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Apr

Cadiz – Europe’s Oldest City

By oltravelblog · Comments (0)

Cadiz - Old quarter

Cadiz is strategically located on a narrow piece of land in Southern Spain, just outside the Straits of Gibraltar.

The city is almost entirely surrounded by water, and was considered to be of great strategic value over many centuries.

The history of Cadiz goes back to the time of the Phoenicians, who founded a trading port on the site in about 1100 B.C. Over the intervening years, many other cultures and societies have fought and claimed Cadiz for their own strategic base. These include the Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths and Moors, amongst others.

Because of its location and geography, Cadiz is a very compact city, and very easy to explore on foot.

The city walls are still on display along the sea front and surrounding the old town, offering a unique view of life as it might have been in the days before cars, trucks and motor scooters took over the narrow cobblestone streets between the rows of lovely old buildings.

We took advantage of our time in Cadiz to explore the lovely old parts of town, admiring the Alameda Gardens, visiting the Church of the Carmen and sauntering through the Parque Del Genoves.

Our wanderings (amongst numerous attempts to discover where we were on our walking map) enabled us to find many quaint little squares, discover some ancient pre-Roman walls, admire the magnificent cathedral that exhibits many architectural styles from the Byzantine domes and clusters through the neo-classical influences of the 19^th century through to what some might consider an unfortunate 21^st century layer of glass and steel that now fronts the street.

We enjoyed taking time out in many of the squares and plazas around the city, talking with friends, enjoying some excellent coffee and brandy, and discussing how Cadiz would be a perfect place to visit for anybody who wasn’t looking for the hype and excitement of big city life.

Our time in port didn’t permit us to also visit Seville, about 90 minutes drive inland from Cadiz, although we were reliably informed that this is one of Spain’s real showcases.

However, maybe we will return with more time to explore this lovely part of the world at the bottom of the Iberian Peninsula.

Categories : Destinations, Sea

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Apr

Tenerife – The Canary Islands

By oltravelblog · Comments (0)

Mount Teide, Tenerife

Our last port of call before completing the transatlantic crossing has been at Tenerife, in the Canary Islands.

Tenerife is the largest of the canary Islands and is located just 180 miles off the north African coastline.

It is said that the island of Tenerife is one of the most diverse in the world in terms of climatic conditions and terrain.

Whilst the northern part of the island displays lush green valleys and a mild climate that supports many endemic plant species, there are hot, dry and arid conditions in the south of the island.

Here you will find sandy beaches (and a number of European resorts for beach and sun worshipers), as well as the Las Canadas national park.

Mount Teide is recognised as being the highest mountain in Spain. It has a height of over 12,000 feet, and we are reliably informed that from its (often snow covered) summit, you can see not only all of the other islands in the canary Group, but also the African coast on a clear day.

The Canary Islands have been part of western legends since the times of Homer and Plato during classical Greece. However, they were only rediscovered after the middle ages.

In terms of pre-history, it is believed that the first inhabitants of the Canary Islands were the Gaunches, a blond haired and white skinned race who are believed to be related to the Cro-Magnon man of northern Africa. These people were cave dwellers.

The Canary Islands obtained free port status during the mid 19^th century, and as a result duties and trade barriers were reduced significantly. This has resulted in a stable economy based largely on tourism and banana exports.

The Liberty Of The Seas docked at the Port of Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife, a city with a population of over 220,000 people.

We decided to concentrate our time in Tenerife simply to the downtown area of Santa Cruz. We spent some time walking along the Esplanade, exploring the buildings that straddled many of the cobblestone streets of Santa Cruz and relaxing in the many parks.

We found that the free port status of the region resulted in excellent pricing for many goodies in the shops, much to the delight of some in our group.

In addition, the outdoor cafes offered a great opportunity to sit back and enjoy excellent coffee and conversation.

We enjoyed our time in Santa Cruz, and it proved a great opportunity to plant our feet once again onto solid soil.

Categories : Destinations, Sea

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Apr

8 Hours In Nassau! The Bahamian Experience

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Aerial View of Nassau, The Bahamas

On the first morning of the cruise on the Liberty Of The Seas, we were able to watch our ship docking on New Providence island for a one day visit to the capital of the Bahamas.

Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, is located on New Providence Island just 150 miles or so off the coast of Florida.

The history of Nassau goes back many years, and it was well known as a haunt for pirates during the 1600s and 1700s, who found its natural harbor an ideal base from which to base their nefarious activities.

However, the pirates are now long gone. However, Nassau still maintains an air of expectation and excitement.

