This is a guest post written by Holly Hime, after she and her family had a great vacation on Anna Maria Island. I’m sure many will join me in thanking Holly for sharing the details of her Anna Maria Island vacation. I’m forever grateful to Anna Maria Island, a cute seven-mile-long barrier island on Florida’s [...]
First Big Cold Front of the Season
I took a walk on Upham Beach this evening in hopes of seeing a dramatic sunset. The sky turned out to be cloudier than I expected as the season’s first strong cold front swept through the state. Although it was nearly dark, I managed to capture this image of a funnel cloud forming out over [...]
Siesta Key Beach Live Streaming Web Cam
This is one of the best beach web cams I know of on Siesta Key Beach. This cam is located on Crescent Beach, looking north toward the public beach. It offers a live streaming image. Here’s a link to the web cam. List of more Florida beach web cams.
Autumn continues
Mother and pup (David Andrews) 
Bull seal taking it easy (David Andrews)Saturday 6th November comments: Its been a quiet period on the Farnes in recent days although the islands eventually closed to the public at the end of October, albeit on a disappointing note, as we were only open twice during the entire half-tern period (the weather really is 'king' out here).
The team having been working hard as ever, from digging ponds to closing down the islands, ready for the winter (its that time of year again). We've also been active in the Grey Seals colonies counting new born pups, which have increased significantly in number since I last put an entry on the blog. The predominately westerly winds have brought very little in the way of bird migrants, but that may change next week as they are forecasting big easterly gales. However if those huge storms do materialise (expected Monday-Tuesday) the Grey Seal pups won't be finding life as easy as it has been...watch this space...
Latest Seal pups totals:
South Wamses 235
North Wamses 200
Staple 107
Brownsman 96
Northern Hares 16
Big Harcar 1
Overall total: 655
The Rich and their Islands
Although there are a lot of average people who own private islands, the ones owned by the rich and famous are a lot more fun to read about! Real Estate Web recently wrote a fun article on the topic. Here is a bit of what they had to say.
It must be fun to own your own island, all that privacy and prestige and of course supermodels that suddenly want to date you. You can take long isolated walks on your own private beaches, uninvited pop-ins are rare, no one knocks on your door in the middle of the night asking for your TV licence and the only street children are yours
Other well known Island owners include, Nicolas Cage who owns a 40-acre island in the Bahamas, Leonardo DiCaprio has an island off the coast of Belize, and out-of-the-closet, now father of twins, Ricky Martin snapped up a private island getaway in April 2008 for a reported $6m. This can be found just off the Angra dos Reis coast in Brazil. Shakira does the Waka Waka on a 700-acre private island in Bonds Cay, which cost her, Roger Waters, and Spanish pop star Alejandro Sanz $16m. They plan to turn it into a private retreat for artists.
To read the full article visit Realestateweb
Vote for Your Favorite Honeymoon Location!
NBC’s today show is currently running a vote for where to send newly married couple Jeremy and Melissa on their honeymoon. Naturally on the list is a number of private island resorts including Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Crystal-clear turquoise waters surround 3.2 miles of white sand beaches. This trendsetting private-island resort on a gorgeous beach with a serene Asian aesthetic offers a quiet setting, top-notch spa, and has hosted celebrity weddings such as that of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, who married in the sand and then honeymooned on the property. There are no cars on the 1,000-acre private isle; guests get around via golf cart.
visit msnbc.com for your chance to vote!
The Lunatic Express – Discovering the World… via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes
Aircon Class by Peter Holroyd
About the Reviewer:
This book has been reviewed, for your reading pleasure, by Steve Skabrat of Escape from Cube Land. As described in his blog feature, Steve admits he’s a “meat & potatoes” kind of guy. He’s also one who is ready to give up the “meat & potatoes” cube life for something more exciting. Hmmm… Could be travel… Well, only if he can find tasty food, figure out directions and how to leave the very large iguana statue to fend for itself. Now we know he also likes to read (maybe to the iguana).
The Review:
Some people might think Carl Hoffman is a lunatic. Hoffman is a veteran contributing editor to various magazines. I’m not sure what his agent and editor thought when he pitched them on his latest idea, traveling around the world on the most dangerous modes of transportation. Whatever they thought, they bought it and Hoffman took off from New York City in a bus to Canada. That doesn’t sound too dangerous, depending on the time of year. However, it got worse from there, as Hoffman takes notoriously dangerous rides in South America, Africa, and Asia. I hope he had his life insurance policy fully paid up.
The trains in Mumbai are death traps for some riders on a daily basis. They even have morticians whose job is to handle the train casualties.
A few of the conveyances were fascinating. Hoffman’s day spent with a taxi called a matatu in Nairobi was the most interesting. The efforts the taxi drivers go through every day to survive are simply amazing. He rode an overloaded ferry in Senegal along the same route where a ferry had sunk some years before, taking 1,800 lives. A multi-day ferry ride in Indonesia made me shudder at the lack of comfort for the passengers. My back hurt just thinking about sleeping night after night on a linoleum covered wooden bench. Yet thousands of Indonesians ride these old ferries to move between islands. The trains in Mumbai are death traps for some riders on a daily basis. They even have morticians whose job is to handle the train casualties. Hoffman’s craziest trip involved driving across Afghanistan in a war zone.
Hoffman’s narrative bogs down in a few places, but overall this is a compelling story that reminds us that many in the world are not fortunate enough to have safe transportation. Millions of people are on the move, using whatever transportation is available and affordable. In comparison, as westerners we’re spoiled with the modern transportation available to us.
