General Travel Articles

List of Trip Reports published on SlowTrav 2000 - 2014. With author's permission trip reports are republished on the Slow Europe Travel Forums. Reports that have been moved are marked * and linked to new location. Note that currently I am moving Europe trip reports. Other countries will be moved later. If you would like your trip report moved, contact Pauline on the Slow Europe forums. To find your trip report in this list, use CTRL F (search) to find trip reports by your SlowTalk member name. Title Year Countries Traveler Contest Moved List of Trip Reports 2114: A Few Days Around Conwy, Northeast Wales (moved) We spent a few days in May exploring the area around Conwy with ruined castles, stately homes, churches and...

Brexit has changed a lot of things for UK travelers. The UK is no longer part of the EU and UK travelers to the EU are now treated like all other non-EU travelers. I have outlined the most important below. To Enter an EU Country: You may need to show proof of accommodation reservations or a return ticket to home to enter the EU (the first country you enter in the EU). Passport: Must not expire within 6 months of the start of your trip. Time allowed in EU: UK residents are now the same as other non-EU countries - you can visit the EU for 90 days out of 180 days. Health Insurance: UK GHIC/EHIC health insurance cards (free to UK residents) cover your medical costs in EU countries, as they did before Brexit (this was negotiated in our...

Slow Travel is a way of travel that lets you experience a place in depth. Spend longer in one place instead of spreading your vacation time over several places. A week in a place lets you settle in and get below the surface. Create your own list of “must sees”. Take time before your trip to research the area, finding the things that you want to do. Don’t let someone’s “Top 10” list determine your schedule. For example, spend a week on a farm in Tuscany. Settle in and experience small town life. Have coffee each morning at the same café, buy your groceries from the local shops, visit the weekly market. Do a few day trips to the more well-known places, but return in the evening to your peaceful retreat. Spending a week in one place...

In the 1990s Chet and Carolee Lipton wrote a brilliant set of books about hiking in Europe: Walking Easy in the Swiss Alps Walking Easy in the Italian Alps Walking Easy in the French Alps Walking Easy in the Austrian Alps In the 2000s these books were updated and combined into two books. New locations were added. Walking Easy in the Italian and French Alps (last edition in 2002) Walking Easy in the Swiss and Austrian Alps (last edition in 2007) These books list several good hiking locations where you can base for a week and then give several easy hikes for the area. There is so much hiking information around now that we don't need the hike descriptions, but the list of places they chose are good for planning a hiking/walking trip. I...

Planning a trip to Europe is time consuming, so start planning well in advance of the trip. If you will be staying in vacation rentals, start planning at least six months before your travel dates so you can book the accommodations that you want. The Very First Thing to Do Check your passport - Most countries require that your passport be valid for six months past the start date of your trip. Check your passport and renew it if necessary. Planning and Preparation If this your first trip to Europe start by reading a good "Introduction to Europe" travel guide. I recommend: Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door: The Travel Skills Handbook or The Rough Guide to First-Time Europe Decide When to Go - High season in Europe is July and...

Pauline Kenny and Steve Cohen own and run the Slow Europe website. Pauline was the founder of Slow Travel (slowtrav.com), a large online travel community, which she ran from 2000 to 2007. She sold the website to Internet Brands Inc. in 2007 and they ran it for ten years until they closed the website in 2017. Pauline started the Slow Europe website in 2009. The Travel Forums were added in 2014. Over the years the Slow Europe website has changed. It started as a list of resources for finding vacation rentals in Europe with some travel articles, then travel forums were added. We then added a system to display day trips - things to do in different countries. Originally the travel articles and day trips were separate from the forums but...

