Tag: December 2001

If the first six meetings of the Texas Branch of the Globetrotters Club
are an indication of the future, it is going to be bright, rosy, fun,
informative, exciting, and a great success! Since the first meeting in
July of 2001, the Texas branch has had 38 different people attend and
Christina, the Texas Chair has received countless E-mails! Thank you,
all you Globetrotter e-newsletter readers – if you live in the area, why
not drop Christina a line and come to the January meeting!

A message from Christina, the Texas chair.

For me, the Texas Branch of the Globetrotters is a monthly support group
to help me with my travel addiction. I’m glad to meet others who like
to talk about travel and share their stories.

The agenda for the December meeting was to share travel stories from
2001 and state travel plans for New Years Resolutions 2002. We politely
shared our stories, and had no time to state our resolutions. It was a
great meeting.

The agenda for the first meeting of 2002 (Saturday, January 12) will
be to share our travel plans for 2002. I’m working on mine – a cruise,
a train trip, a new continent, a retreat, and a national park – see –
this is why I need a support group.

How about you? What are your travel resolutions for the new year? Come
prepared to share.

The next meeting will be Saturday, January 12, New Braunfels Library,
3 p.m. Mark your calendar. Everyone is invited!

The meeting will start promptly at 3 p.m. and end at 5 p.m. Bring a
favorite travel magazine or brochure to contribute to the door prize.
Plan to arrive by 2:30 for extra networking time.

Following the Jan 12 meeting we will adjourn to the Hoity Toit for more
talk and tales.

Christina’s advice is to come early so you won’t be late! Anybody
who wants to help Christina or enquire about meetings, please contact
her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

Early November. I need WARMTH and SUN. Flights to Malaga are
cheap, temperature check on the web – 22-23°C, comfortable for walking.
SO I decided on Andalusia. No, I don’t speak Spanish but I am happy to
travel alone and try and chat to people as I go along.

On arrival at Malaga it was T-shirt weather. It was great to feel the
sun on my face, quietly sipping coffee and chilling out. Just the job:
I decided to head to Granada the next day, and, being typically British,
wondered about the weather: would it be too cold, Granada nestling under
the mountains. What a lovely city! No problem with the weather or so I
thought!! After a lovely day, as the evening closed I could physically
feel the temperature dropping by degrees.

Later that night, I shivered under 5 layers of blankets and dare not
move off the small patch I had managed to warm as the sheets were like
ice. Next day I set off early to visit the Alhambra. It was cold but that
meant that it wasn’t busy, giving me plenty of opportunity to absorb the
beautiful architecture and the ornate decoration. On my return I begged
for a heater for my room `but heaters aren’t supplied until the 15^th
of November (shades of Faulty Tower’s – the Beetle!) – oh yes they are!

The view of the mountains from the station next day was very picturesque,
all covered in snow! I headed away from the mountains – Seville had to
be warmer – but passing a digital display confirmed my worst fears, one
o’clock in the afternoon and only 10°. I found a spot out of the bitter
wind and actually got warm but you can’t see a city sitting down unless
you are cooped up in a vehicle – not my scene. I like to walk, explore
and discover the unexpected. Things got worse: the skin on my feet started
to crack up and the next day not only did I have sore, bleeding feet but
also a sore throat. I persevered.

After a day of sun but little warmth I decided to head south to Jerez
the next day. I spent ages looking for the tourist office that I located
after tramping through most of the streets and seeking directions from
half of the residents. Please note that it is not where the Lonely Planet
or the road signs say. They have moved it away from the centre and kept
it a secret from the locals! All I wanted was bus routes! After visiting
stables and watching the magnificent Andalucian horses being put through
their paces I could walk no further so found a bench in the sun and escaped
into fantasy with Harry Potter, supplied by a very thoughtful friend.

