Lostman's Star
Not all those who wander are lost, but I certainly am!
3 reasons why hop on hop off buses are amazing!
I love hop-on-hop-off buses. They’re pretty much my first go to when I’m booking tours in a new city. I can’t recommend them enough, and here’s why:
#1. You don’t know what you don’t know; but they do!
Obviously, if I’m in a new city, I don’t know much about it. Sure I will have done my research beforehand but that doesn’t mean I’ll have caught everything I would love to see! Hop-on-hop-off buses give me a much better idea not only of what I would like to see, but where things are. Even if the tour doesn’t mention what a particular building is, I can always mark it on a map for later research.
#2. Easy transportation.
The first day in a new city is usually my hop-on-hop-off day, because it’s so simple, and so easy to use. You literally just go to the nearest stop, pay for whatever ticket you want, get on the bus, and listen. You can ride around all day if you get the proper pass! For those of us who don’t want to risk getting lost in the true city’s transportation system, the hop-on-hop-off’s easy routes are a much better alternative.
#3. The tours are actually decent!
Most of the buses offer multilingual options, so there’s no worry that you won’t be able to understand. They also offer live tours, usually in English from my experience, and both are excellent options. You’ll learn a lot about the city, it’s history, and it’s inhabitants. The live tours are also great because the people they hire are generally very knowledgeable, and like their jobs. The best part though, is that you can plug your own headphones into the jacks on the bus, and listen to the tour through there if you’re having a hard time hearing. On top of that, the bigger cities have multiple routes, so you can rest assured you’ll be able to see the entire city on your adventures!
If you’re in a new city and you don’t know it well, get a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus ticket. I can personally vouch for the City Sight Seeing (Red Bus) company in Glasgow, Munich, Dublin, and London. They’re all awesome, informative, and well worth the money and time you’ll invest in them!
De Wallen: The Red Light DIstrict of Amsterdam
Just a little forewarning: this article does discuss mature topics!
No doubt you’ve heard of Amsterdam’s Red Light District, also known as De Wallen. If you’re anything like me you learned about it as a teenager, likely from your more worldly friends while they rolled their eyes at you for your ignorance.
If you haven’t heard of it, allow me to enlighten you. The Red Light District is a stretch of about two or three streets which used to make up the medieval walled in city of Amsterdam. This space is occupied by restaurants, coffee shops, bars, souvenir shops, and most notably, brothels. It’s known as the red light district because of the red lanterns that once hung over the brothels to advertise what they were selling. Today the lights are neon, but it’s still bustling with people!
Obviously I wouldn’t recommend taking children there, but for those of us who are of legal age it can be really interesting place to have a look around. The area immediately surrounding the streets are filled with shops that sell souvenirs, low level drugs which are perfectly legal in the Netherlands, and also restaurants. These can range from Chinese food to snack bars, but the common theme is that they stay open into the night to cater to the Red Light crowd; and a crowd indeed it is.
I suggest arriving sometime around dusk, when the neon lights begin to really shine, and the crowd isn’t too big yet. I also suggest you leave your camera at home and your phone in your pocket. There’s an unwritten rule in Amsterdam that one does not take pictures of the sex workers. Why? It’s rude!
Simply put, they’re not there as models for your photos. They stand, and sometimes dance, in windows to attract customers inside. You are perfectly welcome to watch as long as you stand out of their way, but since they are inside a building trying to do their job, it’s considered an invasion of privacy to take their picture. It’s also unlikely you’ve asked their permission or gotten consent to take their photo, which in itself isn’t just rude, it’s creepy too!
Make sure when you do stop to appreciate one of the workers that you stand away from their windows, and out of the flow of foot traffic. You also need to remember that what you are appreciating is a human being. That means that no matter what they are doing with their bodies, or what you may think of it, they are deserving of your respect and consideration. Be kind!
The same respect goes for the street where they work. It is in fact a residential street, so even though you’re having a good time, try to keep the noise down, and don’t litter, out of respect for people who live there.
