Bike show is over, now it's time to explore England!

Wasting time in the English countryside!

After we packed up the displays from the show it was time to say goodbye to Birmingham for a bit. David and Gary got everything loaded into the car and we headed down the motorway (on the wrong side of the road) to David's in Overton. It only took us less than two hours to get a quarter of the way across the country! In the USA this would take a couple of days, not hours! After a good night's rest we had a bit of breakfast and went to go see H-C Travel and the rest of Overton, a nice little town in the English countryside.


Now that we were done working it was time to go for a bit of a walk and see the country. We walked around the little town of Overton, stopping occasionally to see the local shops and the town in general. A very nice little country town, a place even Gary said he would like to live in. Sure there aren't any mountians like we're used to but nice nonetheless.

We stopped off on our walk around town to take a look at the local church, older than almost all of the places back home in Colorado.

Gary wasn't used to the narrow, small little roads we saw all over England, good thing he wasn't driving anywhere, plus the big dummy would probably end up on the wrong side of the road anyway. After the first day of wandering around Overton we went back for a wonderful dinner with David and Penny, a bit of conversation and then off to bed for a nice night's rest.

The next day we got up, had a nice cup of tea and walked up to the train station to take a day trip down to Salisbury to see some friends and the local attractions. It was about a mile to the train station, but a very nice walk. We got on the train and were very impressed at how nice they were and how easy it was to get around the local area this way. A quick 30 minutes later we were in Salisbury and got a ride from one of our friends from a previous tour. He was nice enough to take us up to go see one of the oldest mysteries in England, Stonehenge! Just a bit out of town it was nice to go see, although a bit expensive and they wouldn't let us get within fifty feet from the actual stones. I asked why and the nice people looking after it said that they had so many people visiting that it might be damaging to them to allow everyone get that close.

But we had a good time looking around and taking some pictures and video. We then met another friend from a previous tour who was nice enough to drive us around the local area to see the rest of the countryside. After Stonehenge we drove down to a small local town to see a little oddity in front of the village church.



Apparently the locals have been keeping track of the price of bread here for over two hundred years, carving the price into a piece of stone and placing it in the wall surrounding the local church. The stones give the year and the price for a Gallon of bread, which gives you some idea of inflation over a very long period of time. We never found out just exactly why this was done, but we guessed that this was so everyone paid the same price. Those silly humans!

After a quick picture, it was time to travel onward to see another local landmark. During the second world war there were a very large amount of both American and British soldiers stationed in the area around the airfields set up in the area to defend the English Isles and bomb Germany.
While they were in the area they discovered that just under a foot or so of earth the ground was comprised of almost pure white chalk. Having discovered this someone came up with the idea to carve away the topsoil in the shape of the regimental symbol, and then all of the units in the area followed suit. It's even visible on Google earth, and is just a little ease-southeast of the little town of Fovant.

Taking a look around at the silly humans carving up the ground again, boy do they do some strange things!

Here they are, a bit hard to see from this angle though!

Looks like someone Dancing doesn't it!

This one is much easier to see, and is much better maintained!

So is this one, but I can't really tell what it looks like, pretty though!

Our friend and tour guide for the day, thank you and hopefully we'll see you again soon!

The final Days at the NEC Motorcycle Show

For the next few days of the show we spent a lot of time meeting really nice from all over the U.K.. We also had some more friends come by and say hello. We also got some time to go wander around the show and get a look at all the new motorcycles coming out for the next year. There were Harleys, Hondas, Kawasaki's, BMW's, Triumph, Royal Enfields, Triumph, and many more.


We walked around for quite a while looking and drooling over all the new bikes. We saw some really nice motorcycles and all the neat stuff that goes with them. I even got the chance to ride the new Honda 80cc. It's a lot of power for yours truly, but a lot of fun.


We also saw several bikes that were just my size! They would be perfect for doing the tours for me, but Gary said that he didn't have enough money to buy a bike just for me, so I guess I'll just have to be happy riding on the back of his bike.


I liked this bike a lot, it was just about my size! But I just didn't like the colors! So we walked around some more looking at all the neat stuff until one bike caught my attention.

This is the one!

Now this is much better, now all I need is for Harley-Davidson to make a bike my size for doing the tours. If you're gonna do "The American road" (Historic Route 66), then I think you need to do it on a classic American motorcycle. But with this bike I could do the whole Route in just a couple of days, not weeks! After the silly human dragged me off this bike kicking and screaming, he saw a bike we had to go see.


This is the bike Gary was obsessed with. This is the new Triumph touring bike, and the silly human kept babbling about it being the perfect bike for Touring around the U.K.. He said something about if he was going to be riding around the U.K. he should do it on a local bike. This one was just perfect…until Gary saw the price tag and then converted it into US Dollars! The poor guy just about passed out, but I calmed him down with a Guinness and we kept looking around. Then as we were going back to look at it again, something else caught Gary's attention (thank goodness too, I hate seeing that guy cry). We were walking back to the Triumph when we heard someone calling out the silly humans' name. We looked all around until I noticed where it was coming from.


