Off-The-Grid Travel

Recently, the New York Times ran a story about five neuroscientists who took a  trip to the Glenn Canyon National Recreation area in Utah with the goal of studying how the heavy use of digital services and other technology changes how we think and behave. At the end of the trip, all five scientists were singing the praises of Off-the-Grid Travel.

Great premise, I thought. Off-the-Grid travel just might be the next big thing. It’s exotic, exclusive, difficult to achieve. It won’t be long before Abercrombie & Kent will be offering Off-the-Grid safaris. I should do something about this for No Crowds.

Two days later, I am in Hertfordshire, what Wikipedia calls “a non-metropolitan county in the East region of England”. Hardly the wilds of Utah, but for a committed London girl, a great place to perform her first  experiment with Off-the-Grid Travel.

My ground rules were simple:

1)   Leave electronic devices at home

2)   Drop off daughter at Lacrosse Camp in Hertforshire at 9:00 to be picked up at 4:00

3)   Find something to do for 6 hours

And here’s the thing, without devices or any forward planning, I had an absolutely splendid time for the next 3 days.

On day one, I took a walk and stumbled on Rothamsted Research, a huge agricultural research center that is also the oldest agricultural research station in the world where scientists have been tracking environmental changes over the last 150 years. The center includes a beautiful 17^th century manor house that is used to house the scientists and students.

On day two, I ended up at the home of the playwright George Bernard Shaw in the tiny village of Ayot St Lawrence. Run by the National Trust, Shaw’s Corner  (pictured above) is a great time warp. Much of his books and papers are there, including his Oscar for My Fair Lady. About that he had this to say. “I won’t say I’m insulted because no doubt they meant well, but I don’t work for competitions.” Who knew?

On day three, I pulled out all the stops and followed a sign to Hatfield House. For the last 400 years, the estate has been the home of the Cecils, one of England’s foremost political families. It’s a grand Jacobean place filled with inspiring stories and objects and one of the finest houses I have ever visited.

For three days, just like the neuroscientists in Utah, I wandered around and discovered things. It was fun. I paid attention to what I was doing. Twitter, Facebook and No Crowds did fine without me and I without them.

Off-the-Grid Travel. It really could be the next big thing.

Great Fakes?

We are off to Cadaques in Spain made famous by Salvador Dali. We’re going to the real one.  Not the official recreation that is being built in China for holidaymakers looking for a 'taste’ of Europe and not the unofficial real estate development, Cadaques Caribe, a reconstruction in the Dominican Republic.

“How surreal” I thought when I read about all those fake Cadaqueses in the Guardian newspaper but how fitting.  As one of the most forged artists in the world, aided by the habit of signing and selling off blank sheets of paper, Dali would most likely have enjoyed the whole thing. But it does raise an interesting question about authentic versus fake experiences, and whether we should or can embrace 'the real deal'.

On one end of the spectrum is Las Vegas. According to the website Without Baggage, it’s the fakest place on earth with a fake Rome, Venice, Paris and even a fake Treasure Island – a fake of a fake. OK, Las Vegas is an obvious and in some ways funny if not a bit ridiculous example but what about Colonial Williamsburg. I LOVE Williamsburg and it too is a complete reconstruction, perhaps a worthier reconstruction, but a fake just the same. 

So what makes a travel experience authentic? A trickier question than it first appears. Mark Jones a travel writer and frequent contributor on the BA Highlife website answers it this way:

“My definition is this: authentic places are those which are comfortable in their own skin. An authentic travel experience is when you get under the skin of that place. An authentic tourist is someone who is changed by a place and doesn’t seek to change it. Let’s celebrate them.”

A pretty good definition. You can read the entire article here and check out BA Highlife’s list of the 50 most authentic places on earth here.

The No Crowds definition, which borrows heavily from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart regarding obscenity, is this:

Authentic? I know it when I see it, and the recreation of Cadaques on the coast of main land China is definitely not that.

So what’s your definition?

Will Travel Make You Happier?

The business section of the New York Times ran a major story on consumption and happiness this weekend.  To sum up the findings of a number of prominent psychologists quoted in the article, spending on an experience provides more lasting happiness than spending on stuff.

According to Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor at the University of California, Riverside with a grant from the US National Institute of Mental Health to study the possibility of permanently increasing happiness, spending on travel experiences is a happiness ‘best buy’. She claims that travel provides longer-lasting happiness because unlike a new jacket or a TV, it cannot be consumed in one go. Travel enhances social relations.  It creates memories that can be savored. Most importantly, Lyubomirsky argues, we edit those memories to put a positive spin on the past. “That trip to Rome during which you waited in endless lines, broke your camera and argued with your spouse will typically be airbrushed with rosy recollection.”

