Geek4travel

When purchasing a netbook or laptop that you plan on travelling with, there is always that worry about it being stolen or lost whilst on the road especially as they are not cheap to replace. I tend to travel with my netbook and It is always a slight concern of mine that I may have it stolen but I have found a website that gives me a little more confidence that I will be able to find it and get it back.

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The Prey project - preyproject.com is a free, light wait application that will help track down your stolen laptop. Through prey project.com you could find out the whereabouts of the laptop, a screen shot of the desktop, what programmes are running and if you have a built in webcam then you could even get a picture of the thief!

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A feature which I like is that you can give the thief a little fright, send him messages that he is being chased which will appear on the screen and best of all you can activate an alarm which they and all around will hear. Great stuff!

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If you like the sound of what the Prey Project can offer then head on over to www.preyproject.com and have a closer look. This may just give you that little extra confidence to travel with your precious netbook.

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Day Five

Woke at 6am after a really bad nights sleep, I’m not sure why but sometimes I find it really hard to switch off even if I have had a very long day and once the snoring from the other tent started that was it, wide awake!

Around an hour down the Stuart Highway near the tiny settlement of Mataranka we stopped for a morning swim in a serene thermal spring called ‘Bitter Springs’. The water was crystal clear and beautifully warm, Brad described the springs as not hot or cold, just wet. In fact it bubbles out at 34c but with it being so hot outside of the water you can’t tell the difference in temperature. We got in up stream and surprisingly there was a strong current that pulled us along, the Spring was fringed with palm trees and local bush, it took around twenty minutes to come to a ladder further down stream where we were able to climb out, yesterdays swim at Katherine was beautiful but it just keeps getting better.

Our main stop of the day was at a small historical settlement called Daly Waters, 4km’s off the Stuart Highway. As well as having a famous and eccentric pub this was also the place where in the early 1930’s Qantas, then a fledging airline, used Daly waters as a refuelling stop on the Singapore leg of its Sydney-London run. The airstrip became one of the majors stops in Northern Australia which is hard to believe when you stand there looking at the dusty runway out in the middle of nowhere, I pictured a British Airways 747 all of a sudden touchdown for refreshments, they would of landed in the right place as the pub here certainly is worth a visit. It has the most unusual array of mementos left by passing travellers - everything from bras to £5 notes adorn the walls, not wanting to pass up the opportunity to leave my mark I taped my photo travel ID just above the main entrance, so if you ever visit what they claim is the oldest pub in the Northern Territory, look up above the door and you should see me smiling!

We spent a long afternoon in the van driving South, we travelled through the most barren landscape I have ever seen, there is a lot of nothing out here but yet there is something very magical about the place, I spent many hours staring out at the landscape as we drove along and hardly stopped staring out at this magnificent terrain.

It was already dark as we pulled into a cattle station at Tennant Creek which would be our camp for the night. While the others started dinner I was sent in search of fire wood, it was difficult to find it the dark and later to peoples amusement I ended up dragging three dead trees over.

After dinner we got out the swags for the first time and lay them down around the fire. With a few bottles of wine we chatted about how great the trip has been whilst looking up in amazement of the blanket of stars above, I have never seen anything like it, I could spend the rest of my life out here.

I fell asleep wrapped up in my swag looking up at the stars listening to the fire crackle, bliss.

Day Six

Woke in my sleeping bag to a beautiful fresh sunrise.

I have to say I’m really getting into the camping way of life, everything is so simple on the road out here, the day revolves around breakfast lunch and dinner and having an adventure in between, I have been so use to living in a city that now I’m out here I realise what a rat race it really is and I’m not so sure if I want to go back, having said that I’m pretty sure this is the holiday like feeling everybody gets. I’m quite reflective this morning as tonight we will arrive in Alice Springs, the days are going way to fast.

105km’s from Tennant Creek huge boulders appeared beside the Stuart Highway, they are known as the ‘Devils Marbles’, its one of the most famous geological sights in the Northern Territory and I can see why. Its quite an amazing sight, giant granite eggs stacked in pre-carious piles and unlikely angles making it look as though you could push them right over, I also realised looking at two of the boulders balanced close to each other is where my guide book has got its very impressive back page picture from. Its places like things that constantly amaze me, we drive along for hours and hours and then from nowhere somewhere like this appears, its all magic I tell you.

After stopping for a barbecue lunch we carried on the drive to Alice but not before stopping along the way for brad to climb a tree and find some bush tucker for us to try. He managed to pull off a conker shaped seed from off a tree which housed a yellow pusie grub, Marchie eat the actual grub while I had a taste of the inside of the grubs home and to be honest it wasn’t the nicest thing I have ever had and by the look of Marchie’s face he wasn’t overly pleased with his mushy grub, not surprising really.

Driving into Alice Springs I felt that everybody was feeling a little subdued, I mean I was very excited to be in Alice but at the same time a big part of the journey was over and it was the end of this small tour. Our guides marchie and Brad had turned out to be fantastic, nice guys who are brilliant at there job, brad especially is full of information about the area and is a true bushman. Also the group had bonded really well and I will miss them, relationships are always exaggerated on journeys like this so even though its only been three days, its been a fantastic three days that nobody here will forget I’m sure. Amanda is actually going to be travelling with us on our journey into the red centre tomorrow so we will get to spend more time with her and carry on the laugh.

We drove to the top of Anzac hill that overlooks Alice Springs and took some group pictures whilst the sun started to set, gorgeous views from up there, made you realise how isolated Alice is, an oasis in the middle of Australia.

Chell and I checked into a hostel and was given a nice caravan in the back garden, we unpacked and got some washing done before heading out to a saloon bar called ‘Bojangles’ where we met up with the others for a goodbye dinner and a few beers. We didn’t stay to long though as there is no rest for the wicked because tomorrow morning we head out to what I’m sure will be the most amazing part of the journey, into the red centre in search of ‘Uluru‘.

Day Seven

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After what seemed to little rest we were back on the road with a new tour and our new guide called Gus, a very nice guy who is originally from Gelong, this is the part of the journey I have been looking forward to most, Australia is known as the sunburnt country and it is the driest continent on earth, we will be exploring this area for the next four days, the red centre here we come.

We drove out through the MacDonnell Ranges that overlook Alice Springs and headed South towards Kings Canyon. Our first stop was at a small camel farm for a toilet brake, or in my case a quick ride on a camel. There were four or five camels relaxing out in the heat of the day, they didn’t seem all that happy when Chell and I approached looking for a quick ride around the pen, we paid $5 and the lazy buggers had to get up and earn there keep. I caught two of the camels names which were quite typical from the camels I know back home, they were Goldie and Eddie. Chell and I were on Eddie, we were told by the Chinese camel master to sit back as Eddie got up and to make sure we kept smiling, why we had to keep smiling I don’t know, at one point the smile dropped from my face and I was quickly shouted at, ‘smile, smile, Eddie won’t like you if you don’t smile’.

I have never been on a camel before, even though it was only a short ride around a pen I enjoyed the experience, however being up on Eddie as he ran along at speed made me realise I would have been wiser to go for a pee before getting on.

Late afternoon, we had been driving for many hours now and we were now in real outback country, the soil and turned to the beautiful red you see on the post cards and again we were in the middle of nowhere, as far as the eye could see there was nothing but the blue sky meeting the red soil on the horizon. We came across a small area of trees by the side of the road and decided this was where we would get our firewood for the next few days. We all spread out and went in hunt of good wood, apart from constantly trying to avoid being bitten by giant bull ants that were running around all over the place and making sure there were no spiders on the wood I collected all also noticed a lot of what seemed fresh horse tracks and though I could here them in the distance. Gus later explained to me that there are over 5,000 wild horses in this area and there generally not as friendly as normal ones.

It was dark as we drove along up a small hill bouncing all over the place due to the rough road, well there was no road actually, just a rocky track. We came to a small campsite that had nothing but a small toilet block. There were no lights, no cooking stove, nothing, this was real bush camping.

