Travel thread 3.0


Just got home from my holidays, this economy class travel stuff feels more brutal as I get older. Up at 3am what feels like about 3 days ago in Helsinki, fly to Munich, on to Abu Dhabi and finally back to Sydney just now.

I get that restless legs bad too on planes so sit there fidgeting and kicking the whole time.

We all got floored by a respiratory virus or something in Finland too, I spent a full 2 days laying in bed with a delirious fever
 
Haydn said:
We went to Malta in March after bagging dirt cheap flights. Didn’t like it at all. We stayed in St Juliens. 2 things stood out, at night it was more like Magaluf and also relatively expensive, particularly for eating out.

Also as Andy mentioned there’s a huge British legacy, so you never really escape that influence. Go in many of the bars and you could be anywhere in the UK. The Beggar’s Inn, Black Bull and the Anvil. You’ll never have a language problem and will never be far away from somewhere offering a full English.

There’s big money there now, associated with all the on-line betting mobs based there. Loads of top of the range, flash motors on parade all weekend.

We went over to Gozo, it’s a different world. Laid back, slower and comparatively cheaper. Probably a bit too slow for any length of time, unless you enjoy staring at the sea.

I see @Bkk Andy has suggested Bilbao. We go there regularly. It’s a super city. Has an old historic centre, great food and brilliant nightlife. Plus as a bonus, they love Howard Kendall !

One place we went to this year and were pleasantly surprised, was Albania. Super people, cheap as chips and more countryside and coast to explore, than you can waggle a stick at. I think the Brits have tended to avoid it, but the Italians flock to the Albanian riviera in summer.

We stayed in Sarande, on the southern tip on our way to Corfu, an hour away on the ferry. It’s deffo on the way up and whilst a bit of catching is needed, to fully reach the 21st century, that only added to the appeal and authenticity.
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Albania is excellent, once did a 50cc moped ride from Manchester to Athens in Greece, went through Albania. The people were magnificent. Great place.
 

Booked a short visit to the West Bank in January for a family event. Fly to Amman, followed by 2 nights in Jericho, 2 nights in Taybeh, a quick visit to Bethlehem, one night in Jericho, fly back the next day.

The UK government changed their travel advice last week, stating travel to Jericho, Ramallah area and Bethlehem are safe - sheer coincidence and didn't affect us. Obviously they have to be cautious but we were going anyway.
 
cronullasharks said:
Just got home from my holidays, this economy class travel stuff feels more brutal as I get older. Up at 3am what feels like about 3 days ago in Helsinki, fly to Munich, on to Abu Dhabi and finally back to Sydney just now.

I get that restless legs bad too on planes so sit there fidgeting and kicking the whole time.

We all got floored by a respiratory virus or something in Finland too, I spent a full 2 days laying in bed with a delirious fever
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….for some reason, folk in the Middle East don’t like The Flintstones but for some reason those in Abu Dhabi do.
 
The Binman said:
im aware of the pretentiousness, but i work in the middle of the dessert... i need to from time to time look at something else other than sand!! Hence the visit over the coming weekend... it isn't my first choice by any stretch!!!
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Bedouin eh? Hardest game in the world that mate, I knocked it on the head years ago. I trim hedges for Warrington Borough Council now, best move I ever made.
 
Just back from Budapest and was really disappointed to be honest. We went around 15 years ago and loved it so decided to revisit - and I guess therein lies the issue….high expectations rarely materialise on a second visit so far apart. There was a distinct lack of good beer although the food offering was fine. We’d seen all the attractions before so just wanted a pre-Christmas chill. Evenings have plenty going on but daytime is a bit of a slog.
Would 100% recommend the Ruin Bars though, very interesting place.
On a very sour note we got scammed in a cab. I’ve travelled all my life to most parts of the World and in fairness this is the first time I’ve come a cropper at the hands of a shyster. Did a 9 minute cab ride to catch a boat and the fare was HUF 4960 (about £8)…checked Monza card the following morning and the driver had charged HUF 49600 (around £80) for less than 2 miles. Went online and apparently it’s a regular scam fairly specific to Budapest as it’s easy to add a ‘0’ that unsuspecting customers don’t notice as the denominations are all quite large. We’d been using BOLT before that but couldn’t get one at the time. You live and you learn.
Lisbon in January for a shockingly cheap long weekend wrapped around work trips to Milan and Toronto.
 


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