mentioned him actually. Well he was another friend of Mike’s from when he was travelling before. Clint’s from Seattle, and had said to Mike to get in touch when he got there. So Mike had done the day we got there, and we had arranged to go hiking. Clint had said we’d be out for an hour or so, so we figured we’d go early, then get back, shower, and go meet the other two (we hadn’t seen them in over 24 hours!!). So like I say, up and out early, and headed to East Point park and ride to meet him. “Hey guys, ready for a day on the mountains?” Oops, I guess Mike misheard the bit about the hour or so… So we picked up a sandwich in Starbucks, met Clint’s wife Sarah, and his friends Pat and Clara, and set off for Rattlesnake trail. It was a great morning, we hiked for about an hour (I guess that’s where they got their wires crossed) up to the top, and were treated to some fabulous views of the Seattle countryside. We spent a while chatting at the top and admiring the landscape, then headed back down. That’s when my legs knew all about the run I had done a couple of days previosly! Man it’s easy to get unfit quickly! We drove on a bit further to a beach, and had a bit of a picnic, which was nice. After that it was back to Clint’s for a few beers, then back to the Motel to meet Rick and Nicky.

We went for a teryaki down the road, then to a pretty dingy bar near our motel. Jumped on a bus downtown, and decided to go with Clint’s advice on the stamps. Basically you paid for a stamp which gave you free entry to a group of bars. We started off in some Rock stylee place, which was pretty empty, so we left and went to the next one, New Orleans, a blues bar (obviously). After that it was on to a more popular dancy place. We had noticed a lot of Redsox fans in town, and there were a group of them in the bar. Given that we were now hardcore fans (we were in Fenway Park, for goodness sake!) I thought I should keep us updated on how the season was going for us. So I got chatting to a group of them (turns out we lost). I was telling one of the guys about our tour of the ground, I swear, he nearly cried when I told him we had gotten field access. I guess we really did luck out that day. Next stop on our list of bars was a Heavy Metal spot, then on to (hurray!) Howl at the Moon. It was just as crazy as I remembered it. The barman was a bit of a loon. One of the lads got a round of shots in, and when I told him I was having Jeagar instead of Tequila, Travis our bartender told me mine was on him, and he did a shot with me! Anyways, we all had a good laugh, and Nicky and I ended up dancing on stage in front of the two grand pianos that are the Howl at the Moon signature. My god I bet we looked good.

Day 3 in Seattle, and it was time to pack up again. We checked out, left our bags in the motel, and headed downtown. We didn’t have a lot of time (we were up a bit late after quite a late night), so we went to Pike Place Market to have a look for these fish. Anyone who worked with me and saw the promotional videos they had on graddie training for – I don’t know what for actually, maybe having fun in the workplace? – will know what I’m talking about. It’s basically a fishmonger, but with a difference, with lots of audience participation and throwing of fish. To be honest we didn’t really see that much cause no one was really buying any fish, but it was nice to see after seeing it on the tele.

Rick decided that he couldn’t walk past all the cafes and restaurants selling clam chowder, so we arranged to meet him down by the pier, and headed off in search of The Crab Pot. It was a kind of novelty restaurant that Pat had told us about, where they pretty much chuck a load of seafood on a piece of waxpaper on your table, give you a wooden board and mallet, and let you at it. I wasn’t particularly happy about smashing up crabs, particularly as I had seen the poor blighters swimming around minutes earlier as I was being shown to my table, but I can assure you it was a much more pleasant seafood experience that the one in Boston!

Fed and watered, we didn’t have much time to do anything else, so after a quick trip to an internet cafe, we headed back to the motel to pick up our bags. Luckily the bus to the airport went from just down the street, so we headed up to catch it. We ended up bombing it down the street cause it was already sitting there, but when we got to the stop the bus woman didn’t open the doors, as it wasn’t due to leave for another 10 mins. So we sat around for a while, until she started up the engine. The silly mare was about to drive off, when we banged on the door. She didn’t look best pleased about that, and when we asked her if we could get on the bus, she none too politely informed us that it went from a stop about 3 miles down the road!! She was actually not going to let us on!! Eventually she did, but we just couldn’t get that smile out of her!! It turns out none of the other customers could either – she even tried to refuse a guy on the bus cause he was 2c short of a $3.50 bus fare. Dizzy bint.

Anyways it turns out I shouldn’t have slagged her off cause our flight to San Fran was delayed by 3 hours. Dammit!

