As if my blog isn’t exciting enough (now that I have two loyal blog readers although I’m starting to think one of those is a bot) I’ve also decided it’d be a great idea to start a podcast with a friend. My bit will be travel, food and craft beer (mostly the beer and food elements to be honest) and he’ll be focusing on his thoughts about beer (often quite opinionated although his Untappd isn’t as curated as mine), reacting to my travel ‘excitement’ and dishing out bar billiards gossip like he’s the Hello! magazine of Norwich’s niche sporting scene (we’ll see if it becomes an agenda item at next year’s AGM).
We know we’ll get at least ten people listening to see who we’ve been rude about, and frankly, if that’s not a solid marketing strategy, I don’t know what is. The first edition of this earth-shattering audio marvel dropping soon. Buckle in. Or don’t. Either way, we’ll be talking as we’re good at that.
Woooo, a little adventure this week as I’m going to Belgrade which is my first visit to Serbia. I had a little issue that I had to work out how to get to Luton Airport for my flight, but where there’s a will, there’s a Liam and his car. He kindly picked me up just before midnight to take me to the delights of Hatfield. I had established that I could get from Hatfield to Luton Airport relatively easily, although I didn’t realise at the time how easily, and the Travelodge was only £30 for the night. It’s not the easiest hotel to find the entrance to, but I was dropped off in good time. The staff seemed startled at someone trying to get in, but the check-in process was quick and easy. The room is the old style Travelodge lay-out, but it was clean and entirely functional. For the money, it was really rather good and was suitably convenient.
Liam patiently waited outside to check that I had managed to check-in. This is the confirmation photo that he wanted before he could safely drive off without me messaging him 20 minutes later saying I’ve had a crisis.
The room was very cold and I think that’s the state of the art temperature control on the left. I like very cold rooms, but I suspect some guests might not have been surprised and delighted by the arrangement. If only all hotel rooms were chilled like this one then I’d be very pleased.
It was all very peaceful inside, although there are a fair few number of reviews complaining about both internal and external noise. I noted a customer review which reads:
“Horrific. Stayed in room 226, all I could hear all night was the banging from the loud music coming from a restaurant across the road. Went to reception and told them and they said they have had lots of complaints because of it but nothing has been done to resolve it. I literally ended up sleeping in the bath till half 2 in the morning when the music stopped. Worse nights sleep I’ve ever had.”
I’m really not sure that sleeping in a bath was ever going to work as a plan, but there we go…. I quite like the buzz of external noise, but another customer noted:
“There was a man asleep in the disabled toilet after drinking to much. The area around it was terrible. There was rubbish everywhere, bed linen that someone had thrown out of bedroom window was just left.”
Sounds an entertaining evening…..
“Awful ! Truly horrendous.
We started to worry when we tried to park behind the hotel – men openly selling drugs , drug paraphernalia on the floor .
Reception staff lovely but the hotel have an agreement with the local council . Apparently their residents are “well behaved” but on finding one hotel guest on the floor of the corridor so drunk or drugged he could not get up . With another lady guest hanging out the hotel corridor window smoking drugs we decided that due to feeling unsafe we would leave .
The bottles of urine outside the front of the hotel were just disgusting. The hotel surroundings are full of groups of men hanging around . We felt really uncomfortable.
The hotel have refunded my two nights but I am still out of pocket for the two hotels we had to find as we did not stay in Hatfield Central .
I would not like anyone to feel how we did , this in my opinion is not a hotel for a lone female .
I have since found out that another business stopped using this hotel as female staff felt so uncomfortable
Avoid!”
They sound like a satisfied customer.
It is an odd design though, as there’s an open car park under the building and it’s probably quite a protected area for someone some poor sod who sleeps rough to stay dry. There’s a JD Wetherspoon pub about three doors down, one I’ve visited before and I can’t say that I thought I’d be back in Hatfield any time soon.
But, lovely as the stay was, I had to work out to get from Hatfield to Luton Airport….
This is another in my occasional series of book review posts and they might be appearing here more as I’ve just realised you can’t leave reviews on Amazon unless you spend £30 per year on other products. I admire their attempts to make reviews genuine, but it feels a little sub-optimal as I rarely buy anything from Amazon. Anyway, this book is by the travel writer Tim Leffel and I’ve followed him via his newsletters for some years. This is a slightly elongated version of the review that I would have posted on Amazon if I had met their new requirements.
The present book aside, the best title that I’ve read on travel writing over recent years has been How to be a Travel Writer by Don George. That book perhaps needs a new version in a similar way to this update from Leffel given the ever shifting sands of the topic. The nature of travel writing has changed over recent years, but there are sections in this book on both traditional earnings as a travel writer and digital opportunities for a travel writer. Leffel notes that “the rise of one type of media does not mean the automatic fall of another” and I think that’s a solid way of thinking.
