With decades of experience as a travel writer, this author has ventured beyond the realm of traditional guidebooks. Their latest work, "Takoradi to the stars (via Huddersfield)," is billed as 'travels from heart and home,' reflecting a deeper search for meaning gleaned from extensive global journeys. This offering invites readers who resonate with personal narratives interwoven with the spirit of exploration. The author further engages with audiences through a blog, sharing travel stories and insights, fostering a continued connection with the world of discovery.
"Left at 11am to go pirate-hunting." Wait, what? When Jules reads his grandfather's diary, he discovers he's not the first in his family with travel stories to tell. Looking for his own adventures, Jules crosses continents while learning the ropes as a Rough Guide writer. And because travel is unpredictable, there's no knowing what his next trip will bring. Surviving the outback, drunk by breakfast time in Montenegro, asked to sing at a Sicilian wedding, appearing as Santa in a Portuguese school - the life of a travel writer can take a wrong turn now and again. From scary lizards to Highland warriors, it seems that pirates are not the only things to worry about when you're born to travel.
You'd think a long-time travel writer would have some great travel tips. You'd think. Jules learns about travel the hard way, whether it's setting out on his first European hitch-hiking adventure, writing about offbeat destinations for Rough Guides, or braving the shouty waiters of Naples on the hunt for the world's best pizza. Not everything goes according to plan - what happened in Bali stays in Bali - but during a life in travel, Jules has racked up enough useful tips to fill a book. Just not this book. Hit the road with Jules - from Scotland to the South Pacific - and you're guaranteed a great story, a good laugh and an occasional heartfelt sob. As long as you don't listen to his advice, you'll be absolutely fine.
Previously published as Takoradi to the Stars (via Huddersfield) by Jules Brown It's the job of his dreams. Get paid to travel and write about it. Only no one told Jules that it would mean eating oily seabirds, repeatedly falling off a husky sled, getting stranded on a Mediterranean island, and crash-landing in Iran. The exotic destinations come thick and fast - Hong Kong, Hawaii, Huddersfield - as Jules navigates what it means to be a travel writer in a world with endless surprises up its sleeve. Add in a cast of larger-than-life characters - Elvis, Captain Cook, his own travel-mad Dad - and an eye for the ridiculous, and this journey with Jules is one you won't want to miss.
When L.J. Brown's marriage broke down, she threw herself back into the dating game. From online encounters to old flames, this book charts a journey of sex and exploration, passion and drama. Will she ever meet the man of her dreams, or will she just find herself in a whole lot of trouble? Laugh-out-loud funny in places, unexpectedly moving in others, 'A Year of Tiramisu' is a rollercoaster ride. Not for the easily offended or faint hearted!
This is a comprehensive and up-to-the-minute guidebook to Britain. It includes recommendations of the best places to stay, eat and drink, in all budget ranges. It also includes accounts of every type of attraction.
Introduction Hong Kong is a beguiling place to visit: a land whose aggressive capitalist instinct is tempered by an oriental concern with order and harmony. Indeed, whatever you've heard about it, the most important thing to remember is that, despite 150 years of British colonial rule and the modern city's cosmopolitan veneer, Hong Kong is, and always has been, Chinese. The glittering skyline imitates others throughout the world; the largest department stores are Japanese-owned; you can take English high tea to the accompaniment of a string quartet; there's cricket and horse-racing, pubs and cocktail lounges. But for most of the Chinese locals - 98 percent of a population of almost seven million - life still follows a pattern that many mainland Chinese would recognize as their own: hard work and cramped housing; food bought from teeming markets and street stalls; and a polytheistic religion celebrated in the home, in smoky temples, and during exuberant festivals. Recent years, however, have been far from easy for Hong Kong. The enormous political upheaval that accompanied the handing back of the territory to China in 1997 was followed almost immediately by the Asian economic crisis, during which stockmarket and property markets collapsed and unemployment reached its highest levels for 25 years. And though fears that the Chinese government would interfere in the running of Hong Kong after the British left have proved to be generally unfounded, they have been replaced by concerns that the territory's own leadership lacks the experience necessary to run such a sophisticated and fast-changing society, with local officials trying to second-guess the wishes of Beijing. Even so, visitors to Hong Kong will find that little has changed - superficially at least - since the handover. Many practical matters, such as entry requirements, have remained unaffected, and the city has lost none of its interest: the architecture is an engaging mix of styles, from the stunning towers of Central to ramshackle town housing and centuries-old Chinese temples; the markets and streetlife are compelling; while the shopping - if no longer the bargain it once was - is eclectic, from open-air stalls to hi-tech malls. Hong Kong is also one of the best places in the world to eat Chinese food (and a good many other cuisines besides), while the territory's Western influence has left in a plentiful selection of bars and nightspots. If there's a downside, it's that commercialism and consumption tend to dominate life. Cultural matters have been less well catered for, though a superb Cultural Centre, several new or improved museums, and an increasing awareness of the arts - both Chinese and Western - are beginning to change that. Sixty kilometres west across the Pearl River estuary, Macau (due to be returned to China in December 1999) makes Hong Kong look like the gaudy arriviste colony it is. In 1557, almost three hundred years before the British arrived in southern China, the Portuguese set up base here, and although Hong Kong and its harbour later surpassed the older enclave in terms of trading importance, Macau absorbed its Portuguese associations and culture in a way that Hong Kong never did with Britain. Smaller and more immediately attractive than its neighbour, Macau remains a pleasant contrast to the madness across the water in Hong Kong. It's one of Asia's most enjoyable spots for a short visit, its Chinese life tempered by an almost Mediterranean influence, manifest in the ageing Catholic churches, hilltop fortresses and a grand seafront promenade. Of course, like Hong Kong, Macau is Chinese - 95 percent of its population speak Cantonese. All the temples and festivals of southern China are reproduced here, but few come to Macau to pursue them, believing - perhaps rightly - that such things are done bigger and better in Hong Kong. Instead, Macau offers alternative attractions. Eating here is one of the highlights of any trip to the region - even on a short visit to Hong Kong it's worth taking the jetfoil over for a meal: Macanese food is an exciting combination of Portuguese colonial cooking, with dishes and ingredients taken from Portugal itself, Goa, Brazil, Africa and China, washed down with cheap, imported Portuguese wine, port and brandy. And with gambling illegal in Hong Kong, except for betting on horse-races, the Hong Kong Chinese look to Macau's various casinos to satisfy their almost obsessive desire to dice with fortune.
Portugalsko je neobyčejně krásnou zemí. Modravé řeky, husté lesy a zelená údolí střední a severní části země jsou v ostrém protikladu k jižnímu křivolakému pobřeží s jeho četnými zátokami, útesy a písčinami. O tom všem pojednává předkládaný turistický průvodce.
