Alphabet Travel

A quick questions and answers session for forum members
User avatar
NottinghamWhite
LUFCTALK Admin
Posts: 31307
Joined: 11 Nov 2009, 10:10

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Leonickroberts wrote:I've been to the rift in northern Kenya, but not Ethiopia. Have also been to Mozambique briefly, which you mentioned - another great place - whereabouts did you go and what did you think?
We were based in Maputo in a area where we were the only hotel the rest were foreign embassies, we were next door to the French one. We had a couple of trips out of the city & trips to Kruger & Swaziland. I contacted several people via email to organise a couple of nights in a reserve, out of 3 contacted none responded. On three occasions we were stopped by the police who were trying to get money out of us, luckily our guide Merid was obviously used to this & managed to get rid of them. As I mentioned earlier crossing the border back into Ethiopia was an absolute nightmare there was a mini office license where at least we could buy cold beers. Must be owned by one of the border control staff.

Addis was a strange place where large hotels like the Radisson were surrounded by basic huts talk about extremes. Another thing we were there on New Years Day but the calendar read February 16th of course the use the Gregorian calendar which kinda threw me. The Rift Valley is stunning & one thing which never failed to amaze was the amount of churches & the number of people dressed in white. Rastafarians are also common place in the towns as well.
Winner of the Europa League
User avatar
NottinghamWhite
LUFCTALK Admin
Posts: 31307
Joined: 11 Nov 2009, 10:10

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Back to Ethiopia we stayed a couple of nights at the weirdest hotel ever I think it was called The Sputnik & was built by Russians. All the staff wore old British Rail uniforms most were way too big so for example a sleeve would be rolled up several times & the staff wore badges that didn’t have their names but a number. Just looked on Google & it’s not the Sputnik so I’ll look for our itinerary & post pictures later.
The hotel was the Wondo Guenet Hotel. Other places we visited were Lake Langano & Lake Awassa.

Image

We also spent time with the Sidamo fishermen watching as they landed their catch of Tilapia & Catfish it was a pretty smelly experience as they gutted the fish. The flight home with Ethiopian Airlines was interesting as we flew over the Ethiopian Highlands, the Simien Mountains, The Red Sea & The Nile probably one of the most interesting flights in the world.
Winner of the Europa League
User avatar
NottinghamWhite
LUFCTALK Admin
Posts: 31307
Joined: 11 Nov 2009, 10:10

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Jamaica - My least favourite Caribbean destination always felt threatened as virtually everyone carries a machete. We stayed at a hotel near the airport ( Montego Bay ) called Gloriana’s which was basically a knocking shop. However we had a 7 hour delay on our flight so we returned & sat by the pool drinking Red Stripe & eating Chicken Jerk, it was a nice place in the daytime.

Kota Kinabalu - The largest city in Borneo can’t remember the name of the hotel but it had the largest buffet, & probably the best I’ve ever seen. The hotel was called the Magellan Sutera Hotel.

Kenya - Took the kids & partners to have a weeks safari & a week by the beach in Mombasa. We were on safari as the Wildebeest were migrating a wonderful experience. As there was 6 of us, the number needed to fill a vehicle we were able to dictate where & when we wanted to go. Another highlight was staying at a hotel overlooking Kilimanjaro. We had an excursion to a Masai Mara village which was excellent.

Lithuania - We sailed into Klaipeda, the first cruise ship to do so & loved our day in the incredible city. We ended up half a mile from the ship drinking local beer in glorious sunshine.

Lima - Probably the busiest roads I’ve ever seen it was a proper white knuckle ride from the airport to our hotel. At the time of our visit there was a lot of crime particularly towards tourists. There was one large gang of children who lived in the sewers who would attack people & literary strip them taking what ever the could get, they were known as the piranhas.
Winner of the Europa League
User avatar
johnh
Bielsa's English Teacher
Posts: 8522
Joined: 24 Jan 2012, 15:26

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by johnh »

NottinghamWhite wrote:Jamaica - My least favourite Caribbean destination always felt threatened as virtually everyone carries a machete. We stayed at a hotel near the airport ( Montego Bay ) called Gloriana’s which was basically a knocking shop. However we had a 7 hour delay on our flight so we returned & sat by the pool drinking Red Stripe & eating Chicken Jerk, it was a nice place in the daytime.

Kota Kinabalu - The largest city in Borneo can’t remember the name of the hotel but it had the largest buffet, & probably the best I’ve ever seen. The hotel was called the Magellan Sutera Hotel.

Kenya - Took the kids & partners to have a weeks safari & a week by the beach in Mombasa. We were on safari as the Wildebeest were migrating a wonderful experience. As there was 6 of us, the number needed to fill a vehicle we were able to dictate where & when we wanted to go. Another highlight was staying at a hotel overlooking Kilimanjaro. We had an excursion to a Masai Mara village which was excellent.

Lithuania - We sailed into Klaipeda, the first cruise ship to do so & loved our day in the incredible city. We ended up half a mile from the ship drinking local beer in glorious sunshine.

Lima - Probably the busiest roads I’ve ever seen it was a proper white knuckle ride from the airport to our hotel. At the time of our visit there was a lot of crime particularly towards tourists. There was one large gang of children who lived in the sewers who would attack people & literary strip them taking what ever the could get, they were known as the piranhas.

