Entries about tourism

After a quieter night on ship, this morning we were rejoined by last night's campers, before it was time to get up for breakfast.

As we hadn't sailed overnight, this morning meant we would be travelling to a new place. However this was far from boring as we were making our way to the southernmost point on the trip - the Lemaire Channel.

Sailing down the channel we were prepared for ice to block the route at any time causing us to have to turn around. Luckily this didn't happen until the very end where a huge block of ice did indeed mean the way through was impossible.

With such beautiful views of the surrounding icebergs and snow filled mountains, we were treated to a hot chocolate by the crew, and after turning back around and heading north again, we then headed for Port Lockroy, a British base that we had watched a documentary on the previous night.

Arriving just after lunch, half the group was to visit Port Lockroy whilst the others would visit nearby Jougla Point, before we all swapped halfway through.

Arriving on shore to find habitation once again was a rather strange experience. At Port Lockroy not only was there a museum about the life on British Bases, but there was also a little shop for us to buy souvenirs. Yes, even in Antarctica you can buy tat!

Although somewhat overpriced, I bought a few bits, including a postcard to send to wish my future self a happy birthday in a few weeks time. After taking a look around the base I then headed back to take the boat transfer over the Jougla Point where once again we were treated to penguin colonies and other birds surrounded by stunning views of ice and mountains.

Back on ship we had yet another birthday to celebrate, and tonight we were also joined by the staff at Port Lockroy for dinner.

As our next port of call tomorrow was literally around the corner from today's location, we anchored down to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the scenic mountains. I had originally planned to finally visit the sauna tonight, however as the views were so beautiful I postponed this for a future evening, only taking a brief visit whilst fully clothed to warm myself up after spending so much time outside in the cold.

One of the hilarious bonuses of this boat was the toilet next to the lounge, which had a huge window with views of the surrounding scenery. Sitting down on the toilet doing a number two, whilst penguins swim past seals resting on icebergs was really the best view for a poo you could ever imagine.

After an exciting and busy day, once again my camera battery was dead, and so after taking as many pictures of the beautiful sunset as I could, I finally headed to bed.

Despite it being past midnight, due to the southerly location and the albedo from the snow it never really got fully dark, an interesting experience to witness!

After two busy days in Cyprus, my final full day was my chance to rest and relax - but did I do so? Well, not really...a lie in was about as far as it went!

Getting up in time to grab breakfast, enjoying the beautiful sea view over Larnaca Bay, I eventually made my way down the promenade, past the Christmas decorations, despite it being in the 20s, arriving at Larnaca Fort.

The fort was built in the 14th century, and is now a museum, with history of the architecture of the island, as well as military installations in Larnaca. There are also good views of the coastline of the town, as well as the minaret of the mosque next door.

After taking a look in the shops and buying a few souvenirs, I then headed through the town towards the Salt Lake, located between Larnaca and the airport. Whilst the front of the town is well kept, the back streets appear much more like one expects of Mediterranean towns.

Arriving at the lake, after beating off what seemed like every fly on the island, I walked as far as I could get before my feet sunk too far into the saturated ground, with views of pure white ground stretching for miles ahead.

Arriving back in the town, I took a look around the Marina before heading back to the hotel for some dinner. Once it had got dark I then headed back out to re-explore the town with my camera again in tow, to take some night pictures of the lit up buildings.

Having another relaxing nights sleep, and a final leisurely morning in the town, I eventually made my way over to the modern Larnaca airport for my flight home.

Arriving well in advance of my flight, after getting a few essentials in the shops for the way I home I sat down before being approached by a lady who wanted to "ask a few questions". The lady worked for the Statistical Agency of Cyprus, and was asking tourists questions about their time on the island. Starting with basic questions "how long have you been in Cyprus", "where did you stay?", she eventually moved on the the question "Did you spend any money on clothes or shoes?" - taking a look at my muddy clothes from yesterday's walk to the salt lake, before I had even answered she had already ticked the "No" box! A bit rude, but quite hilarious at the time - I did stink a bit!

The final part of the holiday was the 5 hour flight back on Monarch, which after the inbound flight I had already figured this would be far from pleasurable. Whilst the seats were certainly much more spacious, Monarch had decided that as the plane wasn't going to be used again that evening after landing at Luton, they would instead park up at the hangar, and proceed to only open the front door - meaning people like me who were not paying an extra £30 and stuck at the back had to wait absolutely ages to get off, and on to a bus. Eventually arriving at immigration, which was only half open despite the plethora of staff sitting about, it proceeded to take 45 minutes to clear the airport - without needing to collect a bag - a new record!

Flights excluded, the holiday was certainly one of my favourites. Cyprus is a lovely island with good weather, a lot of history and things to see, as well as a very organised nature and friendly people. The best resort in the Mediterranean, and one I would definitely recommend.

After visiting the desert I had arrived back in Los Angeles, staying in Hollywood for the next 5 days. The following day was Friday, and one of the few days that the Six Flags Theme Park was open, with massive rides - one of the few things I was interested in doing in America, and so I got up nice and early to make my way across the city by three methods of transport to the theme park. Being a Friday, the theme park was almost empty, despite having some of the biggest rides I'd ever seen - making queues for massive rollercoasters almost non-existent. This meant that by 4pm, I'd already been on all the 12 rollercoasters I had wanted. The day was lovely too, like any summer day we could dream of in England! Definitely worth it!

The following day I made my way over to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, exploring the stars and viewing the sign from many different locations.

The day after had originally been planned to visit Universal Studios, but after reassessing the cost, and the levels of enjoyment I decided I would skip it, and have a rest day instead - Six Flags was so much better than I expected that that was enough to satisfy me.

On my last full day I went off to visit the Beverly Hills Area, walking past the huge gated mansions and down to Rodeo Drive, such a different world from the rest of the city, with its poor infrastructure and huge numbers of beggars (being asked for money less than 5 times in a day was slowly being considered a good day!).

Hey guys! Hope all is well for you all!

It's now the end of January, and less than 3 weeks until I'm back in the UK. Tomorrow I have my last classes for this semester, and then 4 exams in the coming weeks. Seems like just the other day I came here, and already half my time is over!

On Monday I took a break from my studies to visit the world's most leaning building - The Leaning Tower of Suurhusen. And even better - it is covered in the semester ticket, so I didn't have to pay anything to get there! Who needs Pisa, when you can have Suurhusen? The tower is in a small village literally in the middle of nowhere, and with a bus turning up only once hourly, and it pouring down with rain (Yes! Finally we got proper rain) we decided to catch the bus coming in 10 minutes rather than over an hour - meaning of a 5 hour round trip, we spent less than a quarter of an hour at the thing we came to see - but who cares, it was fun!

Last week were my last classes with the seventh (and final) semester students - We took a trip to see the Hilton Hotel in Bremen, complete with a visit to the "Himmelsaal" - a 1920's themed hall on the roof of the building. And also in the other class we went to a cafe for some drinks with the classmates and the lecturer. It was a real nice way of saying goodbye to everyone!

Viel Spaß!
Kevin.