Budapest, Hungary Eight-years-old and sitting in my classroom waiting as the teacher gave out atlases. We were told to open them to the double-page spread showing Europe. I was mesmerized. All those peculiar countries with even stranger-sounding capital cities. Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest and lots more besides filled the pages. And best of all was the thick black line that split the map right down the middle. Our teacher told us it was the Iron Curtain and it separated the communists from the rest of us. I ran my finger along its length, noting the countries on both sides. &ldquo [View Full Entry]

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“Düsseldorf? Why go there?” asked certain people when I told them of our plans for New Year’s Eve. “Surely there are better places to go than Düsseldorf?” And that was the problem. Düsseldorf seemed to have a bit of an image problem. I blame Auf Wiedersehen Pet, the hit 1980’s TV program. On screen Düsseldorf was portrayed as a bleak industrial city, certainly not a top destination for a European city-break. So I decided to find out more. On the city’s official website, Düsseldorf was described as having ‘…one of the world’s mo [View Full Entry]

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Two years after passing our Private Pilots Licences, a friend of mine called Amer, and I decided to fly from Blackpool to the Isle of Man. Getting there would be a brand new challenge. Neither of us had ever flown over such a large expanse of water before. After some rough calculations, we worked out we’d be over water for about forty-five minutes. Forty of those minutes being so far away from land, that in the event of an engine failure, we’d have no option but to ditch in the open sea. This stark fact did not fill me with merriment. [View Full Entry]

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“How much to the Old Town?” I asked the taxi driver, a middle-aged Lithuanian man parked just outside the small terminal at Vilnius International Airport. “Forty Litas,” he answered in deep Eastern European tones. His eyes, I noted, didn’t flinch a fraction of an inch. It was just as we expected. Forty Litas was about eight British pounds. Over the odds for the short fifteen minute journey into town. I decided to try haggling. By my side, Jodie rolled her eyes. She knew it was sure to end in disaster. “Twenty Litas,” I said with an air of [View Full Entry]

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“Bled? That sounds a bit gruesome,” said Jodie when I first suggested the idea of visiting the small town in Slovenia, the most northerly of the former Yugoslavian republics. We were sat by the pool in Poreč, Croatia, and I’d just found out that a coach could pick us up outside the hotel and take us on a guided day trip to the alpine town of Bled. “I know, but the place looks stunning. And it’s really close to Croatia,” I answered. “There’s a lake and a castle near it. They look really nice.” But nice wasn’t an adequate a [View Full Entry]

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Venice, Italy Welcome to Waterworld! Venice, or Venezia to the Italians, is of course famous for its canals. There are about 150 of the buggers, splitting up nearly 120 islands, all connected by about 400 bridges. There are no cars in Venice. Instead, water taxis, waterbuses, and the world-famous gondolas sweep along its myriad of canals. Unique in Europe, Venice is the only major city that still functions without the use of roads. If you want to get anywhere in Venice you have to get in a boat or else walk. Arriving in Venice around noon, we disembarked from the Sprit [View Full Entry]

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Porec, Croatia A Mediterranean holiday steeped in history Situated on the western edge of the Istrian peninsular, Poreč (pronounced Por-ech) is one of Croatia’s more popular tourist destinations. That said it’s still not as popular as it should be. Even though the Balkan wars ended in 1995, the stigma of conflict still exists. Croatia, to a lot of people, is the same part of the world as Bosnia and Kosovo, therefore the country must war-torn, poor, and even backward. Certainly not the place to visit for a couple of weeks in the sun. Well Jodie and I were he [View Full Entry]

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“Slovakia? Isn’t it where that movie was shot?” asked Jodie when I told her I was heading off to the Slovakian Capital for a two-day break with some friends. I nodded. Hostel had made headlines for two reasons. One was that it was full of gratuitous violence, and the second was the supposed setting was near Bratislava, a place inhabited by beautiful woman and sick sadistic killers. Relatively unknown to the world at large, Slovakia is actually one of the newest countries on the planet. It only gained independence from its neighbour, the Czech Republic, in 1993. A [View Full Entry]

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There’s something disconcerting about standing beside an empty baggage carrousel in a strange country without your luggage. Worse is the ominous sound of silence as the belt grinds to a halt. Welcome to Estonia! Our adventure began at Manchester Airport. “I’m sorry, sir,” said the woman behind the ticket collection counter. “I’m afraid your flight has been cancelled. But don’t worry; you’ve been booked on another one. Finnair to Helsinki, then a connecting flight to Tallinn. You’ll actually arrive half and hour earlier than you would&rsq [View Full Entry]

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It was dark outside, and with the drizzle, the streets of Krakow didn’t look particularly inviting. We headed towards the Old Town, a place noted for its bars and restaurants. After only a hundred yards or so, Jodie stopped walking. “I don’t like this. I’m not getting good vibes.” “What do you mean?” I said. “Look!” gestured Jodie, water dripping from her hair. “Everything’s dark and dingy. It seems…unfriendly.” We wandered on. Soon we arrived in the old part of town. Shops were open on both sides o [View Full Entry]

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