George on the Go has moved!

That's right from now on find all new George on the Go at

www.georgeonthego.org

Same stuff just on Wordpress

Hope you like the change!

George on the Go is ... On the Go!

That's right guys, while Blogger has been good to me, sorting me out when I knew nothing about blogging, I am bowing to societal pressure and moving the blog to Wordpress. I am also buying a domain so that is nice.

While I know that this is like starting from a blank slate and it will take a while to get it back up on Google, comment with the new address etc I think in the long run it will be for the best.

Same stuff, just moving. I'm slowly moving all the old blogs (and tidying them up a bit) over the next few days, and then I will post a link on here. There will be a crossover for a while, while people get used to the new change.

So get ready for the all new George on the Go.

Vaccinations next week too eppp, wish me luck!

I have Never ....

No this post is not about the drinking game I detest so much, but about a confession. I cringe, I shrink back in my chair, I try to wriggle out of it, but the truth is for a traveller, I haven’t really travelled.

The Blog is a lie.

Admittedly I had a late start in life. Family trips to Butlins as a child are hardly worthy entries into the travel journal. The only holiday we went on as an entire family, outside of the UK, was to Gran Canaria on a last minute deal, and by last minute I mean we packed and left the next day. Back then we didn’t have the luxury of choice. I’m not saying I did not revel in the 5 hour flight or the hours sweltering in the pool, I loved it, it was a little piece of luxury. However, it was hardly the rough style of travel I’m now accustomed to. Where Ryanair flights are booked, nights are spent sleeping in Stansted, and with little thought I’m staying in a different country every other month.

So what have I never done, READ MORE>>

How to Schwarzfahren – A Guide to Train Travel in Germany Without Paying

Firstly, as a disclaimer I would like to say I do not encourage anyone to get on a train in Germany without paying,  if you choose to do so I take no responsibility for what happens to you.

 As a warning now I will tell you that if you get caught on a train in Germany without a ticket you will be fined 40€ or double the train fare (whatever is more) and the fine increases the longer you don’t pay it.

That being said, if I WERE to give it a go …. I probably would follow these guidelines.

Do have your excuse ready. READ MORE>>

The Vaterland vs The Land of my Fathers – Thoughts of an Ex Ex-Pat

I have been in Germany 2 days now and all I keep thinking is boy do I miss living here. I miss good, cheap beer, I miss pizza and ice cream for lunch and most of all I miss every weekend catching a train and exploring a little bit more of Europe. But where would I rather live Germany where I spent the best year of my life so far, or Wales where I was born and raised. Like many others I made a pros and cons list.

Food

Plenty of vegan food on offer at the all  you can eat Chinese, Cardiff YUM!

I’m a pretty lazy vegan. READ MORE>>

How to Sleep Anywhere

I am a sleep expert. Not as in I know a lot about sleep, just that I can sleep anywhere. Asides from the coaches, planes, noisy hostel rooms I’ve also slept in some more unconventional places; in clubs, in the queue for clubs, in the middle of the street and almost every trip I take, usually results in at least one night sleeping in the airport. People have often asked me how I can not care about spending my nights in Stansted airport, so I thought I would share my advice.

Large Hostel Dorms

I know a lot of people are put off by the idea of staying in a large hostel dorm due to snoring, READ MORE>>

Top 5 Myths about Hitchhiking

Before leaving for my hitch hike across the continent, I had many pleas for me not to go and risk my life. When fundraising one guy working at the foreign office told us he’d see us again once we’d been raped and murdered. Optimistic! But as they say there is no smoke without fire and all theses tragic stories of hitchers hacked to death while on the road are true and do happen. However, in my opinion, the mere fact that these stories are so famous is because they are so rare. If these murders were a day to day occurrence you would never hear about them. After hearing all these terrible things about hitching I thought I would bust some myths.

1. You will get raped and die.

Ok a fairly dramatic one to begin with but READ MORE>>

Top 5 Tips for Dublin on a Budget

Before I left for Dublin I had everyone telling me just how expensive it is, but being a poor student it meant that I didn’t have a lot of dosh to blow. At the same time I wanted to really enjoy my time there and I did so with only £50 spending money. These are my top 5 tips for doing as I did.

   1.  Utilize your hostel

Hostels always have tonnes of great (free or cheap) activities to do that will keep those Euros in your pocket. From the kitchen to book swap, free meals and walking tours, try it all. In general hostels are a great place for meeting new people and don’t be afraid to ask the staff what great cheap things there are to do. Chances are they know them all off by heart.