There’s another unwritten rule that discourages visitors from buying harder drugs, which are illegal, from vendors on the street. For many, many reasons, it’s a bad idea. If you want a high there are plenty of legal options to be had. Do your research beforehand to see what’s legal, then head to a legitimate brick and mortar store. Trust me there are plenty out there.
Take the same precautions you would anywhere when travelling; go in groups if you can, stay vigilant for pickpockets, and trust your instincts to keep you safe. It’s not recommended that you stay past midnight if you’re a tourist, but the Netherlands in general is a very safe country. Having wandered the streets of Dublin and London around those hours, I can say that I would take Amsterdam over all of them. I would even take it over the little town of Inverness in terms of safety.
Go ahead and stroll after dark, enjoy a drink at a local bar, maybe get a waffle cone or something, have a look through the windows, and take a glance at the neon lights reflecting off the black waters of the canal. It’s an amazing place to explore, so if you’ve got an open mind and are looking for something a bit different, head to Amsterdam’s Red Light District!
3 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Public Transport When You Travel
Before Covid came around and decided to ruin everyone’s collective existence for a little while, tourists had a pretty good thing going known as Public Transport. I know that a lot of you who travel just occasionally are looking at me, clutching your pearls going “Oh I couldn’t possibly!”
It’s scary, right? You’re afraid of getting lost, not paying the right amount, not getting off at the right stop, getting yelled at by the bus people, and altogether that just seems like it’s not worth the hassle.
Trust me. It is. Here’s why.
#1. You won’t bankrupt yourself.
When my cousins went to England for the first time, they took Black Cabs everywhere. I can only assume they are now financially destitute.
Many cities have buses, subways, and bicycle rentals readily available for your use. These are all much cheaper and greener options than taking a taxi everywhere. If you’re still unsure, this is the way I think about it:
Am I willing to pay for my impatience?
There are some instances when I am. If I don’t trust the public transportation to get me to my tour bus pick up in the morning, or if I’m feeling unsafe, need to leave immediately, and there is a cab readily available, then yes. I will absolutely pay for my impatience. Almost any other time, probably not.
#2. You can see other things you might want to explore.
You know those red hop on and hop off bus tours which seemingly each major European city has? Those are awesome! Love those. Tad expensive but totally worth it. That said, public transport can do more or less the same thing, sans tour of course. If you see something you like, you know it’s on a specific bus route, and you can look it up later to see what it is. You can also zone out and sight see from the bus.
#3. It will make you more self-reliant.
Being self reliant is one of the necessary skills for travel. Plan your routes in your hotel/hostel the night before, take screenshots of them in case your internet dies, and you’ll be good to go. Not only will this method make you more self-reliant, it will also help your time management skills. You’ll learn very quickly the minimum amount of time you need to get read in the morning, especially when your tour is halfway across the city and it leaves at 7am!
I do have one stipulation for all of this though. These skills and reasons I have for using public transportation were developed and engrained into me before Covid-19 reared it’s ugly head, and so it must also be said:
While I am a travel blog, I do not advocate nor do I encourage you to travel at this time.
If you feel uncomfortable about using public transportation due to Covid that’s completely natural, especially if your city has a high number of cases. That said you may need to use public transportation to get to your job, or to get around a city which you are visiting because you are an essential worker, or caring for a loved one.
If you do use public transportation make sure you adhere to their guidelines, wear a mask, carry hand-sanitiser and use it frequently, and respect social distancing guidelines by sitting at least six feet away from the nearest person if you’re able.
If you need any more information about Covid you can find it here, at the websites for the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the Government of Canada. If you are looking for a spokesperson to give you a realistic report on the situation and give accurate advice on how best to protect yourself I suggest looking up the latest interviews by Dr. Theresa Tam and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Wash your hands, stay at home if you can, and stay safe gentle readers.
Westminster Abbey
It’s the seat of power for the church of England, the location of royal coronations and weddings alike, and the burial place of many a famous writer and scientists. Across the river from the London Eye, across the street from the Parliament Building and Big Ben, and best of all shockingly easy to get to. If you’re going to London, Westminster Abbey should definitely be on your list.
