Back in Canada

Happy new year and greetings from beautiful Victoria, British Columbia in a Canada. I'm back in BC for the first time since April 2008. Tomorrow I head up to return to Whistler for some skiing.

When I get back to London I plan on writing my travel summary for 2013. Talk soon!

Where is good to shop for gadgets these days?

If you wanted to buy the new iPhone 5s when it gets to the stores next week but had a choice of where in the world to buy it, where would you choose?

I've checked out the prices for an unlocked 16 GB model quoted on the Apple website for various countries and compared these prices, and listed them in Aussie, British and US currencies.

Currency	Australia (including 10% GST)	UK (including 20% VAT)	USA (not including tax)	USA (including 9% sales tax - California)	Canada (not including tax)
Australian Dollars	869	939	696	759	748
British Pounds	508	549	407	444	437
US Dollars	810	875	649	707	697

You're certainly better of getting one in the USA if you're there (especially if you find yourself in one of the tax free states such as Oregon, Delaware or New Hampshire). With the recent weakening of the Australian dollar, Australia would also be a good bet especially if you claim the 10% GST back when you leave.

Getting up at 4am sucks

Anyone who knows me well will tell you I'm not a morning person. It is hard enough to get in to the office by 9am most mornings.

So when I tell you that I got up this week not once but twice at 4am you will understand that that is quite a struggle for me.

Last week I needed to go to a meeting in Stockholm for work but didn't have time to stay there the night before and needed to be back that night for a work function (at the top of Tower Bridge - can't be missed!)

So I got up at 4am to get the 6:30am flight from Gatwick to Stockholm, just in time for my 11am meeting. Then time for a quick beer (150 SEK for 2 beers! That's about GBP 15!) before hitting the 4:50pm flight back to London City airport in good time to get back to the party on top of London's most famous land mark (well maybe second after the Elizabeth Tower  of the Palace of Westminster best known as the Big Ben).

The second time was leaving Glastonbury yesterday morning, in order to avoid the crowds leaving the festival. It is strange getting up at 4am at a music festival, a time where a good proportion of people have not gone to bed yet.

The up-side, of living in the UK, however, is that 4am is about the time it gets light at this time of the year, and by 5am the sun is truly up.

Glastonbury Festival

I've been a bit poor at updating this travel blog lately, and normally I write about international travel, not things like trips to music festivals. But for Glastonbury I'm going to make an exception.

I've been to a lot of music festivals in my time, both in Europe and in Australia. From going every year to small festivals like Meredith Music Festival (a couple of hours from Melbourne) to bigger European festivals like Sziget in Hungary and Isle of Wight (circa 65,000 people). But nothing I have ever experienced even comes close to Glastonbury.

Glastonbury, where I went for 4 days around this weekend, is a whole city set up in the west country of England catering for the 135,000 ticket-holders  plus many more thousands of staff and performers over 100 stages. It took me about an hour to walk from one side of the festival site to the other, and another 45 minutes to the car park. What a huge set up.

I was fearful of images I remember seeing in newspapers in previous years of revellers wading through knee-deep mud and just about needing boats to haul their camping gear across the site. I encountered a night of rain upon arrival but was lucky to get scorching sun* throughout the long weekend. Which was great for sitting in the sun with cider, watching band after band come and play.

Watching bands play in the sun at Glastonbury

There were hundreds of acts across a handfull of main stages and some 100 other small stages. Watching the Rolling Stones with about 100,000 other people was an interesting experience, but of course some of the more intimate performances might remain more memorable.

Despite the massiveness of it all, the people are friendly and the crowds are mostly tame. The festival organisers did a great job of managing so many people. Nevertheless, a camp out festival still ends with getting home and appreciating the comforts available, like flushing toilets, warm showers, and peace and quiet. Or am I just getting old?

* - Scorching by English standards, that is. Nothing like the 45 degrees I had to endure on New Years Day 2006 at the 2005 Pyramid Rock Festival on Phillip Island with a huge hang over (partly caused by the lack of food available at the festival) and no shade.

Easter in Morocco

As an Australian, I struggle with the London winter. And this year it's been a long one. Despite spending Christmas and New Years in Florida and Mexico respectively, I couldn't cope with the cold and gloom so decided to go somewhere warm for the Easter long weekend.

At about one month left before Easter, I decided to go Marrakech. My girlfriend couldn't come with me so I decided to go alone. It was a destination well-suited to solo travellers, with hostels costing around GBP 7 a night.  The problem, however, was that all of the flights from London for Easter were either full or uber-expensive.   I ended up finding an Iberia itinerary on Opodo that was affordable, but hardly direct.

