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Hairy ‘Coos’ And Compass-Busting Scotland: Going On Tour With Haggis Adventures

You don’t get cows in Scotland, you get ‘coos’ – ones of particular interest being the long-horned exceptionally photogenic ‘hairy coo’s that know exactly how beautiful they are (and will pose for hours whilst trigger-happy tourists line up and take snap after snap of their shaggy hides).

This summer I hopped aboard a bus with Haggis Adventures, and, during the 6 days it took to compass-bust Scotland, I saw my fair share of these narcissistic Scottish icons (and yes, I admit, I took a startlingly large number of ‘hairy coo’ pics – you just can’t help yourself!).

Hirsute hooved creatures aside, Scotland is a wonderful, rather mysterious place, with myth and legend, massacre and mayhem lurking in every glen and loch.

Disco Dave, our accomplished and ever-enthusiastic guide drove his bright yellow Haggis bus with great aplomb over hill and dale and brought to life for us the hard ways of the highlanders, the battles that were fought, the blood-curdling tales of the Glencoe massacre and other dark treacheries.

With him we stood with Robert the Bruce (the real ‘Brave Heart’) at Bannockburn and sighed in frustration over the futility of the battle of Culloden (damn that Bonnie Prince Charlie fellow!).

The bold amongst us took a leap of faith over the Faerie Falls on the Isle of Skye (supposedly, the waterfall is enchanted, and no matter where you jump, you can’t fall in – and none of us did…) and the hopeful peered eagerly, but in vain, for a glimpse of the elusive Loch Ness Monster.

We stayed in a (haunted) Scottish castle, cheered on brave salmon leaping up seemingly insurmountable waterfalls and wandered amongst one of the last existing forests of Caledonian pines (beautiful trees that once covered most of Scotland’s highlands) – and everywhere we went, Disco Dave’s excellently chosen tunes accompanied us.

I cannot fault any aspect of the entire expedition. Disco Dave knows his stuff (and loves his country) and inspired in me (and others, I suspect) an unexpected and rather passionate love for the highlands of Scotland.

All the hostels we stayed in were well chosen and offered decent rates (£14 – £16 per night). You pay as you go – there’s no kitty, like on most other tours – which means if you need to cut back somewhere, you can always economise on meals (there are always stops at supermarkets to stock up on whatever you need).

I have to say it: spend the money! Even if your budget is tight, this is a tour worth splashing out on.

You’ll make a bunch of new friends, see more of the country in a relatively short space of time than you could achieve on your own, and, most importantly, you’ll be exposed to the history and background that make Scotland so very fascinating.

Thanks to Disco Dave and Haggis I came away from Scotland with an enduring love of the country, and a very strong desire to visit it again one day.

Haggis Adventures runs the 6-day Compass-Buster tour every single week, departing from Edinburgh on Monday mornings (with extra departures on Wednesdays and Saturdays). The tour costs $339.00 USD (230 Euro). Instead of having a kitty, you take responsibility for your own hostel costs and food. Hostels cost between £14 – £16 per night (17-20 Euro) and food is up to you (all hostels offer self-catering facilities). Ask for Disco Dave – a better tour guide I’ve not yet met.

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Travel Gear Review: The Pacsafe Metrosafe

During our travels around Europe, we’ve had a chance to try out some travel gadgets and doodads to find out just how useful they really are when you’re on the road. In the spotlight this time around: Pacsafe’s secure shoulder bag, the Metrosafe.

Pacsafe’s Metrosafe 100 is a travel bag with a reassuring number of thief-thwarting safety features. It’s not something you’re likely to have out when you’re lugging your main backpack around, but it’s good for those times when you’re checked in at your hostel and wanting to spend some time exploring at your leisure.

My first impression was that it was quite a bit smaller than it looks on Pacsafe’s product page (though of course they do provide actual measurements – 22 × 15.5 × 8 cm – and have other, larger sizes from which you can choose).

