Mini Magic – UK Cruises to Bruges and Beyond

Published on April 25, 2013 by Contributor in the category out and about | Leave a comment

Fancy a cruise but not sure if you’ll like it? Looking for a fun weekend away? Then a mini cruise could be your perfect getaway.

Mini cruises are condensed cruise itineraries that usually take place over just a couple of nights. In most cases you’ll get all the regular perks of a cruise, like a high standard of onboard facilities and top-notch cuisine, without committing to a full week or two at sea. You’ll usually get to try out the cruising lifestyle and enjoy a wide range of onboard entertainment, like pools and fitness facilities, as well as fantastic evening entertainment like theatre productions, cinema screenings and nightclubs.

The Belfry of Bruges

A mini cruise can take you to some of the world’s most fantastic destinations both far and away. Close to home, you can sail from a UK port and travel to such superb European cities as Amsterdam and Bruges. You’ll typically get a full day exploring your destination – and just think what you could do in that time! In Amsterdam, you could wander around the cobweb of narrow streets, take a canal cruise, go to Anne Frank’s museum and take a tour of the Heineken factory. In Bruges, you could while away the day sipping beer and taking in the chocolate-box architecture of this beautiful Belgian city.

You can also take a mini cruise from overseas destinations. For instance, you could join a two-night itinerary departing from Miami in Florida on a round trip to the Bahamas, and spend a day soaking up the sizzling climate and spectacular scenery of this fabulous Caribbean gem.

If you’re looking for mini cruises, your best bet is to search online via a tour operator, such as Cruise Thomas Cook. This way you can search across multiple cruise liners and compare a wide range of itineraries and prices from all the major cruise operators.

Then all you have to do is pack your bags and jet off for a dose of mini cruise magic…

Nerds on the Road, in the UK, Arrival, Maidstone & West Malling

So we arrived in one piece in the UK the day before yesterday. We left at 9pm Arizona time and arrived at 2:30pm UK time, which was previously 6:30am for us, and still about 3 hours before our usual wake up time. We slept a little to none on the plane and were pretty exhausted when we arrived. Ross’s mom and brother were there to meet us and ecstatic to see Ross who hadn’t been back to visit since 2006.

It was immediately different for me, but nothing too strange happened that could pull me out of my post flight daze. We went to the grocery store soon after dropping off our things and there were tons of new brands and the packaging for brands we do have in the US was often different. Driving on the “wrong side” probably roused me from my stupor more than anything; Veering into what I would expect to be oncoming traffic, hugging curbs on the wrong side of the road and continuously thinking the front passenger was the one driving. The fear of it seemed to wear off pretty quickly but I don’t plan on driving here any time soon. Even Ross having not driven here in a long time doesn’t look forward to it. The cars here are super zippy and mostly small and half the time it looks like everyone’s driving and pulling in and out of parking spot in fast forward – though that may be sleep deprivation talking.

After the grocery store we went for a walk around Maidstone while dinner was cooking. The houses and architecture in the area is great. Lots of old brick houses, an old stone church and graveyard and a cat that looked like an owl who followed us for a block, trying to run in front of us so we would stop and pet him.

Maidstone

It’s our second full day here now and we’re just starting to get into our new schedule. It’s just a few hours from bed time here and only 2pm there, which means we’ll be working to an early end of the day and still be going to bed late here; This might catch up with us in other ways, so far it’s just a little annoying but we’re trying to get it to where we’re waking up at like 10am here and go out and check out the area til 4pm. This morning, we tried that, but weren’t quite ready and couldn’t crawl out of bed til noon. When we did get up and were ready, we went to nearby West Malling to see the little downtown area and have a beer.

We walked past places like “Biffo & Spanky’s” and the “Bush Barber”, names that seem awesomely common place and give you a good laugh even if you only have the energy to walk in a straight line. We stopped at an old low ceiling bar called The 5 Pointed Star and had a pint of warm beer, much to the delight of stereotypers everywhere, but it was a good beer nonetheless and we sat by a tiny old fireplace on a bench seat. The walls were covered in architectural drawings of West Malling, caricatures of English gents and a great painting of a prize winning pig from 1797.

