One year – September 2015 part VIII
Picture postcard Coimbra…
From the side streets
To the main shopping areas
Coimbra – a mix of old and new…
Sunderland University wasn’t like this!
The view from that balcony
Same balcony, later that day
The sun goes down…
As Coimbra was mentioned as a ‘must see’ in guidebooks and on various travel forums, we had to go and see this university city for ourselves.
Trains and accommodation had been booked in advance, so all we had to do once we alighted at Coimbra A railway station was to find our guest house and then lunch.
The advice was to get a taxi from the station to the guest house. We didn’t.
We walked. With packs. In the heat of the day. And realised why the taxi may have been a good idea…
We didn’t get lost, but we did get disorientated as we made our way towards the area where our digs were located. Once found, our bags were stashed so we could get lunch, wander around and then go back and check in.
Cafetaria do Museu was our lunch spot. It’s next to the Science Museum and whilst there’s plenty of seating inside, we took to the terrace, scanned the menu, ordered, sat back to wait for our food to arrive and took a look at the view from the terrace.
Once lunch had come and gone, we wandered around as a way of getting our bearings as we’d decided that that was the best way to explore Coimbra.
It looked like it was newbie time at Coimbra’s University as smartly dressed students were leading more casually dressed people around the city so that they too could get their bearings.
We’d seen this in Lisbon on our first visit to Portugal back in 2013 and weren’t surprised, but it was a far cry from my days as fresher at University of Sunderland in 1994 when self and my new housemates familiarised ourselves with the centre of Sunderland by taking a leaf out of the local’s book – by going on a pub crawl…
But I digress. Coimbra city centre is fairly classy – no big name stores were spotted, but there were several more interesting locally owned places down avenues and alleyways that were spotted first and visited later in the week.
After a mid-afternoon cafe stop, it was back to the guest house to book in.
Casa Pombai is in the old town area near the University and had come with some good recommendations on booking.com and in guidebook sections devoted to Coimbra.
The small balcony near our room became a good spot to look out over the city, watch the sun rise and set, take photos or sit and read whilst one or other of us were having a siesta, shower or doing some clothes washing. Breakfast was a simple one with choices of bread rolls, cooked meat, cheese, cereal, fruit and coffee or juice.
What didn’t materialise was the flask of port mentioned in the Lonely Planet review of Casa Pombai. We knew other rooms had one, but ours? Nah…
The lady looking after Casa Pombai the night we booked in had mentioned one restaurant as being a good place to eat. As we’d seen mention of it, we gave it a try.
Our waiter was attentive, but he did seem rather nervous when Caroline ordered pork stew (I’d gone for pork escallopes).
Drinks arrived, as did the escallopes and the pork stew. This appeared to be going down well as Caroline was getting stuck into the bowl in front of her.
Then she uttered the immortal words “What’s that” as she lifted some meat out of the bowl on her fork. The conclusion we came to was that the slice of meat was a pig’s cheek and that it was a facial cheek, not a butt cheek…
Now we’d already eaten out at lunchtime so we passed on dessert, but did go for coffee and a complimentary glass of wine before tackling the route back to our beds at Casa Pombai.
And what a route it was – the evidence will be here in tomorrow’s posting!
Lazy sods…
Your starter for ten… every time!
Or you don’t find out where you can see sights like this… *
My biggest gripe about travel forums is the number of people making posts that are almost asking those on the forums to organise their trips for them.
It’s not just newbies either – some have their own blogs and even they’re asking whether someone has been to X and what they should go and see.
If someone has done a little bit of research then I’ll help them out by suggesting relevant guidebooks, websites or places and occasionally link to wisepacking as a means of further helping the poster.
If they haven’t hit the research trail then there’s a suggestion made to look up how many guidebooks are available about City X or Country Y and I also prompt the poster to look at the suggested itineraries printed in guidebooks that can be followed, adapted or ditched.
We live in a technological age and have information at our fingertips thanks to the Internet and search engines such as Yahoo. Bing and that really big one, there are still those who can’t be arsed to look things up for themselves.
And then there are those who have the cheek to post more questions about where to go, what to do and what to see in the adjoining country or countries on their tick list!