I’m not so convinced about the ‘rosy recollection’ part, I remember a lot of terrible trips very vividly, but I am sold on the idea that travel experiences create the best emotional bang for your dollar – or pound, euro or whatever. I’m thinking, in fact, about this year’s summer trip to North Carolina. I’ve been back in London for almost a week, but I am still happier than when I left. Why? Because I am emotionally satisfied. It’s not so much what we did in North Carolina. In fact, we do the same things every year. We eat barbeque, go to the beach, play tennis and visit Chapel Hill. The reason I am emotionally satisfied is the simple but invaluable pleasure of doing those things with the same people every year, a collection of friends and relations with whom I hope to be forever connected. Whatever it cost to get to North Carolina this summer was money well spent and a much better buy than the new chairs I was considering. I think the New York Times is right. Spending on experiences, particularly travel experiences, does make you happier. 

Travel Advice for the Class of 2010 - and their parents

When my son graduated from business school in 2008 with plans to travel around the world and then find a job, I gave him sound advice.

“Son, we’re heading in to a really bad recession. You have only experienced boom markets. You have no idea what is about to happen. Under no circumstances should you take off now and see the world. Times are too tough. Why put all your hard work at risk. Trust me.”

And his reply? “Thanks, Mom. See you in 6 months.”

The conclusion to this story is instructive.  The young man in question went around the world, had countless amazing experiences, came back, struggled for a short while and then got himself an excellent job

So here is my top travel tip for members of the Class of 2010.  

Ignore your well-intended relatives and their advice as well as your own worries about earning a living. Take that trip. Go walkabout. Go (deeper) in to debt if you must. You have the rest of your life to pay it off. I don’t think it makes a huge difference where you go. Just go.

Now if you are a parent of a member of the Class of 2010, and you have bought into the idea that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your graduate, then here are some suggestions for a graduation present that may be imprudent but will never be forgotten.

A train ticket on either the 6,000 mile Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Beijing or the Ghan in Australia  - 2,980 miles in 54 hours from Adelaide to Darwin

A trip with either Global Volunteers – a well established organization offering the opportunity to live with locals and work on service programs or Relief Riders International providing humanitarian, medical and educational missions on horseback

A copy of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, a budget of $3,000 - $5,000 and 5 – 7 months to hike the 2,000 mile Appalachian Trail

For far less money and time, tackle the 71 mile Apolobamba Trek in Bolivia –  part of the ancient road network of the Inca, without crowds, where less than $40 a day will get you a guide, a burro and accommodation and transport to and from La Paz

And I add this last suggestion just to make every mother’s blood run cold – a copy of Patrick Symmes’, Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend – a travelogue that recreates Che’s eight month motorcycle ride through South America - and how about a nice BMW?

Graduates of the Class of 2010 – off you go!

Dash to Marrakech

This just in - from a first time No Crowds reporter with a tale of travel defiance and derring do - plus hot tips on how to show a determined volcano who's boss.

Dear Kate –

My advice is that if you really want to see Morocco with no crowds, go while a volcano has closed all the European airports. Some of the places we went to wouldn’t have had crowds in any event – but for mostly empty, try it during a volcano.

You asked for our “getting out of the UK while volcanoes erupt” story and here it is:

We awoke on Thursday morning, 15 April, to the news that all UK airports had been closed. This was not good news because we had Easyjet tickets leaving the next day for Marrakech. Our plans were to spend the next week visiting the desert and the mountains of Morocco, ending up back in Marrakech the following weekend for a friend’s 60^th birthday party. By Thursday afternoon, it was becoming clear that European airspace would be more closed, not more open, the following day. And we would not be able to get to that tent at the edge of the Sahara on Sunday night if we weren’t in Morocco by Saturday morning.

I might have accepted our fate, but Dan is made of sterner stuff. We were going to be in Morocco, somewhere, on Saturday morning. That was that. The Eurostar website crashed repeatedly as he tried to get tickets to Paris, and then even to Brussels. We thought about heading for the ferries, but word was that it was chaos in Dover and Southampton. Dan conscripted his co-workers into service, and the redoubtable Claire called her mother in France – ‘”Lille”, came the response (with, as Claire relates, much Gallic shrugging of shoulders) try Lille.

Sure enough – should I share this? I hear that Iceland has a bigger volcano than Eyjafjallajokull so we may need to keep this secret – when we went in to book Eurostar tickets to Lille only, we got through. We were able to book the 5:40 am Brussels Eurostar to Lille! From there, we booked TGV Lille to Paris and Paris to Marseilles. The Marseilles airport was still open. The Air Maroc website showed seats available on the 9:30 pm to Casablanca, with a connection to Marrakech, so we bought them. Now all we had to do is actually make our connections and outrace the ash cloud to the south of France. (Contingency plan – night trains through Spain, ferry from there.)

St Pancras at 5 am Friday 16^th April was unusually crowded for the time of day, but not as bad as it was to become throughout the weekend. Little known Eurostar fact: they apparently allow more people on than technically have seats. There were people sitting in the luggage compartments and in the jump-seats by the lavatories. They did not look unhappy – It beats swimming the channel.

