Have You been ?

[NottinghamWhite]

Back to Cape Town we opted to do a 3 night stay at Kruger Park along with 2 other couples. On the second day we had a full days safari where we scored with a full house of the big five. At lunch we ordered steak & chips along with a beer. Halfway through the meal our female guide came rushing in telling us drop everything & follow her Tom & Jean from Exeter said they were going nowhere they were finishing their meal the guide said fine but come on we need to rush. The journey to wherever it was we were going was done at breakneck speed until we saw a dozen other safari vehicles parked up. There shouted our guide & 40-50 yards away from us was a white rhino. After a few minutes the guide burst into tears saying she had guided for 15 years but this was her first sighting of this magnificent creature as we were watching it it started to walk away. We returned to the restaurant where Sue & I shared a meal. The couple from Exeter were fuming they’d missed the rhino but ourselves & the other couple smiled & raised our glasses saying cheers

[mapperleywhite]

30. Marrakech
31. Galle, Sri lanka
32. Copenhagen

Been a couple of times but never got to see much of the city. Stayed at the iconic Nyhavn 71, a boutique hotel in a row of colourful buildings on the waterfront. I'd like to go back to Denmark and see more of the country.

33. Mexico City
34. Santiago (Chile)
35. Buenos Aires
36. Helsinki

Been several times and it has a unique character. Used the train a few times - the station is a wonderful art-deco building - to travel to Jyvaskyla and Tampere on the Russian wide guage rolling stock.

One memory of being there in winter was it being minus 25'C and we were waiting outside the station when a guy came round the corner eating an ice-cream cone!

37. Stockholm

Beautiful, elegant city set on the water. Also been to Gothenburg and Eskilstuna

38. Reykjavik
39. Dublin
40. Las Vegas

Went a couple times whilst living in Houston. My impression was that people spoke and moved a whole lot more slowly than in the bigger city. It's a totally artificial place plonked in the middle of the desert to take advantage of Nevada's particular legislations.

Next 10 -
41. Samarkand (Uzbekistan)
42. Odessa (Ukraine)
43. Barcelona

One company I worked for had a manufacturing facility there so went a few times. Also went privately to celebrate my 50th birthday. It's in my top two of favourite European cities. As I recall it's quite reasonable price-wise

44. Porto

Was there in 1971 whilst on holiday with my parents. The setting of the port lodges on the banks of the Duoro stick in my mind

45. Kathmandu
46. Delhi

Went in 1986 as part of my three week work assignment in India. Used it as a base to see the Taj Mahal; most famous places are a let down, but not this one, truly magnificent.

47. Ho Chi Min City
48. Casablanca
49. Cuzco (Peru)
50. La Paz

So come on folks tell us your stories about any of the above cities

[mapperleywhite]

London

Like others have said an entertaining read Andy

Lived in Kew and Twickenham for about 7 years so made quite a few trips in to the City.

When was this? I grew up in Isleworth leaving in 1977, so very close by

Also studied at SOAS for 3 years which is just off Russel Square.

Lived in nearby Doughty Street in 1978/79; interesting part of London

[Sniffer]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.
My son is technically from Isleworth, Howard, as he was born at the West Midd. I lived in that area from '93-2000.

Barcelona
This was my last stop on my Europe trip in '89. I'd been travelling for 4 weeks and had very little money left. I survived about 3 days in Barcelona, staying in a hostel just off Las Ramblas, before I had to leave to get home for work. I would have stayed a lot longer but for the perennial problems of money and time.

Delhi
I took a train from Madras (now - and probably then, to be honest - called Chennai) to Delhi. It took nearly 2 days, in searing heat, to get from south-east India to it's northern capital. I was travelling with 2 girls I'd met up with in Kovalam, Kerala on the south-western edge of the tip of India and I remember them trying to open the windows in the compartment of the train to get some air. And every time they tried one of the local ladies who we shared the carriage with would quickly snap the window shut. Sensible really. We were travelling across a desert and, no matter how hot it was in the train, it was a damned sight hotter outside.

Delhi was mayhem - a beautifully violent attack on the senses.

We were staying in a 3 bed room with en-suite facilities (a hole-in-the-floor toilet in the corner of the room). We were travellers, not tourists, and we knew how to live. Authentically!
This striving for authenticity led to Westerners in India wearing a lunghi and in Thailand wearing 3/4 length blue peasants trousers. As incongruous as going full cowboy on a visit to New York or wearing a pin-stripe suit and a bowler to visit London. Or wearing a smock and battered hat and carrying a flagon of cider in Somerset … actually you'd fit in quite well if you did that.

