cheap flights to Iceland

On September 21, 2009 By Rick McIn hiking, product complaints, product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

This is the first seat sale I’ve seen for Iceland since I started tracking those flights months ago. I guess the “high season” finally ends October 1st.

To Reykjavík from: Berlin, Copenhagen, London Gatwick, London Stansted and Warsaw.

Prices from: €69, £55, … one-way including taxes and fees.

When to buy: Open for sale from 14 CET (that’s 1pm UK time) until midnight tonight, Monday 21 September.

When to fly: From 1 October to 10 December 2009.

That’s with Iceland Express, the supposedly low cost airline.

I like Iceland Express better than full service Iceland Air, a company that treated me, a potential customer, very badly over the past few months.

survived Picos de Europa

On September 14, 2009September 16, 2009 By Rick McIn hiking, travel2 Comments

Huge and difficult hike in Northern Spain was fantastic.

Will arrive Bilbao tomorrow. Apparently there is some crazy museum there.

Glasgow … tis nay so dead

On September 4, 2009September 3, 2009 By Rick McIn photos, travel1 Comment

Glasgow looks to be a nice tourist city … from what I can see of it through the mist and rain.

But it suffers in comparison to wonderful Edinburgh.

It’s dead compared to Edinburgh.

more Necropolis photos

Rick-Glasgow

I’m QUIT to sunny Spain today. Enough of this Scottish weather.

7 days hiking the High Route in the Alps

On September 3, 2009August 31, 2009 By Rick McIn hiking, travelLeave a comment

This was the most important and best hike I did in Europe this summer.

trip report and photos all posted

ugly Scottish Parliament buildings

On September 1, 2009September 1, 2009 By Rick McIn product complaints, travel4 Comments

What a shame.

Edinburgh, Scotland has the most fantastic traditional architecture.

Blighted by this …

see more ugly photos on Skyscraper.com’s Top 10 Ugly Buildings forum thread

It’s difficult to capture with photos just how UGLY this complex appears in context. Who’s idea was it to feature bamboo as an important element?

… From the outset, the building and its construction have proven to be highly controversial. The choices of location, architect, design, and construction company were all criticised by politicians, the media and the Scottish public. Scheduled to open in 2001, it did so in 2004, more than three years late with an estimated final cost of £414m, many times higher than initial estimates of between £10m and £40m. …

Wikipedia

It consistently ranks in lists of 10 top ugly buildings and monuments.

who buys tourist souvenirs?

On August 31, 2009August 29, 2009 By Rick McIn product complaints, travelLeave a comment

It amazes me all the tourist trinket shops in the world can stay in business. Even with an 80% mark-up.

Who buys this crap?

In Europe it’s still mostly Japanese tourists. Rushing from one “famous” tourist attraction to the next. Snapping photos of one another at each. Buying at least one authentic (made in China) souvenir at each bus tour stop.

The only others I’ve seen actually pay for anything in those shops are suspiciously blonde, suspiciously busty, loud American women who like to be seen clambering on and off trains with awkward armloads of shopping bags. As if it’s Christmas Eve.

=== On a completely unrelated topic, I’m shopping for a novelty Scotland t-shirt.

Any recommendations?

Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2009 – a review

On August 30, 2009June 3, 2024 By Rick McIn Cirque du Soleil, product endorsements, travel3 Comments

It was great.

The setting cannot be beat, outdoor on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. Images are projected on the castle ramparts. Wonderful.

tattoo060809-1006

Over 217,000 people see it each year. About half get rained upon, I reckon. Luckily it stayed dry for my show on the last night of 2009.

I loved the flyby salute by jets. And the fireworks.

This year the Swiss Top Secret Drum Corps stole the show as they did, I assume, in 2003 and 2006.

I doubt you could find anyone who left the show unhappy. It’s more poignant right now because U.K. soldiers are dying in Afghanistan. Mothers and Grandmothers were protesting on the High Street during the festival.

All that said … in my opinion the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo was better. More variety. More humour. Better.

Edinburgh needs to hire a consultant from Cirque du Soleil. Their show easily be improved. … On the other hand, it’s been sold out for the past 10yrs.

attending Edinburgh Military Tattoo tonight

On August 29, 2009 By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo has been sold out for weeks. But on my 5th attempt, I managed to snag a ticket for the 7:30PM show tonight, Saturday. It’s the final evening so I’m hoping for something special at the Castle.

I enjoyed the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in July. I can now compare it against the most famous Tattoo of all.

Click PLAY or watch a preview video clip on YouTube.