Independent travel
Independent travel gives you the freedom to move on when you are ready and not tied to a single hotel. Its fun fending for yourself and finding accommodation when you arrive at a new destination. It enables you to travel off the beaten track and away from the crowds, it is a liberating kind of travel. Mingling with the locals, eating their food, learning about their culture is an important part of travel. Travelling independently ensures that your money goes directly into the local economy and not to national or international businesses. The easiest way to experience independent travel is in Greek Islands where it is easy to travel between Islands
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San Francisco #1
Where do we begin, to describe this exciting, unique city. What makes San Francisco what it is? Is it those incredibly steep streets which look like a tarmac roller coaster, is it the streetcars and cable cars we all associate with the views? Is it THAT bridge, is it THAT prison on its isolated island? Is it the amazing things you can do (and we did) here, is it the bars that just make you want to grab a stool and try all the beers? Chinatown? North Beach? Pier 39? Restaurants at the waterfront? Crazy shit like Lombard Street or Haight Ashbury? Or even the way the fog wraps itself…
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Going Large: From Monterey to San Francisco
A few miles south of Monterey across the peninsula lies the celebrated, Clint Eastwood-famed town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, nestling amongst the tall pines and cypress trees and looking out across the Pacific. There’s no mistaking, even at first glance, that this is one seriously wealthy town, as exquisite and well presented as it is possible to imagine. Almost too perfect. The pristine, gleaming main street slopes downhill through the trees to an immaculate white sand beach where the Pacific rollers roar and rumble; on its leafy streets Carmel must surely set a world record for the number of art galleries per square mile. Every garden seems manicured and well stocked, every…
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Along Route 1: Morro Bay To Monterey
One of our last conversations in Morro Bay is in The Libertine bar, with two guys who are driving Route 1 north to south, the opposite way to us, who tell us the fog has been so consistent that they haven’t seen much of the Pacific all the way from San Francisco. So we say goodbye to Claudia and farewell to Morro Bay hoping that we don’t have the same experience. Unfortunately, for the most part we do – what we hoped would be a spectacular drive up the Pacific Highway (Route 1) sees the coast obscured by fog for well over half the journey once we are beyond Cambria,…
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The Pacific Coast: 3 Days In Morro Bay
“My name is Claudia, I live here”, says the elderly, stooping lady, “I’ll show you to your room”, and leads us into a room which looks rather like an attempt to recreate an English country house, with deep pile carpet, fussy wooden furniture and a bed which needs a step ladder to climb into. Michaela says she’s back in Auntie Marjorie’s house. All I can think of is an English comedy show, The League Of Gentlemen – “this is a local hotel for local people”. It’s clean and it’s very welcoming but we’re in 1950s England rather than the thrust of modern America: we have to stifle our laughter as…
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Giant Trees & Changing Weather: Acton-Sequoia-Morro Bay
So crystal clear is the light around Acton that the surrounding mountains are frequently cast into sharp detail, so clearly defined as to appear, at times, almost one dimensional. Morning light brings a shadowy dapple to the contours, evening sunsets swathe the mountainsides in a pinkish tinge; in between those times the bright sunlight brings a majesty to the whole scene. There is something very special about it. But our time in Acton is up and it’s goodbye to the mountains and canyons and it’s goodbye for now to my daughter Lindsay – opportunities to be with loved ones who live so far away are precious and it has been…
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Before The Road Trip Begins: Early Days In California
With a four week full on tour of California ahead of us, our first few days here feel something like a warm up exercise before the green light goes on and we’re away on the tour. Shorter but varied walks, some steep climbs and a measure of acclimatisation have been in order, though not without some surprises along the way – never mind the whole of California, there is plenty of variety in LA County, it seems. Our first base before we commence our road trip is my daughter Lindsay’s home in Acton, some 47 miles north of Los Angeles – although in truth we are a couple of miles…
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Breaking News And Lucky Breaks
We seem to have a very happy knack of getting lucky and of things just falling into place for us. And so it was yesterday on Friday June 10th. As Michaela dozes after a lengthy walk along Herne Bay seafront and I research California and Mexico whilst half watching the cricket on TV, a comment lands on our blog which makes me do a double take. It’s a “breaking news” item from our fellow travel bloggers at mochatruffalo https://fired47.com/author/mochatruffalo/ with the news from CNN that the US Government is about to drop the need for a negative COVID test. Over the next few hours, several helpful and thoughtful people – friends, family…
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Let’s Go To San Francisco
Strangely enough, USA was never really on our radar and didn’t feature at all on the travel wish list we initially drew up as we approached retirement, despite being on just about everybody else’s wish list and having just about everything to offer travellers. I had been to New York previously but until calling in to see my daughter in LA earlier this year, Michaela hadn’t visited the States at all. Our five days in and around LA started us thinking about a California road trip though, plus of course I want to see my daughter Lindsay again. Then the more we started to think about it… So now here…
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Djerba: Rich Jewish History & The Riches Of Street Art
The island of Djerba has a unique and fascinating history of huge significance for those of Jewish faith. Legend has it that when Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the Temple Of Solomon during the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC, the fleeing high priests took with them sections of the temple, settled on Djerba and used the remnants to commence construction of a synagogue on the island. Legend or fact? Story or history? DNA testing of the modern day community has revealed a high level of Kohanim lineage – direct descendants of the early high priests, so the story may well be founded on truth. The Jewish community on Djerba has survived and…
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To The Last Place…On To Djerba Island
“Can I ask you something personal?”, he says from behind his camel dinner, in that way that only an American would just five minutes after introductions, “Do you think the guy who runs our hotel is kinda rude?” Well no, actually, he’s been fine, but, as far as Dennis and his cousin Bonnie are concerned, our maitre d’ seems to have failed to have made a connection. As it turns out, Dennis and Bonnie had spotted something that we hadn’t. In the way that Americans do. Because let’s fast forward now to our departure date, when immediately after breakfast a maid bursts into our room without knocking on the door,…
