Travelling | Craft Beer | Life
Myanmar Trip – December 2015 So, this Myanmar trip was before I started doing Travel Wanker posts, and it remains one of my favourite trips, which I am so grateful we got to do. As this is 8 years ago, I’m going mainly on the photos and the things they remind me of. What I…
For a while now, we had wanted to visit Sri Lanka. However, due to political unrest in the recent past, our government advised against it. But in March 2023, the situation had improved, and we finally booked our Sri Lanka trip – a private tour! This is the norm when travelling here. Basically, you, a…
Our first cruise. A week Caribbean cruise with TUI, and we secured last-minute rooms, which were actually disabled access ones. We did the usual thing, got the train to Gatwick, and stayed at the Premier Inn. The check-in process was a piece of piss. You dropped off your bags; the next time you saw them…
Nottingham craft beer weekend – Sep 22 – We enjoyed many pints in pubs, IPA’s, stouts & craft ales in various breweries. Our own mini beer festival.
This was a trip we took in September 2021. As I recall, this was when Covid had pretty much ‘done one’ in the UK, but travel restrictions remained a ballache when travelling abroad. I remember that the bullshit traffic light system was still in operation and was updated every 2 weeks. Some countries kept bouncing…
So it is now April 2022 as I am writing this. We went to Costa Rica in March 2020 for my 50th birthday. Over two years ago now. Little did we know the utter shit storm that was about to take over the planet on our return. We arrived home on the 15th of March;…
Another long taxi ride (also with the 2 French girls) from Kampot to Phnom Penh (4 hours – $50) and we arrive… $25 a couple – that is mental! It is not even an easy drive. There is so much construction happening that we are weaving in & out of traffic & diversions all the…
After 3.5 hours drive in the taxi, we get dropped off at our hotel in Kampot – Mea Culpa This little 2-star hotel turned out to be one of our favourites – the owner/manager Ben was such a lovely guy & very accommodating, he lived there with his Cambodian wife & children. It was very…
Part #2 of our Cambodian journey was upon us. We were off for some chilled days on the island of Koh Rong Samloem (or Koh Rong Sanloem – even Google doesn’t seem to be sure!). We had our final breakfast in Siem Reap & caught a tuk-tuk for the 30-minute journey to the airport. An…
The trip starts with a taxi to Heathrow. All good. Disaster strikes when we find that terminal 2 does not have a Wetherspoons! – What the fuck!? We have a routine! Crisis averted when we discover London’s Pride which had a few craft beers on tap & served eggs benedict. We flew with Thai Airways…
Another trip booked with ‘Untravelled Paths’ & another success. This time a 4 night trip to the Puglia region of Italy – The Dolce Vita Puglia Experience We flew from Luton to Bari with Wizz Air. It was very cheap, about £70 each return. It would have been even cheaper had Wizz not done their…
London has a lot of pubs. About 3,500 currently. But, if, like me, you have discovered that you really like & enjoy ‘craft beer’ – then you realise you have just made your life that bit more complicated! The beer Buddha has been awakened! So I have set about creating my own London Craft…
The first thing to say is that this was a lovely location for a week’s chilled getaway! We would definitely return……not something we usually say or do but this was perfect for a simple week away. The minor ‘blip’ is that it flies direct from Gatwick. From Luton, you can fly to Corfu & get…
One place you have to visit if you go to Ljubljana is Lake Bled. As soon as you search for the Top 10 things to do this is in the top 3. This is when we discovered how efficient Slovenian buses were & cheap! They turn up exactly on time & arrive the same. Off…
Well, the first thing to say is what a destination for a short break! We loved it. Part of this was because Ljubljana also sells craft beer! We were there for 3 nights & was pretty much perfect. We stayed in an Airbnb. Through the accommodation, we organised a lift from the airport when we…
The alarm went off well before 6 am. We got up. Opened the curtains. We were greeted with… ….fuck all! Just fog, smog or mist – you can never tell. It was effectively a ‘white-out’. Yep, we had added another day, night, travel and hotel onto our trip, to see sweet FA. Himalaya’s my arse!…
Well, this was a long but very good day. After breakfast, we were met by our guide for another tour of a different part of Kathmandu – Bhaktapur What a pleasure this was. His English was excellent & he was very interesting. We saw many temples and historic buildings. This area was famous for having…
The morning view of the Himalayas was another blinder. Better than the 1st day I would say. This was the last part of our ‘Trek’ & was potentially even shorter than the already ‘joke’ short treks up to now. Needless to say, we had a late start to try & eek it all out a…
We got our phone call at 6 AM. It was cold but it was well worth it. The Himalayas. It was stunning. We stood there for ages & watched the sunrise. We could see Annapurna II & Fishtail (Machapuchare) The latter has never been climbed to its summit. We were told that lots attempted to…
Okay, so I have called this Day 1 of the trek but quite frankly that is a piss take. A lot of Nepal based holidays are Treks that can last from 1 to 3 weeks & that is all they do. We didn’t want this, we wanted to see a lot of Nepal but also…
Today’s activity was a guided tour of Pokhara & it’s surroundings. We were met after breakfast by the guide & his driver. He was fucking awful. We did all the things in the area so that was good but he gave no insight or information at all He was shit. ….in fact, more annoyingly all…
An early start to the bus station. A quick pop to the toilet led me to this delight straight out of a Nepalese ‘Trainspotting‘. This was about a 6-hour journey. Usual stuff, the guy ‘running’ the bus had about 3 mobile phones & kept counting seats all the time. We made numerous stop on the way…
