Posted by Andrew Hickey on Dec 24, 2009 in
Travel Happy Holidays! Hope everyone has a great couple of days with family and friends. Bottom line is that no matter how far you travel, coming home is still one of the best places to be. Here are some images of Christmas around the world. Check back tomorrow for even more shots from holiday season celebrations.
- Paris, France
- Madrid, Spain
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Mexico City, Mexico
- New York, New York
Tags: christmas, france, holidays, lisbon, Madrid, mexico, mexico city, new york city, Paris, portugal, spain
Posted by Andrew Hickey on Nov 21, 2009 in
Travel
Streetcar in the city center of Lisbon, Portugal
Tags: lisbon, portugal
Posted by Andrew Hickey on May 18, 2009 in
Travel Seven days…50 town squares…over 500 votes cast.
The results of the first round were pretty tight to say the least. For starters, five of the seven days of voting saw first place tied. The final day of voting it became a three-way tie. So who tied for first and what 20 town squares made it to round two of the most unscientific, unprofessional, uncomfortable poll in the history of blogs? Here are the results:
1) Brussels, Belgium: Grand Place
1) Prague, Czech Republic: Old Town Square
1) Krakow, Poland: Rynek Glowny
4) Venice, Italy: Saint Mark’s Square
5) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Rittenhouse Square
6) Florence, Italy: Piazza della Repubblica
7) Moscow, Russia: Red Square
New York, New York: Union Square
9) Copenhagen, Denmark: The City Hall Square
10) San Francisco, California: Union Square
11) Rome, Italy: Piazza del Popolo
12) London, England: Piccadilly Circus
13) Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Museumplein
14) Berlin, Germany: JFK-Platz
15) Barcelona, Spain: Placa d’Espanya
16) Lisbon, Portugal: Praca do Imperio
17) Buenos Aires, Argentina: Plaza de Mayo
18) Marrakech, Morocco: Djemaa el Fna
19) Seville, Spain: Plaza de Espana
20) Kharkov, Ukraine: Freedom Square
Like the results? Hate the results? Shocked by the results? Don’t care about the results? Well then click here to vote on Round Two and help your favorite town square move on to the top 10. You have until Sunday May 24 at 11am EST to vote. Thanks for everyone that voted, left comments and even told me about their experiences at some of these popular locales.
Tags: amsterdam, argentina, barcelona, belgium, Berlin, brussels, buenos aires, california, copenhagen, czech republic, denmark, england, florence, germany, italy, kharkov, krakow, lisbon, London, marrakech, morrocco, moscow, new york, pennsylvania, philadelphia, poland, portugal, Prague, rome, russia, san francisco, seville, spain, the netherlands, ukraine, venice
Posted by Andrew Hickey on May 14, 2009 in
Travel
Krakow, Poland's Rynek Glowny is the largest Medieval Town Square in the world...but is it your favorite?
If you have traveled to any major city in the world, then chances are you have walked by, snapped a picture in, or spent the day at a town square. From New York’s Time Square to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, people love to check out these public meeting locations filled with everything from chic cafes to amazing architecture. So I ask you, what is the best town square in the world? Which one epitomizes what a town square should be?
Over the next few weeks I will be asking that question on this site and every week narrow it down until we pick the most popular town square in the world (according to the people that read this site of course.) Who knows, maybe I will even visit the winning location on a future getaway.
Click here for to vote between 50 of the most famous town squares in the world. The 20 most popular will move on to round two. You have until Sunday May 17 at 11pm EST to cast your vote. Thanks and may the best town square win.
Tags: amsterdam, argentina, australia, barcelona, beijing, bologna, boston, brussels, buenos aires, california, canada, china, christchurch, cuba, czech republic, europe, florence, france, germany, havana, italy, lisbon, London, lyon, Madrid, massachusetts, melbourne, mexico, milan, monterrey, montevideo, montreal, morocco, new york, new zealand, north korea, Paris, pennsylvania, philadelphia, portugal, Prague, rome, salt lake city, san francisco, serbia, seville, south america, spain, toronto, town square, ukraine, uruguay, utah, vatican city, venice, Washington DC
Posted by Andrew Hickey on May 7, 2009 in
Travel
One of the many French cafes in Paris with fresh bread, stinky cheese and strong coffee. How in the hell is this place overrated?
Yesterday I read the results of the annual TripAdvisor survey, which asks questions to 1,300 travelers about European travel. It covers many topics like “Best Bargain City” and “Most Boring City.” Now while this is nothing more than just an opinion poll, it has many people in the travel industry puzzled, and in some cases fuming. Arthur Frommer, founder of the well known “Frommer’s Travel Guide”, is the most notable critic of this survey, which was released by the extremely popular and helpful travel website. Some of the results in question include:
- Best Bargain Cities: 1) Prague, 2) London, 3) Paris 4) Lisbon, and 5) Budapest
- Most Unfriendly Hosts: 1) Paris, 2) Moscow, 3) Rome, 4) London, and 5) Berlin
- Dirtiest Cities: 1) Athens and Rome (tied), 3)Paris, 4) Istanbul, and 5) Venice
.
Geez Paris, sorry about that. Hey but look on the bright side, you guys won the most attractive locals category…even if those same pretty people will not give others the time of day. In any event, other outcomes of the survey included London with the worst food, Brussels the most boring, and Paris (not again!) the most overrated. What exactly were these people doing when visiting these countries?
London over the last couple of years has seen an excellent influx of top chefs from around the globe move into town. Long gone are the days of lame London pub grub. Brussels is boring? Really? I found Belgium’s city of beer and chocolate to be amazing and quite educational. Finally, how is one of the most romantic, architecturally beautiful and top culinary locales on the planet “over rated.”
This hatred of France has got to stop already among American travelers. Paris, France is an amazing city! Now while it might be a “tourist trap” in certain parts of town, so what! Most top cities have become tourists traps…we are all tourists at one time or another.
Arthur Frommer also blasted TripAdvisor when the survey stated that Prague was the “Best Bargain” in Europe. Sorry, maybe it was a great cheap European locale in the 70s and 80s. But over the last decade and a half, Czech Republic’s capital city has become very pricey. Some of their hotels can cost you as much as $400+ a night. Now while I love Prague, I mean it has been discussed a lot this week on this site, it is in no way a cheap city.
Want a bargain? Get on a train in Prague and take it six-to-eight hours east to Krakow, Poland. Their exchange rate is great right now (As of this post, every $1 US will give you 3.30 Polish Zloty). On top of the money in your pocket, food and drinks are so cheap and there are tons of affordable and free attractions throughout the city.
I love TripAdvisor and will continue to use their site for hotel reviews, real hotel pictures (Which are 100 times better than the fake and perfect looking hotel site pics), and the forums. But I just thought that their survey was conducted on people that probably do not travel very often and are the same ones that give a hotel a 1 out of 5 rating because the front desk did not smile enough or the view was not up to par. That is where Frommer and many other people have a right to look at these results and say…huh?!
Sources:
TripAdvisor 2009 Survey Results
Frommer’s reaction
Tags: amsterdam, Athens, belgium, Berlin, brussels, budapest, czech republic, england, france, frommer, germany, greece, hungary, istanbul, italy, krakow, lisbon, London, Paris, poland, portugal, Prague, tripadvisor, turkey, united states, venice
