Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for international travel
A Welsh Valentine
By Linda Tancs
Spooning your sweetie has a meaning all its own, particularly today, the Welsh equivalent to Valentine’s Day. Saint Dwynwen’s Day celebrates the patron saint of Welsh lovers. Like its 14 February equivalent, it’s a day for gift giving. And what better gift could there be than a Welsh lovespoon, handcarved in wood with symbols of love like interlocking hearts and wedding bells. Wishing you all love and friendship.
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Beerseum Delights Visitors
By Linda Tancs
At one time Burton on Trent sported 33 breweries; one might say there was a tonic for whatever ales you (yes, pun intended). A short walk from the rail station, the recently opened National Brewery Centre explores the evolution of brewing techniques from ancient times to today. Hundreds of exhibits and rare artefacts display beer brewing techniques, and character performers serving samples of real ales in the Edwardian Bar or shoveling malt bring Burton’s glory days back to life. Adding to the ambience is a collection of vehicles from horse-drawn drays to delivery wagons and special promotional vehicles, such as a 1920s Daimler bottle car that was built to deliver promotional materials to pubs. The Shire horses are on winter holiday until 1 April, but there’s plenty else to evoke the days of old. Buy an annual ticket for unlimited visits.
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Ferrari World
By Linda Tancs
Less than 10 minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport is the world’s largest indoor theme park, Ferrari World. The Italian race car-themed park comes complete with Italian inspired scenery, Italian food and lots of race car rides. Formula Rossa is the world’s fastest roller coaster at 149 mph. Why in Abu Dhabi? They say it’s ideally located at the crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa, in one of the world’s fastest growing tourist attractions, named by Frommers Guide and Lonely Planet as one of the top ten places to visit in 2010. Curiously, the ticket pricing is based on height. Kids, then, generally fare better (no pun intended).
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Cookout in the Caymans
By Linda Tancs
Renowned French chef Eric Ripert of New York’s Le Bernardin is presiding over a long weekend cookout celebrating food, wine and the natural beauty of the Cayman Islands. The star-studded roster of chefs offering tastings, demonstrations, and dinners includes Susur Lee, Charlie Trotter, Rachel Allen and chef-turned-food raconteur Anthony Bourdain of the Food Channel. Now through 16 January, the events range from wine and food tastings at the Ritz-Carlton on Grand Cayman to an oceanfront lunch at historic Grand Old House, a cayside picnic, beachside BBQ and assorted galas to celebrate with grand Caribbean flair. Your culinary heroes await you.
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Mountain Do
By Linda Tancs
The largest ski resort in the world is Les 3 Vallées in France, boasting resort areas Val Thorens, Les Menuires, Meribel and Courchevel. With an enviable 600 km of skiable area, you might expect the luxe destination to be largely off-limits to the uninitiated. Au contraire. Out of the area’s 330 runs, practically half are easy and half are for experts. And all are superbly accessible thanks to one of the most efficient and modern ski lift networks in the world. Eighty piste grooming machines guarantee snow cover from the beginning of December to the end of April over the entire ski area. That gives you plenty of time to plan your stay.
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Life on Ice
By Linda Tancs
Over 15,000 icebergs are formed in the Arctic each year, and you can see them in places like Disko Bay in the Labrador Sea in western Greenland. The native Inuit spend their winter months hunting for polar bear, seals, and walrus to feed and clothe their families. Consider a visit to their local archeological sites.
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Mythic Kiev
By Linda Tancs
Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, is one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, known as much for the abundance of historic architectural monuments as for the shady horse chestnut trees lining the city from end to end. There’s almost a Parisian flair to this distinctive Slavic city—after all, the Dnieper River divides the city into two banks, left and right—just like its sister city to the west. Learn more at Travelrific Radio.
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Cash and Carry
By Linda Tancs
One crucial point to keep in mind about credit and debit cards is the usage in Europe, Canada, Latin America and other parts of the world of what’s known as “chip and PIN” credit and debit cards. These cards have a computer chip embedded in them, technology increasingly adopted internationally to combat credit and debit card fraud. The use of the card is effectuated by verifying a PIN (personal identification number). It does not appear that any U.S. credit and debit cards (characterized by magnetic stripe readers) currently possess this “chip and PIN” technology for use abroad. So what do you do if your card is rejected by a vendor? In some cases, the situation can be resolved by reminding a vendor that he or she has the option to type the card number into a credit card machine. Now there’s another option. Money exchange company Travelex is debuting the Cash Passport, a card pre-loaded with your desired currency. The more you buy, the better the exchange rate. This option is particularly attractive for automated transactions where a magnetic stripe card might be rejected.
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The Fourth Test in Melbourne
By Linda Tancs
Playwright George Bernard Shaw once remarked that baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended. No doubt it can’t end soon enough for the Aussies, currently entrenched in a two-month battle with the English known as The Ashes. The annual cricket match between England and Australia is playing out the fourth of five Tests in Melbourne this year until 30 December. The next and final Test is scheduled for 3 to 7 January in Sydney. Will the championship urn return Down Under?
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A Magical Winter at Europa Park
By Linda Tancs
Europe has had its fair share of snow already this winter season, and that makes the winter wonderland at Europa Park in Rust, Germany even more authentic. If the scent of freshly baked gingerbread and mulled wine doesn’t put you in the holiday spirit, then maybe the international parade of lights each evening through the miniature versions of England, Russia, Holland, Greece and Switzerland will cast a holiday glow. Couple that with a larger ice skating rink than years past, a Christmas market, winter circus and a giant ferris wheel presiding over the winter landscape and you have an unforgettable seasonal experience. Visit now through 9 January.
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