Are Your Travel Expectations Too High?

Guest Posts - Ross French - May 13, 2011

By: Maria Climent Huguet
Maria Climent is a 26-year-old Catalan lady. After studying translation, she decided her life was odd enough to became a humor scriptwriter and by default, a blogger. This is how she’s now a mother of no one and a better person. She also likes to cook!

We can often have big expectations of what a trip will be like, how much we are going to mature, how many adventures we are going to have… and in fact, there are many things that escape to our control.

You’ll surely recognise expressions like: “Damn it! Eight months waiting for my vacation and, why the hell had it to rain the whole time?” Or, “damn it, I rent apartments in Florence once a year, and only the days I’m there, I get sick!” And then we think that all these inconveniences have spoiled our vacation.

But indeed, it’s ourselves who spoil our own trip by having too high expectations. We are so obsessed with the thought of that holiday and how it must be perfect that if anything, and I say, anything unexpected happens, our ideals are crushed.

Moreover, not everything is just like it appears in pictures. I mean, Photoshop exists! Even a suburban industrial city could look cozy in a postcard. Come on, even Chernobyl would look cute in a black and white postcard with the sun setting in the background!

How many of us have imagined a hundred wonderful adventures of the outdoors on the South Island, New Zealand – or partying in one of the Florence apartments you rented and things hadn’t turned out exactly how you imagined.

So, here are some tips, to help control this frustration generated by too high expectations of a destination:

Live in the moment. It sounds cheesy, but, come on, it’s true! Try to enjoy everything that is happening in the present. Make the best of every day.

Be as flexible as you can. The secret is knowing how to adapt to situations.

Be open-minded. This is the only way for you to enjoy possible last-moment changes. Most of times improvised things are better than what we had scheduled.

Let yourself be surprised. Instead of having a perfect mental map on how are your holidays going to be, let the –call it fate, destiny, universe, circumstances, etc… surprise you. Just say: let’s see what happens!

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Booze and Food, Madrid

Destinations, Guest Posts - Ross French - May 6, 2011

By: Maria Climent Huguet
Maria Climent is a 26-year-old Catalan lady. After studying translation, she decided her life was odd enough to became a humor scriptwriter and by default, a blogger. This is how she’s now a mother of no one and a better person. She also likes to cook!

If the city of Madrid is famous for something, it is –apart from its football team & coach’s shows- the city’s festive atmosphere. I lived in Madrid accommodation for a year and this is the reason why I’ve prepared a list of bars you MUST visit to feel like an authentic native to the city. And f you want to have a caña (pressure beer) with its correspondent free tapa (portion of cooked food) and moreover, you want this tapa to be good and abundant, you have to know where to go.

Casa Maravillas
An awesome, traditional bar. From the architectural design of it’s façade, you’ll suspect that this bar has been there even before the street was built. Being in front of a theatre (Teatro Maravillas), it’s always crowded. For breakfast, –if you go from 11.30 am on they’ll already have run out of porras (the most typical Madrid breakfast) and in the evenings, from 7 pm on, everybody’s there for beer o’clock. They are generous with their free tapas, they even ask you what you want to eat along with your beer. Excellent atmosphere all the time. Ask for huevos estrellados and croquetas if you are hungry (Calle de Manuela Malasaña, 13).

Bar El Pico
This bar is run by two very kind brothers –who have recently opened a more refined bar – restaurant in front. It’s a classic bar where you’ll find a mixture of the typical old men who live around the area and hipsters. They normally serve a tapa of paella, chicken wings or bread with some sort of meat. Their specialities are the scrambled eggs with black pudding, the patatas bravas con dos salsas (fried potatoes with two sauces, normally mayonnaise and spicy tomato sauce) or what’s called lacón (ham from the foreleg). Delicious! (Calle del Divino Pastor, 12)

La Fragua de Vulcano
If you go to Madrid, this is a place you can’t miss. It’s in Huertas district (Calle Nuñez de Arce, right next to Santa Ana square). They have all the typical Spanish food you can imagine, from paella, meat balls, Iberian Jam, cured cheese, squid fried in batter… and everything is of very good quality. Nice waiters and excellent wines –and also sangria, yes.