But, despite its seemingly small size, it did hold quite a heap of stuff. I managed to stuff into it a cellphone, a digital camera, one small notebook, pens, my ipod, tissues, a small bottle of sunscreen (traveller’s bottle) – all snuggling fitting into all the well-thought-out internal pockets.

As far as safety goes, the Metrosafe is made of thief-thwarting slashproof material, and the attached strap consists of Pacsafe’s usual doubled up stainless steel cables, with exceptionally strong clips on either end.

A handy feature I quite liked is that you can wear the Metrosafe either as a shoulder bag or a hip bag, depending on your preference, simply by shifting the strap. Nifty.

I used the Metrosafe for several weeks, loading it up with everything I needed, and it did rather well, but then the strap started taking strain (it was quite a bit of weight I inflicted on it) and began to curl annoyingly as the steel cables bent permanently out of shape.

The verdict: I like it – it’s useful, holds a lot, and has some nice security features, but I have to say that I wouldn’t consider it a vital backpacking accessory. It’s good for protecting techno-toys, if you’re carrying them, but in my opinion a cheaply bought local bag will help you blend in better (and make you less of a target for theft). You’d be better off keeping all your non-tech essentials somewhere safer (like a hidden moneybelt).

The Pacsafe Metrosafe retails at around US$39.95. More info available here.

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Travel Gear Review: Pacsafe Coversafe (The Moneybelt With Extras)

During our travels around Europe, we’ve been trying out some travel gadgets and doodads to find out just how useful they really are when you’re on the road.

We’ll be running a series of travel gear reviews over the next few weeks, letting you know how it all went.

First up, though, our thoughts on the Coversafe, the Pacsafe version of the much-used-when-travelling hidden-under-clothing money belt.

The Coversafe is a thin, flat money belt designed to hide away under your clothing and conceal from prying thieving eyes your most valuable documents and any cash you don’t need immediately.

There is a wide range of moneybelts out there, but what makes this one different from most is the additional anti-theft safety features built into the thing.

Slashproof material and a double stainless steel cord (length easily adjustable) running from one side to the other around your body, protect you from a slash and grab attack.

There’s a convenient clip to allow you to slip the belt on quickly and easily (no hassling with uncooperative buckles), and a layer of the slashproof material covers the clip itself, making it more difficult to access if you’re a thief.

It has a breathable back, which means your passport et al won’t be drenched in your sweat (we’ve just been in Spain, we know how hot it can get!) and two zipped sections, one of which has a handy inner pocket for keeping smaller items like jewellery (or credit cards) separate from your documents.

Just to make sure no one unzips your pockets, two strips of velchro keep the zips in place (you’re going to hear that there velchro make its crazy noise if anyone manages to get close enough to start fiddling).

Our verdict: we liked the Coversafe very much and think it’s probably one of the most useful travel gear items a backpacker can have. It may cost a little bit more than a regular money belt, but its long-lasting, and the well-thought-out security features surely make that extra expense worthwhile.

Coversafe comes in either tan or black, and retails at just under US$18.

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Review: Free To Do Travel Guides - UK & Ireland

We recently received a copy of the latest edition of FreeToDo Travel Guides: UK & Ireland.

This one comes close to the heart of any penny-pinching backpacker: a comprehensive guide to over 1,000 free admission attractions throughout the UK and Ireland.

For ease of use, the book is broadly divided into countries, then further segmented into regions. Within each region, categories include ‘Historic Sights’, ‘Museums’, ‘Castles’, ‘Churches and Cathedrals’, ‘Garden Paths and Walks’ and more, allowing you to select the attractions you like best.

It’s essentially one big list, in book form, but each featured attraction comes with a basic description which should give you an idea of whether it’s something you’d like to see.

So, quite useful, especially if you’re looking for ways to have fun and see more than just random country- or cityscapes.

One problem: it’s rather heavy, being printed as it is on dense high-quality paper. In our opinion, no backpack-toting traveller is going to load up their already heavily-laden packs with a book this heavy, no matter how many freebies might be in it.