After our spaghetti bolognaise cooked on the fire which was a feat on its own, we got talking about our plans for the big trek tomorrow through Kings Canyon which sounds amazing, he finished off by saying that this area is full of Dingo’s, I thought he was going to get us to sleep head first into the sleeping bag so we won’t get our faces bitten off in the night while we sleep but instead he warned us that Dingo’s like shoes, in fact recently a guide came across a tree that had loads of shoes piled up at the base, moral of the story is to keep your shoes in side your swag.

I fell asleep in my swag by the roaring fire dreaming of Dingo’s running around in my hiking boots and Chells little Nike trainers.

Day Eight

Woke after an uncomfortable night. Before this trip I pictured nights tucked up in my swag all cosy and comfortable sleeping, quite a romantic thought but the reality is that you spend ages getting into it, zipping up the swag to keep out the cold that seems to take forever and then five minutes later you need to pee, once I do get to sleep I always find myself waking up in the middle of the night cold. Sorry about the grumble there.

After packing up camp we drove out to Kings Canyon which was our first big trek of the journey and one of the major highlights of the entire trip. Kings Canyon is known as one of the most spectacular sights in central Australia, as we approached the start of the trek you could sense the anticipation. The start of the trek was a 200m straight up climb known as ’heart attack hill’ which turned the anticipation feeling into a kind of ’oh bollocks’ kind of feeling. Moaning aside though the steep climb was worth every step, we followed the Canyon around walking along the top of the 100metre high walls, the views were stunning. Gus, who has truned out to be a very good, knowledgeable guide pointed out a lot of plants and what the Aboriginals used them for, one such plant they used for was to get high, there version of ecstasy. Later on we stopped for a rest in the ’Garden of Eden’ which is quite a strange site, here we are in a very dry and barren place, yet in this garden thanks to a moist microclimate environment there are plants and trees, even a small water hole that housed a very lonely looking duck. I asked Gus how it would of got here and he told me that it wouldn’t of flown here, probably some nasty twat brought it here and left it! I thought he was joking at first.

After the three hour amazing trek around the Canyon we had lunch at a near by station and looked forward to the day ahead. It was early afternoon as we pulled out of Kings Creek Station and onto the Luritja road bound for sunset at Uluru which was another for hours drive away. After the long trek and bellies full from lunch most people including Chell were sleeping as we drove along the never ending straight tarmac, I was sat in the aisle looking down out of the front when I saw two horses coming charging out of the roadside bush, Gus didn’t seem to notice them straight away, Instantly my heart sank and I shouted out, Gus let out a cry and the brakes went on hard, for a slight moment I thought they might make it but it was to late, the brown horse just managed to get past but we slammed into the white horse that was following just behind, there was an almighty crash and everybody was thrown forwards, people screamed as they were violently woken from there sleep, the front of the van was smashed inwards and then silence. The horse was flung into the air and landed heavily on the opposite side of the road, for a moment as the horse came to rest I thought it was still alive and felt physically sick but thank god it quickly died.

We got off the bus and pushed it to the side, we hovered around the front examining the damage and the horse. Everybody was visibly shaken, including Gus. There was a huge dent where the horse had hit, the windscreen, dashboard and steering wheel had been pushed right back in, it was anyone’s guess how Gus had not been impaled. A pack of horses appeared and stood looking at us and the horse lying dead, Gus explained that these were her foals and the other horse running with her would have been the stallion, he was nowhere in sight.

The bus was a right off and we set our minds to the fact that it could be a long time until a car comes as we were on a very quiet road. Gus then told me that a couple broke down in Outback Queensland and waited the by the roadside for the next car, they waited three days! Luckily for us though a car and coach turned up not long after and arrangements were made to take us on the coach to Yulara while Gus waited with the van until a lorry could come and pick him and the van up. While we collected some stuff out of the van I watched as Gus and the coach driver pulled the horse off the road. Just as we were pulling away the male horse appeared from the bush and stood over his mates body, it was like he was saying goodbye, he then turned around and disappeared back into the bush, an incredibly sad moment!

Hours later in Yulara we were greeted by a very bubbly guide called Rachel who had been informed of the news and showed some real understanding of our mood. She perked us up though with the news that tonight we would stay at a safari camp which meant a proper kicthen and table, steak dinner cooked for us and best of all proper beds!

Just before sunset Chell and I walked up a small hill near our camp and got our first sight of Uluru, there she was, the most famous rock in the world. It is a magical sight, I sat there trying to take it all in, it was so good to be here and quite a special place to reflect on what has been a remarkable day, a sad day that I will never forget.

Last week the March issue of the wanderlust magazine was posted through my door and I was pleased to see the Wanderlust Readers Travel Awards for 2010 announced. If you don’t read the Wanderlust magazine than have no fear as I have posted the results below.

Wanderlust Travel Awards 2010

Top Tour Operator

1. Trailfinders

2. Audley Travel

3. Cox & Kings

4. Tucan Travel

5. Imaginative Travel

6. Exodus

7. Wild Frontiers

8. Intrepid Travel

9. Journey Latin America

10. Bales

Top Worldwide Airport

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1. Singapore Changi

2. Hong Kong International

3. Vancouver

4. Seoul Incheon

5. Kuala Lumpur

6. Narita (Tokyo)

7. Amsterdam Schipol

8. Munich

= 9. Copenhagen

= 9. Stockholm

Top Airline

1. Singapore Airlines

2. Etihad

3. Air New Zealand

4. Qatar Airways

5. Emirates

6. Kingfisher

7. Bangkok Airways

8. Virgin Atlantic

9. Swiss International Airlines

10. Malaysia Airlines

Top Rail Journey

1. West Highland Line, Scotland

2. Trans Siberian , Russia

3. Eurostar

4. Cusco-Puno, Peru

5 = The Ghan Australia

5 = Rocky Mountaineer, Canada

7. Glacier Express, Switzerland

8. Orient Express

9. TranzAlpine, New Zealand

10. Trans Mongolian

Top City

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1. Luang Prabang, Laos

2. Siena, Italy

3. Berlin, Germany

4. Seville, Spain

5. Kyoto, Japan

6. Melbourne, Australia

7. Boston, USA

8. Krakow, Poland

9. San Francisco, USA

10. Tallinn, Estonia

* Delighted to see Berlin and Melbourne make this list as they are my Two favourite cities.

Top Travel Website

1. wildfrontiers.co.uk

2. Seat61.com

3. audleytravel.com

4. Journeylatinamerica.com

5. wanderlust.co.uk

6. responsibletravel.com

7. exodus.co.uk

8. bookings.com

9. hostel bookers.com

10. explore.co.uk

Top Equipment Brand

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The North Face

Top Guidebook Series

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Lonely Planet

Top Travel Personality

Michael Palin

Top TV/Radio Programme

Last Chance to See - Stephen Fry

The wanderlust magazine is a terrific magazine for passionate travellers. To find out more you can go to www.wanderlust.co.uk

Woke to a very beautiful day in Melbourne, 25c and blue sky’s which isn’t bad for a winters day, puts the UK to shame. If that wasn’t enough to put me in a good mood then the knowledge that later in the day I would be starting a journey that will fulfil a long term dream of mine, travelling overland across the Australian Outback from Darwin in the North to Adelaide in the South certainly did the job. I have to admit I’m surprised its taken me so long to get around to doing it but I’m sure the wait will be very much worth it. Living in the UK watching travel programmes, reading about it and of course watching good old Crocodile Dundee has set my mind alight with the idea of adventure, giant flat landscapes, deadly creatures, Aboriginal communities and a real sense of exploring. Which is why I was so surprised that many Australians I know have yet to venture into what is the heartland of there country but having said that I have seen more of Australia than I have of England.

After a comfortable five hour flight over the Australian heartland we (my girlfriend Chell and I) touched down in Darwin at 00.30 local time. It was 23c and unbelievably humid! Bloody hell I thought as we stepped out of the airport to find a taxi, I was already aware of Darwin’s humidity due to it being in the tropics but we were told that due to the time of year the humidity would be low, well this maybe low for the locals but for a pair of poms who just arrived from a winter it was a bit of a shock. We hailed a taxi and headed for the hostel I had pre booked a hostel called ‘Banyon View Lodge’ which was just outside of Darwin’s city centre. The humidity was getting to me more than usual because I was feeling very tired and was looking forward to getting my head down in our lovely air conditioned room.

