thisisbanane's VirtualTourist Home Page

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The teacher at work

The phoenix rises...

I've had a bit of a break from VT over the past year or so. It wasn't intentional, but my pages just sort of slipped from my mind while I finished my degree at University of College London and my teacher training at Cambridge.

Obviously now I'm a fully fledged teacher I have far more time on my hands (Pah! Yeah right!) So I have been slowly updating my pages, changing spelling mistakes and inserting apostrophes! So far I have added to my London and Lymington tips (still trying to gain an elusive top 5 for that one). It has been really good to read through all my old tip and stories, just like coming across an old diary.

Next week I'm off to St Anton in Austria to try out snowboarding. This might be hilarious to watch as I am such a wimp. If I don't create the St Anton page, you'll know why! My housemates and I are constantly saying that we will go to Morrocco, so perhaps that will finally happen this year too. Apart from these trips I'll try to bulk out some of my more local tips.

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Or you could travel in my favourite way!

Getting around and away

From looking at posts in the UK forum, it seems that there are a lot of people who do not know HOW to find out "what is the cheapest way from London to Bristol/Scotland/France/Little Haddlington..."

So as a common answer to all, I thought I'd stick up these links. So here you are -

Trains -
Trainline.com - this site will tell you times and prices of journeys across the UK.

Coaches -
National Express - The main coach company in the UK. If you are under 26 you can apply for a card that gives you a third off the usual fare. They sometimes do £1 'funfares' on some routes.
Megabus - A discount coach service run by Stagecoach, running between major cities in the UK. Fares start from £1 plus 50p booking fee, and go up to about £8 each way when the cheap fares have sold out.. This service is sometimes faster than National Express as there are fewer stops between cities.

Ferries -
Cheap ferries - This site gives journey times and cheapest prices for most ferry services running from the UK (i.e. to Dublin, Rosslare, Cherbourg, Dover and others). You can then book the tickets here.

Flights -
Ryanair - Offers cheap flights to a number of European destinations, and often has big 'Sales' where fares are ridiculously cheap (i.e. 99p plus tax). The fly from Stansted, Luton, Bournemouth and others.
FlyBe - British European is another budget airline flying from London, Southampton and others.
Easyjet - Again, budget flights to Europe.

Car Rental -
Easycar - You pay per day and get a certain mileage allowance, which can be topped up when you book the car.
Avis - another rental company, recommended by FlyBe.

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I have seen quite a lot of the UK, having lived all over the place in my short little life - Dorset, Sussex, Bedford, Cheshire, Hampshire, Cambridge and now London, with various relatives scattered around the other parts.

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famille

Family

La famille, all living near Lymington in the New Forest.

"Cos it's strange, isn't it. You stand in the middle of a library and go 'Aaaaaaagghhhh!' and everyone just stares at you. But you do the same thing on an aeroplane, and everyone joins in." - Tommy Cooper

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Lions Camp, Savona

Going places...

I love travelling, and my first 'big adventure' was in the Ardennes, where I did the expedition part of my Duke of Edinburgh's Award when I was 15. I didnt catch the real travelling bug until a couple of years later, when i went on a Lions camp in Savona, Italy. I met about 20 other 16 to 24 year olds and had an awesome time being given tours around Turin, Savona, Genoa, Modena, Alba, Florence, Pisa and Rome! We all got on amazingly well for such a big group of teenagers and still keep in touch now.

It wasn't until I went to Poland with a friend that I really started travelling off my own bat and now, well, there's no stopping me (ok, ok, except uni.... work.... state of my bank account.....

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31/12/06
Since writing this page I have been particularly rubbish and have hardly been ANYWHERE... I have been lucky enough to work for people and companies with whom I travelled to Switzerland, Greece and Portugal however, and next week I'm going on a real holiday to Austria, hooray!

What is this all about??

The things you find in pound shops, eh?

Ass plugs, nice... At least they are P.C. Ass plugs I suppose.

Random, but quite frankly I had to get this online somehow.