Despite the dangers, everywhere Hoffman goes he meets friendly people. No matter what the circumstances, people around the world like to meet an American. It’s up to us to respond appropriately.
Broadway Books, published 2010, 286 pages.
Editor’s notes: This article contains affiliate links.
Buy now on Amazon: The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World . . . via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes
This book is also available in paperback and Kindle versions.
© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. |
The Lunatic Express – Discovering the World… via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes |
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Post categories: Book Reviews
Post tags: Africa, Asia, ferry travel, overland travel, South America, transportation
LuxuryBackpacking: Backpacking & Independent Travel
Kassim Qureshi has created a site that caters to every type of person interested in traveling. Between his own memoirs, guest articles, recommendations, tips and just some fun miscellaneous stuff, LuxuryBackpacking will definitely tickle your travel bone. It’s sort of like your “funny bone” but better because it’s about travel.
© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. |
LuxuryBackpacking: Backpacking & Independent Travel |
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Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: Asia, independent travel, intellectual travel, photography, tips and tricks, volunteering, voluntourism
Day 2 Paris to Casablanca
DAY 2 Paris to CasablancaWe travelled from Paris to Casablanca on a 3 hour flight with Air France. Things went very smooth for us a lengthy line up once we made it to Morocco customs was just our luck. We took a taxi from the airport and arrived safe and sound to our hotel 'Prince de Paris' it was pretty nice clean but in the middle of the chaotic city of Casablanca. Once we got settled in
Subscriben aub
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Day of the Dead and Nothing Achieved at the Archive
So I woke up a little late but found my way to the Archive only to find out that it was bureaucratic hell.3 hours of registering only to find out that I need to supply my own gloves and face mask.Also I found out that I needed to bring my passport to register an hour and a half round trip back to the bed and breakfast.So rather than finding the face masks and gloves I decided to go and see what
Slow Day at the Archive and A Good Walk
So the archive kind of sucks. Everything moves slow though people told me it is a fairly quick moving archive and I spent a lot of the day waiting. Nothing I looked at was useful and so I just went for a walk.I saw some more neat day of the dead things before eating burritos and tacos and deciding that I would buy a beer and go for a walk.I found out that drinking in public was a criminal off
Wrapping Up A Week At the Archives and Templo Mayor
Wrapped up my time at the archives for the week and decided to go check out the old Aztec central Temple.It was another excellent museum. I loved it.My power cord on my computer died and I though I lost computer access but remembered all about those amazing things called cibercafes.Not much to tell other than the fact that I didn't sit in my room typing all night and looking at pictures and info
Argentina Day 11
Yesterday after a buffet breakfast at the hotel Hector picked us up drove us back to Iguazu National Park for Day 2. It rained steadily all morning but we had packed some rain gear so we were in good shape. Having seen the falls from above today we went below looked up. What a magnificent sight. We then ate a buffet lunch in the park It sounds like all we are doing is eating headed bac
Chengdu Saturday
New York may have bed bugs but China has computer viruses There must be one giant factory in China that constantly produces and sends out viruses trickle viruses. They look for any opening or opportunity and then they are in.Saturday was an early day up and out to the local Starbucks. I could go elsewhere but the Starbucks is very clean and beautifully decorated. There are many coffee shops h
xi’an the rest of the adventure
so we arrived in xi'an i gave a gift from my tea girl to her father at the airport. after that we went to HanYangLing Mausoleum it is the only museum where you could go downstairs and stand on glass to see what were buried for Emperor's afterlife. that was the impressive later that day we finished my going to Big Wild Goose Pagoda which is the most famous and popular Buddhist temple in Xi'an.
Sai Baba Temple
Good Morning from Pune.Yesterday was an amazing day. Started out visiting a friend of the family's her name is Keyshoreahh. She has one boy who is 14 and her husband. They invited us for a traditional Pune meal. I totally forgo the name but it is like this....you take a bowl and put lentils then puffed rice which is a big thing here but not like we have in the US then you add crunchy st
London 2010
Final stop on my exhilirating 4day 4city 4country European trip. Met with the family again here their tour took the ferry over the English Channel I got on the Eurostar and then back to Madrid for my flight home.Airport used LondonHeathrow Airport LHRLHRMADHotel usedNovotel London West1 ShortlandsLondon W6 8DRUnited KingdomTransportation used from airport to hotelLondon Underground
Allerheiligen in Peru
Wir lassen den Tag ruhig angehen und schonen unsere geschundenen Koerper. Bei der Morgenwaesche bekommen wir von der elektrischen Dusche eine belebende Stroamtherapie.Am Nachmittag fahren wir nach Tipon ausserhalb von Cusco um das typische Nationalgericht Perus zu probieren. In unseren Breiten wuerde das Gericht wohl auf keiner Speisekarte Platz finden hierzulande ist man es aber wie bei uns Ha
HamaRikyu Gardens EdoTokyo Museum
Aprs avoir visit le march de Tsukiji le ventre assez lourd nous nous sommes dirigs vers le quartier de Shiodome pour visiter les jardins du parc HamaRikyu. Nous avons hsit prendre le mtro puis finalement dcid drsquoy aller en marchant histoire de digrer plus rapidement.Il faut reconnatre que lrsquounivers est plutt paradoxal. Drsquoun ct les monstrueux buildings et les vo