Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Guest Post :: Following forgotten footsteps...

Just think. The next time you fly across Europe, the Atlantic or beyond in a comfortable, air-conditioned plane you could be repeating history several times over.

By accident you might mimic Jack Kerouac's On The Road route, the Inka Trail or where Ernest Hemingway discovered his writing passion in Paris.

Wherever you go across the globe, there's a chance you could be following forgotten footsteps. Indeed, the world has been trod by thousands of feet in ancient and modern times. And, to follow your dreams rather than just a map, it could make sense to find out about the route first, and prepare for the usual aspects such as travel insurance cover, travel money or learning foreign phrases.

Here are six historic routes to follow: 


1. Join a Julius Caesar tour in Rome (Italy) 

A priest, a soldier, a politician and widely accepted in Ancient Rome as a descendant of Venus, The Goddess of Love, Caesar was a man and a half. Walking tours will take you to the sites of his birth and death, following the bendy streets of his reign, and where he made his epic speeches. Discover more about Ides of March tours and his legendary assassination by a group of Senators.

2. Lands End to John O'groats (UK) 

Robert and John Naylor were the first known people to walk continuously from John O'Groats to Land's End in 1871. You could choose a different mode of transport and route to make the journey more interesting - by plane, train or automobile if you think the blisters will be unbearable!

beautiful Lands End


3. Inka Trail (Peru)

The Incas were an ancient people who lived in South America until the 1570s. Their key legacy is the Inca Trail, heralded as the most famous trek in South America. Some 26 miles long, it blends beautiful mountain scenery, lush cloud-forest, and a magnificent mix of Inca paving stones, ruins and tunnels. The Pièce de résistance is the Lost City of the Incas.

4. The history behind Hemingway's Movable Feast book (Paris)

The famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, was renown for taking many of his writing cues from Paris. Start a Hemingway walk at the collectible Censier Daubenton station on line seven. Take his book, A Moveable Feast, with you, a memoir of his Paris days; mandatory reading for Hemingway followers.

5. Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road' route (US)

Why not hit the road like Jack Kerouac did in the late forties and make your own memories for a book, like he did in his, On The Road? You could follow your nose along many of Kerouac's old haunts, bearing in mind you would need many months to complete the epic trip. New York to Desert Denver and San Francisco – and down in Mexico were just a few of his stomping grounds.

6. Derry to western Ireland

Not all routes are long-forgotten. Traveller writer and broadcaster Michael Palin's second Great Railway Journey (1994) took him from the ancient walled city of Derry to the most western tip of Ireland. Why not take in some majestic Irish countryside by rail rather than road…?

Follow those footsteps.

This guest post was written on behalf of Money Matters, the Sainsbury's Bank blog. Though it may include tips and information, it does not constitute advice and should not be used as a basis for any financial decisions. Sainsbury's Bank accepts no responsibility for the opinions and views of external contributors and the content of external websites included within this post. All information in this post was correct at date of publication.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Bye bye baby seat , hello booster seat!

There are plenty of articles out there telling you just how expensive raising a child is, and to be fair if you buy everything new it can soon add up. We were lucky to have lots of very generous friends who gave us bags full of clothes and toys. Roo's cot was from a charity shop as was his pushchair. One of the only things we couldn't purchase second hand was a car seat. Money has always been tight so it's good to know there are companies like K and Co online that offer interest free credit to help cash strapped families get the essentials they need WHEN they need them!

 Just over four years ago we faced the prospect of buying a new car seat for Roo. At six months he was rapidly out growing his first baby seat - the cute little carrier we brought him home from hospital in - he wanted to sit up, to look around, to see where he was going rather than look at the back of the seat.

Roo at six days old. So, so teeny!!


There are so many car seat designs so we had already done a bit of research and had an idea of what we wanted - based mainly on what we could afford! - and off we went to be 'fitted'.  I will never forget the look on the sales woman's face when we took her outside to assess which seat we would need for our vehicle. We are not a two car family. Technically we are not even a one car family. All we had was a large white van which the Other Half used for his business. Which means it is mainly used for fetching and delivering motorbikes. Certainly not your average family runaround...

The sales woman brought out a succession of seats (including the one I had my eye on, which I knew was on offer) dismissing them one by one as 'not as safe it could be due to the positioning of the seatbelt'. Now I understand the importance of safety but I am a child of the 70's - I can remember me and my four siblings rolling about in the back of an Austin Maxi without a seat belt between us let alone padded head guards and reclining seats! In the end she settled for one that cost nearly as much as the old banger we had before we bought the van and to our eyes looked no more or less stable than all the others she had tried before, but not after she suggested that it might be worth considering buying a car!  We smiled, thanked her for her time, went home and ordered the original seat we had planned on purchasing online.

Roo, being the lanky streak that he is grew out of that seat last year and we have been using a second hand booster seat (booster seat NOT baby seat - he gets most indignant!), but the foam padding is wearing thin and is really quite uncomfortable for anything longer than the 5 mins ride home from Nonny's house. So we need a new one. And as we are off on holiday in less than four weeks, we really need to get one now!

*This Featured post was written in partnership with Kay & Co but all words and opinions and photo's of cute baby in carrier are my own ;-)

Friday, June 10, 2011

What am I reading in June?

Well it would seem there is a bit of a travel theme going on this month - this is possibly due to my 'itchy-feet' syndrome kicking in, but as money and time constraints mean the furthest I shall be travelling this summer is to a caravan park in Yorkshire with my parents and the Little Man, I shall have to content myself with reading about other people's adventures instead.
My local library had similar ideas and thoughtfully provided me with a huge display of travel books to chose from when we popped in the other day!

So first up is 'Red Tape and White Knuckles' by Lois Pryce
This caught my attention mainly because it involves a motorcycle and, what with the Other Half being a biker and running a Motorcycle shop, you know, sometimes I have to 'show willing'. But this is not just any old 'biker' chronicle - this is a female biker travelling alone through some of the harshest and most dangerous regions of the continent. And she has a sparkly lid (biker term for crash helmet...). Really looking forward to this one.


Changing the back drop and mode of transport completely we have 'Adrift in Caledonia' by Nick Thorpe. Following one man's trek around the Scottish canals, lochs and coastal waters, hitching a ride on various vessels to complete his journey. Apparently this was a Radio 4 'Book of the Week' so I have high hopes for it. The opening pages introduce us to an eccentric boat man wearing a kilt and a floral waistcoat. I think I am going to enjoy it!



Third on the list is 'Tasting Tuscany' by Beth Elon, which not only takes the reader off the beaten track in one of the most beautiful regions of Italy but provide lots of lovely, authentic Tuscan recipes to try at home (although I suspect the 'Hare in sweet and sour sauce' may go untried...)
Perfect for a sunny afternoon read (or a 'cosy up in the conservatory dreaming of sunny afternoons' read if flaming June continues as it's begun)







Last and by no means least I have the latest issue of that fabulous homage to all things crafty, vintage and make-do-and-mend - 'Mollie Makes' to enjoy! I have already lined up a few projects to take on holiday with me to do. Well we are going in a caravan. In Yorkshire. In June. Rain seems fairly safe bet...

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What are you reading?
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