Some are trolls, some are lazy and others are just thick as whatever…
Although I’ve been heading off for years, there is one resource that I use first before I even think of turning to the Internet and websites or search engines.
Guidebooks, printed guidebooks.
The photo at the top of this post shows a few of the books in our collection. Yes, there are two or more editions of particular country guides on that shot and the eagle-eyed may also spot that there’s some countries that I have both the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet variations on a country theme.
We believe in due diligence and research before we head off, even when we are going to mostly wing it whilst on our travels. There are places or items in RG‘s that don’t appear in the equivalent LP guide and vice versa. The latest edition of one may have been released after the latest edition of the other and may therefore be more up to date.
Once Caroline and I have read both books, we’ll hit the Internet to check out latest costings, availabilities and opening times or (as a last resort) post questions on forums.
If memory serves me right, the last question I asked on a forum was about the date of the General Election in Portugal.
The reason? We’d been caught up in demos in Lisbon before…
Lisbon city centre, September 2013
My question was answered promptly and accurately – the election was the week after we were due to fly home!
Rant over!
Aveiro, Portugal is the answer to the * by the way…
One year – July 2015 IV
Does my flag look big on this?
Friday in Lisbon and the flags were flying as we ventured on foot in search of Museu Calouste Gulbenkian and Centro Arte Moderna. We negotiated Parque Eduardo VII with ease and having found the viewpoint seen above, we were confident that we were on the right track.
Or so we thought. A nearby map directed us on our way and after about half an hour, we decided that yes, that was the wrong way, so we retraced our steps, cooled off with a couple of glasses of a very fine mint flavoured iced drink and found the right way to the museum and art gallery.
Same flag, different view…
Yes, I know what I said yesterday about museums and galleries, but having read up on both places, I reckoned that even I could find something of interest in one or both sites, especially as there’s a connection between Museu Calouste Gulbenkian and my home city of Durham here in the U.K.
The prospect of seeing fine Oriental and Western art was intriguing, but in the end I ended up finding a seat as Caroline made her way around the apparent one-way system in the museum. Was I disappointed by the items on display? Not really, it was just that there was so much of it and I found myself slowly, but surely losing interest in what was laid out before me…
As my day bag had been left in the cloak room, my Kindle wasn’t on me so I ended up pondering some ideas for our next big trip. Yes, it was back to Portugal in the last couple of weeks of September 2015, but it was probably going to be a road trip with Porto and Coimbra as two of the stopping off points as we made our way around part of Northern Portugal.
Once reunited, we had a rather decent lunch in the cafe at Museu Calouste Gulbenkian before we made our way over to Centro Arte Moderna. Most of the artwork here is by Portuguese artists, but as the guidebooks also promised the potential to view works by Hockney and Gormley, I was game for a good look around.
One or two pieces caught my attention, but that was about it. I did take in every part of the viewing spaces and looked at the items on display, but it was no use. There didn’t appear to be any kind of connection forming and if there were works by either Hockney or Gormley on display then I well and truly missed them!
Coffee and cake in the cafe partly made up for the disappointment, as did the wander around the gardens outside.
Two of life’s great mysteries were also pondered – why were the aircraft heading into Lisbon Airport always flying so low over this part of the city and what were the chances of a frozen crapsicle hitting something or someone if it left the confines of an aircraft’s toilet (I thank the writers of CSI New York for putting that thought into my head by the way!).
Given that we’d had trouble finding our way there, we decided on a different strategy for the way back to Lisbon Dreams. A visit to the major department store wasn’t wonderful and whilst there was a multiplex cinema downstairs, there was nothing showing that we fancied. So it was time to hit the Metro once more to head into Lisbon centre to find some coffee and have a siesta.
Our meal for the night was another vegetarian one. Not at Terra this time, but in the interesting surroundings of Os Tibetanos, part of a Buddhism school in the Rato area.
We didn’t have a booking, but that didn’t matter, even though the restaurant was rather busy. We’d both had meat courses as part of our lunchtime meal, so going veggie wasn’t a problem. Misplacing the receipt means that I can’t let you know what our menu choices were, but I do recall that the two of us ate well, had desserts and good coffee to round off the night…
And so to Saturday and our final full day in Lisbon.