It was these beautiful ladies modeling the new Kawasaki bike. Apparently Gary met one of them the night before at the Pub when he and some friends from a previous tour went out for dinner and a few pints (and the B@$*@%d left me behind at the B&B). Then they saw me and forgot all about Gary! They wanted to play with me and Gary said it was okay, and then they wanted a picture of me with them! All of the other human men looking at us, were mumbling something about me being the luckiest bear in the world, or something like that!




It didn't end there either, after we said goodbye and walked around some more a couple of other human Ladies wanted to give me a hug. They were really cute too! I got my hug s and it was time to get back to the H.C. Travel booth and go back to work (the silly human kept whining about staying there with the pretty girls though). So we went back and met some more really nice folks and had a great time at the show. I sure hope we get to come back to the show next year so I can get some more hugs!

That's about all for now, keep checking back as the story continues…

Another fun Day at the NEC Motorcycle Show!

After a good night's rest it was time to go back to the show. We got to meet a lot of really nice people, and a lot of them were interested in coming over to the U.S. to ride. We also saw a lot of people from previous tours who came to the show and stopped by to see us. I also got the chance to see a couple of fellow traveling critters.

One of which is my buddy H.E. (that's short for Holiday Elephant). He and his human Martin had come to the show and stopped by to say hi.

Martin is really my kind of guy, he's a veterinarian who travels all over the world helping animals, keep up the good work!

Another one of my friends who came by to see me also has his own blog here on blogspot (http://www.kermit-hops-the-world.blogspot.com), Kermit. We had a great time chatting about old times, our humans and the strange things they do, our blogs and a lot more.

Before I came over I knew I was going to be seeing him, so I decided to give him his Christmas present a little early. This little frog went all the way down Route 66 with his humans (Paul & Trish), but he didn't get anything for completing the journey. So I thought I should give him something for the next time he comes back for another tour. So I got him his own biker jacket with all the Route 66 badges, considering how nutty his humans can be, he deserves it!

I also made some new friends at the show, one of which is another traveling bear Fudge, and his young human too (I can't remember the human's name though). Nice fellas, and they were really glad to see another traveling stuffed animal too. We hung out for a while comparing humans before he had to go. One friendly suggestion, he really needs to see a hairstylist before that hair gets any more out of control! Talk about a bad fur day!

Another new friend was introduced to me by a very nice man in a kilt in the stand opposite ours, Peter. He's the owner and operator of Highland Rider Motorcycle Aventures (http://www.highlandrider.com), and he had a mascot with him, but the poor fellow didn't have a name. So after days and days of thinking we finally came up with a good Scottish name for him, Stewart, Stewart the Stoat. He's a cute little guy in a kilt, and makes the goggles look good! Hopefully some day I'll get the chance to come ride the highlands of Scotland with him and his human.

I also got to meet our host critters at the bed and breakfast. The owner's daughter brought her stuffed friends with her so I could meet them and so I wouldn't be lonely, wonderful English hospitality! I'm sorry that I couldn't remember their names, maybe they'll leave me a comment and let me know their names so I can list them here.

Well, that's about all for now, the human says he's getting tired and needs to go to bed, and he's tired of typing too. Keep checking back though, we've got a lot more to show you about our wonderful trip to England. Until next time, keep your crazy humans out of trouble!

At the NEC Motorcycle Show

A good time at the NEC Motorcycle Show!

After a long day of travel we finally made it to the NEC in Birmingham, England. After spending about 14 hours on airplanes and almost 24 hours of travel time we made it! The flight across the "pond" was comfortable, and I was lucky to get a seat all to myself (the crazy human was too cheap to buy me a seat) instead of riding all the way in the overhead compartment!



We finally arrived around noon in Birmingham and we were straight off to the booth for HC Travel to meet David Grist. We got to meet David right away and after a brief introduction we started talking to people about the motorcycle tours. I just wanted to go hibernate right away, but the insane Gary said it would be better if we stayed awake for as long as possible to prevent jet-lag. It was alright for him, he just kept drinking lots and lots of coffee! We finished at about 6 that evening and after stopping for dinner at a local Pub for dinner it was time to go to the Bed & Breakfast for a well deserved (and badly needed) rest.

South Pacific Handbook R.I.P.

One of Moon's original authors has parted ways with Avalon Travel Publishing after 28 years but will continue to post South Pacific content on his website. The list of authors cut from Moon Publications now ranges from yours truly to David Stanley, Bill Weir, and even the founder, Bill Dalton. And it's all about money, or lack of, due to declining sales, poor marketing and distribution, and the relatively high royalty rates granted to early authors such as myself and David.

South Pacific Handbook RIP

I regret to inform you that a 9th edition of Moon Handbooks South Pacific will not be published. After 28 years and eight editions, Avalon Travel Publishing and I have decided that it will not be practical to produce a new edition.

