Changing face of Bristol

Bristol's so changed since I last visited, that even my map is out of date. It's clean, easy to walk around and by the station and harbour it is filled with huge spaces that are fun to linger in and easy to reach by bike too.
Dead ringer for Sydney?

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how to enjoy a fab festival and get that Sydney-feel, just by taking a trip to Bristol (ideally between 9-17 June).  This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).   

Bristol hopes to copy Edinburgh festival's "must be there" status during its annual June biggreenweek. Running from 9-17 June, Bristol's Big Green Week 2012 boasts comedy, music, film, talks, poetry, art and family events. £8 seems to be the top price tickets and there are plenty of free events too.

"Bristol has a festival every week," explains my friend as we pass a large marquee being put up for the German Beer Festival. We're down at the harbourside - although still a long way from the sea - cycling around after a day at the typeface, and it's a lovely place to be. All that water, space and big venues make you think of the Australian lifestyle. On a warm day with blue skies you definitely could imagine yourself Sydney-side, maybe even Brisbane.

The point of the Big Green Week is that it inspires change. Wherever you are in the green spectrum this is the chance to get buzzed up by Dragons Den's Deborah Meaden, the amazing poet Matt Harvey (he calls himself a Wondermentalist on BBC Radio 4) plus old favourites such as Jonathon Porritt from Forum for the Future, Juliet Davenport from fab Good Energy, Tim Smit from the Eden Project and environmental lawyer Polly Higgins who is determined to sort out the UN.

Cash and conscience
Festivals may seem like a fun place to meet up with friends - but they can inject considerable sums into the economy, never mind spread ideas. The 2012 January Sydney festival is thought to have brought in A$56.8 million (more than £35 million!!!) to the New South Wales economy (13% up on last year).


It can be hard to make money from those greens who lack the super-consumer gene so I shall be looking carefully at how Bristol's Big Green Week balances its books. But if it was a success - not just drawing in lots of people, but getting people to be more inspired from a green perspective and adding a nice flash of cash to the city how impressive would that be? I reckon engineer Brunel (see pix above) who had a very up and down relationship to money, despite his impressively inventive and well-remembered career, would be well proud.

Take a Dickens pub crawl

A pub crawl to suit any visitor to London.

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how to walk in Charles Dickens footsteps.  This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).   

Not long ago Will Self (an infamous novelist, well-known Brompton/fold-up cyclist) wrote a fascinating piece about walking in towns, see here. Apparently 100 years ago 90 per cent of all Londoner's journeys less than six miles were walked. Even the school run. Nowadays we're all too time pressed to even consider doing this. But it's interesting to think how much it would change our lives (and physiques, and appetites) if we did. And the combination of walking and a good look-see at London is a great way to get to know the layers of history this vast city offers.

Charles Dickens is famous for walking around London - no doubt done to avoid his home, identify new characters and work out tricky plots. When we next have guests from overseas I look forward to taking them on this Charles Dickens pub crawl where the great man used to pop into to dry out, warm up or chat.

Where to go for your Dickens Pub Crawl
On our (three evening!) pub crawl (we had to trial it if we were going to offer proper great expectations...) a combination of the A-Z map, Pete, me Nicola, Matthew, Ann and Hannah went to:

The One Tun, Saffron Hill, EC1 (near Farringdon Road tube)
This is now a football pub and really rather hideous. But Charles Dickens may well have borrowed one of its regulars, a man called Ikey Solomons, to dream up Fagin from Oliver Twist.
Verdict: think of it as a warm up. Pubs will only get better.

The Bleeding Heart Tavern, Bleeding Heart yard, EC1
This is really a posh wine bar/restaurant but there's a lovely nook you can sit in and dream about how the cobbled yard behind the pub was the home of the Plomish family in Little Dorrit
Verdict: so close to The One Tun and Ye Olde Mitre that you might want to linger

Ye Olde Mitre, Ely Court, EC1 (just off Hatton Gardens)
This is ever-so lovely and though it seems small it has two back rooms, a front room and an upstairs. They serve a fab range of beers, plus serve traditional City pub fare (think Scotch eggs). Lots of oak panelled walls. Both Dr Johnson and Charles Dickens here - your pub quiz question is could they have done so on the same day?* (answer below)
Verdict: fab

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, 145 Fleet Street, EC4 (near St Pauls tube or Holborn tube)
Just as good as Ye Olde Mitre, but with many more rooms, each with a rather different character - the stand up and drink until sick; the eatery, the snugs. It was built in 1667 and creeks, in a good way. Some say it's the pub that features in A Tale of Two Cities when Sydney asks Charles Darnay to dine after his acquittal from the charge of high treason.
Verdict: definitely a good place to celebrate life.

