As far as I can remember, everything I have posted has been recounting things that have happened and so it is a bit of a departure to talk of prospective plans, and there is a reason for it. Experiments, if my time at school was right, should have a hypothesis and method, followed by results and evaluation. I thought it might be nice to compare my plans and preconceptions to the reality.
I have some holiday to take before the end of the year and it seems right to take it about now.
This is probably the final section of my Beacons Of Democracy 2013 tour and I am hoping to be able to crowbar in some references to it.
The initially planned route is
flight to BUDAPEST [3 days]
train to VIENNA [2 days]
train to PRAGUE [2 days]
train to AMSTERDAM [1 day]
I am not well travelled and, if truth be told, I have been a bit wary of Eastern European travel as I'm not sure of the general view on racism. Am I being ironically prejudiced?
I'm not even sure any more.
All three cities have positive reputations so I am looking forward to it but solo travel has its pitfalls (though these are the same ones as ever - I've not got some new ones). I'm glad I have a camera to act as a crutch - I shall cradle it, metaphorically, as so many fondle their phones.
If we were playing a version of Mallet's Mallet (old children's TV programme, especially beloved of TEFL teachers of a certain age) with memories and cities, this is how it would go:
I know Budapest firstly as the second city to have an underground (mass transit) system. I was recently told that this was really built to transport the nobility - how things change. I recently spoke to a Hungarian friend of mine and he was very positive about Budapest. Amazingly, he had actually seen the return leg of the famous Hungarian 3-6 thrashing of England in 1953 - the Mighty Magyars - which was an even more emphatic 7-1 in 1954. I was impressed, and he was impressed I'd heard of it - yet another example of football knowledge ingratiating me into foreign worlds.
All three cities have positive reputations so I am looking forward to it but solo travel has its pitfalls (though these are the same ones as ever - I've not got some new ones). I'm glad I have a camera to act as a crutch - I shall cradle it, metaphorically, as so many fondle their phones.
If we were playing a version of Mallet's Mallet (old children's TV programme, especially beloved of TEFL teachers of a certain age) with memories and cities, this is how it would go:
I know Budapest firstly as the second city to have an underground (mass transit) system. I was recently told that this was really built to transport the nobility - how things change. I recently spoke to a Hungarian friend of mine and he was very positive about Budapest. Amazingly, he had actually seen the return leg of the famous Hungarian 3-6 thrashing of England in 1953 - the Mighty Magyars - which was an even more emphatic 7-1 in 1954. I was impressed, and he was impressed I'd heard of it - yet another example of football knowledge ingratiating me into foreign worlds.
I don't know so much about Vienna but I do remember one of my students being very excited many years ago about her first trip abroad with her classical music playing daughter, an infectious excitement.
Prague initially reminds me of Praha 2000, the first battlegrounds in the incorrectly named anti-capitalist movement that I actually remember. It then makes me think of the mythical place described by friends in secondary school as the place where beer was 15p a pint. It probably wasn't accurate, but the stories remain in my head.
Prague initially reminds me of Praha 2000, the first battlegrounds in the incorrectly named anti-capitalist movement that I actually remember. It then makes me think of the mythical place described by friends in secondary school as the place where beer was 15p a pint. It probably wasn't accurate, but the stories remain in my head.
I have been to Amsterdam before but I am travelling through as I would like to get the train back from Prague and I can do so via Amsterdam before using the Dutchflyer. Maybe I could go to another place in the Netherlands?
If anyone would like to provide some tips and guidance for the cities mentioned above, I would love to know - pop them in the comments below or any other method you know to get hold of me. I am still pretty flexible on locations and timings after all.
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