Tourist Information Centre
Thought It would be useful to have a thread for hints and advice to people travelling somewhere new whether in the UK or overseas.
I’m off to Northumberland tomorrow and will be staying not far from Kielder Forest (eastern side) so if anyone any suggestions for places to visit in that area. Never been to the northeast at all before. The wife wants to visit Alnwick Castle and I’d like to go to Seahouses, Lindisfarne and maybe a boat trip to the Farne Islands. We should get there late afternoon tomorrow and come back on Wednesday so will have four full days. I was initially going up to run Kielder Marathon but have had a bit of a knee problem that meant I couldn’t get my long runs done.
Hoping to make use of some of the darkest skies in the country for photos and with a bit of luck the big solar ejections will result in some auroras. Tomorrow night looks like it might be clear but it will be cloudy for most of the trip unfortunately.
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Roman forts along Hadrian's Wall, Vindolanda, Chesters, Housesteads.
Hermitage the other side of Newcastleton is worth a look.
Also nice trail along the North side of Keilder reservoir, for walking or biking.
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The marathon I was due to do was a lap of the reservoir so was planning to go there to torment myself.
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Alnmouth, all along the coast really.
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Sycamore gap stump.
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Barnard's Castle is unmissable.
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Not if you've got poor eyesight. 😉
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.1 -
Perfect place to go to test your eyesight, no?
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Something tells me that FA's initial gnomic reference was done knowingly, albeit emojiless.
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Seems short sighted not to include emojis
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
🤓
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Quite a timely thread. Anyone know which car hire company is best to use in Italy?
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
If you're flying there, it's worth just checking the '"Do you need to hire a car?" link from the airline. I was genuinely surprised what a good deal Easyjet got me, and it's quite nice that the booking details are tied in with the flight, so you don't need to sort all that out.
I think prices have been tumbling lately, so there might be some decent competition.
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Good tip that! Not sure it will apply but I'll check. The reason for not being sure is flying into Venice for a few days prior to driving to the Dolomites so there'll be a few days lag. Sure that's fairly normal there though so...
Oh, and hoping to drop off at Milan MPX, although easyJet will be doing that leg too.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
One-way hires are stooooopidly expensive, in my experience of looking... they basically put the cost of getting the car and a driver back to base, if you do it via a regular company.
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I use Autoeurope who access a good range of car hire companies, all the major brands. You can also do one way rentals.
www.autoeurope.com
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Initial searches indicate and extra £190 (Locato v Alamo) for 11 days. Put that up against having to drive back cross country and an extra 2 night hotel stay due to distance and less flight availability and my mind is made up. I'll put it to the wife though as she may fancy a break-even (ish) stay in Verona. Now having typed that...
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
My only tip is to buy excess insurance separately. That saves lots.
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It also makes you feel quite smug at the check-in when they say "Would you like our insurance?"
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There's a website called Do You Italy which is basically a price comparison site for car hire. Tends to generate very cheap prices. There's also a Do You Spain.
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mafiacars.com would probably do a deal you just couldn't afford to turn down...
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😂😂😂 Just back from Sicily and did see some sights that raised eyebrows.
Edit:- Just did a search on doyouitaly and they were a bit cheaper. What was the most competitive company? Sicilybycar! 😂😂😂
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.1 -
Turns out to be not the cheapest. But my main reason for posting is to highlight that the prices are a bit shonky! 😂
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
Blimey. I just did random search for comparison in France from Lyon airport, via elephantcarhire.com...
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Ah, that's the one-way cost. Here's return to VCE cost (sorry, it's elephantcarhire.co.uk)
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It's true, not all places are equal. 😉 Although to be fair elephantcarhire do have good pricing, thanks!
£1.75m/day is taking the wee wee though! 😂😂😂
(For fair comparisons I do not want an electric car but insist on a medium sized car, automatic gearing, A/C and unlimited mileage.)
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.1 -
I like Verona, say hi to my aunt if you do go. Stay somewhere near the centre if you can, it's all walkable if you do that. If you're in a hire car park here as it's free and walkable to the centre: https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4355836,10.9796386,3a,90y,318.38h,93.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbs3hTfSEFxGOsm5Ofs-RbA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1?coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAwNS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Plenty to keep you occupied, from there walk up Corsa Porta Palio to Castelvecchio (wave to my aunt as you pass the first side turning on the left), go up onto the bridge at Castelvecchio then back out and cross the road heading up Via Roma to Piazza Bra with the Arena and lots of bars. I recommend Bar Liston, about 3/4 along the parade as its the only one left of thhe old bars, the others have all been taken over. Then walk along Via Mazzini to Piazza Erbe, pedestrianised road with lots of shops. Go into the Benetton shop and down to the basement for some nice Roman ruins. Cos is opposite has some ruins downstairs but not as impressive.From Piazza Erbe, ignore Juliette's tomb, go through to Piazza Dante (officially called Piazza dei Signori) and on the the Scaligera tombs. then wind your way towards Ponte Pietra (nice restaurant in a church on Via Santa Felicita). Cross Ponte Pietra and take the funicular up to Castel San Pietro, nice views over the city. Walk down taking in the Roman theatre as you do so.
That's probably enough for your first day.
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Guess I'm sold now!
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.1 -
Or stay at the southern end of Lake Garda
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I'm up for a day of the Fiat 500, must be gold plated!
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I went to Sicily a couple of years ago. One piece of advice that I took with me was that if a seemingly random person asks you for one or two euro to park your car you should pay it.
Half way into the holiday, exactly this happened. Remembering the advice I happily gave the old guy a Euro whilst a car a couple of spaces away refused to on the basis that the guy had no "accreditation". When we came back a few hours later our car was fine but the one who's driver had refused to pay had had the windscreen filled in.
So my contribution to the Tourist Information centre is: When asked for money to park a car in Sicily, do it!.
Wilier Izoard XP0