Ye Olde Watling, Watling Street, EC1
Actually I didn't make this venue on the pub crawl, but it was allegedly built by Sir Christopher Wren as a hostel for the guys building St Pauls. Dickens loved this pub... plus it's got 10 different real ales on tap, and lovely old beams.
Verdict: one of the best

Ye Olde Wine Shades, 6 Martin Lane, EC4 (near Monument tube)
Slight problem, it's not a pub - it's a posh City wine bar but it is l-o-v-e-l-y. It's also possibly the oldest pub in London - although that title could be the Lamb & Flag in Fleet Street, or Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (see above) or loads of others along by the Thames. What is known is that this pub survived the 1666 Great Fire of London. Serves terrible chips, but the oak walls, generous wine glasses, mixed nuts and snugs and settles (wooden benches with backs) make up for that small hiccup.
Verdict: great place to go early in the evening as it's busier at lunch times... and the Monument to the fire of London is only a short stroll away.

George & Vulture, 3 Castle Court, EC3
This is deep in the city and was shut on the Friday evening when I reached it (how strange is that?), but maybe it is a restaurant now.  It has been the HQ for the Pickwick Club - run by fans of Charles Dickens. Despite the history don't bother. Luckily if you are just going for a peep, the oldest coffee house in London happens to be down the same alleyway, Jamaica Wine House, and that at least now serves beer and wine to the City suits, and pub crawlers...
Verdict: forget it

I found all this info out on a downloadable pdf created by islington council.
PUB QUIZ ANSWER: * no of course not! Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Thinking Japanese

Shakespeare at the Globe in all the world's languages (well, some), and next door at the Tate an art show doing its best to help us spot what's an international language.

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how to enjoy a long wet weekend learning new languages.  This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).   

Japan - the home of cute and fluffy. Diminutive. Polite. Actually the polar opposite of Japan's most famous female artist - Yayoi Kusama. She was born in 1929, an immense length of time ago, in a town 130 miles away from Tokyo.

Now 83 years old, she's got a major exhibition at Tate Modern (rivalling Damien Hirst's naughty shock show of sharks, jewel-encrusted skulls and butterfly farming).

Kusama spent years living in the States - imagine that leap of faith after what her generation had lived through during World War 2. She seems to have fallen into pop art before the pop artists and is without fail going to impress you.

Nell's 10-year-old friend Anna went to see it and claimed the show was mostly about spots. I was quite surprised to find it's mostly about willies in the early 1960s, although spots definitely become the main focus as she grows older.

It's sad that she's spent so many years living in a Japanese hospital - but the spots keep multiplying, and her output is amazing, and very pricey to buy. Clearly that's the sign of fabulous health care.

See Kusama until 5 June 2012 at the Tate Modern.

Spider silk as the new world wide web?

Nell eyes up the spider silk cloak - designs in the background.

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how to take a rainy day trip to the V&A museum to experience a very special Madagascan skill (not for arachnophobes). This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).  


Q: What's golden, glows in a dimly lit room, is covered in embroidered spiders (Nell found 66) but made from a material stronger than steel? The answer is a golden yellow spider silk cloak - currently the most beautiful exhibit in the V&A museum. Though as it's decorated with spiders, and harvested from spider silk I'm quite prepared for spider-fearers to call it nightmarish...

Turns out that Madagascar has had a spider silk spinning industry for more than 100 years and the skill goes back at least 300 years. In Madagascar they use the female golden orb spider - a big bodied, skinny legged fierce (canabilistic) critter. The spiders aren't as biddable as silk worms. They need to be caught, then harnessed for their day's spinning into silk milking contraptions, and then released. The first machine to caputre the silk they use for their webs seems to have been devised back in 1807 by a Frenchman keen to make his millions from Madagascar.

