Try Not to Look Like a Tourist

Because we are planning our travels, all sorts of travel related posts come up on my social media feeds. One that appeared recently was asking about pickpockets, I think in Italy and if it had got worse since their last visit three years previously. 

A couple of things struck me in the responses. Firstly, how lackadaisical people are about their personal belongings in their home town. There are opportunist thieves everywhere so you should be careful wherever you are. Although it is easier to replace your lost items in your own country especially where there is no language issue.

Secondly, although most of the responses were helpful there were a few that said “don't look like a tourist”. And that misses out on the whole point of visiting other places. You want to look up, around, stop and take in all you see. Look at a map, nowadays on your phone, but many people still carry the paper maps issued by tourist information. In other words by not looking like a tourist you miss out on the whole point of being somewhere else. There was one response that said they totally look like a tourist, they take photos ask others to take photos. It was a change for a realistic response.

While I was composing this post, I received a message from a friend about what shoes to wear in Rome because she didn't want to look totally like an American tourist. An interesting question because she's going to be touristing and as soon as she speaks it will be obvious she is not local. I refrained from advising her to not be an obnoxious American and not to expect everything to be the same as home.

What Did I Knit on my Trip?

 In March, I wrote about preparing yarn to take with me. I had two issues in choosing what to take:- I wanted to use stash but also I had a limited amount of space. I wound six skeins of yarn – two DK weight and four fingering weight, plus I had a couple of 50 gram skeins already wound and a couple of yarns that came ready to use.

The problem was, once wound, the yarn took up more space than a skein that can be stuffed into a small space. So I had to pare down my choices and hope I would be able to buy yarn if needed. Before we left I cast on a fingering weight hat for airplane knitting, plus a DK weight hat and a crochet shawl. In addition I took another skein of fingering weight yarn and purchased a pattern that I wanted to make with the yarn. I also took a set of interchangeable needles and a set of crochet hooks and a small notions bag with what I thought I would need, except, as it turned out, the scrap yarn I would need for a provisional cast on.

All this yarn was used except the airplane knitting which is still on the needles.

I did not want to make yarn browsing a part of this trip but if we came across a store we would go in. One of the difficulties of buying yarn in Scandinavia is the shop opening times. In most cities the shops closed at 5.00 pm and were not open on Sundays and these times did not fit in with our days spent in museums. I was successful in two places. There is a yarn shop actually in Bergen Railway Station where I purchased sock yarn which I did use. And in Sweden we had some free time and visited three yarn shops in one town and I found a set of minis to go with some yarn that my sister had given me with a pattern for a cowl. That project was started and finished on the trip.

Towards the end of our trip I really did need more yarn (ahem, let’s just forget the yarn I purchased in Ireland)* and we went to a store in Richmond, London. Having wound a skein of sock yarn by hand, I really didn’t want to do that again so I chose a skein of DK weight yarn as I had a pattern in mind. I’m so used to using a winder and swift that winding any yarn by hand is not fun, but I did it and started the project and worked on while we were away – but did not finish.

The truly souvenir yarn I purchased was a kit for Latvian Mittens purchased in Riga. I definitely wanted to go to Hobbywool to see their selection and this was made easy by happening across it while exploring the town. It is an old looking shop in an alley. 

 

The hard part was choosing which mittens to knit – so many choices. Finally I opted for this pair.

As we were economical with space, I had to say goodbye to the box. I also chose not to start them so as to not worry about having to follow a chart in what might be less than optimal conditions.

 

*I was worried about running out of yarn and in the pouring rain in Cork, Ireland, I went looking for local yarn. I purchased a skein of sock yarn and even wound it by hand but I did not get around to using it; mainly because I could not think which pattern to use.

Air BnB Reviews

 

I had started to write this early on in our travels because the reviews and ratings that users were posting on AirBnb did not make sense. They would rate an accommodation 5 Stars but their review was less then glowing. So why a 5 Star rating?

Before I had completely written my post, we stayed at a place that had a sign that said what the rating system means. Apparently, the rating system is not the same as other rating systems and anything less than 5 stars is not good. If the accommodation is as expected then an overall 5 star rating is what you are supposed to give. Which makes a mockery of the whole system as how can you distinguish the superb from the ordinary? It also makes the number rating system meaningless if every rating is 5.

Of course I did some internet searching and came up with a subreddit – which was eye-opening (not related to ratings). There are claims, and at no point has anyone provided evidence, that anything below an average 4.3 rating gets your property removed from AirBnb. And yet there are many people who save their 5 stars for top notch properties which seems fair as why should a no-frills place be the same rating as a luxury home with top of the line amenities and a fantastic location?

What this means when searching for somewhere to stay, is that the number rating is meaningless. Are previous guests 5 star raters for everything or 4 star raters for everything except for the best of the best? And you have to hope that the written reviews are honest.

We stayed in some amazing places and some basic places, and I would reflect this in our reviews.

Why I Won’t Use FlixBus in the Future

 Caveat: all opinions are my own based on personal user experience.