We’d not seen much in the way of beaches on this trip, so we decided to get the train from Lisbon to Estoril, walk from Estoril to Cascais and then get the train back to Lisbon from Cascais.
Sounds easy and it was. The Viva Viagem cards worked a treat at Cais do Sodre station and passed the ticket inspector’s examination too (always a good sign) and it wasn’t that long before we reached Estoril.
Now I know Estoril as being the former home of the Portuguese Grand Prix from my days as a fan of Formula 1, but it’s got a literary connection too.
Writers Graham Greene and Ian Fleming were stationed in Estoril during World War II. The latter apparently spent time observing double agents frequenting the local casino in Estoril and this gave him an idea to write a book – Casino Royale. The rest is history…
The sign says it all!
The walk from Estoril to Cascais isn’t a long one and easily done, even on hot summer Saturdays when it’s not just mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the midday sun.
Factor 50 proved useful once more, as did the bar selling cold Coke Zero colas and equally welcome Magnum ice creams. A taste of home? Almost in both cases.
The beaches were starting to get busy as we approached Cascais, but some were already showering themselves and their rather disgruntled Yorkshire Terrier as a means of flushing the salt water away and freshening up before heading home.
On reaching Cascais, we wandered for a while before we noticed a ceremony taking place involving quite a few people in different outfits and gowns in the main square. It looked like a university graduation ceremony, but it was in fact a ceremony to celebrate the local wine producers and their respective products.
Mmm… wine…
The gentleman who informed us of the meaning behind the ceremony not only allowed us to sample a couple of different wines, but he also gave is a small insight into the Portuguese wine industry.
Although we’d sampled a couple of diffferent wines in the two visits we’d had to Portugal at that time, our main introduction to the country’s wine had come in the 1970’s thanks to the wine that ended up as a major source of home made table lamps amongst certain consumers of the product at that time – Mateus Rose…
Although we’d looked at menus at both an Irish pub and a local curry house, Jardim de Frangos came up with quite a decent piri piri chicken lunch and a bottle or so of beer to wash it down with.
At the time I was wearing a decent pair of Transitions lensed spectacles that had gone dark thanks to the strong sunlight, but that didn’t stop a street hawker who came inside the dining area from offering to sell me a pair of cheap sunglasses.
The waiters chased him away, but my somewhat direct comments afterwards appeared to amuse the two German ladies sitting at an adjacent table…
With the heat still rising, we took a look around a small festival in an adjacent park before heading back to the station for the train back to Lisbon. Packing the bags didn’t take long and neither did the discussion concerning where we were going to eat that night.
We’d discovered Ristorante da Vinci on our first trip to Lisbon. It’s not in the guidebooks as far as I’m aware, but it’s always been busy whenever we’ve either eaten there or walked past at any time of the day.
The clientele is also usually a good mix of locals and tourists from both sides of the Atlantic and whilst most are anonymous, at least one Hollywood actor has been spotted in there when Caroline and I have been customers.
Pizza for me, pasta for Caroline, desserts and either beer or wine then coffee usually round off the meal quite nicely. This was our second meal there, but since that night, we’ve made two return visits as Lisbon ended up being our in and out point on our road trip in September 2015…
After checking out of Lisbon Dreams on Sunday morning, our Viva Viagem cards saved us money once more as we used the Metro rather than a taxi to get us to the airport.
When we’d made the same journey in September 2013, it was on the night before our flight home as we ended up sleeping in the Lisbon Airport terminal as we couldn’t find a place to stay for that last night. Not a mistake we were going to make twice!
The Portuguese Way of St. James
One of the joys of having a public holiday here in the UK yesterday was that I actually got to read my email notifications and pertinent links to any websites as they came in on the iPad rather than having to wait until I returned home or (like today) wait for the noise to die down in order to concentrate – there’s a tiler working upstairs for the next few days!
I’ve subscribed to newsletters from Julie Dawn Fox‘s website for a while now as there’s always plenty of information coming my way in said newsletters about one of our favourite countries – Portugal.
