The City's Three Alternative Summer Festivals Amsterdam may be known by backpackers for its cannabis-serving cafes and red light district but this notorious city is also home to three world-class music festivals every summer. They aren't all pop tunes and over-priced burgers like many of Europe's offerings - in keeping with Amsterdam's bohemian reputation, the festivals are based on culture, diversity and experiment. With cheap prices … [Read more...]
The British Aura of London is Capped by Stratford Shakespearean Festival
As well, like London, Britain's capital, the town is intersected by the River Thames and as is the case in most of the towns in England it is filled with green spaces consisting of pleasant parks and thousands of trees. They offer year round opportunities for outdoor leisure activities and have earned the city the nickname 'Forest City'. Located in southwest Ontario-roughly halfway between Toronto and the U.S. border, London, a city of some … [Read more...]
El Salvador, Part 2: The Thoughts
The end of 1970s was a turbulent period in Salvadorian politics. Various juntas formed and collapsed, tension soon spilled indo an epidemic of underground political violence and murders, until at some point a war against the government was declared by a leftist coalition (FMLN). After a 12-year carnage peace was finally struck in 1992, with the government taking necessary reforms to stay in power, and the FMLN re-organising into a political … [Read more...]
Tourists In Malta Reclaim The Streets
Frequent and repeat incidents of visitors being confronted in the street while on holiday in Malta has led to the Maltese authorities taking action against the timeshare companies who employ sales staff to seek out possible visiting buyers. Complaints have risen in recent years from holiday makers who have had their time on the island spoiled by being approached on a daily basis to attend presentations - that can last up to four hours - in the … [Read more...]
Los Angeles, CA – Museums
We have personally visited & reviewed the following 130+ Los Angeles and Orange County museums. We spend a lot of time in the City of Angels, therefore this section is continuously updated with new and updated reviews as time permits. Note: Monday is the worst day to spend visiting museums in Los Angeles as by numbers, most of the museums are closed (but not all). The small museums often maintain very limited hours. African American … [Read more...]
The Land of Men with Flaming Orange Beards
As soon as we stepped out of the shiny terminal of Lahore International Airport in Lahore, Pakistan, my uncle Waheed and I were overcome by the smell of kerosene. I thought at first that there must be a spill nearby, because it was so strong. Eventually we found our ride among all the cabbies and rickshaw drivers, who were jostling among themselves for customers. It was a twenty or thirty minute slog to get into the city from the airport. It was … [Read more...]
Mt. Kilimanjaro Climb
9/1/2000 - Friday After traveling for three days and undergoing quite an ordeal getting from San Luis Obispo to Nairobi, Kenya, I finally arrive in the Nairobi airport at 7:50 pm. After going through Customs and gratefully retrieving my backpack and suitcase from the baggage claim area, I was overjoyed to see John Bragg there to greet me. We had some very long big hugs of relief to have made it to Nairobi safely and in time before the rest of … [Read more...]
Royals Put Malta Back on Map
For a Mediterranean island with good year round weather, a friendly local English speaking population and facilities to rival that of any of her competitors, Malta is a surprisingly often forgotten island for many people planning a holiday in the Mediterranean. Malta missed some of her own government's tourist targets in 2005, but a recent visit by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh resulted in four days of positive media coverage … [Read more...]
Spain
Do you want to add exciting, motivating, and beautiful experiences to your life? Go to Spain!!! With my resourceful wife, Dana May, we lived in Spain for a year. We chose to make our home base an apartment in Madrid. Madrid's central location gave us easy access to Barajas airport, the central train station as well as a convenient bus depot. A good car rental system is also available in the city and at the airport. In Madrid, the … [Read more...]
Going Cal-ing in Ibiza
Every now and then, I'll combine English and Spanish words and come up with something that truly annoys my wife, who happens to be from Spain. These "Spanglish" concoctions are usually pretty cheesy, but I must say that I'm not the only one guilty of this. Spaniards themselves do it. For bungee jumping, for example, they've invented the word puenting combining the ing ending from English with the word "puente" (bridge) in Spanish to form a hybrid … [Read more...]