    2.  Prioritise

A lot of life is about compromise. READ MORE>>

Hostel Review - Times Hostel College Street - Dublin

I have stayed in a lot of hostels in my time, from the scammers (Dar Warda, Fez) to the downright disgusting (Hostel 63, London) to the ridiculous friendly (Oporto Invinctus, Porto) and by now I’ve got a taste for what I like in a hostel. I like it fun and friendly with a community sort of vibe. When travelling is a priority sadly you have to keep things cheap, but with the right hostel that’s always an option.

Toilet doors are normally a must.

Times Hostel College Street was warm and welcoming from the beginning. READ MORE>>

Slags and Statistics - 3 days in Dublin

Last weekend I spent my time in Dublin with 200 other students from the World @ Warwick society. I’m not sure if it was the sleep deprivation or the copious amounts of Guinness but I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in a long long time (A particular half an hour stint of laughter caused by Silkie buying a 4€ cheese sandwich comes to mind, you probably had to be there).

Cheese sandwiches aren't actually funny are they.

My preconceptions of Dublin I must say were completely blown out of the water. I heard Dublin is expensive (it’s not too bad), that the only thing you can afford to buy is Guinness (Carling is cheaper) and that all Irish people are drunks (we met an Irish girl who doesn’t drink, just doesn’t like to).

What surprised me most about Ireland? For lack of a better term: the slags. Now I’m not saying that all Irish girls are slags, far from it, most Irish girls are pretty classy and respectable, but when an Irish girl decides to slag out they go all out! I thought England was the nation of inappropriately dressed ladies with short dresses and heels even in the snow but Ireland goes one step further.

Sorry didn't get any pics of slags but I got this at the Guinness factory.

Asides from the nations aversion to tights even in driving rain and it being only 5 degrees outside: one particular girl comes to mind; bright orange, make up an inch thick, hair that hadn’t been brushed in maybe forever, stumbling up the stairs in her 6 inch heels, her bum cheeks poking out the bottom, nips out the top and in case that wasn’t enough flesh on show the whole ensemble had two holes in the side to let her stomach protrude outwards.

And it’s not just the girls, I saw many a boy greased back hair trying desperately to get his hands into a girls knickers at the bar. READ MORE>>

Interview with Denise from The Art of Slow Travel

Den Den at the Berlin Wall

Name: Denise Pulis

Where are you from?: Malta

Where are you now?: In Hanoi after having lived in Zurich, Switzerland for almost 2 and a half years.

Website: www.theartofslowtravel.com

Twitter: @artofslowtravel

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theartofslowtravel

What are your current travel plans?

I’m in Hanoi for the next three weeks to complete a CELTA course, then I’m travelling around the country for another 3 weeks, then flying to Singapore and travelling there for  1 week, before finally and officially emigrating to Melbourne Australia. Phew that sounds like a lot of work!

What inspired you to travel? READ MORE>>

5 Strange Things About Germany

1.       Access to Medicine

People regularly cross the tracks (left) despite the fact that the 300kmph ICE passes through here many times a day. Yet you can’t buy paracetamol.

Germany is a nation known for its no speed limit autobahns, where the German citizens happily zoom up and down at 100+ miles an hour, all day every day, while moaning about our motorways like we’re the mental ones. Yet you can’t buy paracetamol in the supermarket because of the government’s fears that you might top yourself. When I was in a pharmacy and I asked for the medicine. The sale assistant showed me an aisle full of herbs and honey. I stated “No the REAL medicine” she looked at me intensely as if she was checking that my eyes were functioning properly. “This is the REAL medicine” and she walked off shaking her head. To get paracetamol you have to go to the Apotheke and describe your symptoms to see if you are deemed fit (or unfit as the case is) for the product. It’s only open during school hours and even then it is 5€ a box. I had my mum to send it over; it was substantially cheaper and more convenient.

2.       Girls school wear

Girls in Dirndls show more individuality than the average German girl day to day!

As Germany is situated between France and Italy home to two of the biggest fashion capitals of the world, it baffles me how German girls only have the one look. As in Germany there is no such thing as a school uniform, day in day out girls all across Germany squeeze into their skinny jeans, hike into their converse and slap a T-shirt on top. In school we were dying to express ourselves and from a fashion forward place like Britain I really find it hard to comprehend their lack of desire to spread individuality (she types in her sweatpants). Their banal fashion could possibly be down to the fact that the only cheap, fashionable young girls clothes shop they have in Germany is H&M, but even they, I believe, sell dresses, skirts and all manner of items of clothing. Come on ladies mix it up a bit. READ MORE>>

Blast from the Past: Munich Oktoberfest

Coming somewhere in almost every drunkards bucket list is the world famous Munich Oktoberfest and yes ladies and gentleman for the famous fests 200th birthday I was there in very inappropriate faux German attire.