But I digress. We were staying in Old Delhi by the narrow streets that were permanently packed and shop street fronts with brass bowls of towering colourful spices. Having been in southern India for the last month or so Delhi was different; more Mughal, more full-on. I wanted to see more of this but it was another departure point. The night before I was due to fly to Thailand we went to a restaurant to celebrate one of the girls' birthday. It was a lovely meal, very rich, creamy, spicy and comparatively expensive. My body was hardly a temple but it wasn't used to such indulgence. My extensive use of the en-suite during the early hours clearly didn't put the girls off as we met up a few days later in Bangkok.

Talking of Bangkok, I did actually start to write a book about the "May Events" of '92. I was re-reading some of it last night and it was ok. The problem was it was taking an age to fashion each sentence which I now put down to my recently diagnosed dyslexia. Which is a bit of a kick in the teeth if you have pretentions of being a writer.

[NottinghamWhite]

Galle revisited

The street vendors display carts filled with exotic fruits & vegetables they really are a picture.



We had 3 days at The Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya which was very palatial & it really was a step back in time. You virtually had one waiter per table. I joked about how good it would be to have some chips with the curry to our travelling companions & yes you’ve guessed I was served some. At the bottom of the grounds was a small restaurant/bistro where we visited every lunchtime, lovely grub it was an incredible experience staying at such a different hotel.




In India you see lots of dirt & poverty but Sri Lanka is a stunning country which doesn’t appear to have that . At duty free at the airport they were selling all the normal cigarettes, spirits etc but also fridge freezes & washing machines. On arrival in departures we couldn’t believe people pushing trollies with a fridge freezer on it

[NottinghamWhite]

Delhi was mayhem - a beautifully violent attack on the senses.

I know exactly what you mean our first visit to India was to Goa & as we walked down the steps to get onto the tarmac we were hit with the smells of spices, the searing heat & the noise from the hundreds of cars & tut tuts all pressing their horns. Nothing prepares you for this & we still talk about it to this day.

[NottinghamWhite]

Having been in lockdown for almost 4 months this thread has had me remembering the fantastic places we’ve been lucky enough to visit over the last 25 years. So many memories & I’ve genuinely enjoyed typing every last word as my mind has gone back to these places. Bring on the next 50 Cheers Selby White.

[Selby White]

Having been in lockdown for almost 4 months this thread has had me remembering the fantastic places we’ve been lucky enough to visit over the last 25 years. So many memories & I’ve genuinely enjoyed typing every last word as my mind has gone back to these places. Bring on the next 50 Cheers Selby White.

Enjoying it myself NW got me looking at photos from my trips and bringing back lots of memories

The picture of the fruit seller you posted from Sri Lanka reminded me of a fruit & veg market near our hotel in Santiago, never seen as much fruit in my life the place must have fed the entire country.

Anyway another little story, we went for a cup of coffee at a little place nearby and was sat outside when suddenly a couple of large vehicles pulled up and about 10 blokes (not in any uniforms) got out all brandishing guns. They spread out like a well oiled military unit on various corners and strategic positions, all were armed with some very tasty looking guns and carrying them openly.
No sooner as I said "this could get interesting" and choosing where i should duck behind when the shooting starts a armoured van arrived and the delivered or collected what i assume was a lot of cash from a bank nearby.
They were the security force and no sooner had the money been put in the armoured van they all left as quickly as they arrived.
Suspect not a good country to rob the bank.

[Davycc]

1. London
2. New York
3. Paris
15. Prague
16. Edinburgh
18. Sydney
21. Amsterdam
25. Bangkok
36. Helsinki
39. Dublin

Not many myself but here we go.

London - Numerous times, not a big fan to be honest. The surprising thing for me first time I visited was just how close the "attractions" where to each other, just shows how the historical London has been gobbled up by the massive growth over the past few centuries.

New York - We visited early 2002 with another couple and ground zero was still very raw. I was standing with my mate at the wire fence reading the letters and posters that had been attached to it when a guy in a suit beside me asked in a broad New York accent "Whare in Northern Ireland" are you from. This surprised me a lot as americans usually ask me what part of Scotland am I from or just Ireland. I told him and mentioned my surprise and he told me his grandfather was from Ballymoney and his family would visit most years so he knew the accent. Turned out he was a detective Sgt from the nearby 1st precinct. When I told him I was a retired Police Officer he virtually dragged my mate and I to the station. If you imagine the detectives offices from the likes of Cagney and Lacey etc then that's exactly what it was like. He sat us down at his desk and the subject of the attack came up, he reached into a drawer and pulled out a CD loaded it into the PC it contained photos and videos of the actual attack and the stations response (they were never made public and still haven't as far as I know) Before we left I had a large plastic carrier bag of NYPD goodies. When I eventually got back to the hotel, to a rather peeved missus, I discovered that he had also put a copy of the CD in as well.