There were some journeys where going by bus was the better option and FlixBus was a good price, assigned seating and amenities. The first time we used them was travelling between two Danish cities. Shortly prior to departure time I received a notification that the scheduled bus would not be a FlixBus but a local bus with a sign in the window. Check with the driver if you are unsure. One of the reasons for choosing FlixBus is their bright green livery. So here we were at a bus station with unmarked bays hoping that we didn’t miss the bus. It all worked out.

This didn’t put me off using them again. The next time was between Estonia and Latvia. Once again, shortly before departure time received a notification that it would be a local bus not a liveried FlixBus. At least this time we were at a large bus station with all departures and bays clearly signed. But the bus that turned up was a very basic bus without the amenities described on the app. The seat numbering was different and as we were not the first stop people were already sitting in the seats and area we had booked and paid extra for. The driver had blocked off two seats for his own belongings and moved them for us.

Two sub-par experiences equates to using other companies for future travel and our next bus journey with a different company was in a marked bus with no surprises.

Travelling from Belfast to Glasgow

 

I am writing this as a separate post in case it helps someone in the future. There are flights between the two cities but we eliminated this option due to timing and cost. We decided to go the ferry route but it was frustrating that the options I kept coming up with involved having to get to Belfast Harbour, take the ferry to Carnyran, then coach to Ayr, then train to Glasgow. This seemed like too many changes and it wasn’t clear what happened if any of the transportation was delayed would the coach and/or train would wait.

Eventually in my searching, I came up with an option to get on a coach at Belfast Bus Station that would take you to the ferry and then in Scotland the same coach would take you to Glasgow Bus Station. The advantage of this in addition to not having to worry about connections, was not having to carry luggage. The downside was having to leave Belfast early or arrive in Glasgow late – we went for the leave early option.

Choosing Modes of Transport

It is unnecessary to list all the different modes of transportation but I had wanted to write in this blog about some of the choices we made in choosing our travel options. Obviously, if you are on an island the choices to get off that island are limited, otherwise there is not only the choice of how to get from A to B but also which company to use.

Once we were on mainland Europe we travelled by train or bus (coach). This is because the depots are in town, usually within walking distance of the center and you don’t need to get to the station until 15 minutes before departure. Compare that with a flight. The airport is usually a little out of town so you have to add on the time to get to and from the airport plus however much time you need to get to the airport in advance, bus or train makes more sense.

So how to choose? Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was toss a coin. Although you would think that Google Maps would be a great resource, it wasn’t as useful as you would expect. And using it on a phone was a different experience to using the web version on a laptop. And ferries were not included as an option in most cases. Results differ if you input address to address or station to station. But Google Maps is a good starting point as you can see how far apart two places are and if there are any places between your A and B that you might want to stop at.

An internet search will come up with many blogs/websites/YouTubes of people’s travels, which can be interesting if they are relating their experiences or really want you to use their affiliate links or use their travel services. Through searching I found a travel blog describing a couple’s experience of the Flam Railway which impressed what I was beginning to think that it wasn’t going to work for us this trip. But searching also came up with a better way (for us) to travel from Belfast to Glasgow. I did find that individual blogs were train centric.

The first thing I would look at is if the journey is direct or requires a change. A direct journey should have less problems. After that I look at total journey time. For shorter journeys, there is often not much difference between the travel time by train or bus. I will also look at departure and arrival time and how that fits in with our accommodations. And then I look at cost. Yes, cost is not my first thought. You’d think that as the mode of transport is not changing (i.e. the train is the same regardless of price) that cost would be my first consideration but all the other factors are important considerations in choosing if it is worth paying more.

Technology and Transportation - A Good Thing

 In my last post I talked about technology and why it might not always be the answer. Transportation is definitely an area where technology is helping the traveller. Firstly just being able to check different routes and different modes on your internet enabled device. (That sounds old-fashioned but so many options now.) makes it easier to pick the right one for you, rather than the ticket office giving you one option because there is a long line behind you. With the added benefit that most transportation websites have an English option.

Tickets can be purchased and sent to your phone. Nothing to print which is difficult when you are not at home. Although I have been surprised by how many people have printed tickets. But it is a good back up. What if your phone loses power or you can't access the app? I take screen shots in case of an internet problem but that doesn't help with the power problem; so you have to keep an eye on battery level if you've been using your phone throughout the day.

Now at railway stations not only do they have the information on the next trains arriving at the platform, when the train is about to arrive the screen will indicate the number of carriages, which are for bicycles and first class and where they will be at the platform and in the UK the screen shows how full each carriage is. 

But even with all this information at your point of departure, you can follow the journey of your bus or train to see where it is and follow along once you are on. This is very useful when buses do not have information inside to indicate the next stop.

Although all this technology can cause angst, like when we were waiting for a bus in Finland at a stop with no screen just the timetable and the bus stop sign. The website had been very helpful in getting us from our hotel to the bus stop but watching the passage of the bus arrive and leave "our" bus stop was very worrying and while trying to decide what we should do, the bus turned up. We were at the stop after the one we thought we were at. We never did find the original stop and wondered if it was one of those places where the locals knew the buses stopped.

