Europe a la Carte BlogEurope a la Carte BlogIf you would like to find out more about the real Europe, read and comment at this blog. We can help you get a better flavour of your European destination. Visit less well know destinations and avoid the tourist traps. 
Articles
How green is my cruise ship?
2008-01-21 10:52:00 I read about one of the wackiest stabs at authentic travel experiences today, a cruise ship with a real grass lawn. Celebrity Cruise s decided that having a grassy area would add to cruise passengers enjoyment and that artificial grass would not sit well with the company’s mantra of providing “authentic experiences”, so it had ... More About: Green , Ship , Cruise Ship
Worldreviewer experts wanted
2008-01-18 14:49:00 I now a expert on the Worldreviewer website. I read that Worldreviewer was tipped to one of the travel websites to watch in 2008 and were looking for travel experts with detailed knowledge in specific areas so I thought I’d have a closer look at the site. It’s aimed at the “lifestyle” or “experience” ... More About: Travel Tips , Experts , Wanted
Family adventure holidays
2008-01-17 21:53:00 I know from experience that finding the right family holiday can be hard. The Adventure Company have a great range of holidays for active families including their new range of Teenage Adventures. There are many adventure tours from which to choose such as Slovenian Winter Adventures in the Tatras mountains, Walking with Mules in Switzerland, ... More About: Holidays , Family
More time spend researching holidays than mortgages
2008-01-17 13:17:00 Evidently UK residents are willing to spend more time researching their holiday than their mortgage. While 36% of Brits spend more than 10 hours researching a leisure trip, only 22% would be wiling to spend this amount of time on finding the best mortgage deal. Is this a rational use of time? I don’t think ... More About: Holidays , United Kingdom , Time , Mortgages , Opinion Poll
The fair city of Perth in Scotland
2008-01-16 10:24:00 Perth in central Scotland has long been know as the “Fair City ”, even although it’s not officially a city. It was the capital of Scotland in the 13th and 14th century. I really like Perth, it’s a grand yet laid back small city on the banks of the River Tay with two large parks, several ... More About: Culture , Perth
Car hire price comparison sites don?t compare like with like
2008-01-12 16:27:00 We’re going to Italy for a week in May and will need to hire a car, so I decided to look at Travelsupermarket.co.uk car hire comparison facility. However I think that the search results are not a true comparison, as all of the cheapest quotes were not actually an inclusive price, as there was an ... More About: Hire , Sites , Car hire , Compare , Price
Makeover for John o?Groats?
2008-01-12 14:57:00 John o’Groats, erroneously known as the most northerly point of the UK, may be about to receive a much needed makeover. I’ve only been to John o’Groats once, almost 30 years ago and I have to agree with Lonely Planet’s assessment that it’s “worst and most embarrassing tourist attraction in Scotland ”, really just a car ... More About: John , Makeover , Oats
You?ve gotta go to Gothenburg, Sweden
2008-01-11 15:27:00 Gothenburg lies on the western coast of the southern tip of Sweden . It’s extremely civilised city, low key, sophisticated in an unpretentious manner, far from soulless and regimented yet orderly and relaxing. I think it’s a great city to visit both for adults travelling solo, couples, groups of adults and families. Gothenburg Quayside ... More About: Culture , Gotta , Gothenburg , Then
Guest interview - Ercole Marsili of Italiamia.com
2008-01-08 12:53:00 I met Ercole Marsili of Italiamia.com through the social networking site Stumbleupon. I think his site encompasses a lot of useful information about all things Italian such as travel, books, movies, music and current news. 1 What is the aim of your business? To provide information on culture and products from Italy to people living outside Italy, ... More About: Interview , Guest
Review of Pontins
2008-01-07 14:31:00 Pontins have been offering seaside family holidays in the UK since the company was founded by Fred Pontin in 1946. They have seven holiday centres in the UK. Blackpool and Pakefield in Suffolk offer half board holidays. The five other centres, Prestatyn Sands in North Wales, Brean Sands in Somerset, Southport, Helmsley ... More About: Children , United Kingdom , Review
Review of Pontins holidays in the UK
2008-01-07 14:31:00 Pontins have been offering seaside family holidays in the UK since the company was founded by Fred Pontin in 1946. They have seven holiday centres in the UK. Blackpool and Pakefield in Suffolk offer half board holidays. The five other centres, Prestatyn Sands in North Wales, Brean Sands in Somerset, Southport, Helmsley ... More About: Holidays , Children , United Kingdom , Review
Carnival of Cities 7 January 2008
2008-01-07 10:34:00 I’m delighted to be the host for the first Carnival of Cities of 2008 . I only had one submission in my chosen theme of cities “off the beaten track”. Berkley and Oakland in California are highlighted as Local Favorites for Kids in the East Bay by Patricia Jenkins of the Kango Blog who believes that ... More About: January , January 2008
April 2008 trip to Bremen and Hamburg
2008-01-05 20:34:00 I’ve booked my flight from Edinburgh to Bremen in north western Germany , one of the new Spring routes with Ryanair. The flight cost £42 return including taxes and fees for cabin baggage only, with online check in. There are only 2 flights per week on Sundays and Wednesdays so I decided to go for 4 ... More About: April , Trip , Hamburg , 2008
Belgians cast off boring image with sky dining
2008-01-04 12:06:00 If you fancy eating while suspended 5o metres above ground and have deep pockets, with rental excluding catering starting at 7900 euros, then the Belgian firm Dinner in the Sky can provide you with a unit suspended mid air by an industrial crane which seats 22 diners around a table and 3 service staff in ... More About: Belgium , Cast , Image , Dining , Boring
Guest interview - Nate of YourDailyVacation.com
2008-01-03 20:48:00 I met Nate of YourDailyVacation when I featured one of his posts in the first Travel Blog Carnival. 1 What is the aim of your blog? NP - There are two main aims to my blog, the first is to provide the sites guest with information on travel tips and tricks as well as give them a ... More About: Interview , Guest
Touraveller - let?s ditch the tourist versus traveller
2008-01-01 12:28:00 In the 15 months that I”ve been researching and writing for my travel blog I’ve become increasingly bemused by the tourist versus traveller debate and the ensuing guidance of how to avoid the horror of being classified as a tourist. Or even, in hilarious perversity, From Traveler to Tourist in 5 Easy Steps. Of course the ... More About: Versus , Traveller
Special Holiday Edition of Carnival of Cities 31 December 2007
2007-12-31 17:16:00 If you’d like to read some interesting blog posts about cities all over the world, including my post about my revaluation of my birthplace of Dundee then take a look at the Special Holiday Edition of the Carnival of Cities . I’ll be hosting the next Carnival of Cities on the theme of “off the beaten track” ...
