Das Germans are coming – nude!

A survey of holidaymakers’ beach habits has revealed that Germans are the nation most likely to go nude to help top up their tan. As well as being the most beach-loving country surveyed, 15 per cent of Germans admitted they had let it all hang out on a past holiday.

Germans were roughly twice as likely to have sunbathed nude, as just eight per cent of the second-placed countries’ holidaymakers, Spain and India, admitted to sunbathing nude. Sweden, Denmark, Mexico and the Netherlands were joint third in the poll by Expedia, where six per cent admitted to completely stripping off.

35 more days to go!

Sometimes time passes so slooooowly. I am counting the days until I can go on my European Bicycle Tour. To make time go faster I am pimping my Nishiki Ultra Pro bicycle with things like Schwalbe Durano Plus tires, testing my Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 in my living-room, lying in my Haglöfs LIM 50 sleeping bag and trying to compete with myself how fast I can blow up my ExpedSynmat  UL 7.5 sleeping mat.

In the mean time I entertain myself with my boxing training.

The trick I figure is to create the ultimate ride by balancing having a great bike with ultra light packing. The current estimated weight of my complete pack is 6,5 kg. My goal is to stuff 6 kg (inluding tent, sleeping bag, clothes toiletries, sleeping mat etc) into my newly purchased North Face XS (25 liter) duffel bag. I figure if I have this on my rear carrier then it would be well balanced against the 1,5 liter water bottles (0,75 liters each), and my front steering pack (5 liters).

When I am done with project of optimizing the ride for my European Bicycle Tour I will post my complete pack with pictures and all.

Should I book a trip to Greece?

Maybe you like many others are discussing if you should book your next  holiday to Greece. In many ways, it is a good time to visit. Visitor numbers have fallen in recent years, prompting many hoteliers and tour operators to offer significant discounts (Telegraph Travel recently reported that Olympic Holidays is offering savings of up to 60 per cent). The last thing Greece needs is for visiting holidaymakers to steer clear – the country is hugely reliant on tourism, which accounts for around 15 per cent of GDP

If you have more questions regarding your planned holiday to Greece then click here to get your answers.

My personal opinion is to just go. The very last thing Greece needs is for tourists to abandon them. They will more than probably love you even more when you arrive.

Topless dancers go on strike in Paris

Topless dancers at the renowned Crazy Horse night club in Paris have gone on strike, saying they are not being paid enough to take the shirts off their backs.

The Crazy Horse, one of the most popular establishments of its kind in the world, said on Wednesday it was forced to cancel performances on Tuesday and again on Wednesday for the first time since the cabaret was created in 1951.

The night club, which declined to give details on salary demands or current wages, said in a statement that it had always taken the wellbeing of its artists very seriously and that talks were continuing to resolve the dispute.

Congrats! 40 years of interrail

The concept of “InterRailing” was first introduced on the 1st March, 1972, and quickly became associated with ‘fun, freedom and adventure”. It’s not surprising that the simplicity of being able to cross multiple borders with one single pass has remained popular for forty years. Sales continue to rise and the Eurail Group reported an annual passenger increase of 2% in the completed 2011 InterRail report.

To mark this milestone, both the Eurail Group and its member railways are focused on promoting and celebrating InterRail’s 40th birthday. The common objective is to raise awareness and to enhance the message that InterRail Pass travel continues to offer a unique and relaxing way to discover Europe by train.

Activities organised by the Eurail Group and its member railways range from media events like the one to be hosted in Leipzig on the 4th June to trade shows, the release of a documentary film, jubilee parties and Blog Races. The Blog Race Contest began in April with two teams; their objective is to reach all of the assigned checkpoints to receive special tasks, such as finding a local folk group to interview, film and write about.

The current InterRail Global Pass is valid in 30 European countries.

255 million strong

“Travel and tourism is one of the biggest economic engines on the planet, representing 255 million jobs in virtually all countries on all continents. Travel and tourism together, in which air transport plays a crucial role, may not only be sustainable but actually a primary driver of green growth. It is also often a primary driver behind environmental, landscape and heritage protection, and it helps foster dialogue and exchanges between cultures. Surely there is a way to combine the benefits of travel and reductions in GHG emissions.”