Not willing to spend 100€s in dirndls we opted for the fancy dress ones with COLD consequences.

Unfortunately the lengths of our dirndls (dresses) did not correspond with the freezing weather outside but we powered through regardless. We were camping because all the hostels were full and anyway they were around 100€ a night so instead we paid 15€ a night to freeze to death in a tent (not that we slept). 

Our tent was COLD

The first night only having three days at the fest we headed straight out READ MORE>>

Blast from the Past: Finnish SitSit

The man ran down the aisle carrying a chainsaw ..... he came closer and closer and then........ he slipped.....

But more on that later. You know how I say I always wish I had blogged about Germany .... no maybe not but I do say that and I thought

Hey why don't I do that now!


My brain is still swimming with all the cool blogtacular information and seeing as I'm not going anywhere (for the next 30 odd days) I thought I would start off with one of my faves. Not only was this one of my favourite memories of 2011 but also my favourite city and country that's right you guessed it (or didn't based on how well you know me) ........

It's Helsinki baby!!


But George I hear you cry, how can you like Helsinki it's soooo cold. Why yes it is children look ...

This photo was taken in March, it was -10c snowing everyday but that didn't stop Finland from being KICK-ASS!  READ MORE>>

Morocco: Top 5 Travel Tips!

O.K. I've done top 5 travel tips before but these are specifically for Morocco so if you are going or even interesting in going some day here are just some things to remember.

1. Be Aware of Scams!

My friend got scammed by the black henna ladies. She grabbed her arm and then stole 100dh from her. As you can see she was not very happy about it.

This almost doesn't have to be said but the variety of scams out there is amazing. I could make a top 10 of scams by themselves but I'll just list a few here. Trust noone! Not even the hostel as we found out the hard way. Be wary of guides and where they are taking you make sure they are not taking you anywhere you can't find your way back. Don't take pictures of people before negotiating the price. People walk around with monkeys and snakes as well and if they place one on you they will want you to pay whether you wanted it or not. Don't let the black henna ladies get hold of your hand. Again they'll tell you it's free, then charge you and finally Don't leave money in pockets that are easy to access. Again seems obvious, but children in particular are trained to be pickpockets and there tiny fingers can reach into a pocket undetected.

2. Haggle EVERYTHING!

That's right you can haggle pretty much anything, READ MORE>>

Looking Back and Moving Forward: My 2011 and the year ahead!

Before I post my top 5 tips for Morocco I thought I would reflect a little ...

2011 was an interesting year for me I've lived in 3 countries (4 if you count England and Wales as separate countries) visited 10 different countries (5 new) and truly caught the travel bug. So here is how my year went.

January - Italy, Spain, The Netherlands
I started the year off the year with NYE in Cardiff then instead of flying home I went straight to my friends in Brescia and visited Venice (which I didn't like). Brescia however charmed the pants off me and quickly became my favourite city. After going back to Germany I also had a long weekend with my friends in Barcelona (which I was also not a huge fan of) and finished January off with an excellent weekend visiting a friend in Amsterdam!

February - Hamburg and Munich
For once I spent the whole month in the same country but that doesn't mean I didn't travel. We started off the month with a trip to Hamburg and it's famous Reeperbahn and I also met up with loads of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year student from my Uni for a fun filled weekend in Munich.

READ MORE>>

Marrakesh: The Final Chapter

I know this has been a long time coming, to be honest I wanted to get all these posts written quickly before the memory of Morocco was fading away, but with Christmas, Essay and a general case of the lazies (and FB crapping out on me) it never got done. After this I still have my top Morocco tips to pass on as well so I'll have to pull my finger out and make sure that's done before I go to Dublin, the life of a traveller. Anyway on with the story ......

So the next morning we awoke to Marrakesh and it was a whole new world. The markets were VERY busy but not intimidating, and we got right into it and started to haggle. Of course you won't get anything for the price that a local would but we gave it our very best and got a lot of bargains. Scarves for £3, Bags for £2.50, Earrings for 50p. Marrakesh in December is perfect, just in time to get some great Christmas shopping bargains and it was a nice 15 degrees so you didn't walk about feeling like your face was going to melt off.

Shots of the Markets at Marrakesh make you realise how far from home you really are.

The markets were really stunning and we had a lot of fun pushing prices down to the bare minimum often walking off and trying other stalls and always getting called back READ MORE>>