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The hostel was all asleep when we arrived, we found our room which was like an oven with no air and made straight for the air conditioning, turned it on and it made a few choking sounds then it came on blowing out hot air at me! Unbelievable, I was now very tired, very angry and I was starting to struggle a little with my asthma, I got into bed and tried to relax. Come on Ross I thought, this is the tropics, by morning I will be use to it and the adventure can begin, that thought cheered me up.

Where are my sunglasses? Ah bloody hell, I’ve left them in the taxi!

Day One

Woke at 8am feeling pretty good, I slept much better than I thought I was going to and was eager to get the adventure started so we got up and headed for the shower. Once dressed we had a look around the hostel which certainly isn’t as good as advertised on the internet but still pretty decent, it seems really chilled out and best of all there is a gorgeous pool out the back surrounded by palm trees, ah I love the hostel life!

We headed out into the already hot sun in search of breakfast, within minutes I was sweating, clearly showing that I wasn’t from this neck of the woods. We walked up the main street lined with hostels and bars, it was very quiet and no where near as big as I thought it would be, In England this would be a small town if that, yet Darwin is a city. We found a lovely little café with air conditioning and discussed the plan for the day. Today was all about finding our bearings, seeing what’s on and adjusting to the humidity.

After breakfast I bought some new sunglasses to replace the ones I left in the taxi last night and also a map. We saw that down by the Esplanade was what looked on the map a path along the beach from one end of town to the other that led right up close to where our hostel was, however it turned into a bit of a comedy sketch. We got down onto what was a deserted beach, not a nice beach as it was covered in rocks. We decided to walk for a few kilometres and soon realised that was a mistake, the sand turned into thick mud, our feet disappeared ankle deep under every step, the map showed that you can only access the beach from each end as a steep hill covered in thick bush blocks the way to the main Esplanade so we just carried on trying to get to the other end. It was midday and the sun was beating down hard, mud had splashed up our legs and we looked a mess, eventually we decided to fight our up way through the trees and get up onto the esplanade. After a lot of fighting with branches and a lot of swearing we made it through to be greeted by a lovely park and people pick nicking, the looks we got were hilarious, both covered in thick mud, sweat dripping from us, carrying two mud balls in our hands which was actually our flip flops, so it was back to the hostel via the normal path.

Once refreshed with the second shower of the day we returned to the Esplanade to enjoy a picnic in the shade of a tree. They have done a really good job here with its lush green grass and beautiful views looking out over the harbour, it’s a terrific spot which seemed very popular with people on there lunch break. With our stomachs full we returned to the hostel and spent the afternoon sunbathing by the pool, travelling is a tough business.

In the evening after our third shower of the day we ventured out and enjoyed a terrific fish and chips in town before going then in search of a place called the ’Deck Chair Cinema’. A large screen in a beautiful spot by the water surrounded by trees with a club house that consisted of a small bar and toilets. Sat in our comfy deckchairs we watched as the sun glowing orange set over the harbour and then the movie began. A wonderful Swedish film called ‘As it is in heaven’ was so good it kept my eyes from wondering up to view the magnificent blanket of stars above, lots of mosquito repellent kept the bugs away on what was a wonderful evening!

Day Two

Darwin is very small and yesterday we saw a good amount of the centre so this morning we stocked up on water and rented a couple of bikes from the hostel for $25 each. We rode up the coast in the direction of Mindil beach, it was scotching this morning but we had definitely acclimatised a little to the weather so that didn’t put us off cycling, it was in fact very refreshing being out on the bikes exploring the beautiful coast line.

Our first stop was at a very interesting museum & art gallery of the Northern Territory. They had a splendid part on ’Cyclone Tracy’ which was a real natural disaster. Tracy build up over Christmas eve 1974, by 3.05am the winds reached around 280km/h. 66 people lost there lives and the destruction left was horrific, of Darwin’s 11,200 houses, close to 60% were destroyed and only 400 survived relatively intact. There was a lot of pictures of the event before and after, there was also a small room we went into that was playing a recording of the sound someone had made whilst in there house as the cyclone hit and my god it must have been frightening, the noise was incredible and you can imagine the power! Another exhibition that caught my eye was of a story about a crocodile called ’Sweetheart’, I thought it was a funny name to call an aggressive 5.1m croc that enjoyed attacking fishing boats. In the 1970’s they decided to catch him and relocate him but unfortunately in the process a big log got caught up in the net they were capturing him in and sadly he drowned, however he does have an after life being on display in the museum.

After some lunch in a the museum café which is more like a restaurant and well over priced by the way, we jumped back on the bikes and headed further up the coast to Lake Alexander. A man made salt water lake for swimming as having a dip off one of Darwin’s beaches is not really advised due to the water being full of box jellyfish and if they don’t get you the crocs will. We had the lake pretty much to ourselves, chell sunbathed while I splashed about like an Englishmen on holiday but all the time in the water I couldn’t help but wonder if one of ’Sweethearts’ relatives was close by.

Hidden away in East Point Reserve further up the coast we finished our afternoon off at the Darwin Wartime Museum. It is devoted to Darwin’s WWII experiences, its small and well presented in a gorgeous setting. We read up on the Japanese bombing and walked around viewing the many old vehicles and weapons left over. When I think of WWII I always think of Europe or the battle in the pacific but even little Darwin was effected. People when they think of Australia, besides the Aboriginal history of course, don’t really believe there is anything that remarkable about the Aussie past so whilst here don’t really pay much attention to it but travelling through this area I realise it’s the local history that is important, I’m finding all sorts of facts and fascinating stories that to me are very appealing.

Evening, relaxed over a nice dinner after our outing on the bikes and then spent some time sending e-mails home from an internet café. We finished off the night sat under some palm trees with a nice bottle of white wine.

Day Three

Woke nice and early to splendid sunshine. Did some washing and then spent a few hours in the pool enjoying the morning air. Once showered and dressed we found a bus that took us out to ’Crocodylus Park’ about 20km’s out of town in search of a crocodile, I could hardly come to the Northern Territory and not see a one of these prehistoric creatures in the flesh, I admit these are behind fences but I prefer to meet them this way than come face to face in the wild with them.

Crocodylus is a actually a breeding farm and research centre, three out of the top five crocodile experts in the world work here. We joined a small group and followed the keeper as he went around to feed these magnificent animals, the first small lake we came to was a busy little area of sunbathing young crocs who’s future is destined in the handbag industry, beautiful looking animals that look even more amazing up close.

We moved onto the breeding pens where they keep the big males and by god they are big, easily five metres in length and as wide as a bus, well not that wide but you get my point. The keeper introduced us to them, each croc had a pen to himself and each had a name, my favourite killer croc was called Harold which is a lovely name for a prehistoric killing machine. The keeper told us many facts about the crocs whilst he dangled meat over the side, the massive creature rose from the water and slammed its giant powerful jaws around the dead chicken. Some of the facts were rather alarming, like Harold here could rip your arm or leg off in a second, even more alarming was that not only the reason you shouldn’t swim in the sea here in Darwin because of the box jellyfish but also because every other day they pull a crocodile out of the harbour, that’s 180 a year, he went onto to suggest that any place where there is water in the Northern Territory there is a good chance a croc will be close by so best to stay out, well that’s just bloody marvellous knowing that yesterday I was splashing around in a murky lake basically handing out pasty British flesh on a plate. Before we left we got a chance to hold a one year old croc which was terrific, even this little guy had his jaw taped shut so he wouldn’t take a finger or two, like I said, lovely creatures.

Evening, we strolled around the Mindil beach sunset market which is a twice weekly event that is a bit of a tradition, very popular with the tourists as you can stroll around buying any sort of hand made crafts, take in the smells of the food stalls which include Thai, Sri Lankan, Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Brazilian, Greek and many more before sitting down on the beach with a glass of wine and watch as the sunsets over another beautiful day.

Day Four

I was in the shower at 4.50am, packed and then outside the hostel with Chell waiting for the tour van that was going to take us on the 1,500km three day trip South to Alice Springs. I have never been on a tour before, I much prefer independent travel however in the Northern Territory it makes sense to do this leg with a guide. I felt a little apprehensive because this trip meant a lot to me and the last thing I wanted was to share it with a bunch of twats.

