Gallivanting Around

Things to see and do in Liverpool

Things to see and do when visiting Liverpool in the United Kigdom.

Liverpool is a vibrant city in the North of England, celebrated for its rich culture and vibrant nightlife. If you look hard enough you can almost see Dublin across the water, a frequent route for passengers across the world over the past few centuries. The one thing that comes to mind when you think of Liverpool is the Beatles.

However, Liverpool is a great producer of entertainers with stars such as the Zutons, Jimmy Tarbuck and actors such as David Morissey. Liverpool has always been a city of entertainment, with many goods and travellers passing through its ports ever since the industrial revolution. The city never experienced much manufacturing, however, it has benefited drastically from those that pass through it. Liverpool was crowned European City of Culture in 2008 thus acknowledging the vibrant culture on offer here.

Top things to do in Liverpool:

• Museums: the Merseyside Maritime Museum is well worth a visit, with poignant reminders of the great port the city once had. The World Museum Liverpool might also be worth a visit featuring many artifacts brought to the city.
• Shopping: Cavern Walks is in the heart of Liverpool’s historic Cavern Quarter, famed for its glam and visits by celebs. The old converted dock yard close to the Mersey is also well worth a visit.
• Getting to Liverpool: the city has an international airport, with many low cost providers flying to Liverpool from across Europe. If you are already in the UK, then the city is easily accessible by train and motorway.

London travel tips

Here are a few quick travel tips if you are planning on visiting London in the UK.

London can be a daunting place for travelers that have never visited the city before. With so much to see, do and explore, you will need to make some preparation beforehand to make the most of your trip. The city is full of rich culture, history and fashion with most attractions spread throughout the capital and surrounding towns. Here are a few tips for things to do and see in London if you are not there for an extended period of time:

• Walking around London. The city has a large number of unique walks that allow you to see parts of London that you would not normally see on a touristic tour. The Thames Path is a national trail footpath that runs along side the river Thames. It is a flat path making it suitable for people of all ages and cycling along the river bank.
• London gardens to see. London has a fantastic range of parks and gardens to visit. The best time to see these is in early Spring or late Summer when the tourist season is not at its peak. Hyde Park, close to Buckingham Palace provides a large retreat for city dwellers to enjoy some nature in the middle of the city. Chelsea Psychic garden is a great little place to visit with a cafe close to the gardens.
• Food markets in London. Whilst England is not known and often mocked (without reason) for it’s cuisine, London offers some great options for fresh produce from England and around the world. Greenwich Food market is an example of a traditional market offering fresh and tasty produce from vegetables to fresh bread.

Tips to save money for travel

Here is a short post with a few helpful tips on how to save money for traveling.

We all say that we want to go traveling and explore what the world has to offer. However, only a very small percentage of people actually do it and go off on an adventure that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. The most cited reason or excuse that people don’t go traveling  is that they don’t have enough money.  Unfortunately if you want to do most things in life, money tends to be the reason holding people back. But by saving money and spending less in your daily life wherever possible, you should after a period of time be able to go off on that adventure.

Here are a few simple ways to reduce your costs and save money:

1. Avoid restaurants and eating out. You can really save a lot of money for travel by simply cooking for yourself or going to a friend’s house to eat. Eating out too often really consumes a lot of money compared to buying and cooking your own ingredients at home. It’s not the just the meal that’s expensive but also the cost of drinks, tips and extra taxes. Just think about the dinners you could be having in an exotic location like Mauritius whilst traveling, instead of eating in your local Italian restaurant or fast food take-away.
2. Travel by bike and public transport (when possible). We are lucky in Europe to have a great infrastructure in most cities and increasing numbers of bike lanes for cyclists to commute on. The cost of running a car is very expensive considering petrol, insurance, tax and keeping it going when it has problems.
3. Go out less for coffee and drinks. Going out several times a week can really hit your wallet hard. You should try to cut down going out and spending so much on alcohol and coffee in expensive chains.
4. Look for a good saving account. You should put the money that you are saving in a high interest bank account. This way the money you save will eventually grow, meaning that you will have even more to take with you than if you just kept the money in a regular current account.

The key to saving money for travel is to remind yourself of the end goal and the reason that you are making cuts in your daily life. If you keep this in mind, the little sacrifices you make in your daily like won’t seem so big after all.

London Olympics 2012

London is going through a lot of changes leading up to Olympics 2012 making it the perfect time to go.

London is set to host the most prestigious sporting event, the Olympics 2012 featuring top class athletes from around the world for this special sporting celebration. It will be the first time that London has hosted the Olympics since 1948 and efforts are under way to make it a very memorable event. London is already one of the most interesting European city for visitors with attractions for all types of people with different budgets. However, the city is now doing major work to prepare and welcome visitors from around the world for what is tipped to be a very memorable event.

A brand new site is being developed in London known as the Olympic Park. The purpose built site is spread across 500 acres and will be able to host more than 180,000 guests. The new park will feature around 6 completely new stadiums and facilities for the various sporting events taking place including a Velodrome and Swimming Centre.  Air pollution has been a great concern in London for a while and efforts are currently being made to reduce carbon emissions. Sustainable forms of transform are being developed to facilitate transportation between the Olympic Park and the centre of the city. There is also a large development of hotels in London being constructed to accommodate the large amount of visitors coming to London for this prestigious sporting event.

Montpellier city guide

Montpellier in the South of France is a little known gem close to the Cote d’Azur.

Montpellier is a well known university town with a large international student population. It is easily accessible by TVG from Paris with good connections to Marseille and Toulouse.  The picture above shows ‘Place de la Comedie’, the largest square in Europe surrounded by a number of cafes, bars and restaurants ideal to enjoy the summer sun. Montpellier has an odd architectural mix around the city. There are some beautiful historic buildings around the historic part of the city close to ‘Place de la Comedie’. There is also a mixture of buildings from the 1970s including a large shopping arcade with designer stores.

The city is part of Languedoc Rousillon, a large producer of wine and fresh local produce. There is a wide variety of restaurants and cafes to sample local goods. The best part of Montpellier is the close access to beautiful beaches, only 10 km away and easily accessible by bike. The beaches can get crowded at weekends, but there is a wide range along the rugged coast to explore by bike or car. Montpellier airport has a regular shuttle bus to the city center with a number of low cost airlines operating from there across Europe.