Things were also pretty calm in Lille when we arrived at 9:30 (having lost an hour of time), and in fact we were able to change our 11 am connection to a 10 am train into Paris.

Gare du Nord at 11:10 am was a bit of a scene, but could have been worse -- we made it out to the taxi ranks outside, across the street and to the southeast (not the infamous rank to the right coming out of the Eurostar that you have to wait at forever) and headed for Gare de Lyon.

The situation there was not for a “no crowds” blog – complicated no doubt by the fact that the eruption was being celebrated by a train strike. The Paris airport had by this time closed. I’ll hand it to Gare de Lyon – they had staff stationed at the edge of the ticket queues discouraging people, especially order-loving Brits and Americans, from getting in them. We explained that we wanted to exchange our tickets for the 3:15 train for the 1:15 to Marseilles. “Just get on,” they advised.

So, when the track number was identified, we joined the surging herds climbing into the cars. Dan found a ticketmaster, who assured us that the train was ‘complet’, and that we should get off – but we observed that we were far from alone in skulking about, obviously without proper tickets. Following the advice of a well-dressed fellow skulker, we settled ourselves into two very comfortable and roomy seats in first class as the train started moving. What were they going to do? Throw us into the Provencal countryside at 300 km per hour?

Little known fact about the TGV – they did nothing. They didn’t even ask for a ticket. So we went first class from Paris to Marseilles holding a second class ticket for a different train. As Dan says, “Hey, this is the best train ever!”

Another taxi ride at 5 pm to the Marseilles airport – which might actually be closer to the Aix stop, but in any case, we were there in time to beg for a place on the 7:30 flight, direct to Marrakech. Seats were available, they said, but our ticket could not be exchanged because that facility is available only by phone. We pointed out that their phone line at that point simply said to call back. They said maybe Air France could do the ticketing for them, but in the event Air France could not exchange tickets – only sell new ones. We did not want to buy a third set of tickets to Marrakech. This posed a dilemma because there were web reports that the Spanish airports were about to close, which meant that Marseilles, too, might close before we got on our scheduled 9:30 flight to Casablanca. (The Marseilles airport, by the way, given that it was the only airport in France that remained open, was remarkably calm).

To make an already too-long story a bit shorter, 15 minutes before flight time, the Air Maroc stationmaster dropped by the ticket desk, and agreeably changed our ticket to the 7:30 flight, which proceeded to take off – and land -- in Marrakech as scheduled. Hoorah! We made it to our Riad just a couple of hours later than we would have on Easyjet (had it flown!) – and we had made a journey, not simply stepped off the airplane into another world. We also got a chance to practice our French, and reflect on the history of France and North Africa, St Exupery, etc.

That said, we were just as happy, ten days later, to take that non-stop Easyjet flight back to Gatwick.

Yours in travels and travails,

Penny

Mastering Truth and Illusion in London's National Gallery

So what’s the best 55 British pounds I never spent on travel?

A small group tour of the National Gallery in London with Context Travel. I think it is important to say right up front that I was invited by Context to join this tour as part of a relationship building exercise. It is also important to say that of all the museum tours I have ever taken (and trust me, I’ve taken plenty) this tour was the best.

I wasn’t expecting to be bedazzled by another trip to the National Gallery. After all, I’ve been there countless times ( 5 times a year X the last 15 years = at least 75 visits) but that was the tour on offer and I was keen to see if Context could deliver on their big brand promise of offering "scholar-led experiences for the intellectually curious traveler". I should also say that I don't much like to be led. Maybe it's just because I am a child of the 60s but when I travel, I really like to do my own thing.

Despite the caveats, I was bedazzled. For three solid hours, my small group of four (including two intrepid gentlemen who had just flown in from Dallas for the weekend) experienced something special – a history of art Master Class for art loving amateurs. As you can imagine, that's not an easy thing to deliver. Our Context docent, Scott Nethersole, wove an incredible narrative out of one of the world’s greatest art collections that included scholarship, anecdotes, humour and a love of subject so infectious that it made me want to go back to University and study art.

Be forewarned, if what you want is a quick introduction and some highlights then I don't think Context is for you. These are tours and itineraries for travelers who want to dig deep into a topic and it would be a waste of your time and the docent’s talent to sign up with Context if that’s not what you are about.

Context offers an impressive range of experiences in many major cities. They have small groups you can join, as I did, which keeps cost down or they can arrange for private groups and custom itineraries including private tours of the Vatican and special programs for families with children. They have a good website and you can check it all out here.

As for me, I plan to use Context again, even when I’m paying my own way. I was expecting a "tour' of the National Gallery. Instead I attended an amazing three hour Master Class in the history of western art. I can't think of a better way to experience a great museum.

Photo of the Toilet of Venue ("Rokeby Venus") by Velazques - one of the many paintings we saw with a fabulous story attached.

