Different Directions

Review: Garden Festival, Zadar 2007

Half-way through a three-week work/play trip through the Balkans I found myself in the small fishing village of Petrcane, a ten-minute bus ride from the large port town of Zadar, half way up Croatia’s Adriatic coat.  The most important word in that last sentence was ‘small’.  The Garden Festival is the dramatic opposite of the mega-fest…a small site, a small line-up, and not many punters- maybe 1500 max.  And therein lies the beauty of the whole thing.

The site itself is based, essentially, in the back garden of the Pinja Hotel.  But what a back yard.  The Pinija’s back garden is a pine-dotted peninsular jutting out into the sea lined with Croatia’s trademark pebbly beaches, which for a long weekend the Garden team did….well, not much with.  The major imposition is a main stage for the headliners, pitched under the trees in the outdoor bit of the Barbarella nighclub (more on that later) roughly a minute’s walk from the sea.  There’s a second bar on the waterfront with a little terrace for some more al-fresco dancing.  There’s a mini massage and relaxation area too.  But that’s it.

The small scale of the Garden Festival is everything.  You can leave your mates and you’ll find them again in about five minutes.  If you’ve left your camera at the campsite you can nip back and get it within the space of a couple of songs.  If you meet someone you’ve enjoyed partying with, you WILL see them again the next night.  Everyone was pottering about with silly, self-satisfied grins on their faces…each buzzing with that ‘Eureka’ feeling.  What a discovery.

The music was mostly disco and house, always veering to the happy, bouncing end of the spectrum- the DJs weren’t trying to challenge you, they wanted you to have fun.  During musical peaks the whole thing felt like a modern day Club Tropicana.  Sure there were a few disco biscuits flying around, but the crowd was blissfully free of the kind of dickheads who turn up at festivals and spend the whole weekend snorting ketamine through their eyeballs.

The live acts were smashing too.  On Friday night Crazy P were predictably excitable, with singer Danielle Moore bouncing around the stage with vigorous flashdance exuberance.  On Saturday I saw the Soil and Pimp Sessions, a five-and-a-half piece jazz band from Tokyo.  Good God.  I honestly can’t remember a more impressive live act.  The saxophonist, the trumpeter, the drummer, keyboard and bass player…each was nothing less than a virtuoso.  Probably the goddam coolest hipster virtuosos you’ll ever see too.  Wild sax riffs were played with cap slung to the side and one leg mounted menacingly on the speakers.  The trumpeter wore skinny jeans and a punk-rock vest and check shirt combo, playing notes one-handed and with body buckled backwards in a semi-circle, brass akimbo.

If you want to go to the front, you can, easily.  If you want to go for a pee, or a quick swim for that matter, you’ll be back at the front within minutes.  During the set Mr Scruff was bouncing around in front of me- there’s no backstage or VIP area at Garden…all the acts were mingling around enjoying the fun too.  Other party options include the Argonaut boat parties (imagine a booze cruise, just a lot, lot cooler) and the 60s-style Barbarella nightclub dug into the earth under the peninsular.  A handful of options, but it felt like my cup was runething (sic.) over.

After each night’s revelry it was back to the campsite, a five-minute wander back up the coast.  Yes, each morning you wake up in a freshly-baked tent (there are plenty of apartment options too by the way, we’re just cheapskates).  But then… oooh and then…one simply heads to the beach -you could probably roly-poly it it’s so close- and jump in the sea.  Yes, yes and more yes.

All in all a roaring success.  But with great success come great responsibility.  Please, purleeeaze Mr and Mrs Garden festival… try to resist the temptation to expand.  The thing is the size.  Well, an extra 500 people might be ok actually, but not too many more.  You get the point.  Brilliant.  Check out the Flickr photo set here.

Related Tags: Garden Festival 2007, Petrcane, Zadar, Croatia, Mr Scruff, Soil and Pimp Sessions, Crazy P, Disco, House, European Festivals, Barbarellas, Hotel Pinja, Camping

In Your Pocket Rules

I recently received a copy of the new In Your Pocket guide to Vilnius, which has triggered this long overdue post on what are, in my humble opinion, the best guides to Eastern Europe going.

On my fist trip around Eastern Europe a few years back I picked up a copy of Krakow In Your Pocket, and was impressed.  In Vilnius I found another.  The same happened in Tallinn.  An isolated incident became a chain of events.  Consistently the guides were well informed, saturated with local insider info...and most interestingly...bloody well written.  I implore you to head over and have a proper browse of their site- everything is syndicated online, and now allows you to leave comments.  If print is your thing, you can order copies from the site, or download many of the guides in PDF.