Invisibility cloak
Now uber-craftsmen Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley have used more than a million spiders (and the skills of the local weavers) to create two dreamy pieces. The first (2009) is a brocaded scarf  - so light you can't feel it in your hand but utterly golden and gorgeous. The second (2011) is an embroidered cloak that looks like a high priest's outfit and really has no wearing purpose at all. It's the ultimate unique one off, so no good asking "Where would I wear it?" and "Does Zara do a cheaper high street copy?"

For a short film on the potential of spider silk, see this TV science show on geo-enginering.

For other pieces about French speaking colonies (like St Helena) see an earlier blog post on the French Dom Toms here.

This cultural visit to Madagascar is aroundbritainnoplane.blogspot.com's 109th country visit. Only 87 to go.

How be in New York without leaving London

If you won the Lottery (or even Monopoly) would you go to New York?

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how to get that New York experience without leaving London. This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).  

I'm not as good at gritting my teeth as I should be - but this blog helps. When people tell me about where they've just visited (New York) or where they are going (New York) or where they plan to take their daughter on her 16th birthday (New York) or what they did last school holidays for just 4 days in New York I make an effort to listen, and see if I can figure out a UK alternative. Today it is New York v London in a three round battle.

1st Round - looking around
Turns out the hot new thing in New York is a walk along the raised High Line, a one-time goods train line that ends up in the Meatpacker District. It's now a park, with wheelchair access, that provides a lovely off-road walk with incredible views. All the info is here. But it's absolutely no different to the Parkland Walk - a former railway that runs from Finsbury Park N4 in London up to Highgate Woods. If you take a brief detour you can then go on to Alexandra Palace. It's 4.5 miles (7.2km) of rustic pleasure in the middle of the best city in the world (oops, a bit partisan as I'm thinking London!).

New York nil: London 1

2nd Round - stylish living
"We loved hanging around in NYC with all those Art Deco buildings, drinking cocktails, jazz and the atmosphere..." Oh, easy win for London. You just head to Hackney's Mare Street (breathe in the edgy atmosphere) and in your best outfit pop into the Town Hall Hotel. Here there's a mix of Edwardian glamour, '30s furnishings and loft chic (sounds New York doesn't it?). Best of all the Town Hall Tea Lady serves martinis from her trolley. Bliss.

Result: New York nil: London 2

3rd Round - fabulous street food
American immigrants have introduced the best foods to the big apple (even if the US is infamous for it's Macfood exports). Noodles and spices and easy over breakfasts are all done wonderfully in New York. Servings are monster, prices cheap. But street food markets are the big trend in London and offer Korean fusion and other fabulous choices. More to the point - when I asked my cousin (who'd just come back from New York where she successfully stayed in an airbnb appartment) what new food was all the rage in America, she   said she'd noticed nothing any different to the food on offer in London. If you are still thinking Pizza Express is the bees knees, then maybe it's worth trawling Hoxton or China Town in the evenings or for a lunch time tastebud treat try Exmouth Market, Broadway Market or Whitecross Market .  If you subscribe to Boat Magazine (£2) you can get a rather fab map of London's best street food. Or take a look here at London's top 10 street food vendors published in the Guardian.

Result: It's a knockout 3-nil win to LONDON.


Added bonus
Airmiles of carbon saved - 1 tonne (see carbon comparison website info here).

Over to you
What's close to home that feels like somewhere very other, or even New York?

Around the world in 80 days - bookshelf inspiration

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how Around The World in 80 Days inspired this blog (and how books all to often inspire travel). This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).  

Have you guessed that this blog aroundbritainwithoutaplane is named after Jules Verne's classic book Around the World In 80 Days? I hadn't read the novel when I dreamt up my blog title, but during winter 2011-12 read it aloud with my then 10-year-old, Nell, and we found it fascinating. You can find copies easily in the library or secondhand shops - ideally choose one with illustrations, especially if you are reading it aloud to a child.

The main character, phlegmatic Phileas Fogg (who most of us know from the snack brand), is an insufferable bore who travels in the exact opposite to the way anyone should. He prefers the card game whist to views; timetables to experience. But his uncharacteristic comment: "I will bet £20,000 pounds that I will travel round the world in not more than 80 days," creates a marvellous novel (and, shhh, geography lesson).