Tour vans were already out and about passing us whilst on there way to pick up others around town, one van caught my eye as it had a young driver who had the face of the joker and the guide next to him was a spitting image of outlaw Ned Kelly, I made the comment to Chell that I’m glad we weren’t on that bus, further up the road I saw it turn around and come back our way, you have to be kidding! Ned Kelly wearing no shoes got out and greeted us, his actual name is Brad and the joker is Marchie. We loaded up and set off around Darwin to pick up fellow passengers, in total there was twelve of us plus our two guides which was an acceptable size plus everybody looked pretty decent so straight away I felt better about the trip. We got onto the Stuart Highway which we would follow for the next three days all the way to Alice, It felt to be great on the road, an adventure awaits.

Our first stop was 111km’s down the highway from Darwin at the sleepy settlement of Adelaide River where we stopped for breakfast at the Adelaide River Inn. We tucked into some tasty bacon and eggs then for the first time got chatting to our fellow travellers, It’s a mixed bunch of nationalities, represented are the English, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, a Kiwi and the two aussie guides. Whilst tucking into my breakfast I also noticed that the humidity had already gone, we are only 111km’s South of Darwin yet its so much fresher here, I love it.

The highlight of the morning though was coming face to face with the actual buffalo from the film ’Crocodile Dundee’, the one where Dundee does that thing with his hand to hypnotize it, I decided to have a go myself and it worked, by god it worked, It didn’t even blink at me but to be fair it was stood on top of the bar and quite dead. The buffalo is actually called Charlie and sadly died back in 2002, being a famous buffalo they decided to stuff him and put him up on the bar where he has stood proudly ever since.

A few hours later we drove into Katherine, the biggest town between Darwin and Alice Springs with a population of 6,720. Immediately I noticed many Aboriginals around, the Northern Territory has more Aboriginals than ay other state, they own a lot of land around here and Brad tells us that this is the traditional home of the Jawoyn and dagoman people, I have been so use to seeing only a few Aboriginals around in white dominated cities so it was a little strange at first to see them in their own towns if you like, I like most people no incredibly little about them and I am very much looking forward to learning more about them and their history as we go along.

Early afternoon, After setting up camp up on a secluded hill just outside of the town we made our way down to Katherine Gorge. Chell and I slapped on plenty of sun cream and donned our life jackets. Neither of us had been canoeing before so it was a new experience for both of us and what a spectacular place to try it. Most of our fellow travellers hired canoes as well, the plan was to canoe up stream to the end of the first gorge where we were told there was a small beautiful beach where we could relax and have a swim, I though this was a little strange though as earlier we were told to stay away from the sides of the gorge as there is lots of crocodile nests and I could also see from where I was standing a very big crocodile trap down by the waters edge, but I was assured that these crocs don’t pose a threat and would only attack us if we went near there nests, well that’s all right then, I mean now I’m not bothered at all that we are about to canoe through crocodile infested waters and then take a dip at the end.

We pushed off from the side and found out there is a knack to canoeing, we very quickly started going around in circles and then crashed into the bank, after a moment of swearing at each other we managed to get going up stream. The current was actually very strong which made it harder to concentrate on the dramatic beauty of the gorge, It was so peaceful, the only noise was from the paddles in the water and the odd bit of cursing when we went off course and headed for the croc nests, The gorge walls were a spectacular red colour with small beaches and trees at the base.

After about forty five minutes of hard paddling we reached the end of the first gorge and pulled the canoe up onto the lovely white sandy beach, we were joined by the others who all managed to make it without having to fight off a croc. It was the most amazing place to relax and have a swim, it was like what you see in the movies being out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by amazing natural beauty with the sun beating down whilst gently swimming in the beautiful cool water, god what an experience!

Evening, back at camp we all sat around enjoying a very tasty meal that Brad had cooked up for us all. There was a lot of getting to know each other chat which was really nice, we spent a lot time getting to know the only other English person called Amanda who is from Nottingham which is where Chell and I are moving to when we return to the UK next month, a nice girl, you never know we night stay in touch and meet up back in Nottingham.

It has been a long but terrific day, it is so far living up to my expectations which to be fair are very high indeed, we finished the night off with some star gazing and enjoyed a beer around the open fire, ah it’s a tough life.

Day One

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I was already awake when the alarm rang around the bedroom at 7am. I was wrapped up lovely and warm in my bed, outside it was dark, cold and windy, I could hear the rain spitting against the window and knew that I had to get up, the strong pull to stay in bed was made stronger due to being struck down with a terrible cold! In fact it was so bad I would say that it was borderline flu, my girlfriend Chell agreed with me, she said that I had that terrible thing called ’Man Flu’. This is where a guy gets a bad throat and a runny nose and all of a sudden thinks that he is dying! Ok well I wasn’t dying but I had a runny nose, bad head and felt pretty rough! The only thing that was going to get me out of my warm bed was a trip into Europe, destination, Berlin!

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At 12pm we boarded our first ever flight with Ryanair for our first trip to Berlin and I don’t think that I have ever been so excited about a trip in my life, ok, well I’m pretty sure I say that before every trip but you get what I mean. Berlin is pretty special though, building up to this trip I had been watching films, documentaries and reading up all about the Second World War, the Berlin Wall and modern day Berlin. The recent history of this city is quite simply fascinating, the idea that I could visit such places as the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate and even where Hitler shot himself acted as a strong natural dose of Lemsip and for a short while I forgot all about my cold.

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After a smooth flight we touched down in a wet, foggy Berlin at Schonefeld airport. A short walk from the terminal was the S-Bahn where we jumped on the airport express train and headed for the city. We got off the train at Alexanderplatz which is formerly East Berlin’s commercial hub and rather than poking our noses out of the station we found the U-Bahn and went in search of our hotel in the old East Berlin district of Friedrichshain.

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It was now dark as we climbed the steps of Samariterstrasse U-Bahn in Friedrichshain. We turned off a busy main road and walked down a side street, following the directions I had scribbled down. Residential blocks towered over us on both sides of the street, covered in graffiti and looked a little run down. It was dark and generally you would expect a menacing feel but looks were deceiving, rather than being menacing, there was actually a real charm to the place. Across the road behind the graffiti and run down buildings was a very nice cosy little bar, a bit further along on the corner was a small shop with its fruit and vegetables on display and all around us were falling yellow leaves from the trees that lined the streets, it was just how I imagined East Berlin would be.

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An attractive blond lady checked us in at Reception at the Hotel Agon Frankfurter Allee. She spoke perfect English so my chance to speak my very limited German would have to wait. I crashed on the bed and felt delighted to be in East Berlin, one of those must do trips, its hard to believe that only nineteen years ago this would not have been possible due to this part of the city being divided from the West.

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By this point my man flu had really kicked in and I felt very rough indeed. I really didn’t feel up to a restaurant dinner and a show which we had planned and instead agreed to rest up and take it easy. We would grab a quick bite to eat somewhere and then head to the top of the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) for some night views of the city.

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After a casual bite to eat we arrived at Alexanderplatz and saw that we wouldn’t be enjoying any night views due to the tower’s observation deck being hidden away above the thick fog that had descended over Berlin.

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Thwarted by the fog, we decided on a stroll around the Alexanderplatz area. After a few left and right turns we found ourselves in Nikolaiviertel, a very quiet medieval looking place which was beautifully lit. The little square was home to Berlin’s oldest church and was surrounded by a maze of narrow, cobbled lanes lined with historic buildings and very expensive looking restaurants and cafes. A lovely place to stumble upon on our first evening in the city.

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On our way back to the hotel we stopped for a hot chocolate and watched Berliners going about their evening. I am delighted to be in Berlin but I am cursing my luck at having such a bad cold. However, I don’t plan on it getting in my way as tomorrow morning we will visit the Berlin Wall, The Berlin wall! Bloody Marvellous!

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Day Two

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A long night for the soul. The noise of bins outside the hotel being emptied woke me from my short sleep at 06.45. I had hardly slept due to my persistent cold and was feeling rough because of it.