No Crowds 2010 Travel Resolutions

More Wonder

Webster defines ‘wonder’ as a cause of astonishment or admiration. For 2010, we’ll be trying to recapture that sense of wonder about the world that got us interested in travel in the first place. We’ll be focussing more on the things that have helped make our trips surprising, mysterious and outside our normal experience and less on how to avoid the 1001 hassles of travel – we’re fed up with that topic. Aren’t you?

More Conversation

Last year was not a high production year for No Crowds. We found lots of excuses not to write. This year we’ll do better. And we hope that No Crowds will receive more insights from contributors such as Gary, Lorraine and Sandy who enjoy sharing their experiences with like-minded travellers.

And that’s it – more wonder and more conversation. Those are our travel goals for 2010. What are yours?

Navigating Away from the Crowds

Gary, top No Crowds reporter and resident geek enlightens us all on the why and how of using a handheld GPS on our travels.

So, you are a confirmed no-crowdite, unwilling to spend vacations within sight of more than a dozen other members of homo sapiens. When the traffic turns left, you turn right. When others queue at the airport, you take the train, or better yet, a tuk-tuk. When there is a fork in the road, you take it, just as Yogi Berra famously advised. You, my friend, had better own a handheld GPS.

You may already have a GPS (or Satnav, as they call them in the UK) either built in or added on to your car. But chances are it’s big and clunky or even physically built in, and goes catatonic when you take it a few feet away from a paved road. Enter the handheld. About the size of an iPhone, these units are wildly useful for all travelers, although you wouldn’t know that from the marketing literature. Are you going to be hiking? Biking? Driving? Boating? Traveling by train, bus or rickshaw? These babies have capability to support you in all of these modes, and among many other services, they can always answer that most important of all questions:

“Where on earth are we, and how do we find the hotel?”

A selection of things you can do with one of these units:

· Get turn-by-turn highway directions to the destination of your choice, wherever you are in the world (like your car GPS, but with a beep instead of the voice)

· Find gas stations, speed cams, hotels, restaurants and other important things

· When hiking or mountain biking, identify trails in geographic and topographic detail (i.e. how steep they are) and where they lead, as well as keeping a record of where you have been in case you need to retrace your steps.

· Plot boating trips on detailed nautical charts, with complete details about buoys, lighthouses, ports, obstacles and water depths. Boaters will also appreciate anchor drag and shallow water alarms.

· My particular unit even has information like “water temperature” and “depth”, which, although completely undocumented, make me think that it could be used while scuba diving.

· …and, if you are taking pictures, regardless of your means of conveyance, the unit will be able to encode each photo with information about exactly where in the world it was taken.

One example: The Garmin Oregon 300

As a confirmed iPhone lover, I couldn’t imagine using buttons and wheels to navigate around a map, so the Oregon seemed like a good solution, since it is completely touchscreen driven. It set me back about $350 from Amazon in the US, along with another $100 for a detailed road map and high level trail map and marine chart that covered all of Europe, from Poland to Ireland and Finland to Malta (detailed topographical maps are also available, if you’re an avid hiker). I gave this thing an unplanned test on the first day out when I slipped on a hiking trail, and managed to break my fall on a rock outcropping with the Garmin – smashing it on the rock screen side down, with all my weight behind it. End of story, I thought. As you can see, it came away with some impressive scratches (as did I), but nothing else, and continues to work perfectly. I think of the scratches as proof that I really used the thing, and wear them proudly. Try that move with an iPhone and see what happens…

It’s all about the maps

Once you choose the right GPS (or even before you choose it), make sure you can get the right digital maps, either on CD, a chip that goes in the unit, or downloaded from the maker’s website. Frankly, the unit is completely useless without them. Garmin, for example, has a dizzying array, but they let you view each map online to see whether it has the information you will need. The maps also need to be compatible with the actual unit, and that’s not always easy to figure out. But in the US and the UK especially, the available maps go to and beyond the detail of the old USGS topo maps we used back in the day when we were hiking the Appalachian Trail. The map specification is open, so for example, the Norwegian Trekking Association sells its own Garmin-compatible detailed trail and topographical maps on chips that can be loaded into your unit. And of course, there are a wide range of detailed nautical charts from around the world to make any weekend sailor happy.

There is also no end of things you can do, post holiday, with all of your GPS memories. EveryTrail (http://www.everytrail.com/) allows you to upload your trip information and photos to create a photoessay and map of your travels, and you can even let others “fly” your route in Google Earth and have your photos pop up like road signs, showing the sights along the way…
A century ago, John Masefield, the English poet laureate, just needed “a tall ship and a star to steer her by”. It may be a lot less poetic to be able to have that star in your pocket today, but hey – if it helps us each find our version of the “lonely sea and the sky”, who can blame us?

I Love Paris When It's Striking

“You’ll never get back to London tomorrow. A national strike will shut down everything. There will be no Metro, no taxis, it will be complete chaos. Stay put.”

That was the advice of a Parisian friend but did we listen? No, we did not. Despite my visions of climbing over the barricades singing the Internationale with my suitcase, the Editor wanted to get back for a meeting and so we went.