That night my nose turned into a tap and I shook from head to feet as
my cold took it course. It was no good I wanted to go home so next day
I headed, defeated, back to Malaga to try and get an earlier flight. There
was nothing till the following morning so I got a room near the station
ready for a 6am start. Hi Ho. This trip had definitely been jinxed. That
evening they decided to knock down the corridor around my room. I do not
speak Spanish but I think they got the idea of what I was saying!!! How
could my timing be so bad, hitting the week when all Europe was hit by
abnormal and extreme weather conditions. Needless to say, on arriving
back at Gatwick it was a pleasant sunny autumn day, warm for the time
of year……. Harry Potter was great fun…..

Poor sun-starved Gill, who wants the second HP now – my little Beetle
heart goes out to her! If you would like to contact Gill, to commiserate,
she can be reached on:gill.ward@virgin.net

In May 2001 I spent 2 weeks travelling in Bulgaria. This is a very ancient
and honourable culture that disappeared from the history books for longer
than my own country has been in existence. There are wonderful ruins,
great churches and interesting people.

My trip began in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria and a major city. I
was able to stay with a Servas host that gave me a totally different perspective
of the city. Sofia offered two highlights for me: the first was an evening
at the opera. Tickets were 15 BGL (about $7 USD). The opera was Don Carlos
with glorious singing and acting and a set too large for the stage. The
second highlight was a day excursion to Rila Monastery. This is an ancient
monastery, with monks still living there. I chose an English language
day trip from Sophia with an English speaking guide and lunch. It cost
($65 USD) and I’m certain it could be done less expensive than that. But
I chose to go with convenience. Behind Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which
was under restoration while I was there, women come to sell their handwork.
The quality was good and the prices were very reasonable. You can negotiate.

Bulgarians use the Cyrillic alphabet that was difficult for me. I carried
the alphabet with me, but even then I had difficulty. Languages are not
my forte, normally I was able to find English speakers and to make my
needs and wants known. I found that many Bulgarians spoke both French
and German so those languages would help.

From Sofia, I preceded to Plovdiv. Throughout the country I used local
busses. They were inexpensive, had good equipment, and were normally on
time. Bulgarian drivers are very aggressive. There is also a railroad
system, but it was just easier to use the busses.

Plovdiv is another ancient city that has a Roman amphitheatre, which
was fascinating to see. There my Servas host family took me to Bachkovo
Monastery. It has not been restored like Rila and is darker and more mysterious.
I liked it a lot. While I was there the Spring International Trade Fair
was going on. I attended one morning. It was fascinating to see the various
vendors from all over Europe and what they were offering.

From Plovdiv I continued to Veliko Turnovo – a medieval city in the
mountains. I highly recommend this. It has a beautiful setting with interesting
craft shops. While I was there the folk festival was going on near my
hotel. I couldn’t understand a word of the songs, but the dancing was
interesting, the costumes colourful and the people a joy to watch.

Then it was on to the Black Sea. This was probably my favourite part
of the trip. I began in Varna – which has one of the most beautiful Cathedral
churches, I have ever seen. Then I spent a night in Nessebar – a coast
city and ended in Burgas, a large port. From there I took the bus to Istanbul,
Turkey for another week.

One last note – wherever I went in the country I was able to find computer
cafes. For the most part, the prices were good and the equipment was fast.
I sent e-mails on a regular basis.

Thank you Sandra – this is so inspiring! You have given the Beetle
an idea for a European holiday! If you would like to contact her, she
can be reached on: smingua32@msn.com

David Showalter, Personal Traveler’s President’s, has kindly offered
E-Newsletter readers a great discount on his new travel course, “The Best
European Vacation of Your Life.”. This course was writen, based upon David’s
personal experience traveling through Eastern Europe. The finsihed product
is an affordable, highly informative Audio CD course on how/why/when etc
to travel through this wonderful, overlooked region.

The course shows you how to avoid Traditional Western European tourist
traps where absolutely everything is too expensive, greatly limiting your
ability to go places and participate in events. Most items and services
cost 1/20th of their U.S. Prices, and we have found that we could afford
to go anywhere, eat everything, and buy anything we wanted.

A 10% discount on all their courses are avalible to all E-Newsletter
subscribers, just enter “GTC1” in the “merchant code for discount” box
on their online order form.

To learn more visit europejam.com