Hopefully one day I will be one of these stars that provide to an ever growing market. Counting down until I open my Backpackers hostel with a flair.

Navigate the world for free

If you have a smartphone there are several options for you to download and install Apps that are free, or near free, with maps and navigation for a number of countries both for online and offline use.

My current personal favorites for my Samsung Galaxy S2 (Android) are:

MapDroyd – In this App you can download continents or countries for offline navigation on a 2D map.
Maps with me – Download offline maps for many countries and navigate.
Soviet Military Maps – This is a great tool for accessing different type of maps (Soviet Military Maps, OpenStreet Maps, Open Cycle Map, Google terrain and more). View maps in 2D or satellite. You can download Open street and Open Cycle maps for offline use. You need to purchase the Pro-version to download offline maps (just a couple of dollars, so worth it).
Archies – Use this App to find camping sites in Europe and the world (based on Google maps)
ACSI Eurocampings  – Search in a listing of 9500 camp sites to find your perfect spot.

Ultra light tents at a great price

I have been researching ultra light tents for more than 2 months now. I finally settled on the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2  2011 version. It is a near perfect tent in terms of size, weight and price. When its packed with all extras the tent weighs only 1,5 kg. It cost about 300 US dollars and is only 40X17 cm when packed in its bag.  There is plenty of room (213cm X 132 cm sleeping area) if you are traveling by yourself and a bit snug if you are two, but you can totally feel comfortable two ppl as well.

Here are some other great contenders:

Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2

The NorthFace Rock2

Arctic Alpine Design WBT2

Arctic Alpine Design VELOCE

Sources for a great European tour by bicycle

Below you will find some great sources for your European bicycle tour:

From BBC is an article about travelling on two wheels.

Bicycle touring pro.

Bikely.

Sheldon Brown.

Equipment list (in Swedish).

Bicycle guide (in Swedish)

Surfer rides the worlds biggest wave

Off the coast of Nazare, 70 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal. Garrett McNamara rides what members belonging to his group claimed was the biggest wave ever successfully negotiated during a “tow-surfing” session. Nazare is a small fishing town 70 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal. The wave face measured about 90 feet (27 meters), according to a news release announcing the feat.

McNamara, a known big-wave surfing guy from Hawaii, was riding large waves with Andrew Cotton and Al Mennie when 3 huge waves appeared on the outside. Cotton utilized a personal watercraft to tow McNamara onto the massive shoulder of one of those rogue waves.

Connect with local charities on your next holiday

Australian-based mmMule has already been connecting tourists with locals who may need goods from abroad. The idea behind the site’s new arm – AngelMule – came from a trip co-founders Andrew Simpson and Avis Mulhall took to Rwanda, where they visited an orphanage carrying a much-prized football. In Andrew’s words: “It was the most amazing experience to turn up at the orphanage with a football and see the ecstatic reactions of the kids who had been using a plastic water bottle to kick around…”

Aiming to provide a platform for other travelers to have a similar experience, AngelMule enables visitors to set their current location and destination and search for posts by non-profit organizations in need of goods. If a match is found, users can then message the organization to arrange a delivery.

Find your special one onboard a flight

A new survey of international travellers by global travel search site Skyscanner has found that 39% of travellers have developed friendships with someone they met on a flight, with 6% even admitting to a romantic liaison with a new acquaintance on-board.

The poll of over 700 flyers found while the majority of these connections were short lived, 5% spent time on holiday together as a direct result of meeting on their flight. Taking their friendship even further, 7% said they continued to stay in touch after their holiday.

Tripadvisor 2012 Choice Destinations awards

TripAdvisor recently announced the winners of its 2012 Travelers’ Choice Destinations awards. The Travelers’ Choice Destinations awards honor top travel spots worldwide based on millions of reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor travelers. Award winners were determined based on the popularity of destinations, taking into account travelers’ favorites and most highly rated places.

Top 25 Travelers’ Choice World Destinations:
- London, England
- New York City, New York
- Rome, Italy
- Paris, France
- San Francisco, California
- Marrakech, Morocco
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Barcelona, Spain
- Siem Reap, Cambodia
- Berlin, Germany
- Chicago, Illinois
- Florence, Italy
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Sydney, Australia
- Beijing, China
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Bora Bora, French Polynesia
- Shanghai, China
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Los Angeles, California
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Dublin, Ireland.