Click here for the Seattle photos

Related Travel Entry

• "43 P, Please!"
  After I wrote my last entry, I met up with Carl (from New York City) and we headed to the International Students reception at Falmer Bar in Falmer House. Free drinks and food were served! My kind of ...
• High Tea at the Burj Al Arab
  My second day in Dubai was lots of fun. It started with another drive through Dubai. This time Ursh and I wanted to check out some of the souks (markets). The traffic here is terrible though, and it t...
• Yunnan Province
  Yunnan Province KUNMING (capital city of 4 million people)Yes we've arrived safely in China, and so far going very well. We left Hanoi last Friday morning, walked about 1km to the Vietnam Airlines bus...
• The American’s are coming, the American’s are coming!
  As you all know, thanksgiving was a little over a week ago and since I could not spend it with my biological family in Texas, Gen and I decided to cross the English Channel and spend Thanksgiving with...
• The Heydenrych’s hit The Big Apple
  Perhaps living in London has acclimatized Shawn and I to big city living because New York isn't quiet as big and busy as I remember it. Don't get me wrong - it's still a buzzing and bustling city but ...

Travel Location: Perth,Australia

Travel About: natural-wonder,wildlife-viewing,beach,island,nightlife,market

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all well at home, well I made it to sunny Oz in one peace thankfully! Landed in Perth, and had 6 nights there. The hostel was really nice, but have to get used to this hostel business, its like being back at uni, everyone writing their name on their food, and having their own self in the fridge, and eating cheap food – lovely. Anyway Perth was lovely, we probably had a bit too long there, as there is not too much to do.

Perth to Darwin

The best thing we did in Perth, was a trip to Rottness Island, which was great fun, but the ferry ride there was not! Anyway we got to the island and we hired some bikes and started riding round the island.It was great fun, sad I know but I loved and I looked such a geek on my bike, helmet, rucksack!!! After about 2 hours I was shattered, not as fit as I used to be, it killed my legs. Anyway the island was lovely, had loads of bays and deserted beaches that you could get to and the sea was so blue and clean, it was really good fun! Oh and they have these animals called Quokka’s and they are only found on the island, and they are actually giant rats!!! Yes that’s right and we saw loads, actually once we saw them they looked quite cute! But they did have massive rat tails, they were huge and not so cute. Oh and I saw a snake on the island, so much for all the people who said I wouldn’t see anything. IT was massive and I had a quick look and kept on riding!!!

Anyway after Perth we flew up to Darwin, which is definitely a lot different. The hostel was horrible, the kitchen was outside and was covered in flies, so we didn’t cook much in there!!! We spent 6 days here and wondered round the town, lots of good bars actually which was good fun. We went to the beach there which again was deserted but the sand was a funny colour and the sea was miles out. We also went to some night markets there, which were good fun, but if I’m honest a bit too hippy for me!!! Our last day in Darwin we went to Adelaide River on a boat to see the crocodiles. It was great fun, the crocodiles were lovely. I thought I was going to be jumping and screaming, but I wasn’t. The people were holding out giant pieces of meet for them and they were getting them to jump right out of the rives to get the meet, it was great we got so close to them!!! Then we went to Litchfield National park. Went to see lots of beautiful water falls, and you can just jump in and start swimming, that was a bit strange, as you obviously cant do that back home. I don’t like even going into the sea at the seaside. The water so clean you could even drink it!

So after Darwin we caught the train down to Alice Springs, where I am now. The train took 24 hours and was soooo slow, I’m sure I could have worked quicker. But it was good fun, even though it was a bit like a prison train, there was loads of rules you had to obey!!! And the workers thought they were doormen or something, they kept walking up and down shouting orders! And we got in trouble for bring our own beer on!!!! Anyway we are off to Ayres Rock tomorrow, for 2 nights, and I’m crapping myself, I have to sleep outside in a sleeping bag for 2 nights. They sell it to you as your sleeping under the stars it’s amazing – I was like where is my five star hotel!!! I’ll let you know how I get on and how many spiders crawl over my face, at a later date.

Hope you are all well back at home and as always any news or gossip you what to share is more than welcome,its nice to here what you are all doing!!!

Take care and miss everyone

Cara x

Related Travel Entry

• Bamburgh or Bust!
  Our last full day in Seahouses and the wather is not looking good. The boats can’t go out because of the wind and there are showers passing through. Still that doesn’t stop us heading for the beach – ...
• Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay, Vietnam
  It took a couple of hours on the Bay to reach Cat Ba, so we were sunning on the deck of the transfer boat (John says: Where very kindly the skipper brought me a cold beer!), until we could bear the he...
• Sitting in A Bungalow, Eating Pancakes in the Pouring Rain
  Day 4Our mutual decision was that the time had come to leave Phuket to find something a little quieter than this bustling tourist hub. It was unbelievably hot, so we took a Tuk Tuk to the bus terminal...
• The Gulf of Thailand…hit that party!
  Following a gruelling 14hr journey from Phi Phi by ferry to Krabi, minibus to Surat Thani and another much delayed ferry, we have finally arrived in Koh Phan Ngan ahead of the masses to secure accom ...
• Slow down and Sun Tan
  To escape the "hectic" life in Antigua, we went to Guatemala´s most laid-back location: Monterrico. This small beach town is located at the pacific coast quite close to Antigua and El Salvador. Peopl...