On the way out: London Heathrow - Madrid - (overnigt stop) - Casablanca (6 hour wait) - Marrakech

On the way back (somewhat better): Marrakech- Casablanca (4 hour wait) - London Heathrow

It wasn't as bas as it sounds. I flew out to Madrid after work on the Thursday night and stayed in Madrid at a cheap but nice hotel by the airport. The next day I flew down to Casablanca at around lunch time.

Casablanca

What to do with a 6 hour wait in Casablanca? That's just enough time to get out of the airport and have a chance to look around town. It sounds simple, but the city is 40km from the airport. There is a train but it only runs once an hour and takes over 30 minutes. So timing is key.

The train journey to the city was already interesting. First of all I was surprised by how green the countryside was. I'd always imagined Morocco to be red and dry but it was anything but that. Green lush fields surrounded the tracks on the way to town. Various animals - sheep, goats, horses - pastured along the tracks, each flock watched by a shepherd sitting or lying in the grass. Children played in  fields, sometimes shared with animals. Shanty shacks were littered across the countryside before we got into the built-up Casablanca suburbs.

I met some French girls also catching the train to town and once we got to the main train station I shared a taxi with them to the centre. The taxi ride was hair raising but we managed to survive. After a quick mint tea at their hotel I walked back across town to the station, taking in the surprisingly Western feel of Casablanca.  It didn't feel like a typical Arabic-Muslim city. Young women were not covered up and hanging out with young men in the streets.

Once at the station I popped into a shop to get some snacks. I ended up with some local cashews and a drink which I think was some sort of chunky, pomegranate flavoured, yogurt drink.

I went to the platform where the next listed train to depart was the one to the airport. It was to leave in 10 minutes but was already terribly crowded, so I decided to board to guarantee a spot. To my shock, it then departed straight away! This wasn't the train to the airport!

I didn't know what to do and was too embarrassed (and non-French-speaking) to ask someone what to do, so I decided to get off at the first station and decide what to do next. Perhaps catch a train back or get a taxi to the airport. Luckily, it turned out that Oasis station was the only stop that the airport train stopped at between the city and the airport so all I had to do was get the next train from the green leafy suburb appropriately named.

Arrival in Marrakech

I finally got to Marrakech in the evening. A taxi was waiting for me. The taxi ride, although largely uneventful, was a bit scary. Not because of the driving (that was the reason for my taxi fear in Casablanca) bit because of the state of the car itself.

Typical Grand Taxis in Marrakech
Image borrowed from Read: Between the Lines

It was a late 70's or early 80's Mercedes, with no seat belts.  I spotted the fact that it had 650,000km run up on the clock but I'm not even sure if it hadn't already looped past zero before. The speedo didn't work as it constantly showed 0 km/h. But there was no chance of speeding: the 5 speed manual  couldn't seem to go above third.

A taxi not dissimilar
Image borrowed from Sending Postcards

My taxi dropped me off in some narrow street inside the medina. Despite having some printed instructions which directed me to the hotel, there's no way I would have found it as I had no clue where I was. Luckily, there was a guy from the hostel waiting for me. He guided me through a series of narrow pedestrian alleyways, which were nevertheless frequented by motorbikes, horses and carts, donkeys and bicycles.

I was welcomed with biscuits and Moroccan mint tea. I didn't have long in Morocco so I booked myself in for an early trip the next day to the Atlas Mountains and beyond.

Over the Mountains

I did a minibus tour which drove us for over 4 hours into and over the mountains. Although the drive was long, it was amazingly scenic. The red cityscape changed to green fields around Marrakech, which turned into lush green valleys under the mountains. As we climbed the snow-capped mountains the scenery slowly got less and less green, eventually turning into barron, rocky cliffs under snowy peaks. Once we passed the mountains the scenery became dry, flat and dessert-like. We were at the edge of the Sahara.

High Atlas Mountains

Although I only spent a few hours outside the minibus, I managed to get myself sunburnt  It seems I now have English skin which is no longer used to the Aussie - or Moroccan - sun.

Marrakech

By the time I got back to Marrakech I was so sick of being in a car I decided the next day would be spent purely walking around. So I managed to get myself more sunburnt walking around, taking in the craziness of the city.

The main square in Marrakech. Usually full of vendors, snake charmer and various other people and animals,

I enjoyed shopping in the vast souks around town and eating the street food in the market in the square that's set up each night. The local shopkeepers and food vendors were pushy but friendly, and much easier to manage than I expected. Overall the city left a great impression on me.

Flying First

On my way back to Madrid I received my first ever free upgrade to business class. With all the flying I do, I was disappointed I had never been upgraded but that is no longer the case. Of course business class on a short haul flight isn't particularly special, but after being in a country for 4 days where it's very hard to find alcohol, the free champagne was a treat!

