Travel plan idea blog

Golden Sands Shangri-la Penang Malaysia

Another hotel in Penang: the Golden Sands Shangri-la in Batu Ferrenghi. This where we stayed after we left the Sheraton.

The beach at Batu Ferrenghi wasn't as nice as I thought it would be, so we spent most of our days in the hotel, which had a fantastic buffet breakfast, and 2 great swimming pools. My only complaint is that there's not much shade. If you want to get one of shady tables, figure on putting your towels, books, etc. down to claim one before 9:30, the earlier the better. You could wake up, claim a table, and then go eat breakfast.

The rooms were quite nice, especially the view after we changed rooms because our first had a roof view. Our second had a pool/ocean view and a nice balcony. The last day our flight left at 3:00 AM, and we had to check out at 12:00 noon. They let us hang out by the pool all day and take a shower in some unused room (which was weird because when we tried to extend our stay we were told everything was booked - I guess they save that room for people to take showers in). All in all it was a relaxing and luxurious way to end our vacation.

I should add that it was nearly twice as much as the Sheraton, so it should be much nicer... And I should add that there's not much to do in Batu Ferrenghi, although from around 9:00-12:00 midnight the night market is pretty interesting and not as crowded as similar markets in Kuala Lumpur. You can often save around 40% through bargaining.

Posted by James Trotta at 3:05 PM | Comments (1)

Australia

I've always wanted to go to Australia. No plans yet, but I'm going to start collecting resources to plan an Australian vacation.

1. Safari Tours and Australia
adventure tours : Australian travel agent offering Australia safari tour, luxury wildlife tours, aboriginal Australia, outback safari.

Posted by James Trotta at 7:46 PM | Comments (0)

Motorcycle traveling

Traveling by motorcycle is getting more popular:

It's a whole different way to travel, suggest their friends Danny Prentice and Debbie MacKenzie, who also live in New Richmond.

"If you're going with a car, if you're going to Charlottetown (for example) you'll hit the fastest highway to go to Charlottetown. When we're on the bike we'll hunt for all the old side roads and see a lot of different things we wouldn't see if we were in the car," explains Prentice, who works for Via Rail. "On a bike you'll try the longest way, find the longest way to get there. You're in no rush."

Kind of reminds me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:

You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it, you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer, and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on. It's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness.

Now I haven't ridden a motorcycle since I was a kid on the back of my Uncle's Harley, but all this talk about freedom, and relaxation makes me want to learn how to ride. I doubt my wife would be happy about that.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:57 AM | Comments (2)

Sheraton Penang, Malaysia

So for two nights I stayed in the supposedly 5 star Sheraton in Penang. It wasn't that nice. The room was OK, but in an fancy hotel you don't expect to see stains on the carpet. The breakfeast buffet was OK, but had fewer choices than any other breakfast buffet I've been to. The location was pretty inconvenient - despite being in downtown Georgetown, the hotel is pretty removed from the historic parts of the city.

The verdict: stay somewhere else. Look at the map of Georgetown, Penang and find a hotel near Fort Cornwallis or in Chinatown or maybe Little India. Really anywhere around there should be good (not that all hotels in that area are good, but location-wise, that's where you want to be).

Posted by James Trotta at 2:17 PM | Comments (0)

Penang Malaysia

So I got back from Penang today. I had a great vacation, but I can't really say I want to go to Penang again. For one thing, taking a taxi can be a very frustrating experience (much worse in Penang than in Kuala Lumpur). Their's lots of bargain shopping, but the same can be said for Kuala Lumpur or (I'm told) other places in Malaysia. The beaches were fine, but not great.

My wife and I still love Malaysia, and are planning a trip next summer. The plan will probably be to spend 3 days in Kuala Lumpur and three days in Langkawi, but we won't know for sure for a while.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:28 AM | Comments (0)

Bus travel in Korea

My wife and I are getting on a plane to Malaysia in a few minutes. This morning we were several hundred kilometers away from the airport visiting her parents. We initially wanted to fly because we ahve a 7 hour flight in fornt of us and adding a four hour bus ride didn't sound so great.

Tickets were too expensive though and we took the bus. It was fine. Intercity buses in Korea are clean, comfortable, on time, cheap. I have no reservations about traveling by bus in Korea.

Posted by James Trotta at 5:10 PM | Comments (0)

Music and Theater in New York

Whether you are a lover of the arts or a sports fanatic, New York City is the only place to go for entertainment. You will find a host of plays, musicals,

sporting events, concerts, and family events going on in the great city of New York.

Madison Square Garden is the place to see New York Knicks basketball and Harlem Globetrotters events. Experience Madison Square Garden concerts with tickets to see Gwen Stafani live and Billy Joel concerts. You can also get tickets to Madison Square Garden Theatre family events like Peter Pan show dates and tickets to Sesame Street Live.

If you’re traveling to New York City, go and see Radio City Music Hall events with tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Theater fans will want to get tickets to see Wicked for their Gershwin Theatre performances or tickets to Phantom of the Opera Broadway shows and all the Majestic Theatre events .

Sports fans won’t be left out on a trip to New York City. They can get New York Giants tickets and New York Jets ticketsfor games at Giants Stadium. Spend some time at Yankee Stadium with tickets to see the New York Yankees or go see New York Mets gameswith tickets to Shea Stadium. Treat your favorite sports fan with tickets to New York Rangers hockey games at Madison Square Garden.

Any way you cut it New York City entertainment tickets are the finest way to spend your east coast vacation. Locals know that NYC is the best place for Broadway theater events and with quite a few sports teams, New York is the best place for fans to go. Get tickets to your favorite New York City events from Coast to Coast Tickets.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

Budapest

I've written before about Eastern Europe and staying in apartments rather than hotel rooms. Here's an interesting site about renting apartments in Budapest: Amadeus Apartments Budapest - budget hotel alternative. Now while I like the idea of renting an apartment for a month and really getting to know a city, I don't like that they charge by the person: 15-30 Euros/night per person. For a family of two like me and my wife, I guess 30 Euros/night is reasonable and they do promise discounts for stays longer than two weeks. I have a request in to see what kind of discounts we're talking about.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:48 PM | Comments (0)