Journalists vs Bloggers

Hi, I’ve been reading articles again and I’d like to make a few things clear.

I’m not a very good writer and I don’t have an editor (but sometimes I get someone to spell check).

I just like to write down my thoughts somewhere – this is better than a journal because this has a built in spell checker and really cool formatting options that allow me to add nice pictures and a nice Google Maps. I am not trying to pass this off as a travel guide – I’m just not that good at writing – If I was that would be my job – this is just a hobby.

I just though I’d make this clear in case someone tried to highlight this as an example of poor travel writing.

 

My Inner Geek

My inner geek is a dark individual – it has many ideas, some are, some huge and complicated.

It is the being that happily spends hours preparing spreadsheets to budget for trips or made the Google map of Stuttgart accommodation (see previous post), there are many more example I won’t go into right now.

Anyway one of the things I wanted to do was put quotes on my site – mainly travel quotes. Unfortunately as good as WordPress is (and believe me it is) I am for pretty good reason not allowed to use certain html elements within my posts. I fully understand the havoc that could be caused by these, but it is a little frustrating.

Anyway I decided to get around this by dynamically generating my own images. Its a pretty common technique I first used in a previous job to generate those adverts you see with nice pictures that have custom text on.  I haven’t yet gone that far, but I will be tidying and improving soon so you never know what is next.

The final result is the picture to the top left, it looks a little like the one below.

Travel quote of the day

 

Do It Your Way

I recently read an article on a travel website, (which will remain nameless). It was one in there “What not to do” series and to be honest I was quite disappointed. To be fair this article of one of many, that does this sort of thing.

They are much like those articles (reports on TV shows) that go to Florida and completely avoid the Theme Parks. I take no issue with this most of the time, but there is in some cases the feeling the reporter or writer considers it not worth looking at because they don’t like it. In the case of those who do this with Disney and  similar I feel they are joyless individuals.

Maybe I am being a little harsh, I would like nothing more than a few weeks wandering with a backpack, its so much fun; but I am proud to admit two weeks of Theme Parks and the other joys of Orlando can easily be as much fun. I have been fortunate enough to spend many a family holiday in Orland (and yes farther afield in Florida)., but one of the days my family talks about and remembers details from is a day a Gatorland. It is a much poorer cousin of the bigger glitzier parks but well over 10 years on and I am guessing for the rest of my life my family will remember the visit. Just as we will remember a certain small aquarium on the Florida Keys and a moped in Key West. Its not always about where you are – it who you are with and what happens.

Back to the article I was moaning about earlier – it was advising people to avoid Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Now it was slated as a tourist trap – too right it is – but some people like like. Some people will spend thousands of pounds travelling across the globe to lay on a beach – some like the flashy tacky tourist shops. I love them, where else would you find a truly hideous plastic snow dome or a handful of postcards for home.

I would advise you do what you want to if you are luck enough to go to Fisherman’s Wharf. There was a bar at the end of the famous Pier 39, where a group of us from the local hostel demonstrated how to drink pitchers of beer for a few hours, that was a great afternoon. More importantly if you do find yourself on the wharf head north to The Cannery (some slightly more upmarket shops and a fantastic bar) and close by is Lou’s Pier 47, a fantastic restaurant with live blues.

All I can advise you is this – go where you want, see what you want, eat and drink what you want (as long as its legal) and try to travel with an open mind – some of the best experiences are unplanned.

Happy travelling!

 

Travel Life vs Real Life

This is a match up I have read about, talked about, seen up from myself and experienced myself.

I once read some advice and thought “What sort of fool would do that anyway!”, the advice was along the lines of “when travelling keep your wits about you, don’t carry too much cash and keep a cash card in a secure place when ever possible”. We have all seen this and most of us (I hope) have had the same reaction I did. I went on my trip and naturally I followed this advice. Now I have a strange tradition which involves having two wallets, one for home and one for travel. That way I only take a few things out of my wallet when I go away. On my return I placed my cash card back into my home wallet, along with the space sterling I had and dug around in my bag for my money belt and pulled out my credit card, placed it back in my wallet, stuck it in my pocket and rushed out for a few drinks with friends.

Now what I noticed at some point that evening was I had broken the obvious travel rule I had mocked someone for writing down. I was walking around my home town with a load of cash and both my cards – loss of my wallet would be expensive and very inconvenient. What made this worse is I was not as alert as I would be travelling, this is my home turf, why on earth should I worry… complacency returns very quickly.

Moving away from this I find myself more open and adventurous as soon as I have my bag packed. I want to experience everything I can. Is this the normal me, put bluntly no – I tend to be more reserved and cautious, despite the differences in my wallets. This was brought to my attention by the huge source of travel related articles on the Matador Network, it was about relationships – I am not going to claim to be an expert here, but what I read rang true. What it came down to is that life is accelerated when travelling –  you leave your doubts and caution at home.

I ask myself why is real life not the same, I have no answer, does anyone reading this?

If I see something I like in a shop or in a market abroad I buy it – that is why I own a hammock – I have had it for years – one day I will use it. There is no chance I would buy one at home – I have no use for it – but when I was in Thailand it seemed like a dream come true – my own hammock.

I suppose this is me saying to myself and trying to encourage others – live real life as close as you can to the way you travel – why have a different outlook on life just change you wallet!

 

Places to stay in Stuttgart

This is a bit of a test to see if I can embed a google map in my blog and what it looks like!

View Larger Map

Blue markers are budget.
Green markers are mid-range.
Red Markers are expensive.