Europe a la Carte Blog

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Visit Scotland’s campaign portraying Scotland as a Winter Sports mecca has been criticised as misleading potential visitors. There’s hardly been any decent snow cover in the north of Scotland for years. I know when our son attempted to go snowboarding a couple of years ago it was all slushy hardly the “Artic wonderlands” mentioned on the Visit Scotland website.

Skiing in Scotland, it’s so CR@P you would not believe it” by moron noodle

When I did a Flickr search for “skiing Scotland” the first photo to come up was the one above with the text “Glenshee in Scotland, imagine skiing in cold sleet and howling winds = skiing in Scotland”.

Update

Our son had another attempt in 2008 and after a very early start and a 2 hour coach trip arrived in Aviemore to discover that the snow had melted overnight.

I’ve started a swicki, an intelligent search engine, for cultural and activity holidays in Europe. If you’re thinking of a themed holiday in Europe, whether it be walking, cycling, painting, horseriding, language, water sports, tennis or cooking, try searching in the swicki. If you find any great companies you add them to the swicki and vote for your favourite site. Help build a great resource.

check out the European Cultural & Activity Tours swicki at eurekster.com

[tags]Swicki, Europe themed vacations[/tags]

This years Tour de France cycling competition will start in London during a three day event, 6 - 8 July 2007. The opening ceremony will be on Friday 6 July, time trials on Saturday 7 July and the first stage from London to Canterbury on Sunday 8 July. The Peoples Village in Hyde Park is a free event with displays, exhibits and entertainment to celebrate and promote cycling.

photo by levercusec

If all this talk of cycling has made you keen to get pedalling, you can browse a selection of cycling holidays at our sister site, European Cultural and Activity Tours.

[tags]Tour de France, cycling, cycling holidays, London[/tags]

Some single women are choosing not to go on holiday if they would have to go alone. Of the 11% of women who never take a break, almost half are single and most often aged 45 - 54 and separated, divorced or widowed. I think it can be a daunting thought to go on holiday alone, especially if you are recently single, never mind paying the high single supplements. I think that similar issues must exist for some single men too.

I was approached by a recently divorced lady last month, asking if I had any ideas for holidays for her. I said that perhaps some type of activity holiday would be a good option. I think the problem with singles holidays is all that you have in common with other participants is that you are single. If you go on a holiday where the focus is a topic or hobby, whether that’s walking, painting, cycling, yoga or learning a language, then a least you will not have to think about how to fill your days, you will be doing something that is of interest to you and you will have this common bond with the other participants. You can look at a selection of activity holidays at our sister site European Cultural & Activity Tours.

c
I’ve travelled alone a lot for business over the years. I am fine during the day, usually meeting up with suppliers, exploring etc but I have to admit the evenings can be a problem. I still don’t feel entirely comfortable sitting eating alone over dinner. Do you have any strategies for travelling alone?

[tags]singles holidays, activity holidays, travel advice[/tags]

Active Gourmet Holidays is one of the latest additions to our sister site, European Cultural and Activity Tours.

1 What is the aim of your business?
To be the leader in culinary and specialty travel by sending my guests on
unforgettable gourmet and active holidays in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.
2 What prompted you to start your own business?
I wanted to combine my passion for travel, gastronomy and the outdoors by
offering specialty and learning vacations
3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own business?
Learning everything on my own and making decisions on my own
4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your own business?
I can’t think of anything!
5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?
I would have had someone create my website with content management systems instead of me having to use a program to update/make changes to my site.
My comments
Thank you for talking to Europe a la Carte, Jo-Ann. I can relate to the issue of knowing exactlywhat you will require from your website when you first start your business. You think later why didn’t I make it easier, quicker and simpler to maintain the site.

Charter flights from Stansted to Preveza will run from July 9 to September 2007. I visited the Preveza area, in the north western mainland of Greece, in May 2003. I thought it was a really beautiful area. I did visit Leftka but I spend more time exploring the mainland. I liked the Acheron Gorge with the green Acheron River at its base, near the village of Glyki.

The modern city of Preveza is close to the site of the ancient city of Nicopolis, built by Augustus to commemorate his naval victory over Anthony and Cleoparta. When I visited the site was being renovated.

The problem with promoting the Preveza region is that it is virtually the same price to book flight only as a self catering holiday. This still seems to be the case. If you do go the area I would recommend that you hire a car for a few days and see more of the area. Have you visited this region of Greece? Did you venture far from your resort?

Alin’s business, Transylvania Live, is the latest addition to my other site, European Cultural and Activity Tours. Transylvania Live offers a variety of themed holidays such as walking, Dracula tours and cultural tours.

Our aim is to have our guests enjoy Transylvania by the same passion that we do!

Launched in 1995 Transylvania Live is always searching for better values and continuously optimizing existing services in order to deliver the perfect holiday. Professional staffs are not only ready to answer current needs, but can also anticipate future requirements in the constantly changing marketplace.
Transylvania Live is member of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), and the National Association of Tourism Agencies in Romania (ANAT).
These organizations ensure that their members maintain high standards to protect tourists.
Transylvania Live is also active within the community; we are co-founders of Turda’s (the city where we’re based) much needed Tourist Information Centre: sponsor of belles-lettres national magazine Echinox and student’s theatre festival Alterego as well as sustainer of Transylvania Riders motorcycle club.

Royal Peles Castle

2 What prompted you to start your own business?

The idea that prompted me to start my own tourism business is that Transylvania is a well renowned region in the world; Bram Stoker and then Hollywood made a strong brand out of it. But apart from all these, Transylvania really is all about wonderful, impressive, “terrific” scenery, spectacular traditions and fascinating history. Since I’m so into these things and since I know how much fun a Transylvanian holiday can be, it seemed a little bit selfish to keep everything for my self and not share it with the rest of the world. So, this is pretty much the beginning of Transylvania Live.

My managing team is formed by a group of enthusiasts, with background in mass-media, passionate for ethnography and legends and dedicated to bringing them to life, as we have been working together for the revival of traditional festivals from Transylvania: Mout Gaina Maiden Fair, Shepherds Meeting from Mount Jina and others.

3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own business?

The hardest, most annoying aspect was, by far, the fact that I could no longer ride my motorcycle as often as I would have wanted to.

4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your own business?

One of our guests (for whom our agency designed a private, tailor made tour) insisted in paying me a personal visit as the itinerary of his holiday included Turda, the city where we’re based. Merlin, my distinguished guest, a University professor, a man well built, imposing, came to my office and told me how much he dislikes the tour, how unhappy he is with the guide and how disappointed he is with all the services. I have to admit that this man was very convincing and the thought of him joking never crossed my mind. After going over all the possibilities of improving his holiday he was kind enough to let me know that it was all a joke and that he was more than happy with all the services our company provided him with.

Your staffs that we have dealt with have always been courteous, helpful and professional. As far as the trip in general, my brother and I could not be more satisfied! We would recommend your company to anyone traveling to Romania!
Professor Merlin S, Rhode Island, US
5  Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?

No, I don’t think there’s anything I would do differently. I really think I chose the right path for this “adventure”.

My comments

Thanks for answering my questions, Alin. I think you highlighted a problem that most self employed people can identify with, not enough time to pursue hobbies and other pursuits.

Many European ski resorts are only able to open their highest runs. The weather is even too mild for the artificial snow making machines to operate successfully. Is this more evidence of global waming? If you are going skiing for the festive season you will be hoping for some cold snowy weather.