Daytripping

I’ve just booked myself a day trip to Glasgow in June. Not the sanest of ideas when I live in the far South West of England. But with the combination of Easyjet having a sale and the ability to spend Nectar points on flights I grabbed some tickets for the princely sum of £13! Amusingly this is more then it will cost to park for the day at Bristol Airport.

Hopefully I'll be spending my time up there seeing a good friend of mine, but if she can't make it then I'll have a good look around.

On the subject of spontaneous day trips, I’ve been wondering where I can get to and back in a day for the least money. I set myself an nominal £50 budget with £60-70 as a maximum. One itinerary I managed to come up with was a trip to Manchester .

• Cycle to Exeter Airport - Free
• Fly to Manchester - £40 
• Train/Bus into the city - £4.50
• Lunch and meeting friends - not including in the budget 
• Megabus back to Exeter - £12 

Plus the extra of the bus back to Exeter airport to collect the bike the following day!
Think I might play with a few more travel sites over the next few days and see what else I can come up with

Update: The local airline has hiked their fees again (doubling of card fee and 'fuel recovery' fees) so it looks like that idea might be a non starter now.

Not a good place to live if you want to travel.

I sometimes wonder if living some way from a major city is a hurdle to travel. I do have an airport on my doorstep, and it does have a range of domestic and ex-pat destinations (ie areas with a large British population), but most flights operate either weekly or a random selection of days, which doesn’t make it easy to plan a short break away. Plus the local airline is very expensive due to lack of competition. There are more flights from a larger airport about 70 miles away, but again they are mostly to holiday destinations but there are at least some flights to major cities (and long haul connections via Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam). Heathrow of course is about 3-4 hours away.

I guess when trying to do Europe on a budget it can be a bit off-putting that 2 days parking at the airport costs more then the flight does! (when flying from my city's airport I take the bus) I’m jealous of those who are within stepping distance of somewhere like Heathrow. Of course my finances are probably better off if I’m not near Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted.


Needless to say I do have some plans in the making, even if I will have to pay the parking...

Inspiration: Weekends Away

Inspired by Mizhenka, I picked up the current issue of Lonely Planet as the 52 Best Weekends Away feature sounded quite interesting and like Mizhenka I’ve chosen 5 of my own to do (if I had the money!)

Excerpts from the February 2012 issue of Lonely Planet

Glimpsing Gaudi in Barcelona

Few architects have left their stamp on a city quite like Antoni Gaudi, who transformed Barcelona with swirling patterns, giddy spires and twisting rooftops. This year marks the 160th anniversary of the great man’s birth - and the 130th year since construction started on the Sagrada Familia cathedral - so head for the Catalan capital to discover the genius of this maverick architect. Park Güell and the Sagrada Familia are perennially busy sights, but be sure to visit the Palau Güell - one of Gaudi’s earliest works with an ornate arched entrance, the palace repoened last year. Guided Gaudi tours of his greatest hits are also available. (barcelonaguidebureau.com)

Drive an old banger through East Berlin

Despite having an engine like a sewing machine and an exhaust that can single-handedly burn a hole in the ozone layer, Trabant cars count as perhaps the most cherished relics of Communist East Germany. Hire a Trabi for the day and take a spin round Berlin, zipping through Checkpoint Charlie and towards the Stalinist facades and monumental towers of Karl-Marx-Allee. Drive carefully however - comrades were famously careful with their cars, knowing that the slightest bump could mean waiting years for a replacement. (trabantberlin.de)

Cycle through Quebec

In a continent where the car is king, Quebec's Route Verte is a firm riposte to the gas guzzlers. The biggest cycle network in the Americas, the ‘Green Route’ has more then 2,500 miles of trails weaving their way among the meadows, lakes and mountains of the eastern Canadian province. Some chunks of the route are manageable in just a few days - Quebec City and Montreal have extensive cycle networks - or alternatively take the route north from the outskirts of Montreal though the forested slopes of the Laurentians. Following the bed of an old railway line, the trail leads to the ski resort city of Mont-Tremblant, 50 miles away. (routeverte.com)

Take a direct train to France’s Vatican

How far can you travel by train from Britain without once having to move your suitcase from the rack. In the summer at least, as far as the medieval walled city of Avignon - one of the cultural highlights of Provence. Every Saturday morning during July and August, a direct train runs from London St Pancras to the city’s TGV station in less than six hours. In Avignon take in the Gothic bulk of the Palais des Papes, built for the pope in 1309 as an escape from the political intrigue of Rome (eurostar.com)

Go kayaking around Venice

Venice made its name as a proud nation of seafarers, so get in the spirit of Marco Polo and his ilk but exploring the Italian city by kayak. Venice Kayak offers guided tours, negotiating traffic jams of gondolas and vaporettos (waterbuses) clogging up the Grand Canal, and gliding along quieter waterways beneath handsome stone bridges and laundry lines. There’s also a chance to explore islands elsewhere in the Venetian Lagoon - including Torcello with its ancient churches. (venicekayak.com)

What would you want in a weekend away?

xoxo

Europe Progress: Jan 2012

As of 2012 I've visited France, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland & Greece. I've also been on a day trip to Italy (from Switzerland) and have driven across Belgium and the Netherlands. In the UK I've visited Scotland and had day trips to Wales.


create your personalized map of europe

I'm not sure whether to count the countries I haven't spent at least one night in, or indeed those where my sole experience is that of a package holiday resort. Which would make the map look like this.



So I'm wondering where to spend my hard earned Nectar Points (Points = money towards Easyjet flights), Amsterdam is tempting, but so is Geneva and Barcelona. Decisions Decisions!

xoxo

An Intro

Hello!

I made a resolution this year to make a Travelog detailing my travel adventures. So where to begin.. I'm a gender confused 20 something from Devon, UK, who has been bitten by the travel bug but doesn't have enough money to travel as much as I'd like, or as glamorously as I'd like.

Last year I took trips to Lille, Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester and Whitby on a pretty minimal budget and this year I'm planning Edinburgh (to see a friend), Berlin & Leipzig for the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival and if I have enough money maybe another trip aswell

Beyond that I'd like to do a long haul in 2013 (I'm going to be limited this year by the Olympics and the inevitable price hikes!), I'm pondering a trip to the US, I'd like to visit San Francisco but I also have friends in Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle that I'd like to meet (and seeing a city with a local is a lot better then pottering around on my own with with a guide book)

I'm not sure exactly what form this will take though. Am wondering whether to do my whole door to door experience or just to concentrate on the destination.

So welcome to the blog

xoxo