Taking the tube is by far the easiest way to get there. You can take either the Circle and District line, or the Jubilee line. Hop off at the station that bears the Abbey’s name, Westminster!
You’ll come out of the station pretty much directly in front of Big Ben, which as a tourist is super, super cool. Take a right, and walk until you come to a set of lights. You’ll have to cross somewhere here, but have a look at the flow of traffic to get a better idea of which way you want to head. Either way, if you look straight and slightly left, you’ll see the towers of Westminster Abbey.
There is a little church in front of it, but that’s not the one you’re after. Go past it, and you should see either a set of large doors, or a long line of people waiting. Covid has changed their entry policy somewhat since I’ve been, and now visitors are required to book their visit online and in advance. For an adult it’s £18, for children it’s £7. You can find booking times and other information on their website. They are open for worship on certain days, though I never went. I figured it would be wrong of me to take a place away from someone who visits regularly, especially when what I really wanted was to wander around. I would expect that if you were touristing your way around while the mass was being said you might be asked to leave.
Go on the proper day and you can have all the time in the world to explore. You’ll find the memorials for many famous people here, including Jane Austen, Martin Luther King Jr, Robert Burns, Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa), and the Brontë Sisters. You’ll also find the graves of British royalty and other important figures including Sir Isaac Newton, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and most recently Stephen Hawking. Yes, he is English. Yes, seriously. His voice synthesizer was engineered by an American named Dennis Klatt, who used his own voice as the base for the synthesizer’s. The two were friends!
You could probably spend a lifetime and a half looking around the ancient tombs, but be sure to look up at the stained glass windows, and the soaring pillars supporting the vaulted ceilings. Don’t forget to look down, either. Many of the grave are inlaid right into the stone flooring, some of them have been walked on so much that you won’t be able to read them, though there is a paper guide at the front desk to let you know who is where. The guide will also tell you who the stained glass windows are in memoriam of, and if you go with a guide they’ll also point out the places damage was done during the Blitz. They’ve done an excellent job of hiding them, so you’ll have to look carefully!
Bring sunscreen or an umbrella in case you arrive a little early and be sure to check out park next to it with various statues of British historical figures, or take a few pictures of Ben and the parliament buildings. There’s so much to do around the Abbey and so much to see inside, you won’t regret adding it to your list of things to visit in England!
Travel During Covid 3.0
Covid-19 brought with it some pretty monumental change, more than a lot of us could handle. With the second wave having already started, I thought I’d take a moment to give some helpful hints for travel during this pandemic.
#1. If you don’t have to, don’t.
Seriously. If you don’t have to travel, don’t do it. I can understand the need to go to another city for medical reasons, or because your job demands it, but I see a lot of people jetting off to vacations, or talking about going to tropical islands hoping that the second wave of Covid won’t screw it up. It’s disheartening. As someone who dearly loves the places I’ve visited, I can’t understand how someone could just up and visit a place they enjoy without giving any thought to the local inhabitants. Covid-19 is still very much around. Don’t travel unless you have to.
#2. Wear your mask.
If you do have to go somewhere, be it the grocery store, the next city, or somewhere more distant, wear a mask. Scientific research and case studies suggest that surgical, N92, and cloth masks can all significantly reduce the spread of Covid-19. Make sure they cover your mouth as well as your nose. I’ve seen people wandering around with their masks just over their mouth. It’s unacceptable, and does not help to protect you or others. In addition to a mask I always carry hand sanitizer with me, and use it frequently when I need to go anywhere. I suggest you do the same.
#3. Look up the laws concerning social gatherings.
Ontario has just reduced the number of people acceptable at an indoor social gatherings from 50 down to just 10, with the minimum fine for organisers at $10,000. If you’re expecting visitors, you might want to look up the laws in your area. Some municipal laws are more strict than the provincial or federal laws.