A (possible) solution: print the next edition on rougher (lighter), recycled paper. That way, not only could they make it much lighter – they could also bring the price of it down and make it even more accessible to backpackers.

The FreeToDo travel guide currently retails at £8.49 and is available online (add £1.50 p&p).

Posted in Destinations, Reviews, Travel Guides | No Comments »

Roadtrippin’ Through South-West England This Summer

I’ve always wanted to go to Cornwall. Neolithic standing stones of various shapes and sizes, moody Cornish coastlines, super-sugary double-clotted cream fudge – what’s not to like?

It’s a land of myth and mystery, complete with Arthurian and Atlantean legend (and then some), and the scenery so vividly portrayed by Daphne du Maurier in her fabulous Cornish novels.

So when UK-based Roadtrip Tours offered me a place on their Southern Extreme Tour, a 5-day backpacker bus tour of south-west England, I leapt at the opportunity.

Roadtrip Tours offers a variety of backpacker-style bus tours around the UK, teaming up with similarly-minded companies to cover trips to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Tours vary from simple sightseeing day tours to mammoth 19-day expeditions around the UK.

Right, so, early one Monday morning, not so long ago, I met the tour bus at a central London location (near Great Portland St) and off we scampered (perhaps not the best word, considering the deplorable state of London’s central city traffic, but it shall suffice) heading on out into the beautiful countryside that lies beyond the smog.

It was a jam-packed tour. During the course of the 5 jam-packed days we saw (and this is a very condensed list): the city of Bath and its steamy Roman Baths, the moody and mysterious Avebury Stone Circles, towering Glastonbury Tor and the ruined abbey below, the wind-whipped ruins of Tintagel, the impressive giant biodomes of the Eden Project, a series of atmospheric neolithic stone monuments in the middle of open fields and the unbelievably picturesque seaside town of St Ives.

We wandered along the blustery Cornish coast to Lands End (past a forlorn shipwreck), watched an evening performance of Carmen at the impressive cliffside-clinging Minack Theatre, had our fill of double-clotted cream ice cream at Wide-Combe-On-Moore, in the middle of misty Dartmoor, and joined the throngs of tourists gaping at Stonehenge.

Everywhere we went, Ed, our wonderfully enthusiastic (and well informed) local guide, gave us the scoop on what was what, shared his rather eclectic knowledge of the myths and legends that abound in that neck of the woods and, more practically, let us know the best place to find cheap food whenever we stopped for lunch.

We always had enough time to explore the places we visited, and got a good deal of healthy fresh air to keep us energised (nothing worse than being stuck in a bus all day).

Our hostels were pre-booked, so all we had to do at the end of each day was collect our roomcards, dump our luggage and head out to explore before we all ate dinner together.

I had so much fun! My fellow Roadtrippers were full of beans and responded well to our guide’s quirky sense of humour, and by the end of the 5 days, I have to say I was rather sad to say goodbye.

What I liked most about the tour:

• The informal nature of the trip, stopping off and having time to do our own thing (I like being able to wander randomly, and absorb the feel of a place, instead of being led everywhere by a guide).
• The small size of the group (that isn’t a given, though, seeing as that particular bus can hold 16 ‘trippers, and they do have larger buses)
• I made friends. Going on a tour like this one makes for an informal and fun setting for meeting new people, and making new friends. If you’re travelling alone, this is a great way to hook up with possible travel buddies.

There were a few things that bothered me, I’ll admit. One is the disparity between the various itineraries. On their website was one version, on the printed brochures another, and the one emailed after making the booking contained yet another version.

Similar, but not the same, and I think they should be standardised, to avoid unnecessary confusion (and possible disappointment).

Same applies to the kitty system. Right at the start of the tour, you hand over an amount to the driver, to cover sundries like dinners and hostels. Once paid, that should be it – I don’t think one should be asked to add to it half way through the tour, but that’s what happened.