Paris - The epitome of the "Don't eat or drink at the touristy spots" advice and nothing that will be a surprise to most of you. This was back around 1999 in a very cold November or December. We where there with the same couple as New York and decided to have a coffee one evening whilst on the Champs-Élysées. We sat outside around a small table and ordered 4 coffees. They arrived in 4 thimble-like cups with those stupid handles that an action man couldn't get his finger into. I kid you not I have never come across smaller cups. When we went to pay, still in Francs, it cost us the equivelent of 6 quid a cup AND THIS WAS 1999 !! I'm not Scotish nor indeed from Yorkshire but that hurt..... On top of that I found Paris grubby and uninteresting.

Prague - As some of you may know I had the dubious honour of appearing in the Airline show about easyJet. After filming was over those involed in filming from all the stations where taken to the "wrap" party (I know all the terms ) this time it was in Prague. We were there for 2 nights, the first night was very very messy and we visited some very dodgy clubs and bars, it's true cabin crew like a drink or two. The second day/night a few of us declined the pub crawl and did our own thing, that's when I really got a glimpse of Prague. It's a lovely city and the people were friendly, food was great and so reasonable. I definitely intend to go back with Tracey this time.

Edinburgh - Lovely city, I've been several times. On one occassion my mate (same fella) and I were doing a golf trip and had booked into a B&B just outside Edinburgh itself. After checking in we asked the owner if he could recommend a good Indian restaurants. He told us to stay clear of the "plate glass parlours" the chains etc and try a small one that was like a converted house (I can't recall it's name) Eventually we found it, it had one small window covered inside with a net curtain, outside was a small boy in traditional Napalese dress with a beaming, smiling face. Inside there were no more than six tables, mostly occupied but there was room for the two of us. I must say to this day I have yet to eat a better meal than I had that evening.

Sydney - Traceys daughter was working for a year at the Sydney Academy of Sport which was located just outside a lovely little place called Narrabeen north of Sydney itself. We decided to forego Christmas at home and spend a few weeks with Samantha in Oz. We stopped of for 5 days in Koh Samui which was would have been wonderful only for the torrential rain that lasted until the morning we were flying back to Bangkok. In Sydney the we discovered that it was the coldest summer for over 100 years, the locals were walking around in fleeces and complaining. To us it was warm but never got above 24 and was always overcast. One Sunday morning I was in a newsagents buying a paper and I was wearing shorts and a tee shirt, a local fella came in wearing jeans and a fleece zipped up to his chin. He looked at me and asked "you're a tourist yes?" When I told him I was he said "Thought so, it's f&%king freezing.. Narrabeen is located beside a large lake and at the side of the lake is a Woolworths with its rows of shopping trolleys no more that 4 or 5 yards away from the lakes edge. The water was crytal clear and a few fellas were sitting fishing. I just thought to myself if that was here the lake would be full of rubbish and trolleys. Similar thing ar a local park, there were picnic tables with built in gas BBQs that you would feed a few dollars to use. They were all working and were left spotless after each use. I kind of felt ashamed.

Amsterdam - Been seceral times as well and really like it, it's just such an eclectic mix of people, cafes bars etc. Amsterdam was another location for a wrap party one year. We had been booked into a Boat Hotel and had arrived in the evening. Shortly after arriving I felt a little quesy and didn't go out, just lay in bed. I ended up spending the 2 days in the tiny room between bed and loo, never left the boat until going home.
n
Bangkok - Stayed one night in a hotel and left first thing the next morning for Koh Samui. Hotel was nice!

Helsinki - That mate from above worked for Danepak bacon who at one time sponsored Glentoran FC. After retiring in 2000 I started working for him as a sales rep (lasted 2 months and did him a favour and left after introducing my fist to the mouth of a Dunnes Stores meat manager) so I got the go on a european trip to Helsinki. Lovely place but even better, we took the ferry to Tallin and spent the day enjoying a few beers in the old town square, beautiful place and stunning ladies.

Dublin - Great city but so expensive, been some time since I was last down and must visit again.

[Sniffer]

The Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya reminds me of the Fernhills Palace in Ooty, the summer palace of the Maharajah of Mysore. I stayed there back in '91 and a room cost a massive £10 a night. Very Victorian, very Raj. There was an open fire in every room and the lad that showed me my room was somewhat put out that I didn't want the fire lit over night. I'd been used to the heat of the plains and up in the hill station that Ooty was it was nice to feel a little chill for a while. And the bed had heavy blankets so there was no problem.
The hotel had a fantastic snooker table up on the first floor, overlooking the ground floor. There was a decent restaurant and a bar "For those permitted". The views from the hotel were stunning, across the tea plantations and down to the plains below. I moved in to a hostel for the rest of the week and hot water was hard to come by. Basically a bucket was delivered at 6 o'clock each morning and if you didn't use it then it went cold. Wonderful memories.