If you need any more information about Covid you can find it here, at the websites for the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the Government of Canada. If you are looking for a spokesperson to give you a realistic report on the situation and give accurate advice on how best to protect yourself I suggest looking up the latest interviews by Dr. Theresa Tam and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Wash your hands, stay home if you can, and stay safe gentle readers.
The Grotta Azzurra
If you find yourself in Capri then congratulations, you’ve reached one of the most beautiful places on earth. You could easily have a wonderful vacation doing little more than basking in the sun and sipping on limoncello all day. That said, I have two suggestions for you. Add a little shaved ice to that limoncello, and take an afternoon to see the Grotta Azzurra, the Blue Grotto.
I hear you though. Why would you leave the sun and the second most delicious liquor on the face of the planet? Because you’re going to want to see this.
The Grotta Azzurra can be found on the northwestern tip of the island of Capri, in a city called Anacapri. For €14 you’ll climb into a rowboat and be led into the grotto by a local guide. For €320-340 you can hire out a private motor or speed boat and have a tour of the entire island. Having never been on those I can’t attest to them, but I can tell you that the rowboat is absolutely worth it.
You’ll climb down a set of steps to get to the boats, and the cave is just to your right. That’s where the magic starts. Catch them on a good day and you’ll see thousands of tiny jellyfish fluttering just under the surface of the water. Look carefully! They’re pale white, nearly translucent, they’d be easy to mistake for just part of the sparkling water, which was what I did until Mom pointed them out to me. If you’re lucky these little friends will follow you on your journey. Don’t touch though! They might sting rather harshly.
Be sure to duck when you go into the cave, especially if you’re tall! Then, prepare to be amazed.
The cave was once used as a temple, and it’s easy to see why. The cave stretches much further back than the picture shows, this is just the entrance, but the colour is real, there isn’t any retouching. The light also shines on the ceiling of the cavern, illuminating it with moving ribbons of blue light. Where better to celebrate a god of the sea? The statues that were found in the cave can now be found in the Cassa Rosa in Anacapri, should you like to visit them. The story goes that sailors would avoid the cave for fear of evil spirits which lived in it. The statues within might have given rise to that story, they depict nymphs, servants of the gods. Neptune, Poseidon, the Romans had a tendency not to care who one worshiped.
Remember to check the weather before you book your trip, as the grotto closes if the sea gets too rough. This happens a lot between November and March, but on sunny, calm days they’ll open up.
Bring your sense of wonder, a solid set of walking shoes, some sunscreen, and a camera!
The Gatwick Drone Debacle: Part 5
Quick recap; Drones are terrible, people are sometimes terrible, one should not run in airports but I did anyway because no one stopped me, nurses shouldn’t be awake for twenty four hours any more than anyone else should, and I got my hot chocolate just in time to have it ruined by an unpaid rent notice.
Beverage interrupted, I made a panicked series of calls to the people who managed my property who did not pick up.
I spent a good portion of that delay sat cross legged on the floor in full view of a flight board, waiting. My eyes kept flicking from my phone, the time, and the flight board. Every ten minutes I’d phone again.
It was unpleasant for everyone involved.
A few maintenance workers passed me, likely wondering if I hadn’t lost my wits.
When the office finally did pick up I explained to them the situation, and tried everything I could to resolve it. Naturally, all my attempts failed.
I explained to them that I was in the airport, and would be home in a few hours, so if I could please call back then and get the information I needed to send a wire-transfer. The woman who answered seemed displeased, as if she had been forced to listen to her phone ringing off the hook for a solid half hour, rather than, say, just answer it.
With that assurance and my gate having come up on the screen I made my way over. Knowing how the past day had gone I double and triple checked that thing.
As I was making my way through the line to board the flight I called my parents. Naturally, there was no answer. I left a message telling them about my rent, and that I would be home in a couple of hours. If they could pick me up, fabulous. If not, I’d take a cab.
I tried again as I was on the tarmack, boarding the plain, but to no avail.
A couple of rocky hours in the air, and I arrived at the airport, anticipating that my parents would have gotten the message and would have come to get me.