It was a paltry sum, to be sure, in the scheme of things, but when you’re a backpacker, counting every possible penny (especially in pricey places like the UK), those few extra pounds dig into the budget and can tend to make you a little resentful.

But, those are rather minor niggles, really. Overall I would most definitely recommend the tour to backpackers looking to spend some time exploring England’s beautiful south-west corner.

Roadtrip’s Southern Extreme costs £119.00 + kitty (around £123). The kitty covers breakfasts, dinners, hostels and certain entrance fees. Tours depart from central London every second Monday.

Posted in Destinations, From The Road, Reviews | 2 Comments »

An Impromptu Review of Edinburgh’s Smart City Hostel

It’s festival time in Scotland’s capital, and we’ve been checking out the scene.

Now, as we’ve mentioned before, Edinburgh is exceptionally busy at this time of year, and finding accommodation ain’t always easy, especially on weekends. We booked some time in advance, though, so we were sorted.

But, because we weren’t going to be in the city all the time, we’d booked ourselves into a few different hostels, for the different time-frames (before and after our Haggis Adventures Compass Buster Tour – review coming soon!).

The newly opened Smart City Hostel, on Blackfriars Street (seconds away from Edinburgh’s main drag, the Royal Mile), was very close to our early morning pickup point, so we booked ourselves in for the night before the tour (allowing us to make our bleary crack-of-dawn way to the tour without too much hassle).

The plan was to check into another hostel when we got back, but we liked Smart City so much that we decided to try our luck and find out if they had space. They did, perhaps because they’re new, so we booked ourselves some rooms , and cancelled our other bookings forthwith.

So, here’s why we think it’s so great:

• It’s new, so everything is shiny and bright, and virtually unsullied by backpacker hands (so far!).
• There’s free high speed internet, and free wifi that we can access from our bedroom (bonus!)
• The facilities: in our 8-bed dorm, there are two showers, and two toilets (no shuffling down the passage trying to stay vaguely decent). Not only that, but you get a large towel, and there are soap and handcream dispensers and even hairdryers for the girls.
• It’s very well situated, just off the Royal Mile (HIgh St), but somehow manages to be quieter than hostels nearer pubs and clubs (one must get one’s beauty sleep from time to time, wot)
• Multiple power points. Now, this may seem silly, but after having to fight over access to power points for some time now, it’s amazing to have plenty to go around.
• Roomy lockers. There’s plenty of space, and two shelves, so you can safely stash all your goodies when you head out.

You do pay a wee bit more for a room here (our 8-bed dorm is £22 per night) – but once you’ve factored in the free internet, free towels and general facilities, it really is worth it.

Just to give you an idea of how pristine it really is, yesterday a Japanese girl came in to the room, gazed around in amazement, slowly approached her bed, muttering excitedly in her own language. She looked over, wide-eyed and said, “So clean! It’s so clean!”, and caressed her pillow lovingly.

Curious as to where she’d been before that was obviously so very different, we asked. With a wild and fearful look in her eye, she told us: London.

Check out Smart City’s virtual tour of the hostel for more info.

Travel resources backpackers might find useful:
Book hostels – book a hostel in Edinburgh (though you might have to go for walk in bookings at this late stage!
VisitScotland – official website for Scotland’s tourism
Travel Insurance – instant, cheap travel insurance for backpackers
Travel newsletter – sign up for our free monthly travel newsletter ‘From The Road’

Posted in Destinations, Festivals, From The Road, Hostels, Reviews | No Comments »

Choosing A Travel Guide For Europe: Why Let’s Go Got My Vote (And My Money)

About a month ago I found myself in a bookstore staring at several shelves of travel guides – impressed by the variety, but wondering how on earth I was going to select only one to take along with me on my upcoming travels around Europe.

I’m going to be backpacking, travelling on a limited budget, so the first step was to focus on those books aimed specifically at budget travellers, like myself.

So, I discarded the glossier (and therefore much heavier) guides like Frommers and Eyewitness Guides, and instead shifted my attention to the backpacker-orientated Rough Guides, Lonely Planet and Let’s Go guides.