Starting from Number 7 Savile Row, finishing at the Reform Club, P Fogg Esq plans to go:

• From London to Suez (Egypt) (via Mont Cenis (the pass over the French Alps) and Brindisi (Italy)) by rail and steamer - 7 days
• Suez to Bombay, by steamer - 13 days
• Bombay to Calcutta, by rail - 3 days
• Calcutta to Hong Kong, by steamer - 13 days
• From Hong Kong to Yokohama (Japan's 2nd largest city), by steamer - 6 days
• From Yokohama to San Francisco, by steamer - 22 days
• From San Francisco to New York, by rail - 7 days
• New York to Liverpool and on to London - by steamer and rail - 9 days.

Slow travel is actually quite fast, but it's expensive too. It costs Phileas Fogg close to £20,000 to make the journey (admittedly he travels in some style, and with at least one companion, his man-servant, the loyal Passepartout).

Just for the record, the cheapest round-the-wold air ticket I can find on offer in April 2012 is £749 but the flexibility is extremely limited and doesn't include any accommodation. Add on 80 days of food and beds (say £40 a day but no trips) and you need at least £4,000 to go around the world in a rushed three months.

Step into the great man's shoes (on a different route)
After a quick google I also found a copy-cat Phileas Fogg 80-day journey, see here, which costs £6,400 (and needs two people to be doing it). But what a journey, what an itinerary - completely organised for you with a complete disregard of the things that happen as you travel: lost purses, ill health, a desire to slow down and chat to people, and most of all weather...

Over to you
Jules Verne teaches us that travel cannot be micro-managed. He shows us how the unexpected turns up, and urges us to step in where wrongs need to be righted. He's half mocking the people who want around-the-world tickets, half luring us into buying them. Maybe this blog is doing the same for it's readers. For me, the blog writer, it's satisfying an insatiable desire to travel simply by looking for stay-at-home-but-feel-abroad experiences.

Let me know if it's helped.

Is this a Dagger I see before me?

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how you can take to the water in a kayak and transport yourself to any river in the world. This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about books and blogs).  

"Is this a Dagger I see before me?" Admittedly Shakespeare dreamt this line up first - but that pesky "dagger" is the second thing I notice on this blustery April morning down by the reservoir. The first is an extremely tall, dripping man who has just tipped out of his Dagger kayak. I have a nasty feeling that I will be the second one in the water despite there being no current, or sizeable waves.

"It's my fault, I was racing," smirks the tall man. He doesn't seem to mind at all. Perhaps the reason you go out in a kayak is to have a dip-in-the-water adventure. That's certainly the impression I get from the promo videos of whitewater rafting featured on the Dagger manufacturer's website offering a nail-biting trip to Norway.

Water babies
Even if you aren't that keen on water it's still an absorbing pleasure to hang around by the river bank, or even take a trip down a river. I've got plans to do this with the Canoe Man in Norfolk - I want to be in the river with an otter - soon. But over the years have had fun joining an organised kayak trip (just me and a 6 and 8 year old) down the tidal River Tamar and also being expertly captained by my friend Hannah along the early, shallow part of the River Severn in Powys. My claim to fame remains an early morning paddle around Sydney harbour guided by the wonderful Patrick from Natural Wanders. (see pix above in ocean racing kayaks)

Every river is going to be different - and yet offer some of the same emotional release, adrenalin buzz, relaxation and the ability to creep up on the wildlife (or in Oz, real estate) - wherever you go in the world so it feels like a wise skill to be able to paddle (even if I still daren't try the capsize test). That's why I've joined a canoe club at my nearest big water, a lovely local reservoir that seems to attract the sun. Actually the whole family has joined - even though under 18s go out in boats on different days to the adults - and I hope it will provide plenty of anecdotes.

These may not be as glam as the stories from the whitewater crazies in Norway, but definitely will give us all a new skill plus the opportunity to tell tales of dunkings, dead dogs, herons fishing by the standpipe, baby-crazed swans, flats overlooking the reservoir being sunny Sunday polished (oh you can see a lot from the water!), trees coming into bud and cormorants drying their wings on the old oak tree.

What a result from travel that's less than 10 minutes from my own home.

Over to you
Which river trips in a kayak do you recommend? Especially if the trips include children...