British Summertime: A Paler Shade of White

Well folks, it's officially British Summertime! Last Sunday the clocks went back, the sun started shining, and the entire country sat in the park and basked in the warmth.

Last year I experienced my first summer in London, and it wasn't anything like I expected; It wasn't consistently warm, and wasn't always sunny. But it also had moments of pure glory.  Spring seriously comes out in force in the parks - as people's paler-shade-of-white skin is exposed for the first time in 6 months (finally a country where I blend in!).

Greenwich for the day

A few weeks ago I visited the London borough of Greenwich for the first time. Famous for the home of Time - Greenwich Mean Time or GMT-  as well as it's harbour and meridian line.

London Day Trip: Bath

"If your only going to visit one other city in England besides London, make it Bath" - Lonely Planet.

Now that's some advice I am willing to take! Continuing with my New Year's resolution to travel more around the UK, this past weekend I headed to Bath. The downtown area of Bath is a dedicated UNESCO world heritage site due to its beautiful architecture.

Simply imagine the setting for a Jane Austin novel, add some cars and tourists, and you pretty much have a perfect picture of the town:

Pulteney Bridge

Away for the weekend

I'm away in Bath this weekend, so my weekend post will be delayed. Pictures, commentary and sage advice about Bath to come next week!

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting out of London and savouring life at a slower pace.

As a side note, did you know that if you book your journey to Bath with First Great Western train service, there are lots of 2-for-1 offers available. Mint!

Ice in Trafalgar Square

How to Book a Hostel in Europe

Looking to book accommodation in Europe? There's only one site you need:

HostelWorld.com is widely used by the backpacker and traveller community around the world. The real power it has in it's range of destinations (you can search for accommodation in any city in the world), and reviews. The site is so widely used that you get hundreds of reviews for popular hostels, making it easy to decide where to stay for the night. 

The user interface is also highly efficient; you can search by date, city, accommodation type, etc, sort your results by availability, reviews, and price, and then instantly book yourself in on the days you want.

Each hostel is listed with pictures, ratings, descriptions and maps. Again, I'd really suggest taking the reviews into account, along with the location of the hostel. You want to be careful that the accommodation is cheap and clean - not cheap, dirty, and so far away from the city centre the cost of transport brings the price right back up again.