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Time for breakfast. The Hotel Agon really knows how to throw on a good buffet. I wasn’t feeling all that hungry but I still managed to fill my plate with salami, ham, sausages and bread followed by cereal and yogurt washed down with orange juice and coffee. We needed the fuel though as today we were going to be doing a lot of walking.

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Like an old loyal friend waiting patiently, yesterday’s fog greeted us as we set out along the streets of Berlin in search of the infamous wall. The first thing I noticed on our first inspection of the city in daylight hours was how Russian it looked. The buildings were very large with grand architecture, the wide pavements and roads gave the place a real Eastern feel. It is very much how I picture St Petersburg to be, in fact I watched an Oscar winning film called ’Downfall’ before coming to Berlin about the battle for Berlin and Hitler’s downfall at the end of WWII. They filmed it in St Petersburg as the architecture there is very similar to what Berlin was like back then.

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At the end of Warschauer Strasse on the bank of the river Spree on the former East side was the unmistakable sight of the Berlin Wall. At first I felt a little star struck, just like I did when I first saw the Sydney Opera House. Over the years I have watched countless documentaries and read so much about the struggles of this divided city that it felt quite amazing to be standing next to such a well known historic symbol.

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This actual stretch of the wall is known as ’The East Side Gallery’, it’s the longest part left, stretching 1300m and running parallel with the Spree River on the former East side. It was turned into a open-air gallery by artists from all over the world after the collapse of Communism in 1989 and every inch of it is covered in political statements, signatures and some great pieces of art. Walking along side the wall I was all too aware that only nineteen years ago we would not have been able to do this and as an East Berliner I may well have stood here looking through the small crack in the wall to the West, dreaming of being on the other side.

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At Ostbanhof station we bought the ’Berlin Welcome Card’. For Euro 21.50 the ticket covers all of the local transport for 72 hours and a booklet that contains discounts on hundreds of museums and attractions, an absolute bargain!

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On the intersection of Friedrichstrasse and Zimmerstrasse, a short walk from Kochstrasse U-Bahn is a symbol of the Cold War known as ’Check Point Charlie’. This was one of the main check points for the Allies, diplomats, and non-Germans to pass between the two Berlins between 1961 and 1990. This is also where US and Soviet tanks faced off in 1961, bringing the world close to a third world war.

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This, a once death strip all looks very different now of course with it being surrounded by modern office buildings, tourist shops and swarms of American holidaymakers as well as the odd bald Englishman wondering around. In the middle of the road however they do still have a small guardhouse sitting in the exact spot with a sign warning ’you are now leaving the American sector’ In English, Russian, French and German. They even had actors posing as Allied guardsmen. For one Euro you could get your picture taken with them in front of the guardhouse, not that I would succumb to such cheap tacky, touristy exploits!

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After Chell had taken my 1Euro picture we went over to the nearby Mauermuseum to find out more. Here in the Haus Am Checkpoint Charlie Museum building overlooking the checkpoint we learned about the courage of  the East Berliners’ escapes to the West using tunnels, concealed compartments in cars, a hot air balloon and even a one man submarine. The ingenuity was incredible yet sadly there were a lot of people who decided just to run for it which usually ended with very sad consequences. In total more than 5000 people tried to escape to the west, 1600 made it, most were captured and 191 were killed trying to reach freedom.

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Evening, feeling fresh after a shower, we went in search of dinner. At Alexanderplatz we found a lovely Italian restaurant called Linosa. We sat outside under the giant heaters and tucked into a very tasty dish of Taglatellie washed down with a ginger ale, I didn’t feel up to a beer.

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I had read that Potsdamer Platz is the most visible symbol of ’new Berlin’. As we appeared at the top of the steps from the U-Bahn we noticed this immediately. The buildings were tall and ultra modern, on the corner was a snow boarding amusement and tourists were out in force. We made our way into the Sony centre which is one of the most spectacular new developments in Berlin. It had a central plaza overlooked by the most stunning glass roof supported by steel, bicycle spoke like beams. The beautiful lighting really added to the atmosphere and with so many nice restaurants and cafes it would be a great place to people watch.

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Chell and I though did not have time to hang around and people watch as we were on a mission to find the toilets. We studied the plaza map in detail and planned our attack yet we could not find them, we searched high and low with no success. Back at the plaza map we re-studied and just before bursting point we found the cheeky little buggers hidden away down at the bottom of an escalator with a sign asking for Euro 0.50 for the use of them, I will drop a Euro 0.50 on the plate on the way out I thought as I burst through the door like a wild mad man!

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Not far from Potsdamer Platz on Under Den Linden is Berlins most photographed symbol, The beautiful ’Brandenburg Gate’. Built in 1791, it is the only surviving one of eighteen gates originally built around the city. It has certainly seen its fair share of history, Napoleon’s army paraded through it, so did Hitler’s powerful storm troopers and it was against this backdrop here in 1987 that President Ronald Reagan uttered the famous words “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall”. In 1989 the wall came down.

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The Brandenburg Gate was a great place to finish off the day,  the gate all lit up is an especially beautiful place to visit at night. We spent time admiring it, taking in the history and trying get that perfect picture before walking away hand in hand after giving into the urge for a hot chocolate and donut.

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Day Three

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Stepped out of the hotel to another great day in Berlin. Still no sign of the sun though as our friend the fog was still hanging around. We did not mind the lack of sun as we are of course used to it coming from good old jolly England but we would really like to be able to go up the Fernsehturm at some point before we leave, I have put a bet on with Chell that we won’t see the sun at all on this visit.

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At Alexanderplatz we studied the map whilst enjoying a small breakfast at a bakery. From there we were looking to get the S-Bahn to Friedrichstrasse to meet up with a guide who was going to take us on a walking tour of the Nazi sites at 1pm.

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We arrived very early in Friedrichstrasse so we had a few hours to kill. Before leaving the station we stocked up on fruit to help combat our colds and then set off in search of the shops with our cheeks filled with chunks of apple, oranges, grapes and pineapple.

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We turned right onto Unter Den Linden where we had been last night. Just before the Brandenburg Gate, on the right hand side we came across a shop that doubled as a museum called ’The Berlin Story’, it is the finest souvenir shop that I have ever seen. It was very upmarket and not at all tacky. It had two floors, one floor full of souvenirs, DVD’s and books on Berlin and the museum was downstairs. It also had a very nice restaurant at the back. We spent ages browsing, a book called ’Berlin Past finder 1933 - 1945’ caught my eye, in it were all of the information and maps on the Nazi sites I wanted to explore. We could use this to find these places ourselves, no need for a tour which would save us having an 18 year old American telling us and twenty other strangers what he had learned from probably the same type of book that I had found.

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We had lunch in the lovely cosy restaurant and over soup we decided that instead of the tour as planned, we would spend the afternoon at the Berlin Zoo and tomorrow we would go on ’Ross’s Berlin Nazi Tour’, save the best till last I thought. Chell didn’t look all that impressed as by now she was feeling very poorly, she liked the idea of the Zoo but she was not so keen on spending all day hunting old Nazi sites.

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I emerged from the shop with a piece of the Berlin Wall, the Berlin past finder book and another one on the ’Fuher Bunker’, Hitler’s bunker. I’m such a tourist!

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Rhinos, Lions, Hippos, Bears, Penguins and even a Polar Bear, Berlin Zoo has the lot. We spent all afternoon admiring these beautiful creatures. Their were so many that we did not have time to see them all, you would need a full day for that. I have to say though that I’m not sure how I feel about Zoo’s, I’m always fascinated to see these creatures up close but then when I do I always think that they look kind of sad and bored, especially today as I watched the panda walking up and down his cage looking as though he was going out of his mind with boredom. I did make good friends with a goat though, I gave him some food and in return he gave me a hand full of saliva.

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Evening, neither of us felt up to much  so we spent some time in bed resting and then ventured out to the Internet café to send some e-mails and do some research on the Nazi sites for tomorrow.

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An early night.

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Day Four

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We were a little late getting out of bed this morning, we certainly needed the sleep. As I crawled out of bed I made a beeline for the curtains, are we going to have blue skies and see our first glimpse of the sun since arriving in Berlin? No.