West Malling

YE OLD PHONE BOOTH! – West Malling

Manor Park Swan, West Malling

Biffo and Spanky Deli, West Malling

Manor Park, West Malling

The Bush Barber

5 Pointed Star. West Malling

Tomorrow we’ll go to a new place before work, and before most of you wake up. I’ll try to keep up on photos and checking in to places on 4 square when we’re somewhere with access to wifi!

Good night!

Williams, Arizona – A Route 66 Town in a Snow Storm

Published on February 11, 2013 by Katya in the category out and about, travel | Leave a comment

Since this weekend was part of the 75th anniversary of Arizona Ski Bowl, we knew that the ski runs would be packed – and between the Dew Downtown Flagstaff event and the new 12+ inches of continuous snow this weekend, they might be practically inaccessible. Skiing on a packed run can be treacherous (it’s how I hurt my neck last year) and waiting in long lines at the lifts make the daily cost of skiing barely worth it when it takes 5 minutes to get down a short run and it can take 20+ to wait in line and get back up on a busy day. We decided to check out Elk Ridge Ski area, a ski run and winter rec area near Williams, Arizona – Since it’s a little farther from town and part of a national forest rather than a private resort, we hoped it would have less people.

It took us about an hour to get there in the storm, with mostly smooth flowing traffic. We could see in front of us pretty clearly but from side to side was nothing but walls of white. When we got arrived at our exit and passed through town we noticed very little traffic on the road coming from the direction of the ski area, a good sign we thought – but when we found the road we also found a closed gate. Sad, but it didn’t stop us from going for a short walk past the gate. The website of Elk Ridge Ski Area claims they’re open on Sundays so we can only imagine they were closed because of the storm (illogically).

E. Ski Run Road

E. Ski Run Road, Williams, AZ

Ross in a Snow Storm

Kat in Snow Storm

We left E. Ski Run Road and decided to check out the town of Williams instead. On the way through town it had looked interesting enough, with old signs, Grand Canyon tour trains parked on the tracks, and several places with lit open signs (despite the weather and day of the week). Any small town with businesses open on a Sunday is a good sign that the town is interesting and alive (I’ve noticed). Locals are taking part in their local economy and giving businesses a reason to stay open every day. Farming communities seem to be the worst for having things open on Sundays, maybe one unfriendly bar and a market will be around but little more. Partly because they have no tourism but also because locals aren’t driving in to town to spend money, and/or don’t have the the money to do so. I hate to see that a town’s most successful business is the Cigarette/Liquor store – definite sign of bad times and little for a traveler to do. Williams is one of a couple gateways to the Grand Canyon in Arizona so they have some pretty steady year round tourism, but it also supports a population of 3000 people who are 35 miles from Flagstaff. Businesses make money and keeping a lot of it in town, making Williams a great little place to hang out, even in a snow storm on a Sunday.

Even staying in Arizona for months, in the mountains, intentionally for the snowfall in the area, it’s still cool to see snow on cactus, sand, desert canyons, and Route 66 Signs. I grew up with the same impression of the south that most people from the north did, that it was hot year round and that’s about it for weather. I knew better because I lived in Arizona for a short time as a kid but between movies and school, the idea is there in the back of my head so I still find it great that we’re in Arizona and there’s 2 feet of snow outside.

The storm was worse in Williams than is had been in Flagstaff and made for some interesting first impressions of the town. We found a great Italian restaurant after walking a few blocks, Station 66 Italian Bistro, a place recently opened in an old gas station but stylized into a classy Italian eatery/locals bar (rather than the 50s theme most gas station restaurants seem to go for). Their sign outside bragged of wood fired pizza, which sounded great, and they offered several original and interesting combos, like the pizza we had with apples, walnuts and agave syrup.

The classic old hotel, grand canyon and route 66 signs surrounded by snow never got old so I was sure to get plenty of photos. We’ll be going back to check out the ski area next weekend and will definitely hang out in Williams again,