Travel TopOfBlogs Past and future wanderings of a travel bug . . .: March 2010

Monday, March 22, 2010

Shameless Self Promotion . . .


So I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon this last month as I have been working on some other projects--an article and a video. The video has just been posted for your perusal!



WE NEED YOUR VOTE!

My friend Alesha and I have been friends since we were in junior high school and have always wanted to plan a trip together. It has yet to work out but we decided to take a crack at winning one! Check out our video here

http://besttraveljobever.com/Mitch_travelbug


Help send us on our way with your votes! And for voting you can win a $500 travel voucher from Air Canada! You can vote for up to 3 videos a day. Check it out and enjoy! Thanks to all of you who cast your vote! This contest is sponsored by several companies including Air Canada, Intrepid Travel and Flight Centre.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Distractions, distractions . . .

So this week I was planning on telling you all a bit more about what I enjoyed in Athens but I am afraid it will have to wait just a bit longer. I ran across a call for submissions yesterday for travel stories involving food. I think I might just have a story for it. So I am going to take a crack at it. May as well have fun with it anyways. I will let you know how it goes and if nothing happens with it, I'll share it with you all here.

I have also recently run across a couple of contests I am considering entering--they are travel related as well if you had not guessed. My aim is to both write my article and plan my entries for one (if not both) of the contests this week. So we will see what comes--my horoscope suggests good things! Seriously though no one else can do this for me so why not take a chance. I've got nothing to lose! Updates soon!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

It's All Greek to me . . .


So far of all the places I have traveled my absolute favorite place is Greece. My love affair with all things (or at least many things) Greek began way back in Grade 5 when my teacher told our class the story of the Odyssey. It continued over the years as I discovered the mythology and the food. By the time I was university I was hooked. I very nearly took a minor in Classics and one of my first year courses was an Introduction to Archaeology. It was a large class in a huge lecture hall and was taught with lectures and slides. The first month of the course or so, one of the professors showed us slides of her trip to Greece. Some of these were at the dig site she was at but not all of them were. I fell hard. The photographs were stunning and only intensified my wanting to visit.

It wasn't until 2007 though that I first managed to visit. I traveled on my own and spent a couple of days solo in Athens before joining a group to take a four day cruise through the islands. If you ever visit Athens you will likely discover one of two things. You will either love it or you will hate it. I loved it. The streets are chaotic, red lights don't necessarily mean stop and there is no pedestrian right of way. For an English speaker the language is strange--but don't fret, street signs in heavily touristed areas are transliterated from Greek into English. Learning a few words of the language will earn you smiles from the locals. And thanks to the Metro, built before the Athens Olympics, most of the city is very easy to navigate. The Metro is a work of art in itself and is clean and easy to use. Many places in the city you can walk to, especially in the streets of the Plaka which are narrow, winding and not really built for cars--you will see many a moped zipping down these streets though so keep your eyes open. A map, may be helpful for you to help navigate in this older part of town.

Before you go, do your research! There are loads of great resources out there that can be of great help to plan your trip, online and otherwise. My favorite is is Matt Barrett's travel guide to Athens which you can find at www.athensguide.com. He's got tips on everything including how to get there, and get around, what to do, what to see and what eat (and how to pronounce it too!). Lonely Planet's guides were helpful as well. If you are traveling on a budget check out hostel reviews for cheap sleeps and other money saving tips.

Are you inspired or intrigued yet? I hope so! Next week, more on Athens. My favorite places to see, things to eat and a couple of neat places to sleep! Stay tuned!
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