Austria for Business and Pleasure

I started skiing relatively late, when I was 19. I was absolutely terrible at first. But I loved it and stuck with it and have been skiing for at least one day every year ever since.

This winter I decided to return to Austria, to a resort called Gastein which I visited back in early 2010 (see my post on that trip here).

My girlfriend and I flew to Salzburg on Saturday night. We stayed the night and had the biggest Austrian feast of all sorts of meat that you have ever seen at the beautiful hotel Grünauerhof in the suburbs.

The next day we headed for the mountains of Salzburg state to Bad Gastein. There, we skied for 2 and a half days in the warm sunshine, enjoying Austrian beer, schnitzels, sausages and goulash. Bad Gastein is a town built on thermal springs, which meant that after a hard day's skiing we were able to relax in the comfort of the spa, enjoying the region's healing waters.

We were due to fly back to London on Wednesday but a need to see some clients came up, so instead of jetting back to London, we caught a train to Vienna so that I could attend business meetings and that we could enjoy more of the Austrian cuisine. We visited a number of those classic Viennese coffee houses to sample traditional meals such as Sachertorte, Apple Strudel and Viennese coffee.

Ironically, even though it was sunny and warm when we were in the mountains for skiing, it was cold, snowy and windy in Vienna.  Battling the snow to get to business meetings was certainly fun, however, and beats a day in the office in London.

Miami to Mexico

My 2012 ended in Miami and 2013 began in Mexico!

I've never spent a Christmas in London. In 2012 I escaped last minute, and flew out on Christmas Day (which actually isn't easy, as there is no public transport in London on Christmas Day, not even the Heathrow Express.)

I thought Christmas Day at Heathrow would be quiet, but boarding the London to New York flight was anything but. It turns out, unsurprisingly really, that these cities' large Jewish populations disregard Christmas altogether.

Miami Beach

I landed in Miami on Christmas night and headed straight for my hostel right in the middle of South Beach's Art Deco District. I didn't have a lonely Christmas night, as the Miami Beach International Travellers Hostel is not a quiet place! The place is something of a party base. Between the party  atmosphere and  the warm weather (t-shirt weather despite it being the middle of winter), it was hard to tell it was Christmas.

South Beach

Miami is an interesting place. The main thing that surprised me (which I first found out on my connecting flight from New York to Miami, where I was the only English speaker apart from the American Airlines crew) was that it's mainly a Spanish-speaking city. With it's large Cuban population, Spanish is the main language used by the locals and English seems to be reserved for the tourists.

But I really liked the place - a much more relaxed part of the US than I'd experienced elsewhere, with beach culture and fitness being prevalent.

Florida Keys

After a couple of nights at Miami I headed back to the airport but not to fly. No, I was there to rent a Mustang Convertible.

I drove the red beast down the Florida Keys, across the long bridges of the Overseas Highway which I'd marvelled at on TV since being a teenager.

Hours later, after battling holiday traffic all day and lots of stop to take photos of....errr, Bridges, I made it all the way down to Key West, the southern most part of continental USA.

The problem with arriving at a popular holiday destination at sunset, especially one that's quite a small city, on a day between Christmas and New Years is that there isn't a lot of accommodation. I couldn't find anything.

In the end I ended up driving the whole 300 km back to Miami stopping off at various motels and hotels on the way with no luck whatsoever.

(Tip to proprietors: If your vacancy sign is lit up but there is no vacancy, turn the damn thing off!!)

Even in Miami I had trouble finding a room, despite going from hotel to hotel and in the end ended up at a run down motel near the airport.  Despite looking far from luxurious, I was desperate to get some sleep, so I went to enquire about a room.

I should have known something was up when they queried in broken English, "you want it for the night?"

Yes, of course I want it for the night, it's a hotel room, right?

Oh.

It's THAT sort of hotel room. Maybe I should have asked for the hourly rate. It's not like I got much sleep anyway.

"You can have room number 5, over there."

"OK," I replied. "Do I get a key?"

"No. Just lock the door behind you."

Upon entering the room and duly locking the door behind me, I definitely knew what kind of place I was in. The windows were boarded up so nobody could see inside. There was a TV, already on, showing only one channel - hardcore porn. And I didn't want to let my face touch the pillowcase.

I slept, shivering from the cold (I was too disgusted to get under the covers, and couldn't go to the car to get more clothes because I couldn't lock the door behind me) whilst thinking about whether my red Mustang would still be waiting for me in the morning.