Travel writing books many years ago would focus on writing articles for magazines and newspapers, as well as how to write guidebooks. Writing guidebooks is a challenging and time-consuming occupation and the comment that “you barely have time to write full sentences before moving on to the requisite restaurant listings and museum hours” is evident from any Lonely Planet or Rough Guide book. Leffel’s comment that many young travellers use their phone to source material and don’t go near guidebooks seems accurate as I can’t recall the last time I saw anyone in Europe or the United States under the age of around 40 looking at them. The market will continue to evolve, certainly the way in which travellers source their curated information on an area.
The key element here, which I think is standard advice from all travel writers I’ve noted over the years, is to have a diverse portfolio of different income streams. Without that there will be inevitable highs and lows which make cash flow planning nigh on impossible without another way of earning money. The book is a useful exercise for those who are wondering what potential there is from entering the travel writing market, but the positive element is that there are low barriers to entry for anyone who wants to.
In terms of writing style, the author stresses the importance of always being curious, noting:
“If you are a closed-minded, dogmatic person who only gets news from one source, doesn’t have a passport, and never reads quality fiction, you are going to be a lousy travel writer.”
I don’t claim to be a travel writer, although I have done some of it in numerous different ways over the years, but I’d agree that poor writing is often apparent. The author writes that some skills are innate and some are learned, but travel writing is certainly something that needs curiosity, practice and a lot of reading. Finding a tone of voice is inevitably important and Leffel preaches the need “to be authentic” in writing.
All authors should perhaps consider getting their own blog, but this book suggests that it isn’t for everyone and it does potentially take up a lot of time. For some writers, the time and energy won’t be justified, but for others it is a useful marketing tool. I started this blog to primarily remember where I’d been, which I accept isn’t necessarily the inspirational back story some might like, but between my two loyal readers and myself I’ve been able to get numerous paid projects because of it. The pros and cons of having a blog are examined by Leffel, it’s certainly something to consider.
There’s also practical advice relating to search engine optimisation, social media and networking. There’s also advice on things to definitely not do if new to the trade, alongside the importance of having a good work ethic. Most importantly, Leffel notes that it’s important to develop a thick skin for the inevitable rejections that will come. The advice on travelling in a frugal manner is also wise, I’ve managed to do that for years and I’ve always thought that this makes travel more authentic rather than taking away from the experience. When British Airways paid for me to travel in First and Club World I always had very different stories to tell than when in World Traveller, with most of my interactions during my five weeks in the United States last year being on public transport. There’s nearly always an angle, but the engagement with others plays a big part in telling any story.
The author addresses very early on in the book the matter of income potential. Realism is important here, as most travel writers don’t earn that much from their profession, although there are some who do very well indeed. But, this is partly because some are hobbyists or just writing part-time, writing because they enjoy travelling and find that it makes their trips more affordable. For those who want to get into travel writing, this is certainly a good first book to read, particularly in conjunction with Don George’s book.
Meandering around the collections of the Norwich Castle Museum, this display of dead stuffed animals is hard to miss and they’re from the Bostock and Wombwell Menagerie. This travelling circus was in operation between 1810 and 1931 and when their animals died on tour, they were often given to local museums. No doubt the menagerie was most exciting at the time, especially for children, as I can’t imagine many people had previously seen big cats, kangaroos, monkeys and even a rhino to name just a few.
The above animal doesn’t have a name, or at least not one that has been recorded, but it’s an ocelot which did in January 1893 before it was stuffed and brought to the museum. I hadn’t realised, but ocelots can be kept as pets, although I’m hoping that not too many people decide to do that in Norwich as it would feel sub-optimal for too many of these to be wandering around.
As evidence that these displays were educational, this is a binturong and I’ve never heard of them before so that’s something new to me. It’s an Asian bear cat and it looks very odd to me, they’re apparently noted for their strong tail which helps them climb trees. According to Plumpton Park Zoo they are “normally shy in the wild, but very aggressive when harassed and they may urinate or defecate on a threat”. They sound like just the thing you’d want to traipse around in your menagerie.
The museum notes that in 1812, George Wombwell bred the first lion in captivity in the UK, apparently now stuffed and on display at Saffron Walden museum. This lion cub was born on tour in 1887, dying at three months old when it reached Lowestoft. If he had lived longer, he is unlikely to have had a pleasant life, as Wombwell had used the lions to fight dogs, usually a battle which the lion would win but at some cost to its health and well-being. They were controversial even back in the early nineteenth century and Parliament banned them, which is one of the earlier pieces of animal rights legislation.
This male was caught in Australia and used by the menagerie as a boxing red kangaroo. I’m not sure that zoos or the like would get away with that little arrangement any more, he died in Somerset in March 1896. The museum doesn’t note whether he died in a fight or of natural causes. For anyone who wants to read more about this way of exhibiting animals before the establishment of zoos, there’s a Wikipedia page about them.
I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.
I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..
This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.
I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.
I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..
This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.
I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.
I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..
This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.
I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.
I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..
This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.
I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.
I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..
This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.
Address: Public House, Pontefract Road, Featherstone
Local Council: Wakefield
I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.
I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..
This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.