A Nassau Policeman In Uniform

Nassau is a part of the British Commonwealth, and it is still possible to see some of the unique elements of the time of British colonialism when you walk through the streets of the town. Nassau bobbies still sport a uniform which combines white jackets, navy pants with red seams and pith helmets – a tropical equivalent of the traditional London bobbie.

Parliament Square really seems a quaint part of colonial society, highlighted by a statue of Queen Victoria seated regally in the middle of the square.

Another thing that Nassau is famous for is quality shopping. Walking down the main street, you’ll pass outlets that display many of the famous brands of Europe – from Rolex through Gucci, and many many more.

Another element that attracts many visitors to Nassau is Paradise Island. This small island which is accessible both by boat and by road bridge is home to many luxury residences, as well as the amazing Atlantis Resort and Casino.

While it is possible to walk around the town of Nassau, those wishing to try a more relaxed means of transport can always request a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.

Once you have seen enough of the delights of Nassau, enjoyed the traditional foods and participated in the cultures of this special part of the world, it is time to wander down to one of the island’s lovely beaches and relax in the clear waters of the Bahamas.

Categories : Destinations, Sea

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Apr

6 Days In A Very Different US City

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Metromover In Downtown Miami

We’ve just spent several days in Miami waiting for the start of our planned cruise.

Our location has been south west of downtown Miami in the Kendall area.

The decision about where to stay came about as a result of a misunderstanding with the owner of a condo unit in the Doral region of Miami, west of the Miami International Airport. We had initially decided to stay at this location due to its proximity to both the airport and Miami’s Dolphin Mall and the Miami International Mall. This option offered everything that we had been looking for without the hype and expense of a location in the Miami Beach area.

Unfortunately this reservation was unilaterally canceled by the owner of the condo, who simply sent me an email and returned the rental payment back into my PayPal account. We were then left with little option but to start seeking other accommodation.

There is obviously a warning here to be aware that bookings made through private owners are not as firm as those made through a business.

We then discovered that due to the lateness of the action of the owner of the Doral property, our options in Miami Beach were severely limited. What was then on offer was either poor quality or overly expensive or in many case both of the above.

A detailed search of options that were available to us resulted in the discovery on the TripAdvisor website of Comfort Inn Suites, Kendall, Miami.

This property combined good quality accommodation (with a great bed), a gymnasium, spa and heated outdoor pool along with laundry facilities, complimentary high speed internet and a breakfast that exceeded that of many similar hotels.

Without the ratings provided on the TripAdvisor website, it’s unlikely that we would have elected to stay at this type of property.

We have to say that it certainly surpassed our expectations, particularly in terms of personalized service and attention to detail.

We decided to take advantage of Miami’s public transport system, and found that it really offered a cost effective and comprehensive way of getting around town, as long as time wasn’t of the essence.

I purchased a Miami Dade County Easy Card the morning after our arrival and loaded it with $20. At the end of our 6 day stay in Miami, the card still carried a balance of some $8, despite being used on 4 consecutive days for bus and rail travel around the metropolitan area. When within the downtown city center, Miami boasts a free metro loop system with unmanned above ground trolley buses running around the downtown parts of the city.

One of the elements of our stay in Miami that will remain with us for some time was the level to which English is treated as a second language in many businesses. We had an experience in the local supermarket where the cashier on duty needed to write down the total cost of the transaction because she was unable to translate the amount into the English language. Although we were happy to disregard this episode, we were nevertheless very surprised that Spanish seems to be considered as the default language in many parts of Miami.

Categories : Destinations, Rail, Road, Vacations

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Mar

On The Way At Last!

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Qantas A380 Jet Taking Off

We’re now at the Admirals Club Lounge at LAX. Our A380 departure was delayed nearly 1 hour due to late receipt of security clearance for loading.

Not much time was picked up on the flight. We travelled in exit row seats in coach class, but this was certainly not as ideal as premium economy in these aircraft.

The seats are narrow and not overly comfortable, with little room for accessing video controls, etc.

Another issue with these exit row seats is that the arm rests are fixed (and very narrow). With another passenger beside us, it was extremely difficult to avoid getting elbows, etc in the way of my neighbour.

We both noted upon arrival in LA that the process of customs and baggage services is still somewhat chaotic, and that they really don’t have a workable system for processing the large numbers of passengers that occur when an aircraft like an A380 arrives with a full load into LAX.

The number of officers who were tasked with speeding progress through customs and passport clearance were certainly sufficient to handle the passenger numbers, however there was a high level of confusion about how many people should be in each of the queues. We found ourselves being transferred into three different queues before we were able to present ourselves to a customs official.

Once there, the welcome was extremely efficient and friendly however.

Customs and baggage clearance took about 60 minutes after the arrival of the aircraft, but there was a significant further delay involved in re checking our luggage for the next sector.