As I’m not certain exactly where I’ll be going, but know it’ll be to several different countries, there was no point in choosing a country-specific guide. Quite obviously, a guide to Europe was what I was looking for, but which one?

There are guides to Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Mediterranean Europe – the list goes on… And though at the moment I’m most interested in western Europe, what if I should decide to head east, on a whim (or because I’m running out of money and it’s cheaper there!)?

So, a guide to the whole of Europe it must be – a current one. I took out guides from Rough Guides, Lonely Planet and Let’s Go, laid them side by side and started to compare them, flipping through the pages to a few of the destinations I hoped to visit.

They were all fairly comprehensive, with as much detail as one dares go into in a huge volume without it becoming impossible to carry, but, in the end, Let’s Go’s Europe 2007 guide got my vote (and my money).

And here’s why…

Let’s Go’s Europe 2007 is detailed, but very easy to follow. I particularly like the fact that it’s rather unpretentiously printed on lower-grade paper than Lonely Planet, allowing it to be a little larger (that’s more info for me), without being heavier (always an important consideration when you’re carrying everything on your back).

The book has all the info you’re likely to need to find your way around Europe: useful colour maps of major cities and their transport systems, price ranges and rankings for accommodation and restaurants, festival calendars, suggested itineraries, handy tips for planning your adventure (visas, packing, money, safety, etc) and transport advice for the various ways of getting to, around and from Europe.

Plus, if you’re looking for a less touristy experience, there’s a ‘beyond tourism’ section for each country, helping you to find possibly more satisfying alternatives like volunteering and studying.

All guides have variations on this theme, but what it came down to for me, when it was time to decide (and part with my hard-earned cash), was two main things:

• This is no stuffy guide, it’s written by people who have a sense of humour. Being advised to be ‘looking out for cowdung’ when climbing up Glastonbury Tor, for example, amused me no end, and left me wondering whether the guide had learnt that the hard way.

• The price. Every backpacker is watching his or her budget very closely. Perhaps because of the less costly paper type, Let’s Go is able to offer this book for half of what the other guides were going for, and that’s what cinched it for me.

And so it was that when I walked out of the store it was with a copy of Let’s Go Europe 2007 in hand, and a big smile on my face.

In case you’re wondering, this review was not sponsored in any way by Let’s Go. Though in future we will be receiving review copies from Let’s Go (and letting you know what we think), this book was bought and paid for by ourselves.

Posted in Destinations, Reviews, Travel Tips & Planning | 2 Comments »

Europe From A Backpack: Inspiration For Your Travels

We’re off to Europe this summer, and what better way to get some travel inspiration than by reading the stories of backpackers who’ve been there themselves.

Europe From A Backpack is a series of books containing the real stories of backpackers who’ve had plenty of adventures (good and bad) around Europe.

We read about Il Tomatina, that crazy tomato-hurling fest we always get so excited about, about running with the bulls in Pamplona, about non-stop 24-hour-long partying in Ibiza, as well as stories like that of the hostage of the hostile hostel in Italy.

These books aren’t meant to replace your trusty guidebook, they are a fantastic complement for it – something to give you insight into the nature of travel and adventure, and a feel for the cities and countries you’re planning on visiting.

We really enjoyed reading them and look forward to new editions!

Visit the Europe From a Backpack blog for more info.

Related entries:
Backpackers Bookmarks: Alternative Airlines Web Portal
Europe’s Low Cost Airlines: Put To The Test

Travel resources backpackers might find useful:
Hostels in Europe – find and book cheap hostels online

Travel Insurance – instant, cheap travel insurance for backpackers
Travel newsletter – sign up for our free monthly travel newsletter ‘From The Road’

Posted in Destinations, Reviews, Travel Tools | 2 Comments »

Travel Gear Review: The Pacsafe Travelsafe

This week we got to try out the TravelSafe, the portable safe from Pacsafe.