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Today was Ross’s Nazi Tour, last night I had been reading and researching on the internet about some of the Nazi sites that we would like to visit and I had scribbled down a mini itinerary and had the book at hand to tell us all about the sites we would be visiting. We got off the S-Bahn at Friedrichstrasse like yesterday and strolled along Under Den Linden. The Brandenburg Gate this morning was swarming with picture hungry tourists, the cafes were full of foreigners refusing to even try and order their coffee in German. Every time I see the Gate I feel like I must stop for a moment to take in its grand architecture and beauty. As we marched through the Gate I could feel the sense of history as I looked down the Strasse des 17. Juni towards the victory column, I could picture Hitler’s army parading In front of a proud German nation.

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Not far from the Brandenburg Gate is the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building. It’s a very impressive, historic building with a modern glass dome that sits high on top of the roof in which you can climb for views over the city. I wanted to visit the Reichstag first as this was a major symbol for the battle of Berlin back in 1945. The parliament was the most important symbol for the attacking Red Army, capturing this would signal the end of the war and defeat to Hitler and the Nazis. At dawn on the 30th April 1945 the soviets attacked the Reichstag, the same day that Hitler committed suicide not far from here. The parliament had been turned into a fortress by the defending Nazis and it wasn’t until later that day that the Russians were able to penetrate the building and at Midnight, Moscow time, the Russian flag was flown from the roof. Amazingly some of the defending soldiers carried on fighting down in the cellars of the Reichstag with only knives and spades. Finally, on the 2nd May, the Russians brought an end to this fighting with flame throwers!

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We were hoping to climb the dome but the queue was already spilling out of the door and down the steps. We settled for taking some pictures and a stroll around the building. The Reichstag took a pounding in the war and even today we could make out the bullet holes in the walls left from the fierce fighting that happened there over sixty years ago. I read somewhere that there is still graffiti on one of the walls where the Russian and American soldiers had scribbled their names back in 1945 but even after a good hunt we couldn’t spot it.

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With a hot chocolate in hand we walked along Ebertstrasse towards Potsdamer Platz. On the left handside, on an area the size of a football field, is the ’Holocaust Memorial’. 2,711 concrete blocks of varying height gives it a look of a giant cemetery. It is a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Nazi planned genocide. At first walking in between and around these giant blocks it felt rather unemotional, especially with young tourists running around laughing and playing hide and seek but then we came across an old lady leaning over one of the smaller blocks in floods of tears, she was clearly grieving over a loved one and was helped away by her elderly husband, this put us both in the appropriate frame of mind and mood as we walked around. I don’t think the young tourists shared our mood, I do have to admit though, if there was ever going to be a ’World Hide and Seek Championship‘, this would be the place!

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We had a pit stop for lunch in a small café overlooking the Memorial. By this point Chell was really struggling with her cold as this was clearly her bad day with it but she didn’t moan at all and said no to returning to the hotel, a perfect travel companion.

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Next up was the ‘Topography Of Terror’ just South of the Holocaust Memorial on Niederkirchnerstrasse. It is an outside exhibition on the site where the building of the Gestapo and the fearsome SS Headquarters once stood. The boards were full of stories and pictures about the persecution and murder of people all over Europe. Reading through these stories makes me wander if the Nazis were human at all?

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The area that we have been exploring today was known as the Government District. This was the heart of the Nazi government and was full of government headquarter buildings. One of those still standing today is the former Reich Aviation Ministry , from here Goring commanded the Luftwaffe which terrorised Europe. With 2000 rooms it was once one the largest building in Berlin and one of the first major construction projects of the Nazis, today it is home to the Federal Ministry of Finance.

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A little later on Chell and I stood at the entrance to a small car park overlooked by residential buildings. There is nothing spectacular about the place at all accept a small information board pointing to the fact that where we now stood was where Hitler took his last breath. On April 30th 1945 with the Red Army getting closer, artillery bombs landing and the noise of gunfire,  8.5 metres below our feet in his bunker, known as the Fuhrer Bunker, Hitler shot himself. With the Red Army closing in he gave strict instructions that his corpse was to be burned so that his body would not fall into Russian hands and be paraded as a ‘war trophy’ in Moscow. Standing at what is now the entrance barrier to the car park, this was where Hitler and his new wife’s, Eva Braun, corpses burned. I had a few pictures in a book of what the area looked like at the time, it was hard to believe we were standing on the same spot, the same place where the world’s biggest mass murderer cowardly took his life and escaped justice!

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Ross’s Nazi tour was now at an end so we headed for home. Standing on the platform on Mohrenstrasse U-Bahn, I was reading my book when I noticed that the beautiful marble that decorated the underground walls was in fact from the great hall in Hitler’s Reich Chancellery. Also after Hitler’s suicide, about ten groups escaped from the Fuhrer Bunker and on May 1st 1945 shortly before midnight they came through this tunnel to try and escape underneath the Russians who had encircled the city. That’s what I like about Berlin, history here is very accessible, if you want to and you look hard enough, you can find the scars of the past.

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We spent the evening dining at Linosa back at Alexanderplatz. Over a lovely steak dinner we chatted about our trip and both felt rather disappointed that this was our last night. Berlin is a fantastic city to visit, not just because of the history that brings most travellers here but because of the fantastic vibe. It’s a beautiful city, easy to get around, plenty to do and Berliners are very friendly!

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Day Five

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Woke to our last morning in Berlin.

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We filled up on breakfast at the hotel and then packed up our bags, making sure not to leave behind any little souvenirs that we had picked up. I took special care to make sure my small piece of the Berlin Wall was wrapped up safe and secure. I did have a moment where I thought that maybe I shouldn’t be taking any of it home with me as I might suffer from the incredible bad luck such as what happened to so many people who took home bits of Uluru from Australia. Somebody told me when I was out there that every year hundreds of small pieces of Uluru are returned in the post from all over the world from people who have claimed that the rock had brought them terrible luck when they had returned home! This concerned me for a minute until I remembered that most of the Berlin Wall was torn down and used to rebuild Berlin’s roads. My piece will have a much happier outcome as it will sit comfortably on my mantlepiece at home, unless at some point I want to redo my drive, that is.

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Today we had the best weather of the trip so far, still no sun but there was no fog and it was quite a bright day which meant that finally we could pay a visit to the Fernsehturm.

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After dropping our bags in the lockers at Alexanderplatz station we squeezed through a protest in the square and joined the long queue for the 368m high TV tower. For half an hour we crept towards the ticket desk and then we were hurriedly squeezed along with four hundred others into a lift designed for only twelve, I was completely wedged up against the wall praying  that nobody would fart!

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As the lift doors opened, we stepped out to magnificent views of Berlin. Opened up to us was a 360 degree view of the entire city which we had just spent four days exploring. Over a coffee and cake we took in the fantastic views. We could see out towards our hotel and the East Side Gallery, over to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, below us was what looked like a mass of ants in the square, the protest was in full swing. There is something I find very soothing about being up high over a busy city, watching it going about its business, everything and everybody are so small, there is no rushing about and neither is there any noise.  It’s a little bit like a safe haven above the city.

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Our time in Berlin was now at an end. It was terrific that after being denied the chance every day previously due to the bad weather that finally we got to visit the tower before leaving the city, a nice place to bring to an end our Berlin experience. Berlin has been a very welcoming host, we only scratched the surface as far as places to visit and things to do were concerned and there is no doubt that we will be going back to Berlin for more!

A certain member of the Geek4travel community was interested in knowing what I would look like as a girl. A little random you may think, indeed, it so happens that whilst living in Sydney back in 2006 I had a picture taken of me looking rather pretty. Ok so I have a bald head and a lot of stubble but lets be honest, I am one hot looking woman! Don’t believe me, then check out this picture.

Leave your comments below and be honest

By reading this you will now have noticed the new look of Geek4travel. I’m sure your first impression would have been that it is not as fancy as the old one or maybe not as pretty as some might say. It was certainly very colourful and I personally loved the other look but it was not as user friendly as I would of liked. For instance the blog was very dark and a little difficult to read, the blog is the heart of the website so I decided it needed a change.