One message to be gained from this is that you should allow a bare minimum of at least 2 hours transit time at LAX, since you need to check any luggage through customs and quarantine here prior to re-checking it for a domestic or other international service, and then take yourself back through security.

We had hoped to attempt to wait-list onto an earlier flight for our sector to Miami, but it turns out that a fire at MIA has severely impacted American Airline’s flight refuelling capacities, and as a result many flights in and out of Miami International airport.

A consequence of this is that all flights are full, and wait-listing isn’t a real option. Had we known this, we would probably have ticketed all the way to Miami from check-in at Melbourne airport, but of course hindsight is always a wonderful thing!

We have about a 5 hour transit at LAX, although with the time to go through formalities, this has reduced to a little over 3 hours in the Admirals Club Lounge.

Even here, things aren’t going completely to plan. The complimentary wireless internet service is currently down, and in this lounge food and drinks must all be paid for.

At last we now have seat allocation for the LAX-MIA flight. Row 41 seats E and G. We have to hope that we’re not boxed in.

Categories : Air, Destinations, Security

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Mar

Our Upcoming Itinerary

By oltravelblog · Comments (0)

Sample TripIt Presentation

The process of planning for our forthcoming round-the-world trip was not an easy one, since there were very many different issues that we needed to put into place to have a plan that would work and meet our needs.

We used a fantastic tool called TripIt (to be found at http://tripit.com) as an integral part of the planning process that we have used for the trip.

There is an earlier post about TripIt, and we decided to really give it a good workout while piecing together our itinerary.

Among the issues that we had to deal with were:

finding a suitable cruise to take us across the Atlantic Ocean from the Americas into Europe
linking in air travel options between Australia and the departure port for the cruise
Arranging suitable activities through Europe following the disembarkation from our cruise ship.
Linking all of this in to a fixed date of departure from Europe back home.

The final itinerary that we have developed with the assistance of the TripIt planning engine is:

Flights from Melbourne to LA and then from LA to Miami
6 days in Miami
Board Liberty Of The Seas for transatlantic crossing from Miami to Barcelona
Sightseeing in Barcelona, then Elipsos night train to Milan (Gran Classe)
Wake up in Milan, then travel by rail to Ljubljana, Slovenia
Explore Ljubljana then board train to Belgrade, Serbia
Explore Belgrade then travel to Budapest, Hungary
Budapest to Brastislava
Bratislava to Prague, with lunch in Vienna
Prague to Berlin
Berlin to Mainz
Day river cruise from Mainz to Bonn, thence rail to Dusseldorf
Fly from Dusseldorf across the channel to London
Board flight from Heathrow to Singapore
Spend a couple of nights in Singapore warming up from the European climate
Back home to Australia

During the coming days and weeks, we’ll be keeping this travelogue up to date with summaries of the adventures and observations that we make during this trip.

Categories : Destinations, Technology, Vacations

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Mar

Our Latest Venture – Around The World In 49 Days!

By oltravelblog · Comments (0)

We have a couple of personal milestones coming up, and as a result have planned a trip that takes us first from Melbourne in Australia across the Pacific into the US of A, thence by cruise ship across the Atlantic and into Spain.

We plan to then travel largely by train around a number of the Eastern European countries before arriving in London en route back to Melbourne via Singapore.

We will be posting stories and experiences about this trip and the places we visit on this website as we go.

Categories : Accommodation, Air, Destinations, Rail, Sea, Vacations

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Feb

VillaReal Heights – Kata Beach Phuket: A (villa)real gem

By oltravelblog · Comments (0)

VillaReal Heights Hotel - Phuket

We’re on the last day of a great relaxation break on Phuket Island in Thailand. As a part of our vacation planning exercise we searched for a suitable accommodation venue to meet all of our requirements:

- - - - within walking distance of Kata and Karon beaches
        
        away from the bustle of this location (particularly at night)
        
        a small venue, without the impersonality of larger hotels
        
        great personal interaction with the owner or manager
        
        ability to interact with the locals
        
        assistance in finding out where to go and what to do

As a result of the research we carried out, we were lucky enough to discover the VillaReal Heights Hotel located on the hill, and about 10 minutes walk from both Karon and Kata Beaches on the western shore of Phuket Island.

Deluxe Sea View Room - VillaReal Hotel - Phuket

VillaReal Heights Hotel is of course reviewed on the TripAdvisor website, and is distinguished by having an absolutely marvellous rating on that site. At the time of writing, the hotel has 118 ratings, of which 111 are “excellent”, with the others all being “very good”.

