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Post by crystal on Mar 28, 2009 7:03:50 GMT -5
Yes I looked at the Easyjet flights Newcastle to Barcelona. They were around £95 return all in, for the dates I wanted, for me and my son which I thought was OK. Generally Newcastle is the easiest airport for me to fly from. It's about a 1 1/2 hr drive.
I have flew from Liverpool before as well as Manchester and Preswick but it is than little bit further. In fact Glasgow is nearer for me.
Any tips or hints on cheap budget hotels or which areas of the city to look at. I can't really do shared hostel dorms with a toddler. His cute behaviour is not so cute to other travellers at 7am !!! Thanks for the help everyone.
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Post by crystal on Mar 28, 2009 6:56:15 GMT -5
Congratulations CT I bet you and your boy have a wonderful day and a happy life together. Hugs and kisses from me. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by crystal on Mar 27, 2009 10:31:41 GMT -5
How far is the beach from central Barcelona? Which area of the city should I look to stay in? I would want to be central but don't mind short public transport trips.
And do the budget flights really fly to Barcelona or are they to some airport miles away?
It has been on my "to do" list for ages so I think I might have a look at Barcelona.
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Post by crystal on Mar 27, 2009 10:28:01 GMT -5
I wouldn't fly into Prestwick it is closer to Ayr than Glasgow so you would have an added expense of getting into Glasgow although I think there is a regular bus service. It would depend what time in the day or night you arrived.
I think for outdoorsy stuff you can't go wrong with herbert's earlier advice to visit Loch Lomond and the Ben Nevis area. They have relativly easy access from Glasgow. Edinburgh is one of my favorite cities with loads to do. You could then travel down into England and visit the Lake District or the Yorkshire dales.
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Post by crystal on Mar 26, 2009 17:56:12 GMT -5
Hi everyone I was wanting to plan a little hop to the continent soon possibly May before things get all silly season. Trouble is nailing down my destination.
As always I'm looking for a cheap as chips place and am interested in culture and history but also a bit of a chill out.
Sooooo I can't decide between a sun holiday or a city break. Opinions please on the following.
SUN AND CHILL OUT A Greek Island possible Rhodes but open to suggestions Portugal
CITY BREAK Barcelona Budapest
I will have an excitable toddler with me but he is quite a seasoned traveller and is usually relaxed about different environments. I've travelled all around Turkey and Bulgaria and have visited Rome, Paris and Amsterdam so these are off limits but other than that I'm open to suggestions.
A quite vague and open post but inspire me GFE people.
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Post by crystal on Mar 26, 2009 17:19:51 GMT -5
Hi What are some of your interests? Culture, nightlife, sightseeing, outdoorsy stuff. That might help people make suggestions for places to visit.
If you decide to follow Herberts advice and fly into Scotland then head South ( which make sence to me unless you what to stay close to London) I would add York into the mix. A beautiful small city with bags of history and a really impressive minster. You might also think about stopping off in Oxford.
If you want to fly back into London think about heading west. You could cover places like Bath, Avesbury, Stonehenge also Devon and Cornwall has nice landscapes and beaches (if the weather is right).
If you like outdoor activities Wales is nice and easy to get to from London.
The UK is not huge so travel time between places can be quite short if you plan your journey correctly. With the amount of time you have it would be possible to visit a few different places. I would also keep Herbert's advise in mind about your time in Ireland versus your time in the UK but again that is a personal choice and there may be specific things you want to do in Ireland.
happy planning
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Post by crystal on Mar 26, 2009 17:02:20 GMT -5
After extensive research conducted by myself, family and friends I can bring you the following report visa via "Operation Walkers". Builders Breakfast = tastes a bit eggy and greasy. Not very nice . Hoisen sauce and crispy duck = overdose on the soy sauce flavour but have a hint of BBQ sauce crisps . Cajun Squirrel = Not as exciting as it sounds. Lots of cajun flavouring but no squirrel. In fact a bit like chicken but isn't everything? Nice but not squirelly enough !!! Fish and chips = Good but flavours are not strong enough. Big fishy and vinegar smell but not a lot of fishy flavour a poor man's Scampi Fries. Onion Bhaji = a bit like pickled onion crisps very strong onion taste which I quite like but not for everyone. Chilli and Chocolate = The chilli comes through as you get further down the bag and there is a sweetness to the crisps a bit like you get in BBQ crisps. A lot of these new flavours are just old ones reinvented. A great marketing ploy though and everyone is talking about them. I can't decide what will win. At the minute they are running ads on the Tv like party political broadcasts for each flavour. The lengths I go to for this website - travel the world, eat crisps will it never end (P.S If you don't know what I'm talking about - tough, it's a secret squirrel operation!)