One of the guys who I played golf with back in the 1990's went to Peru for 3 years with his job. The Shining Path terrorists were active at the time and he worked on road construction way out in the wilds. When he came back he had loads of interesting tales. Big lad, Cornishman, ex Rugby player. Always got the impression he could look after himself and he needed to, thinking about the tales he told.
I once played against Don Revie.
User avatar
Selby White
LUFCTALK Moderator
Posts: 17206
Joined: 25 Mar 2012, 11:32

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by Selby White »

NottinghamWhite wrote:Jamaica - My least favourite Caribbean destination always felt threatened as virtually everyone carries a machete. We stayed at a hotel near the airport ( Montego Bay ) called Gloriana’s which was basically a knocking shop. However we had a 7 hour delay on our flight so we returned & sat by the pool drinking Red Stripe & eating Chicken Jerk, it was a nice place in the daytime.
Mrs SW wants to go to Jamaica to see where her parents once lived.
Her Dad was a mining engineer and worked out there before she was born, in fact her older sister was born out there.
Its safety concerns that has put her off going so its probably one on her bucket list that wont get ticked off.
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
User avatar
NottinghamWhite
LUFCTALK Admin
Posts: 31307
Joined: 11 Nov 2009, 10:10

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Manhattan - Just awesome on first viewing. Loved our time there the thing that made me smile the most was seeing the yellow taxis.

Milan - A place I’d like to visit I’d like to see a game at the San Siro.

Norway - Really enjoyed cruising the fiords beautiful scenry but very expensive to have a beer. Norwegian people we found to be very friendly.

Nepal - A country I’ve posted about before but it really is incredible. We arrived at Kathmandu during a general strike we had to drag our cases round the back of the airport. My wife had sit in the front as she looked European, apparently & we drove to our hotel but not without seeing thousands of strikers & loads of police. It appears not long after we had driven through the police chief was decapitated & his head stuck on a rail as a warning. We were in the hotel for 2 days before we were able to start our tour.

Oman - We journeyed from Muscat to Salah on incredible roads in fact everything was absolutely immaculate I’ve never seen such a clean place. We drove through desert where temperatures were in excess of 40 degrees. All the restaurants we stopped at wouldn’t allow the ladies in the main restaurant & we had to sit in a backroom. The only exception to the rule was MacDonalds. A real dislike of mine is shopping but even I was mesmerised by the Souqs, large indoor markets & watched in amazement as our friends started their bartering with the locals.

Orlando - Would like to visit sometime but not for the theme parks would love to see the Everglades. The weather always looks good when I’ve watched on TV. I enjoy American cuisine & enjoy Americans company a lot.
Winner of the Europa League
User avatar
NottinghamWhite
LUFCTALK Admin
Posts: 31307
Joined: 11 Nov 2009, 10:10

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Selby White wrote:
Mrs SW wants to go to Jamaica to see where her parents once lived.
Her Dad was a mining engineer and worked out there before she was born, in fact her older sister was born out there.
Its safety concerns that has put her off going so its probably one on her bucket list that wont get ticked off.
We stayed on a ranch where the year previously the owner was killed for a few dollars. Only time I’ve ever encountered bed bugs as well. As I say everyone carries machetes & we were constantly verbally abused with “ honky “ taunts. It’s a stunning island especially up in the Blue Mountains but was glad when we got to the airport to fly to Cuba. We flew in an old De Havilland aircraft with leather seats I wouldn’t say it was comfortable but I fell asleep on the tarmac & had to be woken up in Havana. Apparently I missed champagne & cake which my friend Steve had for me :D
Winner of the Europa League
User avatar
NottinghamWhite
LUFCTALK Admin
Posts: 31307
Joined: 11 Nov 2009, 10:10

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Due to this thread we spent yesterday putting down all the places we’ve visited by year etc to put in a large scrap book for our grandson. Photographs will be sorted later.
Winner of the Europa League
User avatar
Selby White
LUFCTALK Moderator
Posts: 17206
Joined: 25 Mar 2012, 11:32

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by Selby White »

NottinghamWhite wrote:Due to this thread we spent yesterday putting down all the places we’ve visited by year etc to put in a large scrap book for our grandson. Photographs will be sorted later.
Always enjoy looking back on the experiences of my travels, photos are a great reminder.
Travel and seeing places, meeting people to me is a great adventure and so pleased have been lucky enough to have done my fair share.

We were talking the other day about covid and really starting to think we may not get the opportunity again just don't know where the world is heading.
Still not going to fret, will hope things return to normal but what will be will be and we will change our future plans accordingly.

Appreciate we've been lucky living at a time when travel has been easier than ever and if that changes the memories and stories will always be there.
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
User avatar
johnh
Bielsa's English Teacher
Posts: 8522
Joined: 24 Jan 2012, 15:26

Re: Alphabet Travel

Post by johnh »

All my worldwide travel has been via National Service or Business. Holidays don't play a part as her indoors wont go on a plane or boat. Did get her to go on the ferry over to France when we went on the Orient Express. The problem was we were delayed crossing the channel for 5 hours due to mega storms. It was still pretty bad when we crossed so that finished boats as far as her indoors is concerned. Been to Bournemouth, Skeggy, Cromer, Bridlington, Scarborough, Edinburgh, to mention just a few!
Took my two daughters to Germany to see my sister and also took them to Cork in Ireland. Her indoors stayed at home!
I once played against Don Revie.
Post Reply