I finally made it to Belfast and to the hostel after the usual unguided lap of the city. Just when I thought that Dublin was good Belfast has snuck on in there. After arriving a little late into town I went in search of food, not wanting to dine on the finest kebebs that Belfast could offer the choice was down to KFC. Oh well it had to happen sooner or later. The hostel was conveniently located around the corner from the Golden Mile or one of Belfast's main pub strips. This was a handy distraction to have around the corner. [View Full Entry]

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After a few days in Dublin it's time to escape to the north and go up to Belfast via the Causeway Coast. Since the changes in the north the only real difference you notice when you cross the border now is the speed limits are now in miles per hour, as are the distances on the road signs, oh and you now use pounds not the euro. This is all ok except the speedo on the ford focus rental car is not in miles. But nothing a quick bit of mental arithmetic can't solve. The causeway coast is stunning to say [View Full Entry]

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I'm in Dublin, back where they speak english and drive on the same side of the road as at home, novel really. Now Dublin is a city that appears to have it's act together, good public transport, easy to get from the airport to the city and enough history to go around. Spent the first night after arriving at the hostel, (really nice actually, conveniently located with all the mod cons expected) at the theatre seeing a play about life in the estates of england in the 60's called 'Saved'. It got rave reviews and was quite enjoyable, although a bit [View Full Entry]

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Having a bit of time to kill last night I thought I might go into the city (Nantes) and see what the night life was like, well early evening life anyway. After taking yet another route into the city from where I'm staying, (something to do with my uncanny ability not to navigate around strange cities) I arrived at my normal parking location. From there it was the usual aimless wonder around the city not paying any attention to the map. After a few misguided turns I ended up finding the Irish pub that I was looking for. The thing you [View Full Entry]

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Well the French part of the escape continues, after a quick trip up the Brittany coast and back to look at some castles, including a really neat citadel on the coast it was back to Nantes. The bizarre thing about France is that most things are closed on a sunday sort of like we used to have a while back in Australia. The novel experience for today was a trip to a restaurant, not just any old place for a meal this one. The menu has a choice of one thing, steak and fries, that's it steak and fries, the only [View Full Entry]

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There's a few things to see around Nantes while you're enjoying the sun and rain. The drive up to St Nazaire is not all that scenic but when you arrive there's lots of big boys toys to check out. Starting with the freshly made cruise ship the MSC Orchestra, hot of the press so to speak, getting loaded up for it's maiden voyage. Then there's the ship yard where they are building another cruise ship. These things are built in sections and then a crane drops each piece into place. After that it was off to the submarine that they have [View Full Entry]

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Well after a few days hanging around the Brittany coast I've come up with a couple of tips 1. When window shopping it's important that you scan the footpath ahead prior to gazing into the windows as you aimlessly wander along the street. This will save you the hassle of becoming bogged in a mound of dog sh** Remember try not to get distracted and keep scanning ahead. 2. I'm not sure if the French invented the roundabout but they sure have embraced it big time here in Nantes. There's the small roundabout, the square roundabout, the two roundabouts side by [View Full Entry]

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Yes I ran away and I'm in Turkey. Turkey was a pleasant surprise I was expecting the dirt and grime of Cairo to be in Istanbul but it turned out to be a nice clean place considering 16 million of people live there. The disorganisation of the tour was as expected, we arrived at the first hotel only to be told that this was not the hotel that we were staying at even though all the travel documentation said so. But a tip for those visiting Istanbul in the future, cross the Art Otel off your list of places to stay. [View Full Entry]

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