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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
May 26, 2009 02:00 PM A trip north to Darlington, Tees Valley
Tomorrow, I am going north, to North Yorkshire. I have been invited to the passing out of one of my friends as a British Soldier. It is a great honour, and I could not refuse. The ceremony kicks off in the morning, and to get there on time, I need to travel on the day before. So, I booked myself to a hotel in Darlington, the largest nearby town. I have never been in that area to have a look around, although I once used the Darlington airport, called Tees Valley Airport, and I a little excited to visit the town. Then, I will be passing through some great historical places with grand and old monuments.
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May 22, 2009 02:00 PM Salzburg Album in the making
I have not had much chance to contribute to Globo recently, due to various reasons, but now would like to post a few pictures from Salzburg to create an album. I am therefore planning to post, what some members might consider unusually large, or worse - unacceptably large number of pictures. I do not want to annoy anyone. I just want to create this album, before it is too late and my monthly limited expires again. I am not getting upset if my pictures do not get rated (this is not a priority for me, when I post them). But I do hope the members will enjoy my new album ;)
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May 21, 2009 02:00 PM Brighton (GB) - day four (the last day)
I still cannot believe weather has been consistently great in Brighton, for the entire week. Yes, I have been working all these days, all day long, but in the late afternoons and in the evenings, there was some time to wander about and check the beach and the beach bars. I really do not want to leave. When I look at the pebbles and the surprisingly turquoise waters of the English Channel (aka La Manche), I am thinking it would be super to stay for the weekend, too. But I made plans in London already, and have head back home...
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May 20, 2009 02:00 PM Brighton (GB) - day three
Now, as I had a chance to go out (a lot!) in Brighton and taste its nightlife, I have changed my opinion about the city. Wow, I am not sure what it is, but I could comfortably state that Brighton's nightlife could comfortably compete with Liverpool's and even London's, depending on what wanted to do. The quality of the clubs, pubs and bars, as well as their value for money was phenomenal, but still not as good as the clientelle. Even if for 'window shopping' only, there was plenty to look at! ;)
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May 19, 2009 02:00 PM Brighton (GB) - day two
Weather in Brighton, one of England's prime seaside resorts (the fifth most visited city in England in all), is almost perfect. There is plenty of sunshine and the day temperature is very pleasant. If there was no wind, or at least if it was lighter, it would be perfect indeed. Some people impressed me with their courage to take a dip in the sea, as I am sure the water must have been terribly cold.
This week is also the Brighton Festival Week. Being locked in (not the P.Diddy's LOCKED IN Twitter movement!) on a conference, I do not have much chance to check on it. I know that there is a large tent pitched near the Royal Pavilion that is just a large beer garden. Nothing special about it.
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May 18, 2009 02:00 PM Brighton (GB) - day one
I am in Brighton on business. This is for the first time. I mean I had been in Brighton before (not long ago, actually), but never stayed overnight, and not had too much chance to go out. Now, I should have plenty of opportunity to check places more carefully, perhaps take some pictures, all depending on weather and schedules, but all look rather promising. Particularly weather.
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May 16, 2009 02:00 PM Lovely Salzburg on very sunny weather!
All clouds disappeared today and the views of the snow-capped Alps revealed themselves. After free buffet breakfast at the JUFA hotel, I quickly climbed the hill to take some pictures from the fortress, before the sun was going to get too harsh. The Alps looked great!
Then, I descended back to the old town and realised that it was going to be too hot for me in my chocolate leather jacket, so returned to the hotel, dropped it off and went on wandering around the town again. I did the same route like yesterday snapping places in the better lighting. Yesterday, I was lucky with the music festival and today, I was lucky with weather. The day was truly fantastic! So super in fact that I managed to burn my nose and forearms. Yes, I arrived completely unprepared for this kind of weather!!
I sat down at a few cafes and bars outside and enjoyed my weekend out. I drank my favourite beer (hefe weizen), probably too much and too quickly, so later I turned to Coke to quench my thirst first, and then a beer to enjoy. This worked very well.