Here’s what the media was reporting:

Ø 195 demonstrations across the country over the economic crisis
Ø Eight major unions participating – hundreds of thousands of workers striking
Ø Estimated cost of industrial action - €300 – 400 million

Here’s what we encountered:

Ø A blissfully deserted Paris (felt like August)
Ø Fully functioning Metro with empty trains
Ø Fully function Eurostar service to London (we arrived ahead of schedule)
Ø The best and easiest trip home ever!

Here’s what we learned:

Ø On days of national strikes, the French stay home, but you shouldn’t
Ø Stay underground, and stay away from the Bastille
Ø The French enjoy a good protest and you can too


Since we don’t expect economic conditions to improve any time soon (by their own estimates, the nation lost €300 to €400 million today), we expect these general strikes to continue but that’s no reason to stay away from this fabulous city. To paraphrase Cole Porter, “I even love Paris when it’s striking.”

Photo credit: Reuters

Rentals in Paris

Since we’re on the subject of vacation rentals, how about Paris?

For fans of the city, we can think of no finer way to experience the City of Light than by living like a native in your own apartment. If you are looking for a beautiful apartment in your favourite neighbourhood, we know of no better agency than Rentals in Paris.

Rentals in Paris is an agency that has been in business for many years that rents well-appointed apartments in top locations. Things like queen sized beds, modern kitchens and bathrooms, WIFI, cable TV, free long distance phone calls to many locations, hair dryers, ironing boards and irons are all included. Prices compare very favourably to three star hotels but the amenities are superior. And that’s before factoring in all the money you save not having to eat every meal in a restaurant. Rentals in Paris delivers great customer service that is attentive and hands-on. If you have a question or a problem, Glenn Cooper and his staff are there to help.

For an unforgettable experience, why not rent a Paris apartment with Rentals in Paris?

Rentals in Paris
http://www.rentals-paris.com/
Coopergl@gmail.com

Vacation Rentals Revisited

In 2005, we wrote about the many benefits for holiday makers of staying in an apartment or house over a hotel. We pointed out that for good value, privacy and authenticity, you just can’t beat renting. In 2009, renting has become an even more popular choice as holiday makers search for ways to stretch their dwindling travel budgets. So, we thought it would be a useful to revisit the topic, but this time, we consulted a couple who are the masters at renting apartments all over the world. Here’s their advise:

We have had great luck with VRBO.com (vacation rental by owner). Too many years of business travel have left us both jaded when it comes to hotels, and years of teaching customer service skills to people in the hospitality industry have left me overly sensitized to hotel service failures. Using VRBO we found a lovely garden apartment in Venice with a walled and rose filled garden; a perfect place to sit and sip a glass of prosecco at dusk. VRBO also led us to a charming two bedroom in Portovenere, a harbor town at the southern tip of the Ligurian Riviera, with a terrace overlooking Poet’s Bay (so named because Lord Byron during his stays there would, on occasion, take an evening swim across the bay). In the late afternoon, after returning from a day of hiking the Cinque Terre trials, I would pick lemons from our garden, and used them to infuse a grappa based aperitif with the pungent flavor and aroma of an Italian summer evening. My traveling companions promptly dubbed my concoction a ‘Portovenere Stunner’, and it, along with a large bowl of olives, became the centerpiece of our sundowner hour on the terrace over the bay.

VRBO rentals can also offer unexpected pluses. In Vienna our landlord kindly met us at the train station and drove us to our flat, and then spent a pleasant hour with a map of the city, pointing out his favorite restaurants, museums and art galleries’ - all an easy walk from our building. Our hostess in Portovenere responded swiftly to our call informing her that dishwasher wasn’t working, and showed up with her husband, father, and two children. The excitement of their arrival attracted the interest of several neighbors, who joined them, and they all crowded into our little kitchen where, after much animated discussion, the dishwasher was enthusiastically dismembered. After more discussion and a thoughtful examination of the dishwasher parts by all, it was concluded that this machine had washed its last dish. As compensation, we were left with a large bowl of pasta, two bottles of wine, and a vase filled with summer flowers, not to mention the warm feeling that we really belonged. From then onward we exchanged a friendly ‘Ciao’ with our neighbors daily, complicit and comfortable in a way that people can be only after dismantling an appliance together. The next day, a new dishwasher was installed and delivered before our return from the hiking trails.

VRBO rentals range widely in price, though I usually try to limit cost to $200 per night. Most recently we stayed in a comfortable 3 bedroom apartment in Prague, located just a 10 minute walk from the Charles Bridge. Our cost was just under $200 per night. Properties are listed with numerous photographs, and a comprehensive description. Landlords will usually take credit cards, or a bank wire, and will provide you with a contract. I’ve been using them for years and never had a problem.

Fight Back

4:00 pm New Years Eve - Washington D.C.

The Editor returns to his mother’s house after helping our university-aged son open his first bank account.

“You’re not going to believe this. He actually read the entire agreement before he signed it.”