Welcome to the first Travel Blog Carnival
2007-12-29 23:45:00 Let’s get the New Year off to a great start with the first Travel Blog Carnival . The organiser, Darren of Travel Rants, wants to showcase posts about travel that are inspiring, interesting and informational. Bearing this in mind I was also influenced by my desire to highlight the benefits of getting off ... More About: Blog Carnival
?Off the beaten track? Carnival of Cities on 7 January 2008
2007-12-28 16:57:00 I’ve gone into blog carnival overdrive and will be hosting the Carnival of Cities on Monday 7 January 2008. My theme is “off the beaten track” cities, less well known cities that still have a lot to offer but are overlooked in favour of the tourist magnets. So if you’d like to let us ... More About: Track , January 2008
£9 room Summer sale at Travelodge UK
2007-12-28 14:28:00 Travelodge launch their lowest ever room rate of £9 per night today. You do have to book at least 6 months in advance, by 31 January 2008, on the non refundable rate but I still think it’s a great deal considering their rooms can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 kids. Not all Travelodges are ... More About: Summer , Sale , Accommodation , Room , Travelodge
Airtours following my lead for authentic travel?
2007-12-27 20:28:00 Have Airtours been looking at the Europe a la Carte website and decided to follow my line of offering their customers the opportunity to “get a more authentic travel experience during their visit to Europe”? Airtours are now offering “Local Flavours” holidays so you can have an authentic package holiday. There is emphasis on strong ... More About: Travel , Lead , Then
Guest interview - Laurence Monclard of Meeting the French
2007-12-27 13:40:00 I read about Meeting the French and thought that arranging contact between local residents and visitors sounded such a good way to make a visit to Paris more authentic that I wanted to find out more. So here’s the background to Meeting the French in founder Laurence Monclard’s own words. 1 What is the ... More About: Culture , France , Interview , Guest
Travel blog search widget on Kango
2007-12-21 22:44:00 Kango have launched a travel blog search widget to make it easier to find and search travel blogs. If there are any travel blogs that you’d like to see added to the search engine you can make suggestions. [Your user agent does not support frames or is currently configured not to display frames. However, you may ... More About: Technology , Travel , Widget , Search , Blog
Review of Direct Line Cruises
2007-12-21 15:44:00 Direct Line Cruises offer discounted rates on cruises with major cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival Cruises. Direct Line Cruises has grown to be a leading cruise line specialist agency from humble beginnings in 1995. The company was started in 1995 as a part time home business by ... More About: Review , Direct , Rect
Fantastic weekend offers at Ibis European hotels
2007-12-20 20:39:00 When I was doing research for my post about the Best UK Budget Hotel Chain, I found some great weekend offers with Ibis hotels. Prices like 120 euros on the 3 nights weekend deal in Lyon at a fairly central hotel and 95 euros in Viseu in Portugal. Visue - Portugal by Portugese_eyes Amazingly this is ... More About: Hotels , European , Weekend , Offers , Rope
The best UK budget hotel chain
2007-12-20 19:42:00 The UK budget hotel sector is forecast to grow from its current market share of 12% to 26% over the next 2o years. At present the largest 4 players are Travel Inn, Travelodge, Holiday Inn Express and Ibis hotels. I decided to look at each of these budget hotel chains to judge which ... More About: Hotel , Budget , Chain
Don?t diss your hometown from memory
2007-12-20 13:44:00 I think when you’re young it’s all too easy to catergorise your home town as a dump and you can’t wait to get out of it. I was born in the city of Dundee but only lived there until I was five years old. When I spoke of my place of birth it was ... More About: Memory , Diss
New short break destinations with Ryanair
2007-12-20 00:17:00 Budget carrier Ryanair has introduced 50 new routes for 2008. From my perspective there’s nothing of great interest at my 2 nearest airports, Newcastle and Edinburgh. No new flights from Newcastle. There are 5 new Ryanair destinations from Edinburgh but only 2 that aren’t already served by other carriers, Bremen in Germany ... More About: Air Travel , Break , Destinations , Short
UK budget travel tips
2007-12-18 13:04:00 Everyone wants to get value for money when they travel but you have to ask yourself how low you are willing to go. What is budget travel? To some people, others budget travel may appear pretty upmarket. Personally I’m an in-betweenie, I’ve never been into backpacking and camping or staying in hostel dorms but ... More About: Travel , Travel Tips , Tips , Accommodation , Budget
Review of Flybe.com
More articles from this author:2007-12-17 20:24:00 I don’t know much about Flybe.com so I decided to have a look at their site. I concentrated on the flights that were of most interest to me i.e flights from Edinburgh or Newcastle as I live between these 2 cities. The majority of their flights are to UK destinations, which are not of interest ... More About: France , Air Travel , Review 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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