Travel Location: Vancouver,Canada

Travel About: cultural-immersion,big-city,nightlife

So the question is: “Is Vancouver really like Melbourne?”

Well at a first glance “Yes it is” the postcards pictures of the city at night, the nightlife, little suburbs, it almost has the same kind of vibe as Melbourne, the people are relaxed, slow paced which is very much like Melbourne. But when you look at it closer, and take out all of the above, it is not like Melbourne at all. I might be stating the obvious because it is infact 2 different places right. But I mean firstly they drive on the right hand side of the road. When I got picked up from the airport, I walked around to which I thought was the passenger seat and opened the door and my cousin’s husband was like “what are you doing? ” and I’m like “getting in!” Then I see a steering wheel and it’s like “ooohhhh I’m in Canada” The there are cars turning right when there is a red light camera. I thought my cousin’s husband was running the light but infact it is the road rule over here. Then there is like poeple crossing the streets and cars are stopping to give way because Pedestrians have right of way. Then there is that little toilet debate of why the toilets flush anti-clockwise. Then there are the super large lanes and the tipping in everything you do. God, I am not use to this then there is the pre tax prices, you go to maccas or the supermarket and they state the price pre tax so you have to work out the tax. Which just makes it more confusing. I think you can’t even work out a budget here. So there you go, is Vancouver really like Melbourne? Well you can make your own decision. I say apart from how the city looks and the pace of it, everything else is bloody different. People calling beanies as Toques, one dollar and loonie, two dollars as toonies and yep its colder alright. There fall is like our cold winter.

But check this out, fall here is so god damn beautiful, I think I’ve mentioned it so many times times that I seem like I’m having a full on orgy over it but I’m not okay.(I’ll put pics up when I can as this place doesn’t have a USB connection. )

Well anyway back to Vancouver, what I did the last 2 days was hired a tandem bike with Jenny and road around Stanley Park and the bay, it wasn’t bad, but it was cold. Then we went to Richmond city centre to do some shopping and just speaking to the shop assistants so I can check out what I can buy when I get over there in Calgary. Don’t know what to expect yet but I’ll see when I get there. Jenny is working in Banff for the winter season so I might go visit her sometime during my stay in Calgary, but it is so sad saying goodbye to people here and there. But that’s travelling for you, everyone has there own journey and hopefully during the journey you’ll cross paths again.

Also since staying at my Cousin’s house, it’s like staying at home, don’t have to cook but clean and don’t have to worry about groceries and that and a place to stay and a warm comfy bed so I’m still taking it all for granted as I’m not completely on my own yet. So I am not looking forward to going to Calgary as it will be completely on my own then. Cook, Clean, Wash, Work, and all over again. So it’s like doing the whole goodbye thing again. It’s quite sad.

Anway I’m heading to Calgary tomorrow, got 2 nights booked in a hostel then I get picked up and move into work accomodation. But anyhow, I am really missing everyone at home and I wish you all a fun Spring Carnival.

Related Travel Entry

• Back home
  I made it back to Vancouver. It's weird to be home all by myself after spending all the time in hostels .On my last (sleepless) bus trip, I was thinking about the question "what did you like most"? It...
• Día 2: Burdeos
  7:15 Comenzamos el segundo día con ganas y nos pegamos el madrugón para no perder ni un rayo de sol. Desafortunadamente, lo que nos encontramos tras desayunar y salir a la calle es que está volviendo...
• Through the eyes of a sick man
  My partner and I were in Caracas for the World Social Forum of 2006.Given the left wing press on Venezuela, particularly Chavez’s socialist allegiances, concern for the poor and stance against US oil...
• Finally here…
  After a very very long (whingy) plane ride, we arrived safely at Vancouver, (without Trumble killing Hannah!).Upon arrival to Canada, we were greeted by the very friendly face of long lost friend Amy...
• "43 P, Please!"
  After I wrote my last entry, I met up with Carl (from New York City) and we headed to the International Students reception at Falmer Bar in Falmer House. Free drinks and food were served! My kind of ...