WH Smith, the biggest newsagent chain in the UK, has done a deal with Penguin books so only DK or Roughguides will be available at WHS Travel stores at airports, motorway and railway shops.
I have since been to WH Smith at Stansted and Gatwick and sure enough it’s all DK and Roughguides.
WH Smith Travel Guides
I am usually more organised than to buy a guidebook at the airport, but this deal has put me off buying anything at WH Smith.
The big shops were meant to bring more choice, but sometimes they actually provide less choice. I went into a Tesco Express to get a can of soft drink. The only cans they had available were Coke and Diet Coke. I then went to an independent off licence and they had about 20 types of canned drinks.
Unfortunately this is a growing trend in the UK. Go to any town in Britain and every High St has the same shops selling the same stuff. This phenomenon has been coined clone town.
Ein Neuer Erfolgreicher Tag (A new successful day) - Wuppertal Germany
Grote Kerk - Dordrecht Netherlands
The Grote Kerk (Big Church) of Dordrecht, Netherlands.
One of the best events during the World Travel Market week in 2008 was the Travel BlogCamp, which was started by Darren Cronian of Travel Rants.
Word had obviously got out what a great event it was as TBC 2009 was “sold out” within 18 hours.
The 2009 event was once again put on by Darren and moderated by Kevin May from Tnooz.com.
The event began with an introduction to the sponsors, followed by a Q&A session. The topic that was most prominent was Twitter. Kevin noted that at last years event Twitter wasn’t even mentioned.
The night featured five speakers with various backgrounds in social media and travel blogging.
Joel Brandon-Bravo from Frommer’s discussed Web 3.0 (real time web) and news sites possibly using a pay for content model.
Guillaume Thevenot spoke about his industry leading Hotel Blog that he writes in his spare time outside of his day job.
Eva Keogan from Lastminute.com covered company blogging and Twitter strategies.
Murray Harrold from Advantage Travel shared his experience as a travel agent going from a High St to online travel store.
Darren finished the night off with the good and ugly side of travel blogging. There was alot of ugly to talk about with the dangers of litigation travel bloggers face by publishing editorial and unmoderated comments left by the public.
It was a great night all round and if it wasn’t for Kevins moderation we’d still be there now debating the topics covered (there was enough free food to keep us going for another week).
I have been fortunate enough to attend the first two Travel BlogCamps, and if I can I will attend in 2010 as well.
If I could add my feedback I would like to see a bigger event. I have spoken to Darren about this and he wants to keep it as a small event. I can understand his point that the smaller event makes it more interactive. The current event is timed with the WTM so there is also the limition of time people have with their commitments at that event.
What I would like to see would be a weekend event held at another time of year (ahem, preferably in a warmer month). There is a travel bloggers weekend happening in the US in 2010. I would like to see a UK version.
Darren spoke about how he hasn’t taken Travel Rants full time as travel companies aren’t exactly lining up to offer sponsorship on a site that rants about travel. I wouldn’t expect Darren put on another event like this either, given the amount of unpaid time it takes up. I am sure though that there would be enough people willing to form a committee to put on a Travel Blogcamp Weekend in London (or elsewhere in the UK).
Would anyone else attend a Travel Blogcamp weekend?
More Travel BlogCamp Reviews
Travel Rants: Travel BlogCamp Review
Travelling Online: Social media tips at Travel Blog Camp
Heather on her travels: Travel Bloggers’ meet-up
Joobili: Travel BlogCamp 2009 review
Journeys Through Travel: Notebooks not needed: Travel Blog Camp review
iwannagothere.com blog: Travel BlogCamp 2009 review
Berkeley PR: PR’s view of Travel BlogCamp
Sam I Am’s Blog: Review of Travel BlogCamp
Hungarian Parliament Building
The Hungarian Parliament Building on the River Danube in Budapest is one of the worlds most extravagant legislative buildings. It has similarities to the Palace of Westminster in London in that it is a Neo-Gothic masterpiece that sits by a river.
I found a cafe in Belgrade that has perhaps the best name in the history of cafes: The Federal Association Of Globe Trotters.
I had read about the cafe and I went purely for the alluring name. I otherwise never would have found this place on my wanders. It is downstairs in a basement and the only bit of advertising out the front is above the door buzzer.