El Palentino
I would dare say that this is the most famous bar in the city. Everyone knows El Palentino, and it’s a matter of two of days since your arrival to one of the Madrid apartments that you will find yourself in this bar. Their secret? It’s REALLY cheap, (last time I was there, you could get good cocktails for 3€, and sandwiches from 1.5€! Its owner is almost an emblem in the city –helping people get drunk since 1950-, and you may find several celebrities there having breakfast after a crazy night of partying. (Calle Pez, 12)

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Beautiful Cape Town, Africa

Guest Posts - Ross French - April 30, 2011

A view of Camp’s Bay and the Twelve Apostles

“Don’t you dare set foot in Cape Town. South Africa is dangerous you know”. Cheers for the sound advice mum, but unfortunately this falls on deaf ears. Sure South Africa can be “dangerous” but I’m more likely to walk in front of a bus in London than I am getting mugged in Cape Town. Besides, my mother’s stern words were proven utterly worthless because my experience of this stunning city was anything but dangerous and risky. Like all places, if you keep your wits about you and don’t display your flashy, new iphone to the world, Cape Town is a safe and positively beautiful tourist destination.

A view of Camp’s Bay and the Twelve Apostles

The best time to visit Cape Town is in October and November in the height of the summer season and for top notch accommodation, Camp’s Bay is the place to stay. The Bay Hotel overlooks the glorious Camp’s

Bay beach and is only three miles from the famous, Table Mountain Cable Car. What’s more there are luxury rooms and suites to suit every taste. There is also an abundance of villas to rent in the area if the swish, hotel experience is not to your liking. Unfortunately, my wee budget did not stretch this far and I decided to loge in the centre of the city. I stayed in the cheaper yet comfortable Protea Hotel Breakwater Lodge. Minutes away from the seafront and the impressive world cup football stadium, this is a great place to be based. Staying in the city centre is also extremely beneficial if you want to catch the boat to the famous Robin Island. This historical site is a must on any trip to South Africa (just beware of the evil monkeys that live there)! For shopping as well as culture, the Victoria and Alfred waterfront complex is simply brilliant. From designer clothes to authentic, African jewellery, this place is a haven for avid shoppers.

Entrance to the Bay Hotel in Camp’s Bay

So the monkeys, mountains and historical sites were all very well and good but what about the food? The truth is you are spoilt for choice and Cape Town’s places to eat out are just as diverse as the city itself. For truly top notch cuisine I had to return to Camp’s Bay. For a memorable and simply delicious surf and turf, the Sand Bar on Victoria Street is the place to go. Also, the Blues Restaurant and Bar can be found on the same street and serves contemporary seafood dishes (not to mention a stunning view of the ocean).

So, I came out of Africa unscathed. With its grand mountains and cosmopolitan streets, Cape Town is a friendly and beautiful city with a relaxed atmosphere. The only thing to worry about is those monkeys!

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Guardiola vs Mourinho

Guest Posts - Ross French - April 28, 2011

The battle is about to finish, but there is still one match to play, next Tuesday May 3rd, to be precise. But it is not just a game; it has almost turned into a major state issue since the last announcements by the coaches of both teams Real Madrid and FC Barcelona which have been heating up the situation. Apart from the choppy match we could see last Wednesday in Madrid’s stadium which ended 0-2 for Barça with Mourinho being expelled from the game for bad behaviour having to sit on the stands, the same happened to Pinto, Barça’s second goalkeeper who was also sent off without even being put in the game, as I said, the interesting matter lies in their crossed announcements.

Staying in one of the apartments in Barcelona during these days is such a spectacle! We have been witnessing what can only be described in a verbal tennis match of one of the biggest rivalries and there is still a week left for us to “enjoy” the show both teams offer us.
After Mou has been constantly attacking the referees, putting forward his team was a victim of bad refereeing, he finally attacked Pep Guardiola personally, but being the classy gentleman that he is, Pep “exploded” and said “Mourihno is the fucking boss at this press conferences. Let’s see what happens on the field.”

While Mou opted for quoting Einstein by saying: “A dude called Albert, Albert Einstein, who once said that the only motion force greater than that of vapour, or electricity is willpower. And this dude, Albert, was not stupid. This is what I say to my players to motivate them”. To what Pep Guardiola, also in his own unique manners, responded with the singer-songwriter Lluís Llach, a Catalan symbol very admired by Pep himself: “We have fallen many times as a team and as a country (referring to Catalonia) and we have got up again. My country is so small that from the top of a belfry my neighbour’s belfry can always be seen”.

After the first round match at Madrid’s home, Pep continued in his own style, pledging for prudence whilst Mourinho seemed to have gone mad. “I would be ashamed if I had won a Champions League like Guardiola has”, to what Guardiola has not answered yet.

So, one represents provocation, the other, prudence, cockiness vs elegance., fear vs football. We will have to wait until next Tuesday to know who will make it to the final of the Champions League. Let’s see if Mourinho with his mediocre tactics of “let’s try to draw 0-0” wins, as he did last week at the Copa del Rey, or if it will be Pep this time who will impose perfect football overall.

Lucky you if you have Barcelona accommodation and can experience this amazing atmosphere caused by the last match of the season between the two teams among their supporters.

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