Julie is a British expat who lives in Portugal who explores, photographs and writes about the country on a regular basis.
Apart from her website, Julie is also the author of a couple of useful books for travellers to Portugal – Money Saving Tips for Travel In Portugal and Best In Porto (both available via Amazon). In addition Julie has also contributed to DK’s Eyewitness Travel Portugal guidebook.
One of Julie‘s recent ventures has been walking the Way of St. James in Portugal, a 200km walk from Barcelos in Northern Portugal to Santiago da Compostela in Spain.
There’s plenty on Julie‘s site about the prep work, an initial encounter with the Way of St. James and the full walk, but as ever, it was the piece on packing for the venture that caught my attention, reeled me in and ensured that I want to find out more about the walk.
Julie‘s packing list caught my attention because it was a comprehensive one that covered just about everything that you would need to know, pack and carry for a walking weekend or a longer venture such as the Way of St. James.
Clothing, footwear, pack, drinks systems, first aid and the benefits of using two walking poles rather than one are all covered along with blister prevention, sunscreens plus sit mats, guidebooks, phones, cameras, torches and the use of sandals or flips flops to pad around in after a day in boots or approach shoes.
And the link to that packing list (plus access to the rest of Julie‘s site).
Here it is…
http://juliedawnfox.com/2016/05/30/pack-way-saint-james/
Enjoy!
A roof over your head…
A Portuguese Pousada…
Out of all of the places Caroline and I have stayed in over the last year, this is the one that ticked all the right boxes, even though it’s several notches above our usual choice of accommodation.
Pousada do Convento da Graca is a luxury hotel in Tavira on the Algarve at a price that didn’t break the bank thanks to the over-55’s rates available via the Pousada chain’s own website and the likes of Expedia (which is where we booked our week long stay plus Monarch flights from the UK and private transfers from and to Faro Airport.
Our room was a generous size with a luxurious bathroom and a good buffet breakfast was part of the deal. Pousada do Convento da Graca is a converted convent complete with church and cloisters that is a few minutes walk away from Tavira‘s centre and bus station in one direction and the railway station and Lidl in the other direction.
Apart from breakfast, we ate out for both lunches and evening meals (and saved a reasonable amount in doing so – eating in was around €65 for two without wine or beers whilst our last night’s meal in a local restaurant cost €40 for two mains, two desserts, two coffees, a bottle of wine and a bottle of sparkling water.
Old school…
Redworth Hall Hotel near Darlington here in the UK was an independent school that I used to pass twice a day when I went to and from work in Darlington back in the 1970’s.
Caroline and I stayed there three years ago, but decided to check in again last November as part of a break in the North East.
Large rooms and big, comfortable beds are the order of the day, as are good breakfasts and some fine in-house catering (they even made sure that their take on a good burger came with a decent regular bun as requested rather than a Brioche bun).
http://www.thehotelcollection.co.uk/hotels/redworth-hall-hotel-durham
Lisbon dreams…
Yes, it’s back to Portugal time! Lisbon Dreams Guest House has a hostel vibe to it, but that is a good thing.
There’s double rooms with shared bathrooms plus very luxurious bathrobes to wander from your room to the bathroom and back without upsetting fellow residents. Breakfast is a simple affair whilst evening meals can either be taken in one of Lisbon‘s many eating places or prepared in the Lisbon Dreams kitchen – the Guest House is situated above a mini-market with a good choice of meat, fruit and bread which is a boon for self caterers.
Lisbon Dreams is in the Rato area of the city, but it’s a quiet area around twenty minutes walk from Rossio Station and ten minutes from Principe Real‘s bars and eating places. This isn’t a bad thing though, especially if you’ve been eating out as the portions can be rather generous at times…
http://www.lisbondreamsguesthouse.com
Chilled hostel.
It only seems as though we were at Hamilton Lodge in Fishguard last week and there’s a good reason for that – we were!
For five nights in the double ensuite room (others with shared facilities are available). Light breakfasts are provided, there are several pubs and takeaways in the town centre (the nearest is a Chinese immediately opposite the hostel) and there’s Q and Jet.