When I came out of security, there was no one there. When I called, I was directed to voicemail.
My bags were just coming out on the carousel, and I was planning my cab ride home when Dad called.
“Hi sweetie! Just let me know when you leave Toronto, I’ll come pick you up.”
“Dad … I’m home already. Like in the airport.”
“YOU ARE!?”
Both Mom and Dad came to get me, I got a big hug, and was assured me we would get the rent taken care of.
In the end, it was uncertainty, delays, stress, yelling, a sprint marathon, missed connections, and a panic attack all sunk into a little under forty eight hours.
Am I glad it happened?
Yes. It let me know that I handle stress well, at least when I travel. It gave me a sense of competency. If I could handle my way through that, I could handle a good deal of what my life would throw at me.
Would I do it again?
Not a chance!
The End
The Gatwick Drone Debacle: Part 4
Quick recap; someone with a drone decided to ruin millions of people’s day, said angry people were shipped to Birmingham, some of said angry people then sat on a plane and yelled at their respective tiny humans for seven hours. This all made international news, and I laid out my clothes for the first time in my life after twenty-four exhausting hours of wakefulness. It shows how loopy I was. Then the email came …
I’ll be honest, I didn’t notice the email at first.
I was busy being tired.
I’d managed to roll out of bed and make myself presentable, that was about it. I had grabbed my wallet and passport (a lesson learned through a hotel fire but that’s a different story), but had left everything else up in the room. The plan was to get food, get a plane ticket, get my stuff, go home.
God must have had a proper laugh when that plan popped into my head.
I couldn’t tell you why I decided to skip breakfast. I wish I could say that it was a flash of wisdom on my part, but for some reason I distinctly remember looking at the hotel restaurant, thinking “No,” and having a sudden craving for Tim’s hot chocolate. Maybe I’d just subconsciously caught sight of the price board. Thusly dissuaded, I made my way towards the booking counter to purchase my ticket home.
The agent was very kind, and although she said that there wasn’t a whole lot she could do in terms of refunds, she told me who to speak to once I got home and managed to get me a bit of a discount. Once everything was set up and I was done profusely thanking her, she asked “Where’s your luggage?”
I answered, “In my room.”
Her eyes went wide.
“Bag check closes for that flight in fifteen minutes!”
“Oh my God, okay, I can get my bags!”
“Are you going to make it on time!?”
“Okay! I can get it! I’ll be on time I swear!” I yelled, already running full tilt back towards the hotel. I’m shocked security didn’t stop me.
By the time I came back downstairs to the hotel’s front desk to check out, there was a lineup. I abandoned all shame and asked the two people in line if they minded that I jump ahead. I explained that my flight left in fifteen minutes. Thank God for the kindness of strangers because they let me in, and the checkout was a name and handing the keys back.
I started running again. A couple of children who passed admonished me with their eyes. Thou shalt not run in the halls! Yeah well, thou also shalt not drone in the airports!
I made it to the baggage check in time, though the woman weighing my bags looked at her watch and asked “Are you going to make it through security?”
I thought to myself “If you hurry up I might!”
When she was done with my information she waved me away. “You go, I’ll do this.”
Gentle readers, don’t be like me. If you are attentive when you book your flights you will have no need to trust your luggage with strangers, nor go careening through places that ought not be careened through.
That said, one does not careen anywhere near security. I broke out my best Raymond Holt power walk, all else put out of my mind except making my flight. Until I hit the security line.
It was long. Because of course it was.
I spent the whole time fretting, hoping I’d make it, and that I wouldn’t be ‘randomly selected’ for further security. I fly often, so I’ve been selected enough times to know when it’s a truly random extra security check, and when it’s a TSA agent thinking to themselves; “Hey, that one there looks like she’s managed her time poorly, let’s further her distress.”
Thankfully security was efficient that day, I wasn’t selected, and I had a full half hour before boarding began. It was back to the old Ray Holt power walk while I searched for my gate.