Probably the most exciting thing about IYP is their determination to cover the lesser trodden paths of Eastern Europe...including places whose causes deserve a bit of trumpeting, especially in the Balkans.   Their guides to Kosovo, for example, are fascinating.

Whilst we're on the subject, do have a look at their blog, which covers the quirks of that rather newer side of the continent (a bit like English Russia, but with broader scope).  And if you happen to be in Belfast this thursday do pop along to the open top tour of the city to celebrate the launch of the second edition of the In Your Pocket guide to the Northern Irish capital- the only country in Western Europe that IYP cover (other than the Germany, but that's a gray area)  The lovely Heidi McAlpin, who helped me out on this piece, will be your host- contact belfast@inyourpocket.com for details.   

Related Tags: In Your Pocket, Eastern Europe, Tallinn, Vilnius, Kosovo, Kosovo Travel, Balkans, Krakow, Travel, Travel Guides, Belfast

Recent Additions: Olympos, Lyon, Liverpool

As mentioned previously, each time I visit somewhere for work, my return is marked by a swift but devastating blurb splurge on the Youngin Europe guide.  My recent jaunts took me to Liverpool, Olympos (Turkey) and Lyon.  As always, there were a few places of note.

In Liverpool I was lucky enough to get a guided tour (Guardian podcast here) from Pete Wylie and Danny from Ladytron, whose bar, Korova,  was the pick of a concentrated pack of cool venues in Liverpool's Ropewalks district.  In the southern Mediterranean treehouse village of Olympos I was fussed over by the owner of the Yorukoglu restaurant, who looked a bit like Walter Matthau.  In Lyon I was (grudgingly) bowled over by the local youth hostel and it's panoramic views over the city.

Talking of French Youth Hostels (which I do, probably too much) this is the best one I've ever stayed at.  Over and out.

Related Tags: Liverpool, Olympos, Lyon, Vélo'v, Pete Wylie, Ladytron, French Youth Hostels, Nice, Guardian Podcasts

The Mystery of the Non-existent Telegraph Package Holidays

There was a bit of a cock-up within the British package holiday industry over the last week, which could easily have gone un-noticed.  Then a national British broadsheet decided to pen a large article, even flagging it on the front page of the entire newspaper…using information this cock-up generated.  Oops!  Allow me to explain.

Package Holidays 101
In the 80s a system called Viewdata was set up.  All of the major operators would feed their package holidays into the system, which at the time would be accessed by high-street travel agents to book their punters’ holidays. Amazingly, the antiquated system (something akin to teletext) remains to this day.  Rather than replacing it, the industry has been bolting on technology to keep it chugging along- such as specific feeds from individual operators.  Now, of course, thousands of websites use the info alongside the high street agents- they simply take the package info from viewdata and reprocess and re-brand it to appear on their site.

For example, Thomas Cook whack a £129 7-night package in Magaluf onto Viewdata, Lasminute.com would receive the feed, then bundle it onto their site decked out in their own branding (presumably taking a cut for being the middlemen).

What went wrong?
As one would expect with a system that has been consistently bandaged up since the 80s, it messed up.  The feed from one specific operator, namely Thomas Cook (I have had this confirmed from three separate sources), went dodgy.  They were plugging in package details to ViewData, but the feed it churned out was something different altogether.

The Viewdata cock-up meant that only basic prices were produced in the feeds.  7-night holidays in Ibiza were coming out as £5 all-in.  A weekend in Corfu for £7.  The airport departure tax, passenger levies, in-flight meal costs, luggage prices and the like were all excluded from the feed, despite (one assumes) Thomas Cook having initially put them into the Viewdata system.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, there seems to have been no screening process in-between the agents (online and offline) receiving the dodgy feeds and plonking them onto their sites.  Thus the error chain went all the way- the £5 packages were appearing on Lastminute.com, latedeals.co.uk, statravel.co.uk and the rest.

The Telegraph piece
This is when it gets funny.  Just as the cock-up reached the industry front line, the Telegraph, clearly eager to run a piece on the freefalling operators literally giving away packages to get bums on seat and in hotels (it’s a popular peg at the moment), ran a piece entitled ‘Mediterranean Holidays on Offer for £5’, even flagging it up on the front page of the entire newspaper.

Virtually every price they quote is from the dodgy feeds, and therefore non-existent.  They even did a ’20 Package Holidays from under £80’ sidebox to accompany the piece- all using the dodgy info from various sites.  (For another giggle, try clicking their links the the dubiously-named package-holiday.co.uk or packageholiday.co.uk.  Cock-up upon cock-up upon cock-up.)