8 am the start. Off to the elephant safari……..mmmmm, not sure how we felt about this to be fair. The elephants seem absolutely fine but didn’t like the idea. The reality is that they have been using elephants for yrs & they seemed well cared for. There was 4 of us on a little platform…
After battling with Access Nepal we were picked up by a taxi to go to ‘bus station’…aka a line of buses for about a mile on the road!! Also discovered that the time on the bus ticket is bollocks. Always 30mins later than stated….& we arrived early!! We had our breakfast box! Weird sandwich, 2…
City tour of Kathmandu – 8.45am. Us & 3 others. Saw the sights of Kathmandu. Pretty impressive. [videopress oHjQCprJ] Kumari was the ‘eye opener’ – 10 girls for Buddist families that fit loads of different criteria – beauty, hair colour, the shade of skin, eye colour etc Then they scare the shit out of them…
Two days before the trip we discovered something weird with our flights – they weren’t confirmed. Eventually we rang them to find out what was going on & they very calmy said that the flight out we booked had been cancelled! WTF!! Just as calmly they then said another had been put on if we…
Final Day. Was going to be a long day as our flight wasn’t until 10 pm that evening. Today was a ‘tick all the remaining boxes’ days. This started early with queuing up for tickets to get into a bookshop!! WTF! The Harry Potter Staircase Porto! 5 Euro each. Why? Because it has a…
Wine tour day!! We had a wine tour booked – 100 euro each & was an ‘all-dayer’. This is the website & the tour we took – https://www.bagoduva360.com/ Pick up was 8.30am but they were running late so we went for the standard of ‘Coffee & Custard Tart’. There was 9 of us. We were in…
Apparently, near us, people stay out all night!! It was noisy on & off until about 5 am! Day 2 started with a coffee & the custard tart things. Today was a big wandering day & where we were going to venture over the bridge. Anyone Like Heights!? The bridge (one of 6) – Holy…
Holy shit! What a bastard early start! Alarm 4 am & cab at 4.30! Luton airport keeps on changing!! New drop-off zones & loads of new shops. Cheeky Camden IPA @ 5 am. Nothing on the plane #unheardof So foggy in Porto. Came through what looked like clouds & there was the runway! Got Metro…
The final full day. Tomorrow we travel home. There was also a small matter of England v Sweden in the Quarterfinal of the World Cup. It had not escaped our notice that despite where we were staying was pretty small, that most of the other people staying were Swedish! Breakfast With A View! Today was…
Breakfast was dumplings + bits of omelette + various ‘cheese’ served – the dumplings were lovely and were good with cheese & honey. So off we went—two lakes to visit. The first lake was a ‘bonus’ due to nobody signing up for a hike. Lisa & I rented a rowing boat for an hour –…
The last brekkie at Kotor – 8 am. New people had arrived for the trip. 2 minibusses. Lisa & I were with a family of 4. Jennifer, Stuart, and their 2 kids – Calum & Abigail. The 5 girls had Carl & Sharon. The Gang Is Together & The Driving Begins! Lots of driving!! Stopped…
Later start – 9 am Brekkie. Local Bus To Tivat To Visit The MarinaWander to find the bus station. W bought tickets to Tivat – one way 2.50€ each. Waited about 25 mins. Was about 15 mins away through the tunnel. Coach stop was about 1Km walk to the 1st marina! Bastard! I thought it…
Day Trip. Met guide (Illija) at 9. Montenegro is an absolute nightmare in the morning. So so many tourist buses & people from the cruise ships. Budvar Old Town – Hitler & Beer Budvar old town. Lots of little streets on the coast with a beautiful view (not Kotor beautiful, but still pretty impressive). Bought…
Up for brekkie. Lovely atmosphere sat outside. Eggs & ‘bacon’ with the church bells ringing. [videopress a7aP6uN1] A Big Sweaty Stair Climb For A Stunning View (Did I Mention The Sweat!) Then the big uphill walk. 45mins. Sweating like a bastard! (check the T-Shirt!) What a view. The sun came out properly at the summit.…
It was a Gatwick flight so did the usual & stayed at the best Premier Inn there – right next to the terminal. Usual service – Beer & Burger of an evening & then Pint & Eggs Benedict at the ‘Red Lion Spoons! – Lovely. Flew with TUI – lots of families going to the…
Pissing down – we had done really well weather’wise – today it was pretty much lashing it (still warm tho!). We wandered about & found the Central Market – a massive place full ‘shit-naks’, meats & stuff. The World’s Most Expensive Potatoes! We were starving & found a place doing food. We then purchased some…
We got on the Metro at 9am – like everywhere in Europe the trains are SO cheap & generally reliable it is a pleasure to use! Obviously, I DO NOT include the UK in this where they are just SO expensive!!! (sorry, I hate using CAPS) but it does really wind me up! Anyway, we…
Walking. A lot of walking Oh, my Christ we did walk a lot! Synagogue – we looked – bollocks to paying, it wasn’t cheap & was a queue. When you walk around its perimeter you see it all anyway! Beer Selling Farmers Market with Cheese Simpla Kertz farmers market & 10.30 beer – Awesome, was…
The Start – Luton Airport – A lovely pint of Camden Pale Ale. We did Priority Lane & didn’t really need it. it always seems to work that way. Duty-Free wandering about – tried Penhaligons aftershaves – Radcliff smelling good. Cheeky Boots £4 measls for the plane. Text from Sis to say Mum has eyes…
*** Post Update – Aug 19 *** We went on Safari to Kenya in the end & was amazing! I did buy what I feel are the best compact binoculars for safari as outlined below & they were superb. A must-have if I am honest. ___________________________________________________________ ** TOP TIP ** If you are…
If you’re interested in enjoying some fine dining in Croatia, then it’s safe to say you have a wide range of options available to you, and it isn’t always easy to know which one to pick! However, in this guide we are going to show you Hvar best restaurants, our top 5 picks, so you…
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