SusTravel.co.uk - Miscellaneous

Lonely Planet authors under pressure?

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 18:54:04 +0100

Private Eye mag (non-Brits look 'em up in Wikipedia for the context) last issue, Books section, says LP authors are so pressured for time and short of resources that they're just cut'n'pasting off the web and copying old issues, even on new titles and even the Australia book, where you'd expect them to be tops.

Anyone know anything about this? Any comments? Any LP authors out there?

They've always been my second-favourite book resource (and favourite for some destinations) so I'd be really hacked-off (I use the word advisedly) if they were in decline. Is there too much competition??

Is It a Bus? Is It a Train?

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 13:03:54 +0100

I have travelled around the world, decoded foreign bus schedules, made it through a labrynth of airports and even mastered the Russian metro system, yet on Thursday it took me 6 hours (including a rather stressful period during which I was locked on a First Great Western bus) to travel 200 miles in my own country.

After changing at Redhill, and again at Reading (which, to be fair, I was expecting) I boarded the train for a final time and settled down for the usually straight forward journey to Bristol.

Upon our arrival in Swindon I only half listened to the announcement that politely informed me I must "change here for Chippenham, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads" before the full meaning of the words sunk in.

Summer Festivals

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 16:41:53 +0100

Went to a wonderful festival a few weeks ago: it's called Oerol and it happens on the Netherlands island of Terschelling. It's an outdoor theatre festival - which is one of my favourite things anyway - but there's also lots of music (bands and DJs) outdoors, indoors, in tents. It's like the interesting bits of Glastonbury, etc., and some of the groups and installations will be familiar if you've seen other Dutch festivals or other big continental items - and if you haven't, you should!

The best thing about it is that it's literally all over this island - so that instead of going to the next square, or the next field, for something else, you jump on your bike (everyone has a bike) and scoot the next few kms or so. The 'inhabited' bit of the island is maybe 20 km by 5 (there are big chunks at either end which are strictly Nature Reserves, you can walk there but they're not going to do anything else) so the possible locations are many and multifarious: water's edge, dunes, forest, quarries, streets, urban...

Hotting Up

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:14:39 +0100

We took the tent to Cornwall last week.

The first day it rained. I have never seen rain like it. Thunder, lightening and flash floods. The winding roads became gushing waterfalls. There was a mini Tornado in Devon.

The next day the sun came out. It shone through my factor 15 sun cream.

Its not right. Its not natural. Something needs to change, and if were not careful, it will be life on Earth as we know it.

Festival of Nature at @ Bristol

Fri, 19 May 2006 14:05:26 +0100

Calling all sus travellers - Lonely Planet writer Tom Hall will be visiting @ Bristol as part of 'The festival of Nature' to 'look at the changing face of travel guides and explore the idea of responsible tourism.' Its free to get in and is on Saturday 3rd june, 13:30 - 14:30

Giraffes

Sat, 6 May 2006 12:34:45 +0100

I've been thinking about giraffes a lot this last week. Why do they have those two lumps on the top of their head - and do they serve any purpose?