Our experience, based on many years of travel and staying in a wide range of accommodation options all over the world is that one’s pleasure from a stay (or otherwise) is as much related to the treatment you receive from the people working at the place as it is from the facilities, location and added extras provided by the venue.

We were therefore very happy to discover on TripAdvisor and on other sites that Phil, the owner was rated so highly by people who have stayed at his hotel.

Our experience has been no different to that of other guests – Phil is always available and ready to do whatever it takes to make his guests feel at home and to assist them in finding whatever it is that meets their individual needs and wants.

We can’t recommend VillaReal Heights highly enough for any visitors to the friendly and cosmopolitan island of Phuket.

Categories : Accommodation, Destinations, Vacations

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Jan

Fantastic New Online Travel Itinerary Tool

By oltravelblog · Comments (0)

This is just a short message to alert you to a fantastic tool that we have discovered to assist you with your travel planning.

TripIt travel planning tool

TripIt (http://www.tripit.com) is a travel planning and support tool that offers great services and support for the traveler.

The founders of TripIt are frustrated travelers who have worked in both travel and technology for a long time.

They know firsthand (as we do) that using the Internet to make travel plans and organizing the details can be both difficult and time consuming – particularly when plans change at short notice.

The problem is getting worse as more people choose to make their own travel plans and as online travel options continue to proliferate.

With today’s myriad of travel sites, even the most experienced traveler has their hands full managing all the details of a typical trip.

Booking airline tickets, hotels, rental cars and restaurants leaves you with lots of separate pieces of paper. Throw in maps, directions, things to do, and weather and the chaos multiplies.

TripIt turns chaos into order by making it easy for anyone to:

Organize trip details into one master online itinerary — even if arrangements are booked at multiple travel sites
Automatically include maps, directions and weather in their master itinerary
Have the option to book restaurants, theatre tickets, activities and more right from within the online itinerary
Safely access travel plans online, share them, check-in for flights, or print an itinerary

Any traveler can create a free account with TripIt from the home page. Once the account has been set up, all that is needed to begin to create your itinerary is to simply forward travel confirmation emails to TripIt from the email address you used to set up your account.

We’ve begun to use this ourselves, and are blown away with how quickly and accurately the TripIt application is able to process our bookings and combine them into a fully detailed itinerary, but also to include travel directions, maps and weather detail for our destinations.

Categories : Business, Destinations, Technology

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Apr

A Great Example Of The Power Of Nature

By oltravelblog · Comments (0)

The ash cloud that disrupted European air traffic - (Xinhua Reuters photo)

The recent worldwide travel chaos that resulted from the volcanic eruption in Iceland emphasizes just how fragile our technology hold over the forces of nature really are.

The amazing thing about this is that Iceland is fairly remote from most of the European airspace that was closed down for many long days.

It seems that the prevailing winds were at the time traveling in an unusual direction, and this resulted in the ash cloud’s spread over much of northern Europe, and in fact across well into Russia as well.

I seem to remember that this particular volcano’s last eruption was recorded from 1821 to 1823, with substantial explosive eruptions (similar to this year’s activities) happening between late June and Early August in 1823. Had such a string of eruptions occurred this month, then the skies may have been closed off to aircraft for 6 weeks or so.

It is perhaps a good thing that we didn’t have Jumbo Jets and other similar flying objects around in those days!

The result of an event resulting from “natural causes” cost many billions of dollars to the travel sector as well as resulting in massive disruption to the travel plans of many travelers.

Of course the other side issue of all of this that escapes attention in that of freight transport. Many businesses (particularly those with contracts to supply highly perishable goods like fresh seafood and cut flowers) suffered very heavy losses as a result of being unable to deliver their produce.

The flight disruption was also a timely reminder to all of us who travel to carefully read the wording on our travel insurance policy. Many of the people who were caught out this time found out (too late) that their policies had exclusions which prevented them from making a claim.

The other aspect of this event is that the “blame game” has now begun. Passengers are complaining that their airline held up flights for longer than some others. In turn, airlines are tending to say that the national air travel regulators in many countries closed off their airspace too early and were overly cautious in the time that the airspace was re-opened. In their defence, regulators have claimed that the advice that they received from vulcanologists and meteorological bureax were not sufficiently detailed and accurate.

We can be sure that this is now an issue that has managed to come to the front of the queue for issues that need some better organized process of measurements and decision making, so that dangerous situations are avoided, whilst nevertheless reducing the level of disruption to an absolute minimum.

There will definitely be more to come on this issue. Stay tuned!

John Kumm, Author

For other interesting and informative travel related discussions, visit us at: http://www.onlinetravelconsultant.com

Categories : Air, Business, Destinations, Odd Spots, Vacations

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