It doesn’t look like much when you unpack it – it’s a flat, pouchlike bag that doesn’t at first glance resemble anything like our traditional notions of a safe.

But when you start loading it up with all your valuables, you start to see how much it can actually hold, you feel the comforting layer of safe-guarding mesh hiding under the cover of slashproof material, and, with a sense of achievement, you begin to figure out how it all works.

We stuffed our TravelSafe with two medium-sized travel books, a passport, a plane ticket, an entire travel wallet with money and documents, an ipod, a cellphone and a digital camera, and it all fit just fine with a little breathing room to spare.

Consulting the simple manual we worked out how to close the safe, pulling the stainless steel cord tight (bit stiff at first, but it started easing up after a few goes at it), thereby closing the mouth of the pouch and locking our goodies inside.

We docked the locking bead into the ‘locating recess’ and looked around for something to which to attach the safe. A chair leg was the closest to hand (pick something more secure when travelling!) so we wound the draw wire around that, lined its ‘eye’ up with the locking device and clipped the padlock into place.

Pretty simple, really – the bead can’t move because of the padlock, which means the mouth of the pouch can’t be opened. The outer material is slash-safe and the cord and mesh are made from high tensile stainless steel: basically you’d need some serious hardware and a whole lot of undisturbed time to get through to the treasures inside.

When you’re done guarding your goods, you just unlock, unclip and flatten it out again. It’s light and lies flat so packing space won’t be an issue.

Times this baby is going to come in very handyl:

• when you’re on an overnight train and you want to get some sleep without worrying that your stuff will be whipped away during your slumbers (secure it to a rail)
• when you want to do outdoor activities that preclude carrying your documents with you (bit hard to snorkel or abseil with all your valuables ain’t it)
• when you’re travelling with people you don’t know too well, and you really want to go for a swim, or take a bath – basically anything that involves having to part from your valuables (you can secure the Travelsafe to a thick tree branch, a pole, a door hinge – whatever’s secure).

Whatever you do, though, don’t go losing those keys, and definitely make sure you leave one with a trusted person who can rapidly post it to you should that happen. Otherwise, it’s going to be one long exercise in finding out just how safe these things really are.

The TravelSafe is available online here at a recommended retail price of US$39.95.

PS. We’ll be taking the TravelSafe with us on a backpacking trip later this year, so watch this space for a follow-up review, rating its performance ‘in the field’!

Related entries:
Travel Gear Review: The Pacsafe Stashsafe

Travel resources backpackers might find useful:
Cheap hostels -choose from over 12,000 hostels worldwide and book them online!

Travel Insurance – instant, cheap travel insurance for backpackers
Travel newsletter – sign up for our free monthly travel newsletter ‘From The Road’

Posted in Reviews, Travel Gear, Travel Tools | 3 Comments »

London For Backpackers: The LondonTown PDF Guide

LondonTown.com has a wonderfully presented pdf-format travel guide for backpackers.

London is one of the most expensive cities in the world, so backpackers are bound to find LondonTown’s list of free and budget options rather useful, amongst them:

• top 10 free attractions
• top 10 budget tours
• top 10 markets
• top 10 free activities
• top 10 internet cafes for budget surfing
• top 10 outdoor spaces
• top 10 budget pubs and clubs

And more… Download the pdf file here (3MB)

Also check out their 2007 London Events Calendar (6.5MB) for a monthly overview of the city’s biggest events.

Related entries:
Cool Site: Time Out London
London Photo Daily: A Photographic Insight Into London Living

Useful resources for backpackers:
Hostels in London – find and book cheap hostels online

Visit England – travel and accommodation info for England.
Festival Forums – find fellow festival-goers or get festival tips
Travel Insurance – instant, cheap travel insurance for backpackers
Travel newsletter – sign up for our free monthly travel newsletter ‘From The Road’

Posted in Backpackers Bookmarks, Destinations, General Travel, Reviews, Travel Tips & Planning | 1 Comment »