Q is the laid back owner of Hamilton Lodge and Jet is a black labrador who tends to get spoiled rotten by those staying in the hostel… like us! Q has put together a comfortable environment and one that’s great to relax in either indoors or outdoors in the garden at the back of the hostel.
There’s a good kitchen to prepare meals in with hobs, oven, microwave and toaster (there’s a Co-op, a Costcutter and Tesco Express to get supplies from, along with several independent retailers too), that garden to relax and unwind in, wifi and TV’s in each room too.
We will return. Oh yes, we will return!
And I’ll be writing more about Hamilton Lodge in the not-too-distant future.
http://www.hamiltonbackpackers.co.uk
Guess where?
Caroline and I have stayed in three proper hostels in Portugal – one H.I. affiliated in Lagos and two independently run hostels in Porto and Aveiro respectively.
Aveiro Rossio Hostel is our choice out of the three as it’s in the centre of Aveiro (but a long walk from the railway station) and therefore near the gondolas on the canal and several bars, cafes and other eating places in the centre.
Like Hamilton House, there’s a chilled atmosphere, light breakfast and a kitchen to use at other times. The double ensuite room was simply furnished and comfortable whilst the hostel lounge had an interesting mix of furniture and artwork around the room.
Any problems? Only with the door code to get into the main entrance as the keypad was playing up, something that didn’t worry us as we were coming and going at sensible hours whilst staff were in attendance and not coming back in the wee small hours.
After two nights, it was time to move on to Coimbra for three nights and boy, did we wish that we could have taken Aveiro Rossio Hostel with us (and on so many different levels too)!
http://www.aveirorossiohostel.com
And just for the record, all of the accommodation mentioned was paid for by ourselves!
All will be mentioned again in the One Year series of posts that’s coming soon!
Should it stay or should it go now?
No, I’m not referring to the UK‘s vote on June 23rd as to whether we stay in the EU or get the flock out of there… *
It’s a comment as to whether I take the Apple iPad Mini 2 that I bought a few months ago along when Caroline and I go travelling.
The sharp eyed may have noticed that there were no references to the iPad in the pieces I posted last week regarding packing for our recent visit to Tavira.
Yes, it was used the day before we headed off, but after the last emails and a look at the weather forecasts, the iPad was switched off and stayed at home.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the iPad and I’ve found it useful for checking emails, web browsing, watching programmes on BBC iPlayer and reading via the Kindle app, but I didn’t feel that it was going to be necessary to pack and use it whilst in Portugal.
There are times when it comes in very useful, especially when using it to log into newspaper websites that I can’t always access on the desktop.
Although the iPad has an adblocker installed, I can still read newspaper copy on the iPad without the need to look at anything up to 45 ads appearing…
One thing that is noticeable is the battery life. It may not use that much power when watching something like an edition of Michael Wood‘s recent series on China, but if you’re spending a bit of time on the Internet at different times of the day doing some research, then the battery does run down that little bit faster.
At the moment, I’m charging the iPad up on average about once every two days, which is fine by me as it can be on the desk charging from the mains charger whilst I’m doing stuff on the desktop.
On a different note, there are also recollections of a couple of recent meals out when several were constantly checking their smartphones or indeed checking stuff on their iPads rather than talking to their fellow diners…
Now this wasn’t just something that was spotted here in deepest Yorkshire.
It was also spotted in Tavira as people checked their phones by the pool to find out what TA had to say about a restaurant they were thinking of dining in, check their emails and other assorted goings on via their phones.
Although a couple of individuals were using iPads or laptops in the cloisters of the Pousada, one couple had his and hers tablets that they were using at the breakfast table in the dining room rather than talking to each other.
Were they techie obsessed twenty or thirty somethings? Nope, they were silver surfers!
I’m still not ruling out taking the iPad with me when we head off somewhere, but the booking of our next trip just proved that you don’t necessarily need to have one when you’re researching a potential destination and accommodation in said destination.