The Federal Association Of Globe Trotters
It is furnished with an eclectic variety of furniture and art work, much of it donated by friends of the place over the years. I fell in love with it immediately. If I had a home, this is how I would furnish it.
At night it transforms into a music club, which doesn’t suit my sitting in cafes writing kind of style, so I went in the early afternoon when it wasn’t too busy.
They have wireless internet but I didn’t have my laptop with me, so I used the time to write some notes. I would have left the place sooner but happened to be playing Dead Can Dance CD’s and I was just enjoying the place too much.
The Federal Association Of Globe Trotters Coffee
Visiting Belgrade
When I was growing up Belgrade was one of those cities that I had only heard of on the news. Just like the other Bel -Belfast – whenever you would hear about Belgrade it was always for all the wrong reasons.
Belgrade has emerged from the troubled breakup of Yugoslavia, and is now even making good news. In 2008 Belgrade made world headlines when it hosted the Eurovision Song Contest (though some might argue that that is making the news for the wrong reasons as well).
Hotel Moscow
Even with the years of stability and the “good news” of Eurovision, I still got some funny looks from people when I mentioned that I was going to Belgrade. Actually it was a similar look I got from people when I told them I was going to Belfast.
The great thing about travel though is that when people go somewhere with a dubious reputation, they come back and tell their friends how it really is. I had two friends of mine go to Begrade in 2007, and their description of what it was like really made me curious to go myself.
I know many of my readers who are seasoned travellers will be thinking what’s the big deal about visiting Belgrade – it’s not like I went to Mogadishu. If you step outside your circle of travel friends though you will be surprised of the reactions you get.
About Belgrade
Belgrade was built around a citadel which sits on a rock of land at the strategic junction of the Sava and Danube rivers. The old city is a mix of grand public buildings and apartment blocks like you would see in any classical European city, sitting beside communist style buildings.
The city makes its way up a hill to meet the citadel, with the pedestrian shopping street Knez Mihailova serving as the main thoroughfare.
Knez Mihailova
Belgrade is known for its cafe and bar scene, but it should also be known for its bakeries. There is a bakery of some kind on every street, and the size of the pastries would make any American bakehouse kneel on the ground and chant “we’re not worthy”.
Another big portion of food is the Pljeskavica, the Serbian hamburger. There are BBQ grills everywhere serving this and the meat patties are huge.
Speaking of big, worth checking out is St Sava Cathedral, the worlds largest Orthodox Church.
St Sava Cathedral - The world
Getting To Belgrade
Getting to Belgrade is easy enough if you are in the region as there are direct trains from all of the neighbouring countries. From Belgrade station there are direct train services to Budapest, Munich, Zurich, Zagreb, Sofia, Bucharest, Thessaloniki and Istanbul. (What an exotic roll call of city names – I love being able to say you can get a train to Istanbul).
There are only a few low cost airlines flying into Belgrade, but you can still find reasonably priced flights from London if you plan in advance.
Once the likes of easyJet and Ryanair start flying to Belgrade, the city will become a hotspot for European short breaks and the troubles of the past will be a distant memory.
Shortly after sitting in a cafe in Belgrade pondering the break up of Yugoslavia, I had a conversation with Katy from Where I’ve Been.
I had a play with the Where I’ve Been map, which you can see here:
This map made me think of The Art Of Non Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. He is on a quest to visit every country in the world, and so far he is making good progress into his list.
If I was to visit every country in the world, this is the current situation. I am now 37 years old. The average Australian male lives to 76 years old, which gives me another 39 years. There are currently 193 to 203 countries in the world, depending on who compiled the list. The most agreed amount is 195, and I have visited 41. That means I have 39 years to visit another 154 countries. That makes 3.95 countries per year, so lets round it up to 4.
For the sake of simplifying this illustration I’m not counting territories, which Gary Arndt explains in detail at how many countries have you been to?
As it stands now I have visited 41 countries in 15 years of international travel, making an average of 2.67 countries per year. Doing country counts is a lopsided business though. I have spent an afternoon in Turkey and six months in Switzerland, and they both get one vote. I have previously discussed when can you say you’ve been to a country?
That 15 years has included slow travel, which stops the country count ticking over. I lived in Ireland for a year, and did most of my travels that year in Ireland rather than dashing around Europe.
I am in Europe at least once a year for business or on travels, and I have always made a point of visiting a new country every year when I am there. Looks like I am going to have to up the ante.