We share a warm moment of parental accomplishment, pack our bags and head for the airport.

7:00 pm Budget Rent a Car Return Desk

“What do you mean our rental costs more than twice our guaranteed rate? No, I am absolutely sure I declined all the extra insurance because we are covered by our credit card. Your agent said to initial ‘here’, ‘here’ and ‘here’ to indicate that I had declined. [Editor confirms this statement to Manager] Yes, I see that ‘accepted’ is circled. Yes, I see my initials.”

OK Budget, there’s no denying that I am an idiot.

But your sneaky practices (late arrival after long haul flight = inattentive customer = padding of contract) have earned you an admonition from No Crowds and lost you a customer for life. Plus, my first resolution of 2009 is in place.

This year, I will read the fine print of every thing I sign very, very carefully.

Just like my son.

Photo Credit: Eloise Hedges

Goodbye Speedferries

Bummer! Our favourite discount English Channel ferry service, Speedferries, falls victim to the economic crisis.

According to Speedferries’ website, on November 7, the port of Boulogne impounded the company’s only vessel, a former Royal Australian Navy catamaran, for non-payment of port dues and taxes. The company states that “it is unable to inform its customers, employees or business partners, of a firm date for the resumption of service.”

We reckon Speedferries will never, ever get their boat back, and if they do, who would use them? NoCrowds mourns the loss of this fast, cheap and reliable service. We’ll miss Boulogne – Europe’s largest fishing port with its one star restaurant, La Matelote, the fine chateau Hotel Clery and the terrific French national sea experience Nausicaa. As the Editor said wistfully while quickly rebooking our next crossing with Eurotunnel, “it was just too good to be true”.

Ah, but it was fun while it lasted.

Better on a Bus

"I'd rather go by bus."
Prince Charles


On a recent trip to the United States, NoCrowds needed to travel from New York City to Washington D.C. We considered all the usual options: rent a car, fly or take the train, but each option seemed either a hassle or expensive or both.

We consulted our children who regularly ride the Chinatown bus services (Fung Wah and Lucky Star) operating between the two cities.

Their response. “You guys are past it. It’s cheap but you are way too anal to put up with the chaotic service. Try Vamoose, they’re a bit more expensive but more your style.”

A harsh but accurate assessment of our aging inflexibility prompted a review of the discount bus services that have cropped up along the Boston to Washington route in recent years. In fact, there are lots of companies, such as Vamoose, Megabus and Boltbus, offering cheap, scheduled service on clean, comfortable vehicles. Pricing and amenities vary and we ended up choosing Boltbus which boasts power outlets and free wifi with fares starting as low as $1 each way plus a booking fee. The earlier you book, the cheaper the fare. We paid $15 each. Walk-up fares are $25.

And what was our experience? The bus arrived and left on time. Our driver told lots of bad political jokes. The wifi and power outlets were great. The bus was clean and comfortable. We arrived on schedule (four hours and 15 minutes later) and since we could work on the internet for the entire journey, we hardly noticed the time. For the record, we were the oldest folks on the bus.


Boltbus
http://www.boltbus.com/
no phone

Vamoose
http://www.vamoosebus.com/
Tel: 877 393 2828

Megabus
http://www.megabus.com/
Tel: 877 462 6342

Fung Wah
http://www.fungwahbus.com/
Tel: 212 925 8889

Luckystar
http://www.luckystarbus.com/
Tel: 888 881 0887

There's No Such Thing as a Free Flight

Everyone knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch. I know this. I've heard it from my parents and told it to my children. So why did I waste an hour of my time chasing an illusion?

I was supposed to be working on an article for my church magazine but found it hard going and decided to reward myself with a bit of distracting email. In my inbox was this weeks Top 20 travel deals from Travelzoo where the editors comb hundreds of companies for their best sales and offers. It’s a bit of middle class travel porn, fun to look at but I’ve never been tempted to do more than that.

Then one of those offers from Ryanair caught my eye

£0.02 return flights to Europe including ALL taxes.

Wow, I wonder where you can go? Maybe I’ll surprise the editor with a quick trip somewhere if it really is only £0.02 per round trip flight.

I do lots of research and spend lots of time doing it. Then I decide I will only use the airport close to our home in southwest London because the expense and hassle of getting to the northern airports ruins the fun and savings. This pretty much limits our options to Ireland. So I find some free flights to Dublin, spend lots of time filling out stuff and declining the extra charges for priority boarding, luggage and travel insurance. I confirm that I am a citizen of an EU country and have the docs to prove it (you can’t check in online unless you are, otherwise, there is a charge for airport check-in). I provide all my credit card details and then, Ryanair hits me up with £16.04 of handling charges for using a credit or debit card – or any card for that matter.

OK, I've had enough. I exit the Ryanair site having successfully wasted an hour and not bought any free tickets which really cost £16.04.

You were right Dad, about a lot of stuff and especially about those lunches.

Image courtesy of the San Diego Zoo website.