I’ve been using the iPad to track prices on four different websites for a potential visit to the Greek Islands. The prices were right, the flight times were right in some cases and the parking fees at Manchester Airport could be lived with. I’d even got a trio of brochures to do some cross-referencing with as I did the surfing…
But then it happened. The iPad needed a charge so I plugged it in and then remembered a book that I’d leafed through a few times since it arrived last year – the 2015 paper edition of The Independent Hostel Guide.
Its proved useful in the past and it came up trumps once more. A hostel somewhere in England that offered B&B accommodation at a reasonable price in an area that I know quite well, even though it’s 15 years since I was last there and over 20 years since I took groups there for three or four day backpacking trips.
Old technology ruled as I used a phone to make the booking and pay the deposit and the only time that ‘new’ technology got involved was when I received the confirmation email yesterday and when I checked the bank a few hours ago.
So on this occasion it was a case of “Apps? Where we’re going, we don’t need apps!”.
I used the paper copy of the Independent Hostel Guide – http://www.independenthostels.co.uk
And that * above? I’m very happy to maintain the status quo and keep on rocking all over the world!
And Europe too…
Forward planning II…
Well, Forward Planning I got a few people going!
The spike in traffic yesterday was amazing after I’d posted a link to it in a forum posting…
So here’s Forward Planning II, which isn’t as contentious, but it should give some people food for thought.
Although there are those who do admirable amounts of research into prospective trips, there are those who over plan everything.
They try to cram in as much as possible into a short space of time and expect you to concur with their every move.
Sadly that isn’t always the case…
Putting a schedule together where there’s a whole host of destinations, things to see, things to do and places to eat at always seems a bit pointless.
I’ve seen itineraries posted that haven’t any rest days or have a list of things that’s going to require several days rushing around after downing fifteen double espressos or at least two boxes of caffeine tablets (neither are recommended by the way – one to two double espressos per day is enough for me and I’ve not knowingly taken caffeine tablets).
Yes, the posters aspire to doing everything on the list, but how many end up spoiling their collective experiences by going down that route? Virtually all of the best trips I/we have done have had a bit of planning about them, but not everything has been planned to the nth degree on these ventures.
Outward and return travel has been booked, airport car parking when needed plus first and last nights or the full trip’s accommodation and a bit of in-country travel on some occasions, but there’s always been some leeway to have days off, change plans or just drop stuff when the weather turns nastier than whatever was in the wood shed*
Mistakes can be made during the planning stages – we ended up in one Norwegian town for a couple of nights three years ago that we should have given a miss to, but we made the most of it.
We ended up walking to a nearby village, had a very good lunch, wandered around a fort and then spent time by the fjord listening to Roxette’s sound check in advance of their nearby open air show that evening.
Once back at our digs, we made a meal from the stuff we’d bought at the local supermarket and then whiled away the evening in a park by the same fjord – heading into the nearby pub for a couple of bevvies wasn’t an option as I’d already paid the equivalent of £8 for a beer that cost £1.68 at home earlier in the day!
Our last trip to Portugal had five main ports of call – the next one will have three-four depending on whether we decide explore the Douro valley or leave that for another visit. A rough outline has been made of where we want to go in Portugal, but apart from the flights and the first nights there, nothing else is going to be booked so we can have total flexibility.
Last year’s trip to Suffolk had just two base camps. One at the beginning of the week and another near the end. We’d sussed out which campsites to use in advance, but hadn’t booked them, even though it was high season.
The highlighter pen had been used in a paper copy of Lonely Planet’s Great Britain guide, but that was it as far as the other planning went. Decisions were made on the day as to where we were going to go and what we wanted to see and even these changed as there was a problem with the car and then rain clouds gathered and dumped their load on us , the car and the tent!
So, is indecision the key to flexibility? Could be!
Research can be done and notes made, but if you have some flexibility in your schedule, then there’s always room for days in magical places that you find en-route, brief encounters of different kinds or days off. Or to find ways and means of combatting unexpected strikes, any food induced quick-steps or bookings that have gone astray…
And besides, aren’t you supposed to be on holiday or travelling to escape from the stresses of commuting, work schedules, bosses who are pains in the neck (or other parts of the anatomy!) and everything else that goes with the 9-5.
Leave the carefully prepared holiday spreadsheet behind and enjoy the break (no I couldn’t believe that people planned their holidays on spreadsheets either until I read a few Kindle books recently!).