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The new look is simple and basic but I believe it is now very user friendly which is the most important thing. I have also made the ’Travel Deals’ page more interactive. Before this page had listings of the tour operators that I highly recommend but now you can actually search for your next trip on Geek4travel whether it be a package deal, flight, hotel or even car hire. This now means the Geek4travel ‘Deals’ page is an excellent one stop shop for hunting down that next travel bargain. Also Geek4travel has teamed up with more travel companies such as Cheapflights.co.uk, Rail Europe, HostelBookers, Lastmunite.com and more, I have to say I am very excited to be able to advertise these great companies as I believe they offer travellers such as us some of the best deals out there.

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So that is what is new at Geek4travel, I hope you like the changes and would love to receive your feedback, you can leave a comment, e-mail me or use the forum. You can send me an e-mail direct to ross@geek4travel.com and I will very much enjoy finding out your thoughts and of course if you have any suggestions for the site then please feel free to get in touch.

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I must just quickly say a big thank you to community member Claire from beautiful Sydney, Australia. She has been a big help and her time is always appreciated.

When looking for inspiration, there are a handful of sights I turn to, ‘The Man In seat Sixty-One’ is certainly one of them!

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Mark Smith a career railwayman from Buckinghamshire started this site back in 2001 as a hobby. Realising that there wasn’t really much information out there about how easy, convenient and cheap train travel can be, he decided to share is knowledge. What started as a hobby is now his full time job and ‘Seat61.com’ has won many awards.

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So what is so special about this website? Well that’s pretty simple really. Firstly the information packed onto this site is incredible, he shows you how to get to nearly anywhere in the world from London using the worlds train network. He helps you on how to book tickets, how much it will cost, gives you tips on the best way of going about it and includes pictures of all the trains he travels on. Quite frankly this website is the bible of world train travel!

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I regularly drop into Seat61.com to look for inspiration or research on a possible trip, one thing this website has given me is the inspiration to look overland rather than in the air. With all of the budgets airlines around you are forgiven for thinking that train travel is far more expensive but like me, you would be wrong.

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There are some great trips documented here that I will certainly be looking to go on in the near future, after all I prefer to be sitting cosy by a window eating my lunch watching the beautiful European countryside pass by than standing in line for security checks at the airport!

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So get inspired and visit one of the great travel websites, ’The Man In Seat Sixty-One’

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I moved back to England from Australia Two years ago and settled in Nottingham. One of the things you notice when living here is the county’s association with the famous outlaw Robin Hood. When entering the county you are greeted by the sign ’Welcome to Robin Hood County’, streets are named after him as well as his merry men and wife, Maid Marian. Sitting high up on top of a cliff over looking the city is Nottingham Castle, the famous home of the evil ’Sheriff of Nottingham’, below this is the ’Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem’, England’s oldest Inn, serving drinks for over 800 years, It is reported that Robin Hood himself drank here.

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Of course we have all heard the stories, seen the movies and the TV programmes and in all of these there is one place that is at the heart of each story and that is Sherwood Forest! This is where Robin and his merry men hid from the law, this was his home and this was where they would ambush rich travellers travelling through the forest.

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Only 20 miles from Nottingham, Sherwood Forest still exists today. Chell and I made the half hour drive there from Nottingham as the rain fell slowly, a dull, wet day that doesn’t suit a walk through the woods, but this isn’t just any woods.

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Don’t be surprised like I was at first with the full car park and coach tours pulling in, after all this is one of the most famous forest’s in the world and receives over 500,000 visitors a year. It is large enough however to cater for this with different paths leading off in different directions into the mysterious forest. Chell and I soon found ourselves on our own deep in to the woods in search of the Major Oak, the 900 year old hollow tree that was home to Robin Hood. A 15 minute walk from the visitors centre and your there, the old tree sits propped up by metal poles, guarded by a wooden fence which snap happy tourists lean on to get their picture of the historic celebrity, not wanting to look out of place, I to find my spot as Chell snaps away at me posing with the tree.

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As Chell and I wonder off on another path into the woods we wonder if the stories and legends are really true? If they are, these trees we walk past, the paths we walk on would bare witness to it all, oh if only they could talk!

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Sherwood Forest is certainly worth a visit, your imagination runs wild here surrounded by these magical stories, but the one thing I would say to bear In mind is whilst walking around this historic forest, stay on the well trodden paths, this place is a dog walkers paradise and like me, you will end up taking the shit home with you!

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Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve

Edwinstowe

Mansfield

Nottinghamshire, England

NG21 9HN

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http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/leisure/countryparks/sherwoodforestcp.htm

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Contact

General enquiries: tel: 0844 9 80 80 80 (8am - 8pm Mon-Fri; 8am - 12 noon Sat)

or tel: 01623 823202 (10am - 5pm Monday to Friday)

Park rangers and office tel: 01623 823202

Forest Table restaurant tel: 01623 823202 ext 32

Fax: 01623 823202

email: enquiries@nottscc.gov.uk

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Admission to the park is FREE. A small seasonal car parking charge applies at certain times of year. 

UPDATE: February 9th 2010 - This offer has now ended

Last week I opened the Geek4travel.com bargain DVD & Book store. Well now I'm giving them away!

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That's very kind I hear you say, well yes it is. But Geek4travel is all about sharing, whether it be stories, tips, jokes or good old travel reviews and this is where the free book comes in. All you have to do is visit the online store choose a book or DVD that you like and then send me an e-mail to ross@geek4travel.com or through the contact page and I will post it out to you. All I ask for in return is for you to write a short review on the book or DVD so that we can share your thoughts with the rest of the Geek4travel community. Simply send the review to me at ross@geek4travel.com and I will post it to the blog.

*Please note you have to be a member of Geek4travel to receive these free items & I am trusting your good nature that you will write the review in return for the book or DVD. Of course I trust you, your the Geek4travel community

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Happy shopping!

I have to be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of video editing software but I am a big fan of making videos. But whilst on the move, if I want to make videos to upload onto my blog or Youtube so I can share them with my family, friends and of course the Geek4travel.com community, I need to have my laptop with me which carry’s the software, I use AVS video editor just in case your interested.

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That was until I discovered Pixorial.com. A website that enables you to create and edit your videos online, from any computer around the world. No need to download any software and the best thing about this is that the basic editing is completely free. This now enables people like myself who love to make travel videos whilst on the road to leave the laptop at home and is great for those who don’t know anything about video editing and just want something simple to work with from either at home or abroad.

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It’s a very simple process. Go to Pixorial.com and sign up for free, upload your video and start editing with their very simple tools. You can add music, trim clips, speed things up, pretty much anything you want. They also offer other services such as posting your old VHS tapes to them and they will convert it digitally for you or put it onto a DVD. These extra features do cost but there not expensive and very handy, especially if you have old VHS tapes sitting around that you would like converted to more up to date methods of storage, like on your computer or the web.

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So if your into making videos but don’t have a degree in that field and you want some very simple editing software, then check out www.pixorial.com

Source of Arcticle: Lonely Planet

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1. Mt Everest, Nepal

Some things just don’t know they can quit when they’re ahead. Take this stunning snow-dusted peak on the Nepal–Tibet border. At around 8850m, Mt Everest is the highest point on earth. But is it satisfied? Oh no – it’s actually still growing at an estimated 4mm a year, pushed ever upwards by a monumental meeting of tectonic plates. A trip to Everest Base Camp brings you face to face with countless climbers, a colourful tent city and truly extraordinary mountain views. Because they’re still stretching skywards save on the legs; get onto that hike in the foothills sooner rather than later.

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2. Mexico City

Mexico City meanwhile is sinking at an average rate of 10cm a year, 10 times faster than Venice. The reason? Building on a soft lake bed then pumping out subterranean water reserves, isn’t a good idea. The alarming descent is evidenced in the cracked pavements, wonky buildings and the 23 extra steps up to the iconic Angel of Independence monument; added because the city has subsided around it. Fight that sinking sensation by floating on the ancient canals at Xochimilco. Each weekend this World Heritage Site transforms into fiesta-filled waterways packed with party boats, musicians and marimba players.