Renting Cars in Europe

The Sorellina called the other day.

“Hey, where is the link and info for that good car rental company? I’ve been all over NoCrowds and I can’t find it.”

Well, baby sister, the name of the company is Auto Europe and the link is
www.autoeurope.com.

Auto Europe is a company that acts as a broker for rental cars in Europe and many other international destinations. They always have good prices and good customer service, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I have used Auto Europe for years. I have rented every thing from economy “micro” cars to enormous mini vans. Their rental contracts are all inclusive and I’ve never had a surprise, a dispute or a problem when using this company.

There’s nothing particularly glamorous about renting a car but if you are looking for good value and service, check out Auto Europe.

From the US – http://www.autoeurope.com/
From United Kingdom – http://www.auto-europe.co.uk/
From Australia – http://www.autoeurope.com.au/

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Passenger Refunds

Recently, a NoCrowds reader sent us information about refunds due British Airways and Virgin Atlantic passengers resulting from a proposed $200 million (£102 million) settlement of a class action case over price fixing. Ordinarily, we’re not big supporters of class action suits, feeling that the lawyers are the only real beneficiaries, but when we saw in the press coverage that Goldman Sachs was expected to receive a multimillion dollar payout (as if they need it), we thought it would be a good thing to pass along the information and help NoCrowds readers who qualify get in on the action. This story first appeared on February 15 so if it is old news to you, we apologise. If not, here’s the deal.

If you bought a British Airways or Virgin Atlantic ticket for a transatlantic or long haul flight anytime between August 11, 2004 and March 23, 2006, you could be entitled to a refund of up to £20/$40 for that flight. All the details you need to register are on the British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Passenger Refunds websites. If you bought your ticket in the United States go to http://www.airpassengerrefund.com/ and if you bought your ticket in the UK go to http://www.airpassengerrefund.co.uk/.

Travel Planning

Planning a fabulous two week adventure in California over Easter should be loads of fun. Right?

Is it just us or has even the business of planning travel become more difficult? With all the electronic options and choices, it should be more efficient but everything is taking longer and frankly, we’re not having much fun. In fact, almost every aspect of the planning for our California trip thus far has been down right frustrating.

To begin with, because we had complex multi-city bi-coastal flights to book, including one leg with unaccompanied minor, we could forget about using websites. The only way we could even price the options was to call each of the airlines, which is not the end of the world, but it is not efficient and we were in endless voicemail holding patterns with every single one. We would have given American Airlines our business so that we could fly back to London via Raleigh Durham, North Carolina but the first reservationist didn’t know how to enter our booking and never call back as she promised. As it turned out, AA was much more expensive so forget it.

OK, we decided to try British Airways. While our tickets were being held for payment, BA pilots announced that they would go out on strike over Easter. OK, we’ll try Virgin Atlantic. Too late, everyone got ahead of us with limited availability and much higher prices. OK, we’ll go back to BA and pray hard they don’t strike. But the BA system could not process the payment for our daughter’s ticket because the address we provided did not match the address for our credit card. Says who! We know where we live. We called the credit card company and they said of course they matched and that the payment had been authorised. Back to BA, who said that the payment for our ticket had gone through but our 10 year old daughters was considered a“high risk” payment so no go for her. It is 48 hours and counting and BA is still trying to sort this out.

[ Addendum: The problem is now resolved. The BA ticketing agent was really great. Three cheers for BA for providing good old fashioned service.]

But NoCrowds does not want to write depressing travel stories. What we need to do is improve our travel planning and consumer protection skills. We think there are lots of people in the blogosphere who can help us and for most of yesterday, we have been searching websites for inspiration. Here’s what we’ve found:

For content, we love World Hum, a wonderful site with great writing. We were delighted to find that we share their approach to travel, which focuses on the experience, not the destination. For example, when we put “California” into World Hum’s search engine, they pointed us towards two stories which reignited out excitement for our upcoming trip: “Tom Petty’s Los Angeles, from a Travelodge to a long day in Reseda” which looks at the city as a sound track (we’re loading up our iPod) and the New York Times story “Big Sur without Crowds” which is about as close to the NoCrowds sweet spot as you can get.

For practical information, tools and links for tackling some of the peskier aspects of travel planning such as where to find an affordable last minute ticket, negotiating with car rental companies and what to do if your flight is cancelled, we like Smarter Travel, Upgrade:Travel Better , Tripso and Elliott. Much of the material about the state of the travel industry makes for depressing reading but we’re sure that the only way for things to get better is for travellers to arm themselves with information and fight hard for their rights.

Those are some of the sites we found useful for travel planning. If you have any sites to recommend or suggestions about what to do in Los Angeles, Route 1 and San Francisco, we are all ears.