And remember, it’s your holiday or trip you’re on and you should do what you please and like…
Our next ones aren’t set in stone – we have some dates in mind and some destinations too, but as we’ve made tentative plans before and then dumped them at three days notice to jet off somewhere else, we’ll see what’s out there!
* Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
Forward planning…
Yes, I touched upon this last week and I think that I got away with it!
For more years than I care to remember (well, about 40 actually), I’ve come up with ideas, done the research and then headed off into the big wide yonder to see what’s out there.
Initially it was here in the UK, but as the years progressed, so did the scope of the travelling.
Flights were researched and booked, accommodation found and booked, and in-country travel researched and not booked until I got into the country in question.
In all that time, there was only one real glitch – a request for a room for two in an independent hostel on a farm in Iceland thirty years ago was misinterpreted as being a booking for rides on two Icelandic ponies. Lost in translation? Oh yes, but we still got the room and my partner at the time was a keen rider, so she got a free ride on an Icelandic pony whilst I unpacked and put the kettle on for a coffee.
All this was done in the days before the advent of the Internet and in the days before I discovered either Lonely Planet or Rough Guide books. Phone calls were made or letters were written to tourist board offices in London and an envelope arrived a few days later with a map, accommodation guides and train & bus timetables. Simples!
When I did discover Lonely Planet and Rough Guides, things were a little easier.
Yes, some information became out of date, but planning became easier,
I had phone numbers to hand to do any bookings and I had some knowledge of what to do, what to see and where to go without having to draw up a rigorous agenda that had no gaps and had to be followed without any deviation, pauses, repetition or rethinks.
Although I was an early adopter and had a personal computer in the 1980s, plus a mobile phone and Internet access in the mid-1990s, I still buy and use paper guide books as the first port of call when it comes to planning and making travel arrangements.
Notes are made onto a paper notebook, pages in the guide books are flagged up by putting Post It notes at the top corner of the relevant pages and then a fluorescent highlighter pen is used to indicate any potentially interesting places, attractions, cafes, beds for the night and travel methods.
Once this is done in one guide book, the same exercise is repeated in a rival publishing company’s product. The results from the guide books are then compared, lists made on that paper notebook and it’s only at that point does the Internet come into play.
The latest travel times and costs are checked, accommodation availability is sussed out for at least the first and last nights of the trip and any pertinent queries made on forums such as Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Forum.
Phone calls are now kept to a minimum, but the aim is the same as it always was – find out the information, do the basics and wing the rest or simply roll the dice…
Does it work? Yes, it does.
We’ve not been stranded anywhere as yet and whilst we’ve had to sleep in an airport two or three times, it’s usually because we’ve either got there earlier than we thought we might do or we’ve decided to have a blow out meal on the last night.
Good meal or an early night as you have to be at the airport at 5am? Good meal every time!
There are some people though who don’t do their research before posting on forums and there’s been a few recently who have been getting short shrift from regular forum users for not doing their own homework.
Some expect regulars to do everything for them, including making the decision about the country they should go to, what town to go to, how to get there, where to stay, what to eat, what bag to take with them etc. etc. etc. Even when there’s stickies telling them what to do before they post what can, in some cases, be stupid questions.
Needless to say, regulars are getting somewhat brassed off at such postings and are getting rather blunt by telling those asking the questions to go away and get a guide book first, read it and make their own minds up as to what they want to see/do/visit/stay and all of the other variations on a theme before posting more pertinent questions on the forums.
And yes, I’m one of the blunt ones!
I confess, especially when someone asks that same question twice in a few days over what bag he should get or whether there’s a good place to go dancing or whether they should go to Country X, Y or Z?
There’s also those who want to use apps for everything (including one person who mentioned an app to communicate with people staying in the same hostel!) or who don’t realise that connectivity for smartphones or tablets may not be available everywhere they are.
Which is the cue for a funny to round this piece off…
What do you call a smartphone or a tablet with a flat battery or no connectivity?
A paperweight! (or a useless piece of **** depending on your demeanour or viewpoint!).
wisepacking 
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