When I found it I sat down immediately, dropped my bag, and heaved a sigh. I’d made it. Against all odds, I’d made it. It didn’t even bother me when the flight was delayed for an hour, and the gate was switched out.
Good, I thought, now I have time to get a hot chocolate.
I decided to check my emails while I waited in line for my delicious treat. There was only one, as luck would have it.
It informed me that the rent payment for my flat in England hadn’t gone through, and dutifully reminded me of the cliff-like late fees which I would incur in roughly eight hours time.
Bad luck, apparently.
To be continued …
The Gatwick Drone Debacle: Part 2
Welcome back gentle reader! I did decide to continue this story over onto Friday, just to make sure there was some continuity. So first a little recap of what happened last time …
I got to Gatwick early, had a magnificent breakfast, and watched as the staff of Gatwick had a meltdown over a drone that they couldn’t manage to find. After several hours of delays the flights were then cancelled, and the airlines were plunged into the Herculean task of having to deal with all of those angry customers.
Air Transat customers were told to place wait in the line at the check ins, so I plunked myself down in what would turn out to be a rather advantageous spot …
I got to know the people around me; a couple of Canadians, and English woman, and later an Aussie who were all supposed to be on my flight. We talked about where we were from, what sort of jobs we were doing, and eventually played a word game to pass the time. Every once in a while the manager of the Air Transat check ins would come over and give those in line an update on the situation. Eventually we were told the plan: Birmingham.
I have to pause here to say that Air Transat did take good care of us, so kudos to them. A lot of other airlines just put their hands up and decided not to help their customers at all.
We were told that everyone who was scheduled to fly to Toronto would be bused to Birmingham, and flown out from there. The instructions were that if we had already checked our luggage, one person from each party could go past a special security gate, down to the basement luggage carousel, grab their things, and bring them back upstairs where we would wait for the bus. The issue was that we had to leave our other bag outside of the secure area.
I’m sure the solo travelers reading this are already seeing the problem here. If you’re alone, who do you leave your bags with? The staff, I guess? I imagine others who weren’t part of our little group were forced to leave their carry-ons and purses with them or even unattended to go get their luggage. Two of our group were faced with the same situation. One was also a Canadian solo traveler like me, the other had a girlfriend but she’d left to purchase them some lunch, leaving her belongings with him. Had we all been alone, we might have been in a bit of a pickle; but we weren’t.
The solo Canadian offered up a suggestion. Why not leave our things with the boyfriend, and if he gave us a description of his luggage, we would get it and bring it up for him. Not only did we agree, but that was when the Aussie joined our little group, asking if we could get his luggage too, as he was in a similar situation as the Canadian boyfriend.
The solo Canadian and I went down to get everyone’s luggage, brought it back up, and once the respective girlfriends were found we all headed towards the bus together. When we got there we were told that Birmingham was two and a half hours away without traffic, so naturally we once again trusted each other with our luggage, and made sure everyone had a chance to use the washroom before the bus left. We even made sure that the bus waited so that no one was left behind. Like in the line, on the bus we shared a bit of food and battery power for charging phones.
Night was falling by the time we got to Birmingham, which is a slight shame because I was looking forward to seeing a little bit of the Peaky Blinders’ hometown, but I figured when I came back maybe I might be able to come back for a weekend.
The group we had formed stayed together in line but didn’t talk much. I think we were all tried, but I think more than that we were a bit miffed. There were twelve or more counters left unopenned to check luggage, but only two were in use, and one was being reserved for priority passengers, of which there were perhaps three. There were also two airline workers talking with each other near one of the check-ins. I think everyone in the group had a collective eye-roll when we saw what had been laid out before us, but we stayed quiet. We were all too tired to fight. The solo Canadian and I stuck together, we chatted together, got dinner together, and panicked together when it was announced that our flight was delayed by an hour, but by about 10 that evening we were finally boarding a flight for Toronto.
I don’t usually sleep well on planes, but after fifteen hours of being awake and mildly stressed I was ready for a nap. Alas, it was not to be, not on this plane, not on this flight.
To be continued …
Lostman's Star 