Photo courtesy of the Daily Telegraph

Unusual Places to Go and Stay

Update: March 18, 2009

Jumbo Hostel, Arlanda/Stockholm

Spend the night in a former Boeing 747 which has been converted into a hostel at Stockholm's Arlanda airport. Book the cockpit suite and get an awesome view of the runway.

www.jumbohostel.com

Phone: 46 (0)8 593 60400

Our editor asked recently where we would like to go for our birthday. Having just pooh-poohed chain hotels in our recent list of New Year’s resolutions, we thought this would be a good opportunity to review our favourite websites describing weird and wonderful getaways from London. Here’s our list. Do you have any suggestions?

Havenkraan, Harlingden, Holland

This could be the ultimate NoCrowds experience, a one room hotel for two in an industrial harbour crane rising above the Wadden Sea in Holland. There are two lifts (think pneumatic tubes) which whisk you up the 17 meters where you will find all the modern cons including a showerbath for two, Charles Eames seating (whoever he is) and a “well designed bed”. Best of all, they let you drive the 65,000 kilo steel crane.
As they say on the website, “Scotty, beam me aboard!” The fact that the editor hates heights may kill this one for us but if you check the website, you’ll see you can also stay in a lighthouse or a lifeboat.

The Harlingden Harbour Crane
Dokkade 5 Harlingden
The Netherlands

http://www.havenkraan.nl/eng/index3.html


The Temple at Stancombe Park, England

Built by the original owner for trysts with a local gypsy girl and set in the famous Folly Gardens of Stancombe Park where Evelyn Waugh wrote Brideshead Revisited, the Temple gets our vote for the most romantic getaway in Britain. The price of £797 per night for 2 in low season (with a three night minimum) and £1,015 in high season sadly may put this option beyond our reach. But if we win the lottery, we’re so there.

Stancombe, near Wotton-under-Edge

http://www.thetemple.info/


Dasparkhotel, Ottensheim Austria

Now here’s one we can afford. Built out of recycled concrete drain pipes and located in a municipal park near Linz, Austria, Dasparkhotel is a “hospitality concept” which operates from May to October. Built by artists and conceived as an art installation, the sleeping pods operate on a “pay-as-you-like” system. Each drain pod comes equipped with a double bed, linens, storage, a small window, an electrical outlet and the all important internet connection. Everything else, like toilets, food and running water, can be found nearby in the park. Definitely not for claustrophobics and maybe not as much fun to visit as it is to write about, we still think this novel idea is worth considering.

For reservations: http://www.dasparkhotel.net/reservation/index.php

Baby Jumping in Castrillo de Murcia, Spain

We’ve heard that the running of the bulls in Pamplona has degenerated into a total zoo and is not much fun anymore. For a less touristic and less dangerous (at least for the visitors) festival, this year we’re considering heading for the El Calacho Baby Jumping Festival in Castrillo de Murchia. Every year since 1620 as part of the celebration of Corpus Christi, men dressed as the devil holding whips and truncheons leap over new born babies to cleanse them of evil. The babies are dressed in their finest and laid on decorated mattresses in the street. The festivities are organised by the Brotherhood of Santissimo Sacramento de Minerva who also make it their business to terrorize onlookers or anyone in need of a quick exorcism. To see a video of baby jumping, click here.

At this time, we have no idea where to stay or even how to get there but we’re working on it.


So there you have it, a crane, a temple, a drainpipe or a baby jumping festival. Where would you go?

Photo of the baby jumping in Castrillo de Murcia courtesy of Associated Press

Food and Travel

Last night, our family in London celebrated the Feast of Epiphany (the visit of the three kings to the baby Jesus) with a delicious Galette des Rois, acquired from the French bakery, Paul, on the Kings Road. Galettes are a type of cake, typically filled with frangipane, in which a small porcelain figure is hidden. The person who gets the piece of cake with the figure is King or Queen for a day and wears the crown that is usually supplied with the galette with enormous pride.

Food can take us on journeys even when we stay home. Celebrating with a Galette des Rois took this family back to a time when we shared our holidays together in France. We had lots of fun partaking of this very French tradition and the galette from Paul was quite good. Eating Galette des Rois is not a perfect substitute for crossing the Channel but it certainly turned last night’s family dinner into a Gallic inspired celebration.

Thanks to several NoCrowds readers, 2008 is off to a fast start on the subject of food and travel. In case you missed it in the comments section, John Chypre provided a terrific list of international food sites including C’est moi qui l’ai fait which has a good looking Galette des Rois recipe for adventurous cooks who speak some French. For lovers of German food and language, you can also find a recipe for a Galette des Rois (Dreikoenigskuchen) in John’s recommended Chili und Ciabatta. From an American in Frankfurt came the excellent suggestion that we check out the websites for Road Food and Simple Cooking.

Here is the list of all the food sites readers have generously sent in so far. For more details straight from the source, check out the Comments section of the previous post – and feel free to add any great sites for lovers of food and travel.

Cup cake
C’est moi qui l’ai fait (in French)
Papilles et pupilles(in French)
Clea cuisine (in French)
La cuisine de mercotte (in French)
Chili und ciabatta (in German)
Road Food
Simple Cooking