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bonio   
The past, present and future walked into a bar, it was tense.


Real Name: alan
Lives In: Rowell, UK
Birth Date: October 24, 1960
Member Since: Jul 01, 2001
Last Login: Nov 07, 2009   17:06 UTC
Member's Time: Nov 07, 2009   23:00 GMT
VT Rank: 956
Deals Rank: Unranked
Travel Interests: Budget Travel, Wine Tasting, Beer Tasting, Music, Backpacking

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Welcome to my online scrapbook!

by bonio - last update: Oct 12, 2009

Here we are in Kuala Lumpur, Nov 2007.
Hello,

Thanks for visiting, I hope you find something interesting.

Most pages here are just memory joggers for us, as the title suggests, but have appeared to be of use to other people too, you'll not find anything copied from guide books here!

I live in a small town in Northamptonshire, called Rothwellor Rowell if you believe VT - not it's name just a local nickname and I'm a little unsure how this mistake happened!. It's about 70 miles from London and 60 to Birmingham, the nearest large town is Northampton, living here is ok but every chance I get, I'm gone!!

cheers!
Alan.

Plans for 2009.
Jan. Pisa and Lucca, Italy.
Feb. Isle of Wight with a group from my "local"
March. Saarbrücken and a visit to Völklingen.
April. Easter weekend in Derby with 4 friends.
May. First visits to, Belgrade, Nis, Skopje and Sofia
June. A short visit to Belfast then Neil Young in Nottingham
July. 2 days in Munich then a visit to Passau, looking forward to that!
Aug. Bremen, Germany.
Sept. Karlsruhe Bierbörse for a weekend.
Oct. Helsinki for a long weekend.
Nov. Hammamet, Tunisia for a little winter sunshine we hope.
Dec. Memmingen and Munich, then a few days in Salzburg, 25 years since I was last there!

As you see my job allows me 10 days off each month - hard work up to the holiday though, have to work 21 of 25 days....

Happy travels :-)

Next?

Nov, a week in Hammamet, Tunisia, hopefully a little winter sunshine

The search for the "perfect pint"

Regular readers of my pages, if there are any, will notice that I always include at least one drinking establishment on my pages. I'm a long term member of CAMRA, the campaign for real ale. Hopefully I'll never find the perfect pint but many have come pretty close recently.
Current favourites -
Pride of Pendle brewed by Moorhouse in Burnley UK
Edelstoff from the Augustiner brauerei Munich,
and a recent discovery - Gouden Carolus Ambrio from the Anker brewery in Mechelen, Belgium
Orval has become a favourite when we visit Belgium but, last weekend "Busines as usual" from the Derby brewing co was pretty special.
Also I like to search out brewpubs or microbreweries wherever we are, the variation in beer styles is amazing, local beer is usually best don't you think?

take a look at this photo - that was my first beer of the day, honest, I look totally s**t faced don't I?
Julian Cope

Music I like?

Saw the Rolling Stones at the olympic Stadium in Munich, July '06 then Manfred Mann's Earthband Sept '06, Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers in October and then an excellent New Order gig later in October at Wolverhampton civic. Finally for 2006, the Buzzcocks still doing the buisness in Northampton - wonderful.
April '07 Manfred Mann, this time in Hamburg, excellent
Waterboys in April '07 at Brighton Dome one of the best gigs lately, then Julian Cope in Northampton
Waterboys in Köln, Germany - superb
Neil Young in Vienna, a real treat for me.
Lou Reed performing " Berlin" in Nottingham
Neil Young in Nottingham, June 2009
On the CD at the moment? the excellent first album from Fleet Foxes.

Reading just now?

I've just about read all of Murakami's works published in the UK. Still looking out for "Pinball" anyone got a copy to lend or sell to me?.
Haruki Murakami website be warned, the music on here is very addictive.

Just re-read the book I had to study for my "O" level exam - Brighton Rock by Graham Greene, it's an excellent story, I'm sure I was too young to appreciate it in 1975, it was a double book, The end of the affair came with it, ..........stunning!
Currently half way through "The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald.

Berlin November 1989 - I was there...

Just a few days after the wall came down, a couple of months before official reunification between East and West Germany - I was there. Still the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed, really a time the world changed. I've only a couple of travelogues and few words great memories though.
making friends at the World Cup

Soccer

I don't usually travel anywhere just to watch a soccer game (except the World Cup) but, if there is one in town, I'll be there.
Some teams home games I've watched.
Partick Thistle, FCK in Copenhagen, MTK in Budapest, 1860 Munich, Bayern Munich, Olimpija Ljubljana, Sampdoria, AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Panathanaikos in Athens, 1FSV Mainz 05, Valencia, 1FC Nürnberg, OGC Nice, Bologna, NAC Breda, Eintracht Trier, Flora Tallinn, Kickers Offenbach, Real Oviedo, PSV Eindhoven, FC Augsburg, KV Mechelen, St Pauli, San Marino, FC Vilnius, Girona FC, 1FC Lokomotive Leipzig, Carl Zeiss Jena, SpVgg Unterhaching, Klubi04 in Helsinki.
Plus, just about every league ground in England.


Team I support? West Bromwich Albion, don't get to see them too often though!
Munich, December 2008

2008 calendar

Jan. 4 days on Sardinia
Feb. 3 days in Girona, Spain then a special treat - a trip to Vienna to a Neil Young concert.
March. Palma de Mallorca for a long weekend
April, Altenburg, Jena, Dresden and Meissen, Germany.
May / June. Altinkum, Turkey for a week, then Lou Reed performing "Berlin" in Nottingham, UK
July, The Viersen Bierbörse and then to Venlo, Netherlands.
Aug. The Pickering ( North Yorkshire) folk festival, The Waterboys are playing acoustic, a real treat for us, can't wait (Cancelled - it was raining!). Then a night in Cleethorpes, Lincs, Grimsby v Rochdale.
Sept. A week in Belgium visiting Oostende, Blankenberge, Kortrijk and Brussels - even time for an Anderlecht footie game - excellent. Ha, a fire in the Channel tunnel put paid to some of this - no footie and no visit to Brussels either, an unexpected visit to Ramsgate, UK and a good ferry crossing to report on soon.
Oct. An overnight in Preston followed by a first visit to the Isle of Man. Then Wembley to see the NFL game
Nov. Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt for a week in the sun - Cancelled, XL airlines are no more - bu**er! - OK, that's not to be, now planning a week in northern Spain, with visits to santander, Llanes and Bilbao.
Dec. 5 days in Munich.

bonio's Albums
Title [Click to view]Travel YearPictures
Music photos- 7
footie pics- 8
More Footie- 7
Early 2007- 7
Late 2007- 7

Comments for bonio
olja1234 Sat Oct 24, 2009 19:52 UTC
 happy Birthday, Alan. Hope you're having a wonderful day.
travelfrosch Sat Oct 24, 2009 15:55 UTC
 Happy Birthday, Alan! All the best from a wet NYC - Mark
Donna_in_India Sat Oct 24, 2009 14:25 UTC
 Wishing you a very happy birthday Alan!
Linky_Pinky Thu Oct 1, 2009 14:21 UTC
 Wow! you have been busy, Your turning into Micheal Palin. So many photo's and countries. Keep on traveling my friend, you know they say a moving target is harder to hit. Look after yourself and enjoy. Sal
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