Memories – of the SlowTrav Contest 2004 Note: This is a memory of our first SlowTrav contest in 2004. The Slow Travel Contest - July 2004 Our 3rd Year Anniversary contest was held in July 2004 to celebrate the anniversary of the message board (started spring 2001). This was our first contest and it was a great success!! Many thanks to all those who generously donated such wonderful prizes and to those who worked hard to enter the contest. We received over 50 photo essays, 75 trip reports and 70 travel notes. All are posted on the website. The deadline for submitting entries was July 1. Between July 1 and 15, the moderators read all the entries and picked out 50 winners. On July 15, these names were put into a hat and drawn in order...

Memories – of the SlowTrav Contest 2006 Note: This is a memory of our second SlowTrav contest in 2006. The Contest Drawing Our friend Connie helped us with the drawing. Last time Valerie was our helper and she was going to be again this time, but she had to cancel at the last minute, so Connie came to our rescue! Steve and Connie drawing the contest winners It took us nearly 2 hours to draw the 100 winners. Steve drew the name (which was on a folded paper and taped closed), Connie opened the paper and read the name. I typed it into the message board thread. Chris and Amy were on the speakerphone and one of them typed it into the chat room. Our Grand Prizes - Vacation Rentals (one week stay) Summer In Italy - Campania, Italy...

I am sensitive to the synthetic fragrances that have become increasingly popular the world over. These are the chemicals used in personal body products, laundry products, cleaning products, scented candles, and air fresheners to give them a “smell”. These fragrances are not regulated by government agencies and research has shown that they can be harmful to humans, not just to those who notice them and feel sick around them. If a product has the ingredient “parfum”, “perfume” or “fragrance”, they probably have these harmful chemicals in them (unless they also say “from natural sources”). I can make my home fragrance-free, but it is problematic when traveling. I have been dealing with this for 20 years and have some ideas to make your...

Phone Number Basics A phone number consists three parts; the international direct dialing number, the country code and the local phone number. A phone number may show + at the start. This means "dial the international direct dialing number for the country you are calling from". In the US/Canada this is 011. In Europe it is 00. A phone number may have a number in brackets. This means you do not dial this number when calling it from outside the country. Let's look at an example UK phone number: +44 (0)7403-999999. The + means dial your international direct dialing number. The brackets around the 0 indicate that this is dialled only if you are in the UK on a local phone. If calling from outside the country that zero is dropped. Italian...

What is Geocaching? Geocaching is an electronic treasure hunt. One finds caches at listed GPS co-ordinates. Why Geocache? Many geocaches are in interesting or picturesque places. I would have missed once in a lifetime views had I not hunted geocaches. Most memorable is the panoramic view I was treated to high above Ephesus. If one has children or grandchildren, it is a way to engage the whole family in an activity. Some geocaches are listed as “child friendly” and contain small toys. There are numerous meets throughout Europe and the Americas where one can exchange ideas and establish new friendships. Many cities have local clubs that meet regularly. Some sponsor events. Equipment: One requires a GPS unit or a smartphone with GPS...

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) produces great dramas, comedies and news shows. Every household pays a TV license (around £150 per year) which pays for the BBC, so you have public ownership of the part of the media. There are three BBC channels - BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC Four. Recently BBC Three went to online only. BBC One has the best shows. BBC Four specializes in those Scandi murder shows. There are other channels that are not part of the BBC – ITV, Channel Four, etc. Use a VPN to Watch British TV Shows Online Most of the British TV channels have websites where you can watch the shows if you missed them when they were broadcast. But, you can’t watch them online if you don’t live in the United Kingdom. Unless you use...

Many TV networks allow only people in their country to watch their TV shows online. For example, if you live in the US, you cannot watch BBC shows online. Or if you live in Europe, you cannot watch Jon Stewart's The Daily Show online. Or can you? Yes you can. Use a VPN (virtual private network) to "fake" your IP address, so you look like you are in that country and then you can access their TV on the internet. The TV websites look at your IP address, the internet address where you logged in, and can tell what country you are in. The VPN lets you chose where you login. So if you want to watch UK TV online, log in via the UK. I use Witopia which you pay for, but @Jim Zurer recommends HOLA which is free. And there are other options.