Morning did, eventually, come. And I was out of there as quickly as possible. I left with my head hung low as I didn't want anyone to see me leaving the place, or the owners to ask "you sure you wanted it for the night?"

I drove to the nearest McDonald's and used their bathroom to get changed from the previous day's clothes and brush my teeth. You know you're in a dodgy hotel when you'd rather bathe in a McDonald's toilet.

Fort Lauderdale

I decided to head up North to Fort Lauderdale. The suburbs between Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale were quieter beach-side communities and really pleasant.  Fort Lauderdale itself was touristy, with nice beaches and plenty to do. This time I found a hotel nice and early, and enjoyed staying right on the beach.

Return to Miami Beach

I returned to Miami for 3 more nights culminating in New Years Eve. I stayed at the Miami Hostel on the non-beach side of South Beach. Despite being significantly further from the beach than the previous place I stayed, I would have to say it was one of the nicest, friendliest and most pleasant hostels I've ever stayed at. Guests culminated in the outdoor decked area to socialise and relax and prepare for their nights out.

Holding a baby alligator in the Everglades

I was excited to go on an air boat ride in the Everglades, something remembered seeing as a kid back in the 80s in the movie Police Academy 5 (which I thought was good at the time but click the link to see the awful trailer) to go alligator spotting.

New Years Eve was at the world famous Nikki Beach but it wasn't to be a late one as I had to get up at 5am on New Years Day to head to the airport to catch my flight to Cancun.

NYE at Nikki Beach

Cancun

I arrived at the aiport in good time and got through security quickly. Turns out early morning on new years day is a good time to fly. I managed to catch up on sleep for an hour or two in the lounge.

I arrived at Cancun airport about lunchtime, and started off my 2013 with some Mexican food and a Dos Equis beer, complete with lime, while I waited for my girlfriend to fly in from Canada, where she had spent Christmas.

Our first 3 nights in Mexico were spent on Cancun's hotel zone, in an all-inclusive hotel. The hotel zone is a peninsula some 10km long, which contains just about nothing but hotels and golden beaches. I know, it doesn't sound exotic at all, but after a week staying in backpackers hostels and dodgy motels, an all inclusive, beach-side stay, complete with hot tub on the balcony, is exactly what the doctor ordered.

My girlfriend and I spent the days and evenings lounging, drinking, swimming, drinking, eating, drinking and walking along the beach.

We did venture into town on the bus one evening, and experienced shopping in a real Mexican supermarket, where 1 litre bottles of tequila went for about £4/$6.

Isla Mujeres

For our last three nights we headed out of the hotel zone, and caught a ferry over to Isla Mujeres, an island off the coast. We checked into a hotel there which exceeded my expectations. It was the biggest hotel suite I've ever had, with a massive balcony overlooking the tip of the island, and, you guessed it, another balcony hot tub.

Isla Mujeres, while touristy, was more down to earth than the mainland resort area, and definitely very relaxed. Golf cart was the way to get around the island, which could be done in an hour or two if not stopping off at beaches for swimming and nachos.

My hot girlfriend drives me around the island in a golf cart

Unfortunately after 3 nights on the island it was time to leave the snorkelling trips and beach massages behind, and head back to London to proceed with 2013 in reality. 

Is NY still exciting the 4th time around?

Is New York City still exciting on your 4th visit?

Quite simply, yes.

The first time I went to NY it was awesome. What an atmosphere.
The second time I was in NY it was just as much fun.
The third time I went to NY was when Icelandic volcano ash cloud grounded flights in 1999 and I was stuck in the States while on business. Milling around NYC was starting to lose its exactingness.

Would my fourth visit be boring?

No. I was in town at the end of last month for a conference and although I didn't get out as much as I would have liked to, New York still provided an amazing, unique and unmistakable atmosphere when walking around those one-way city streets.

View from the top of the Rock towards the Empire State Building and Downtown

It was my first visit in Winter and I experienced both how bloody cold it can get, and how unseasonably warm it can be.  I enjoyed jogging in Central Park like a local, visiting the Top of the Rock and of course a lot of shopping!

A quiet weekend in the Cotswolds

Last Friday I took a day off work and ventured into The Cotswolds for a winter long weekend with my girlfriend.

The Cotswolds are a part of England not too far from London (just beyond Oxford) which have rolling hills and cute villages. Apart from the literally freezing cold, it made for a nice relaxing weekend away from the big smoke.

The weekend involved driving around the villages and going on country walks, and then warming up by the a fireplace in a pub.

The place we stayed is worth mentioning. The Feathered Nest Country Inn is a gastropub and B&B in a little village with views over the hills.  Great service, amazing food, large open fire and 5 star hotel quality!