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Post by crystal on Mar 4, 2009 17:22:00 GMT -5
Why thank you for noticing. You have just made my mind up what to spend my birthday readies on - mmmmm
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Post by crystal on Feb 28, 2009 17:28:45 GMT -5
I haven't actually tried any yet. There used to be fish and chips crisps when I was at school. Tasted nothing like fish or chips but very nice. I liked the turkey and stuffing ones at christmas very tasty.
The Squirrel ones follow on from the publicity around grey squirrels outcompeting our native red squirrels. They carry a disease which the greys happily live with but kills the reds. Lots of restauranters are now coming up with grey squirrel recipes as a novel way of highlighting the cause. I'm not suggesting Walkers have been out rounding them up though!
I'll do some more research on this and report back - purely in the interest of my overseas friends who need to know this kind of information ;-).
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Post by crystal on Feb 28, 2009 17:21:19 GMT -5
They have now retracked this and said it is not going to happen in the NEAR future.
I wondered about the health and safety implications too and didn't think this would be allowed.
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Post by crystal on Jan 28, 2009 19:48:32 GMT -5
Hi there Geneology is a big hobby in the UK so finding documents should be realtivly straight forward especially if you know some specific things like places of birth. In the UK a census is taken every 10yrs in the year ending 1 so 1991, 1981, 1971 ... This census holds data on who is in the family home, the main breadwinner's job and ages. The census' are only published after 100yrs so the 1901 census is readliy available on the web to browse. Local records on births, marriages, deaths and baptisms are held in the bigger libraries or in specialist records offices. I would suggest contacting the local library in the area where your relatives are from. If they don't have the records they can point you in the right direction. Other things to look for might be military records especially for times of conflict when people were conscripted in the forces so WW1 or WW2. I have done a bit of work on my family tree and found my best starting point was my relatives. They started the jigsaw and I went off to fill in the gaps and expand.
On a transport side always remember a car is an added expense. At the moment petrol in England is around the 88p per litre mark but has been up to £1.20. This is on top of an hire costs. I suppose you just need to assess this in relation to whether your mission takes you to smaller out of the way places or larger cities. Generally public transport is OK. Buses are cheaper than trains but slower and advance tickets usually save you money.
As for work I'm not sure about the work for free board scheme. I would advise against illegal work such as cash in hand jobs.
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Post by crystal on Jan 11, 2009 15:54:49 GMT -5
Crystal mentioned another Bus line in a previous post, but I can't recall the name. ! The other bus company is mega bus and youcan sometimes get train tickets from them as well
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Post by crystal on Jan 8, 2009 20:17:40 GMT -5
Just to echo MTH I would always say to buy travel insurance no matter how short your trip. I have had 2 very good friends really need to use their insurance on week-long trips.
I can't comment on US/Candian based insurance but I was supprised at how affordable travel insurance was. I have worldwide insurance for me and my son that last 12mths and it worked out about £50. I like the annual cover because if I'm booking a short break I don't have to look for insurance because it is all ready there.
Just a note of caution always read your policy and the small print. It's easy to tick travel insurance off your list and chuck the policy in a drawer but you need to know what you exemptions are. I know some insurances were not covering vehicle hire and some people I know hired some mopeds. They crashed the bikes then found out their medical expenses were not covered.
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Post by crystal on Jan 8, 2009 19:59:55 GMT -5
Come and see me in the English Lake District. Beautiful scenery all over the place lakes, mountains, trees and green green grass especially in spring time. You couldn't fly here unless you flew into Newcastle and then got transport across but to be honest with the new faster trains you can be here from London in about 4hrs (delays permitting). To look for transport you need to be looking at Carlisle for the trains or even Oxenholme (more ideal but not all trains stop here). Once you are here the local buses are quite good I think. I don't take them because I drive but I'm sure you can get saver tickets. They are designed for the tourist market so they visit all the main places. For places to stay you need to be looking at places like Ambleside, Keswick, Windermere, Grasmere ... These are the places most tourists head for. There are lots of hostels around that area or pubs who do B&B. However they can be a bit expensive so you might want to look at Cockermouth (no that's not a joke!). It's only about 6miles or so outside of Keswick but because it isn't officially in the National Park it MAY be a bit cheaper. Local buses are quite reliable and regular so being a few miles out isn't gonna hamper you too much. I realise you don't have a lot of time but close to the Lake District is Hadrian's Wall. A roman wall stretching the entire width of England that marked the northern border of the Roman Empire. From Cockermouth this would be just over an hour drive depending on your mode of transport. They have roman forts at Vindalando and Birdoswald with museums and ruins. Very interesting and they even have Roman soilders on guard! Might in a tiny way make up for not getting to Italy this time :-) Here is a site I found that may help you out. www.golakes.co.ukHappy planning
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Post by crystal on Dec 15, 2008 18:24:59 GMT -5
Happy planning a proper boys week!
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