I ended up at the Mirabell Palace and gardens and was again gobsmacked with the view all the way to the white castle on the hill. Already then, I could not wait for the nightfall to see the city panorama nicely illuminated.
I walked along the grassy banks of the Salzach river and watched how the Salzburgers fried their bodies. It was some sort of a grassy beach I guess, although there was no swimming in the river. The current was really strong, the river flowed much faster than a person could walk!
I stopped for a pizza on the Alter Markt and took my time. I went on discovering places to go out at night, and at sunset, I joined happy hours at a bar floating in the river. It was really nice, but they did not serve weiß beer!!
It got chilly at night, so I fetched my jacket and went to one of the footbridges to take a few night shots.
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May 15, 2009 02:00 PM First time in Salzburg, Austria!
I had to get up at 4am, after sleeping only for two hours, to catch my 06:30am flight to Salzburg. I was impressed how easy it was to get from the Salzburg airport to the centre - a €2 trolleybus departed from the front of the terminal and terminated at the main railway station, just a quick walk away from the old town. The city, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is lovely. The hilltop castle with its whitewashed walls and facade, dominated the city. Weather was a bit mixed and the clouds blocked the view of the Alps.
I was very lucky (hmm... that's what I thought initially, and on my third thought) to witness a street music festival, during which young musicians presented their skills. Genres varied from punk rock to jazz to swing to classical to blues to ... a few unrecognizables. But I was in a musical city and it felt appropriate for this event. Streets were packed and everyone seemed to enjoy the festival.
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May 13, 2009 02:00 PM Is China Airpass from Star Alliance a myth?
A few weeks ago, I got really excited about making a booking of the domestic flights within China for my holiday this summer. It now appears as though the reservation might have been bogus. I have been constantly on the waiting list for each domestic flight while plenty of seats have been available all this time. I called Lufthansa with whom I make the booking (Air China did not even respond to my initial request) but they were particularly unhelpful. I learnt that the reservation was going to automatically expire on 20 May and they were going to do nothing about it. In fact, the London office of Lufthansa claimed they could not help at all and that I had to call an office in Germany. They swiftly gave me a phone number, which was incorrect anyway. An automated message (only in German!) gave a correct number, but after spending 20 minutes on the line, I got nowhere. I called Air China European Centre (the London number did not work) and spoke to a couple of people to investigate. They did not know much about the China Airpass, but told me that the only class available for those flights at the time of my phonecall was 'Y', which is fully flexible economy. In comparison, the Airpass was in class 'L' with Shanghai Airlines and class 'H' with Air China and was cheaper by about £150. Anyway, I made a new booking with Air China but could not pay for the ticket, because of some utterly peculiar bureaucratic rules, and since this is class 'Y', I have until 15 July to pay for the ticket. In this case, I will wait until 20 May to see what happens with the mythical China Airpass.
If, eventually, I have to travel on the new booking, my itinerary will need to change slightly, but I will be able to visit all the same places.
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May 03, 2009 02:00 PM Antwerp (BE) and not Lille (FR)
The plan was to go for lunch and wander in Lille, but the problems on the train line diverted us to a destination in a complete opposite destination - Antwerp. Well, we had to make a decision what to do before we actually left Ghent, and since the train to Antwerp was imminent - that was it. Both of us had been to Antwerp on a few occasions before, but since it was Belgium's first city I had taken my friend three years go, we thought it would be good to reprise it a little. Weather was still rather unpredictable and it was quite chilly - the sun did not manage to peek from behind the clouds too often - so we did not linger too long. After browsing the shops a little, we sat down for some fried chicken, one of my friend's favourite dishes (just behind prawns, actually). Antwerp's magnificent central train station was covered in scaffolding, which was a pity, as I wanted to update my Antwerp photo library with some more recent shots. Nevermind. Uh, I noticed that the townhall, the grand building on the main square with many flags, was flying colours I had not seen before, including central and easter European states, like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic. I thought the townhall was only flying Belgian flags, but then I am not always right :)
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