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3. Vatican City

Encircled by design-conscious Italy’scutting-edge couture, the world’s smallest independent state is sticking firmly to its sartorial traditions. The Vatican’s Swiss Guard still wears a uniform inspired by the Renaissance painter Raphael (compare and contrast it with the garb worn by figures in his frescos in the Papal apartments). In fact, the 44 hectare Holy See has many a geek treat. Point out the population (800), number of citizens (450), licence plates (SCV, CV, international abbreviation V) and flag (yellow and white), not to mention the anthem (Pontifical Hymn) and coins, which are legal tender throughout Italy and the EU, you know.

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4. El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles, USA

What’s in a name? A whole lot less in Los Angeles case. Originally rejoicing under the not-so-pithy moniker of the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels, this farming community sprung up in 1781 near what’s now El Pueblo Historical Monument. Today its cluster of museums, ancient plazas and vibrant markets serves up a taste of LA life 1800s-style. For an ultramodern echo of the city’s linguistic origins, head to the 21st-century Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. This innovative structure soars 11 storeys into the sky, its alabaster mosaics flooding the immense interior with opaque light.

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5. Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Aire, Argentina

Originally Our Lady St Mary of the Good Air, these days it’s just Buenos Aires. A seductive city of colonial avenues, cosmopolitan cafes and many an all-night party, BA is also the spot to savour that most deliciously melancholic dance: the tango. It pulses through faded ballrooms, leafy parks and vibrant squares, but do you know how to secure a partner? Gentlemen, fix the lady with a long look; if she returns your stare, just give a gentle nod. Ladies, sit with your legs outstretched so a man might stumble at your feet. An encounter occurs; an invitation can follow.

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6. London Underground, England

Great geek fact: London’s Metropolitan Railway was the world’s first subway. The 6km section opened in 1863, ran between Paddington and Farringdon, and proved a hit despite steam trains filling stations and tunnels with dense smoke. Riding today’s Circle Line from Paddington to Covent Garden and the London Transport Museum retraces part of that original route. The museum has one of those original sulphur-belching engines; the Metropolitan No 23. As you trundle on a subterranean tour of the capital’s grime and tiles, note the world’s second subway opened in Budapest in 1896, pipping Paris to the post by four years.

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7. Venice, Italy

It’s one of those totally touristy things that you really can’t resist: gliding around Venice in a gondola. But as you go grandly down the Grand Canal, ponder a few factoids. Each elegant craft is made from 280 pieces of eight different types of wood. The left side is larger than the right by 24cm, producing a list to starboard, while the slender, raised bow means increased manoeuvrability. Most intriguingly, the parts of a gondola represent bits of this baroque, lagoon-laced city: the front echoes its six districts, the back is Giudecca Island, while the lunette is the Rialto Bridge.

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8. Great Wall Of China

Any geek worth their salt knows this is the biggest military construction on earth – and know to dismiss the ‘only man-made structure able to be seen from space’ claim as urban myth. Rippling across huge swathes of the Chinese countryside, around 2000km still exists of its earlier 7300km sections. They were built by independent kingdoms between the 7th and 4th centuries BC, and were unified under China’s first Emperor Qin Shi Huang around 210 BC. Countless thousands flock to the wall’s tourist hot spots near Beijing, but do those snap-happy hordes know that bit is a Ming dynasty (14-17th century AD) reconstruction?

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9. Table Mountain, South Africa

You wouldn’t think a ‘table’ this big could possibly have a decorative covering, but that’s exactly what this immense ridge of sandstone has. Looming large (1087m to be exact) over Cape Town, the lofty plateau has its own cloud cover: the ‘tablecloth’, which gathers quickly across the top and pours down the sides when the wind whips up from the southeast. While you’re trekking Table Mountain’s trails (or sneaking a lift to the top in the cable car) look out for the recently reintroduced klipspringer, a tiny surefooted antelope that can sometimes be spotted surveying the scene from rocky outcrops.

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10. Uluru, Australia

It’s curious to think that without a little rust, Uluru wouldn’t be red at all. This extraordinary rock formation rears abruptly from the heart of Australia’s dusty, russet desert and famously glows a fiery orange-red, especially at sunset. As you hike round the base of what’s probably the world’s largest monolith, think also about Uluru being made up of arkosic sandstone. This acquires its distinctive reddish hue when exposed to oxidation and the iron in the arkose rusts. So what colour would this iconic, vivid chunk of rock be without a little chemical decay? A dismal, rather dull grey.

It has taken six years to complete, 12,000 labourers and cost $1.5 Billion, the ‘Burj Dubai’ or the Dubai Tower is now the worlds tallest building. Standing at 800m high with160 floors it smashes the record that was held up until now by Taipei 101 which was 508m high! The observation deck I hear will be on floor, wait for it, 124!

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I’m not great with heights but if I’m ever in Dubai I will sure to be visiting floor124 for what must be some crazy views, then down to a low 76 to have a swim in which is the worlds highest swimming pool.

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If you beat us to it be sure to send Geek4travel a picture or video!

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So tell me, would you go to the top?

Do you remember the large Polaroid camera you use to be able to get that would print pictures there and then? Well this isn’t it but the Polaroid PoGo is an instant mobile printer that is small enough to fit in your pocket and will print your pictures wherever you may be.

I was attracted to this product due to its small size which makes it easy to travel with. It prints pictures 3inchs by 2inchs so it doesn’t print your photo album size photos but it Is still useful none the less. One use for the pictures I have found is to make my journal a little more interesting. When travelling I often stick in postcards, tickets and general memorabilia that I pick up, now I can add pictures.

The printer itself is not much bigger than a mobile phone. The back opens which stores the rechargeable battery, the top opens where you put the photo paper in and on the side you have the on switch and a USB port for your digital camera connection. Where does the ink go I hear you ask? Well, there is no ink. The Polaroid PoGo uses Zero Ink technology, it has something to do with the photo paper it uses, the printer brings out the colour from the paper rather than printing onto the paper. Very handy indeed.

The best thing about it for me though is the Bluetooth function. You can take a picture with your mobile phone and then send it via Bluetooth to the printer that you may have in your pocket or bag and hay presto, instant picture on the move!

The quality is not bad either, I printed a picture from the mobile phone as well as my digital camera and the results were pretty good. It picks up the detail quite well and even did a good job printing out a night shot.

It’s not expensive, I purchased it online from Play.com for £17 with free delivery and saw it on Amazon for just over £20. Some other places were advertising it for £60 so I very much recommend buying it from Play.com.

Overall a good purchase. I’m not really sure how often I will use it but for £17 I think its value for money. It’s a good little gadget to have and may come in handy when travelling, on the other hand it may sit in a draw for the next few years, its that kind of product.

Community member Michelle Stuart tells us what kind of traveller she is.

Budget/Package/Adventure/Luxury…

Which describes the way you travel?

I would love to say luxury….. but I have to say package with abit of adventure thrown in.

What was your first great travel experience?

When I was 13 I travelled with my family to south Africa and went on safari, this was my first taste of the wider world and its cultures and how beautiful it can be.

Favourite type of transport?

Plane for speed if your not bothered by the journey otherwise a train is great for taking in the scenery

What has been your favourite Journey?

In 2007 I travelled through the outback of Australia starting in Darwin and ending in Adelaide, this was a great adventure and I saw the true Australia and its people.

Which are your top Five places you have visited?

Melbourne- this is a stunning city with a soul

Lagos, Portugal- the ultimate chill out destination

Olu deniez Turkey- east meets west in this resort with a stunning lagoon

Edinburgh-this city is quirky and gritty with a fantastic history

Manly, Sydney - a haven from the busy city

Where are you going next?

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Well back to my guilty pleasure Lagos then maybe Croatia

Dream destination?

It’s a clique but a Caribbean destination-white sands clear water and cocktails or New York I so want to see this city, it’s the ultimate!

If stranded on a desert island, what would be the one thing you would take?

Clean pants!

What kind of traveller are you?

If you wish to share with the community what kind of traveller you are then please answer the same questions and e-mail the answers to blog@geek4travel.com with a photo of yourself.