What has happened?
Slightly suspicious, I went haywire yesterday trying to find these £5 deals, finding pages of unusually cheapo offers on lastminute.  But when I tried to book them…nothing was available.  Alas, I didn’t do a screenshot, as all of said deals have been wiped away today.  When I rang up the callcentre, a rather confused agent informed me that in fact the cheapest all-in deal you could get from them came in at about £180.  So only £175 off then.  Oops.

As I type, I imagine much of the industry is currently busy scrubbing off the dodgy deals, Thomas Cook are having to explain to everyone that it wasn’t their fault, the Telegraph are feeling a bit shafted, and the techies at Viewdata are checking their contracts for redundancy details.  And I'm finding the whole thing rather hillarious.

Related Tags: The Telegaraph, Package Holidays, Lastminute.com, Thomas Cook, Travel, Viewdata, Latedeals.co.uk, Cock-up, Mediterranean £5 Deals

Backpackers.com Loves Us Long Time

First of all, sorry for the dearth of posts, we've been busy.  Lyon, Liverpool and Olympos, since you asked (mwahahaha.  If you hate me now, that's cool).

Second, those bloody brilliant folks over at backpackers.com have written about us today, saying, and I quote, that we are "great idea, and potentially a fantastic travel resource".  As it happens, we agree.  And for the record, Backpackers.com is flipping great too.  Sign up to their rss feed here.  Aaw, isn't this a big blog love-in.

As for the dearth, we're on it.  And coming up with lots of ideas.  Watch this space.

Related Tags: Youngin Europe, Backpackers.com, Lyon, Olympos, Liverpool

A Response to Leo Hickman

This past Monday and Tuesday, G2 (The Guardian features section) ran large pieces by Leo Hickman extracted from his forthcoming book The Final Call.  Monday’s front-page splash read ‘Wish You Weren’t Here- The True Cost of Our Holidays’.

The gist, as I’m sure you can guess, is that something is rotten in the state of travel. I urge you to read both articles- here and here.  If you can’t be bothered, here’s an extract from the extract in which he sums up his stance:

“The travel industry still clings to the convenient myth that the good ship Tourism brings economic bounty to all who sail in her. And it is still making some other extraordinary claims - that, for example, tourism nurtures world peace, love and understanding. Yet there seems to be little evidence that tourists and those who serve them engage with each other on a balanced, harmonious footing. Instead, the bounty is carved up between a select few, while far too many of the industry's workers, particularly in developing nations, are no more than wage-slaves scratching out a pitiful living. And there is plenty of evidence that many locals have been displaced to make way for tourists, often at considerable cost to the local environment.”

Compelling stuff.  And his case studies?  Wait for it…. Tallinn in Estonia, Ko Pha Ngan in Thailand, and Dubai, with lesser mentions for the Benidorm, Cancun, and Ibiza.  Anyone spot anything?

What Hickman has done, albeit with honourable motives, is examine the grubby tip of a very large iceberg, ignoring the vast hulk beneath it.  So Brits get drunk on stag parties in Estonia do they?  Ko Pha Ngang is a horrible backpackers package resort, eh?  Dubai is a vast, horrific homage to seedy uberwealth and superconstruction?  Trigger a long, collective chorus of…. “no shit.”

It’s like doing a long, navel-gazing expose on football focussing on Roman Abramovic.  Or perhaps diagnosing the ills of mass media through an examination of the Daily Star.

There seems to be a bit of an anti-travel bandwagon growing.  A few weeks ago Mark Ellingham, founder of Rough Guides even compared the industry to the tobacco industry.  His words may have been coaxed by the interviewer, but the theme is clear…travel industry protagonists are starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.

At the root of this trend is a very important message- the industry needs to clean itself up.  Offsetting must become obligatory, short-haul domestic flights need to be curtailed, tourist development must be as sustainable and green as possible, and the money needs to be fairly distributed.  These are all no-brainers, and if this is the point of the bandwagon then I’m well and truly on it.

But to paint the whole industry with the same brush, as Hickman seems to be doing, is missing the point.  This weekend in London thousands of members of the Couchsurfing community, a project instigated to encourage cross-cultural exchange, will be meeting up in London to wag chins and have fun.  Some of them may have got there by plane.  Unfortunately they haven’t yet worked out a way to measure cultural exchange in tonnes or footprints, but this particular element of the industry seems to be doing a very good thing indeed.

Then, of course, there is the burgeoning Green travel industry, on which the Guardian dedicates their leading regular travel page each week.  Even companies ostensibly set up for profit are falling over themselves to be as green and sustainable as possible.  I get scores of emails from travel PRs each week flogging some new hotel or destination…and what are the main selling points?  Solar panels on the roof…money channelled to local communities…locally produced food etc.  They know what we, the consumer, now want.  And try getting your head around this project.