There are a number of reasons for this, beginning with the numbers. Over the past 10 years, sales of Moon Handbooks South Pacific have dropped. The 7th edition (2000) sold a third less copies than the 6th edition (1996), and the current 8th edition (2004) has thus far sold just over half as many copies as the 7th.

Why are sales going down? Competition from other guidebooks and the internet is the obvious answer. Many people believe they can find enough free information online to make a printed guidebook unnecessary. What they don’t realize is that much of what is found on websites is dubious and incomplete, or just one-sided advertising. A majority of travel websites are run by companies which want to sell you their products or individuals eager to share travelers tips with their peers. The discipline and quality control exercised by a professional book editor is usually missing.

Since 2000 my book has faced strong competition from Lonely Planet South Pacific and Micronesia. It would be inappropriate for me to criticize that book here, but suffice it to say that the coverage there is far less consistent and detailed than that in Moon Handbooks South Pacific. Lonely Planet is a monopolistic corporation which has pushed Moon titles off the bookshelves in Australia, New Zealand, and much of Europe. Doubtless they’ll be pleased to learn of Moon Handbooks South Pacific’s demise because with no remaining competition other than Frommers South Pacific, they’ll be able to space new editions of South Pacific and Micronesia further apart and cut back on the cost of researching off-the-beaten-track locations.

South Pacific Handbook RIP by David Stanley

Being in Buenos Aires

Even though I live in Buenos Aires it is impossible to take this special city for granted. Buenos Aires is perhaps one of the most extraordinary cities there is, or at least one of the more spectacular cities I have ever visited. I thought a quick entry on Buenos Aires would do this blog good and perhaps be helpful to anyone planning on visiting the city.

In Buenos Aires, each barrio (or neighborhood) has something different, and often surprising, to offer to its visitors. One can walk in the colorful Boca neighborhood, visit the famous cemetery in Recoleta, relish a delicious Argentinean steak in any number of the high scale restaurants of Palermo, or listen to the melancholic sounds of the bandoneon playing the last tango of the night in a small bar in Almagro.

The different barrios are also connected to the world in their own particular manner. Boca is not only the colorful old harbor where Italian immigrants once resided, but it also the home of the legendary football club Boca Juniors, where Diego Maradona started his career. Debatably the best football player of all time – which can be argued (although not with Argentineans) – Maradona is unique in many ways, not least because of his goals in the World Cup of 1986 where the saying “Hand of God” chiseled itself forever into the jargon of the football world. Diego’s thrashing of the English on that fateful day – so I am told – was his own personal response to the war fought in the Falklands. Regardless of his motives, Maradona successfully put la Boca on the map, and with its many colorfully painted corrugated iron sheet buildings, and its world famous stadium, La Boca is a great place to visit.

Eva “Evita” Perón Duartes’ grave can be found in the Cemetery of Recoleta, a charming (and slightly gothic) looking cemetery filled with picturesque tombs and angelic statues. Catholicism in Argentina is of course the prevalent religion, and wealthy Argentineans have in the past chosen the most elaborate tombs imaginable. Evita’s remains were exhumed and reburied in the cemetery, while recently there were unsuccessful calls for her husband’s bones to be buried with hers. Funnily enough, Evita was originally a poor country girl who wanted to become an actress, but then turned into the country’s first leading lady and an angelical pariah figure for the poor. She was highly skilled with playing with the tax payer’ funds in order to make people think she was a great charity giver, but while supporting her husband’s (Juan Domingo Perón) political moves, she loved to dress up in the finest European gowns and adorn herself with jewelry. Her funeral in 1952 was an unforgettable event in the Argentinean history and the famous cemetery where she was buried is a national landmark. Its great place for visitors to pass a few hours, wandering among the many beautiful tombs and cornices belonging to the late greats of Argentina’s long ago.

Apart from these historical figures, the present Buenos Aires has an abundance of qualities that make it both a dynamic and fantastic city. There is a reason why it is called the Paris of Latin America. It is because it is beautiful.

There are plenty of old-style cafés and bars to be found on the corners. The fabled tango can be seen being performed live on the streets; many of porteños (the inhabitants of Buenos Aires) practice the dance themselves and go to milongas (tango dance halls) on the weekends. And the steak – well words fail even me. In order to understand the fabled beef of Argentina, you just have to try it. Even if meat is not your favorite thing, the city offers world-class dining with its ethnic diversity; with sushi, kosher and arab food being a few of the most outstanding examples.

Cultural activities and events, parks with handicraft markets, a public transportation system that works incredibly well (generally considered to be a miracle in Latin America) and a political activism that can be perceived all over the city, are just a few building blocks of the everyday routine of Buenos Aires. It really is a genuine mixture of Europe and Latin America (spiced with subtle Asian, African and North American influences). It’s a great place to visit, a great place to live, and a genuinely all round great place to be.

All the best

Bart
www.cat-travel.com