Technology and Museums - Not Always a Good Thing

We have visited many museums of many different types and it has been noticeable how they are changing -  the displays are becoming tidier and cleaner and more information is being provided. Quite often you can scan a QR code that takes you to a link where you can hear and/or read about the item. Information is provided in at least two languages - the home country's and English so many more people can learn about the displays.

So why is this not a good thing? Many museums have now added touch screens so that you can read about the objects. The problem with this is that it limits the number of people who can read about the items. You may be able to read over someone's shoulder depending on how the touch screen is placed but that doesn't help if they are reading in a different language than the one you want. Also, so much information is provided on these screens that a person could be standing at one for quite a while.

Therefore you can have two different reviews of the same museum that are both true:- great displays with much information stayed longer than expected; boring museum, not much information, not worth the money we paid.

Like anything, you are not going to please all the people and museum curators are passionate about their subject and want to spread the information and this is an easy end result. Although I am sure that it is much more work than a numbered display.

Personally, this is a dilemma, I appreciate the information but found that sometimes I was spending more time reading than looking. Technology is a good way to provide information but not the only way.

 

Blogging About Our Trip

Remember in the early days of social media when you were warned not to post that you were on vacation, at a concert etc? And now everybody's lives are spread all over the internet. 

Way back when, but only two posts ago, I wrote about choosing yarn to take on a trip, and have been silent since the end of March in a way indicating that that trip was taking place. Initially it was so that I was not giving away the exact dates of our trip and then posts were delayed because I was wondering what to write about. If it was just about knitting, there wouldn't be much to say. How many variations of, long train journey spent knitting, out all day hiking/touristing too tired to knit, could I make sound interesting?

I was unsure what I could add to what is already out there, if I wrote about the places we visited. I thought about just writing about why we chose the different forms of transport when travelling between cities, in the hopes it would be of use to someone but I wasn't sure that would be of much interest to most people. In the end I've decided to just do what I have always done for this blog - write about my crafting and whatever else interests me.

And if anyone had wanted to take the time to find my exact address during this absence, they would have been disappointed to find that there were people living in it.

 

What a Hike

We were away last week, and usually I’d be writing about vacation knitting. I might do that at a later date but today I want to tell you about a hike we did that was pretty amazing. For two reasons; 1. that I actually did it and 2. what was waiting at the end of the hike.

We have been staying in Tucson near one of the national parks. When looking at hiking options, we read many references to a cave; usually that the hiker hadn’t found it, also on one hike we bumped into some people who said they were now going to look for the cave and when I asked they said it was special because it had ancient paintings in it. (As an aside this family, parents and adult child, had recently moved from Minnesota because they didn’t want to do winter anymore. Totally in agreement with that.)

DH did some (re)searching and found a blog post that gave detailed instruction with photos as to how to find this cave as the trail was not marked on any of the plentiful maps throughout the park.

Off we went on our little adventure. We were able to find the trail which was an off shoot of the main trail and was well laid out but not signposted. After going up and around a hill we came to a wash, looked up and saw the cave opening. At this point I might have said something like I’m not going up there. Also at this part of the hike the trail was less marked out but still easy to follow.

What we’re aiming for.

 

 

The last part was a bit of a scrabble, but I made it. This is the view looking out from the cave. I definitely didn’t allow myself to think I have to get back down again. 

 

 

The entrance to the cave was wide and flat so it was easy to stand or sit and look at the paintings. It is amazing that they have not been defaced and nobody has added their own art or carving. My husband is sitting down in this picture so you can get an idea of the size of the cave. 

 

 

 

I’m really glad we did this and I decided to just go for it and not think about it.

A Series of Photos Culminating in a Shawl

I could say I had no plans to make this pattern but that would be stupid because it was only released at the very end of July this year. Really what happened is that it was discussed at knitting group as it is a design by a friend - who has now moved. And as I had an upcoming vacation and I hadn't planned my knitting this seemed perfect plus I knew which two yarns in my stash I would use.

Looking at my blog posts from last year, I have not mentioned these yarns - how remiss - they were purchased at the Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta. (As of the time of writing I hope to be able to attend this year's Fiesta.)

Anyway, these are the two yarns I chose.



The dyer is Squirrel Stash, who, sadly, is no longer dying. I bought four skeins of yarn (and a stitch marker) at the Fiesta and this was the only booth where I bought two skeins. Unfortunately it meant another vendor missed out as I was limiting myself to four skeins.



When I chose these skeins I chose them individually, in fact I had a hard time just choosing two, but as I was paying for them someone mentioned how well they went together. This must have stuck in the back of my mind as at no time since purchase have I considered them for socks.

I think you will agree they work well together in this pattern. Unfortunately, for my "out" numbers I cannot record balls out as the pattern does not use full skeins of yarn. I used 85 grams of the blue and 65 grams of the cream. I contemplated making the last section longer to use more of the blue and maybe if I had been at home I would have done. This was a perfect vacation knit as I started and finished it while I was away and just had to block it when I got home. As you will see from the photos that was not so easy.