Eco-tourism, sustainable tourism, cultural tourism and independent tourism (this is the one that most of us do…no packages, no golf courses, no vast lucre-plated monoliths jutting out of the Gulf of Oman) are, as far as I’m aware, pretty good for the world.  Let’s not forget the nasty stuff happening on the outskirts of Dubai, in the coral reefs in Thailand and down a back alley behind a MacDonalds in Tallinn- in fact let’s make sure these things are thoroughly exposed (and Hickman deserves credit for this)- but let’s not start morally carpet-bombing the ‘industry’ as a whole.

Related Tags: Travel Industry, Green Travel, Leo Hickman, The Guardian, Mark Ellingham, Rough Guides, Tourism, Dubai, Thailand, Estonia

The Cutty Sark in Flames

Woke up this morning to some terrible news.  The Cutty Sark, a London landmark has gone up in flames.  As yet we do not know how damaged the ship is, but from some amateur footage acquired by the BBC it doesn’t look good.

People around the world will be talking about the uniquely aerodynamic hull, the tea races from China, its place in the heart of anyone who has ever run the London marathon.  In what I hope is not a premature epitaph, I’d like to offer a little more on what the Cutty Sark means.

I grew up in south-east London, spending large chunks of my time working and drinking in the pubs of Greenwich.  The Cutty Sark was a place to meet before heading to the park for some summer-time loafing.  A brief nod en route to the riverside path leading down to the Thamesfront Trafalgar Tavern where Dickens set a scene from Our Mutual friend, or the wonderfully eerie foot-tunnel that dives under the river.  Or perhaps a place to meet that girl you fancied a little bit.  You couldn’t miss it- the masts peeked out over the top of most buildings in the area.

And like anything that you take for granted, you only realise how important it is when it finds itself in a bit of trouble.  Anyone who has spent time in Greenwich- the post-modern indie kids, the salt of the earth pound-a-pinters, the pierced rebels, the champagne socialists (it’s quite an area, believe me) - will be crossing their fingers.  Lets hope it pulls through.

[pic grahamowen]

Related Tags: Cutty Sark, Fire, Greenwich

Why Does Travel Work So Well Online?

This was a conversation I was having with a friend today.  It's an odd one.  The fact of the matter is that nothing should be able to compensate for the experience of traveling, particularly when you are sitting behind a computer.  Yet travel does so well online.  Price comparison, review website, social networks, photo and video sharing.  Why?

As far as I can determine there are two key reasons:

Firstly there is such a large lead in time with travel that you have plenty of time to learn and research about the place you're going.  Also, the fact that it is such a relatively large financial outlay means that people are going to spend more time preparing and researching than they would if they were picking up a new digital camera.  Thus we have the proliferation of price comparison, booking services, and online guide books. 

However, this doesn't explain why people are so generous in donating their time and energy by sharing their own experiences.  For me the answer here lies in the answer to a much greater question.  What does it mean to travel?  Travel is about connecting with new people, learning about new cultures and more generally being nice to your common brothers and sisters.  This is why the social travel websites do so well.  Share experiences through photo and video sites, stay connected with the people you meet using social networking, and help others out through reviews and travel tips.

When you think about travel and the net in this way it makes a whole lot of sense.  But what do I know, why do you think travel is so successful online?

Yahoo Maps Adds Spice

Ok this is strictly only an American update, but given the nature of the web if you want to be at the centre of what is new you have to look stateside.

Yahoo Travel has begun integrating detailed, area specific maps, to places of interest across the US.  So rather than just being able to get road and traffic details, you can view info unique to that location.  For example, here in the Grand Canyon (scroll down the page) you can see walking routes, camping areas, picnic spots and other handy bits and bobs.

It's a good step forward, hopefully more places of interest will be added to the list, and like all things web, we Euros get in on the action too.

Related Tags: Yahoo!, Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! Travel, The Grand Canyon

Solidaridad

Just a quickie to let y'all know about a truly amazing project set up by a secondary school teacher in Cadiz, Spain.:

"When the bodies of 35 young men - 12 of them from the same Moroccan village of Hansala - washed ashore right outside his home on the Bay of Cádiz, Rafael Quiros, a secondary school literature teacher, decided to take action. He founded a charity to ensure that Hansala, at the foot of the Atlas mountains, does not lose any more of its husbands and sons." [full article in Guardian]

Do check out their site, and donate at Solidaridad Directa.