As you can see there are no surprises here. What happened to destinations like KL, Singapore or Machu Picchu in Peru?

Most popular spring break destinations

More than 562,000 foreign tourists visited Mexico’s sun and beach destinations over the recent Spring Break period, according to Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism. This figure includes nearly 77,000 spring breakers which marks a 7.2 percent increase in spring breakers, year over year.

Spring break in Cancun – go wild and party!

The most visited destinations were Cancun and the Riviera Maya which attracted more than 50,000 spring breakers, an increase of 8.4 percent. Puerto Vallarta and Nueva Vallarta, welcomed 15,503 tourists, an increase of 7.3 percent.

Where to go this summer

The deal experts at Travel-Ticker.com, an inspirational travel website, revealed its Summer 2012 Where To Go Now & How Guide. Each season, the Travel-Ticker team uses its years of experience traveling the globe and hunting for great bargains to provide travelers with the inside scoop, identifying the destinations that offer the best overall experience and value.

Riviera Maya

To create the guide, the experts at Travel-Ticker.com examine local trends including weather, tourist traffic, entertainment options, cultural experiences and the available deals in each locale. This summer, the expert’s analysis guides us to Catalina, Riviera Maya, San Francisco, South Africa and Washington, DC.

Your friends as travel sources

The best travel suggestions are rarely from professional travel guides, but from our friends. On TripAdvisor Birds, you can share your travel story and see what others think. The site is connected to, for example, Facebook and Instagram and let you in other words, see what your existing contacts like.
tripbirds.com

Surf on a plane

Here are some airlines that have or are about to install Internet capability:

Norwegian was one of the first airlines to invest in wifi on a larger scale and have it in about half of its fleet. They plan to have this service installed in all planes by the end of 2012.

SAS starts in 2012 to offer internet via wifi, and even GSM telephony in the air. Right now it’s all about wifi on a plane. By summer 2012, ten Boeing 737-800 aircraft to be equipped with internet access and telephony.

Lufthansa offers internet access and telephony on a number of its Atlantic flights and flights from Europe to the Middle East, but exactly how much of the flights is unclear. Lufthansa announces that the planned expansion to the entire fleet “soon”.

United Airlines also has WiFi on select flights, but so far the only home in the U.S..

Quantas starts trial operation of the internet on board the lines between the U.S. and Australia this year, but say they plan to introduce it on a long international flight if it appears to work well.

Cycling Europe

This summer I am travelling on my bicycle to Budapest from Stockholm. The tour is approx. 2500 kilometers and will take 2 weeks. I plan to average about 200 kilometers per day.

For my trip I am planing to travel as light as possible and have purchased some great touring and backpacking lightweight gear.

Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 is a great tent from the US. It weighs only 1,5 kg and is a roomy tent for 1 person and snug for 2 people sharing.
Haglöfs LIM 50 sleeping bag weighs approx. 300 grams and is good enough for 3 seasons.
McKinley sleeping mat weighs approx 200 grams and is OK for summer. I would not use it during  any other season.

My totalt weight for my tour is 7kg and that includes all gear, all clothes, toiletries, electronics and bike repair stuff.  I will be touring on a Nishiki Ultra Pro built in Sweden.

Bring your board to Sweden

If you dream about surfing but live in the Nordics then there is one place you must visit during September to December. Varberg is on the west coast of Sweden and it rocks waves. Even RipCurl has found this sweet spot and host events. Hell yeah it is cold but if you love surfing then your soul will keep you warm.

Epic surf in freakin cold waters

Chesterman beach in Canada is made for surfers and not as cold as you’d think for this part of the world. The water is actually 8 degrees. Oh, joy as you put your wetsuit on with both hoodie and gloves.

Chesterman beach

Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, is a wilderness of rainforest and beaches.

Tofino bay

For more information from Tourism British Columbia, visit www.BritishColumbia.travel and for more on Canada as a holiday destination visit the Canadian Tourism Commission on www.canada.travel.