February 2009 Archives

I'm fuming about British Airways' inability to let me buy flights using any of my debit cards - apparently because I'm not entering the address held by my bank.

Except that I've just been on the phone to my bank to check, line by line, letter by letter.

Apparently, according to BA, banks sometimes have separate internet departments that hold different details.

SO HOW DO I BUY FLIGHTS FROM YOU THEN?

With a deep intake of breath, I call their phone booking team, accepting that it'll cost me £5 for the priveledge. And sit listening to reminders of this fact, and advertorials extolling the virtues of buying travel insurance through their preferred partnership and letting me know I'll be asked if I want to receive useful information from BA..... and put the phone down.

The Peregrine Adventures Libya Explorer tour is definitely going ahead - yay!

To do:

• Update my Where Next page (now below)
• Scan and email a full colour scanned copy of my passport to Peregrine so that they can sort out an 'approval' letter from the Libyan Authorities
• Email details of my occupation to Peregrine
• Contact Travcour to arrange for an Arabic transcript of my passport
• Book flights and email the details to Peregrine

Where next?

• Destination: Libya
• Why: somewhere I want to experience before Gaddafi eventually goes, plus they have amazing Roman, Greek and Phoenician remains, a stunning coastline, atmospheric ancient towns, deserts and oases.
• When: April/May 2009
• How: Peregrine's Libya Explorer tour

Itinerary

• Day 1 (Sat) Arrive in Tripoli and transfer to hotel.
• Day 2 Visit Jebel Nafusa and the Qaser of Kabaw en route to Ghadames.
• Days 3-4 Full day in Ghadames, including the museum, the old town and afternoon tea in the sand dunes. Visit Nalut and return to Tripoli.
• Day 5 Full day at Leptis Magna.
• Day 6 Visit Sabratha. Fly to Benghazi.
• Day 7 Visit Cyrene and Apollonia.
• Day 8 Visit Qasr Libya. Fly to Tripoli and then on to Sebha.
• Day 9 Explore Germa and Ghat. Overnight in Aweinat.
• Days 10-11 Two full days to explore the Acacus mountains. See rock paintings and engravings.
• Day 12 More time to explore Acacus area in the morning. Return via Aweinat to Tikarkiba.
• Day 13 Explore the desert lakes. Fly to Tripoli.
• Day 14 Trip ends in Tripoli this morning (Fri).

Google map

View Larger Map

Information

• Wikipedia: Libya, Tripolitania, Tripoli, Eljabel Elgharbi (Jebel Nasufa), Ghadames, Nalut, Leptis Magna, Sabratha, Cyrenaica, Benghazi, Cyrene, Apollonia, Cyrenaica, Qasr Libya, Fezzan, Sabha (city), Germa, Al Awaynat, Jebel Uweinat, Tadrart Acacus, Ghat, Ubari, Erg (landform), Tuareg (collected together in my Libya, April/May 2009 Wikipedia book)
• Wikitravel: Libya, Tripoli, Leptis Magna, Ghadamis / Ghadamès, Benghazi
• FCO travel advice: Libya
• BBC country profile: Libya
• Lonely Planet: Libya
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Cyrene, Leptis Magna, Sabratha, Ghadamès, Tadrart Acacus (rock art)

Books to read

Listed in order of desire to read rather than real likelihood of being able to read:

• Difficult and Dangerous Roads: Hugh Clapperton's Travels in Sahara and Fezzan 1822-1825 - H. Clapperton, John Wright (Compiler) (Currently unavailable on Amazon)
• South from Barbary: Along the Slave Routes of the Libyan Sahara - Justin Marozzi
• Libyan Sands: Travel in a Dead World - Ralph A. Bagnold (Currently unavailable on Amazon)
• Wind, Sand and Stars - Antoine Saint-Exupery
• A History of Modern Libya - Dirk Vandewalle
• In the Country of Men - Hisham Matar
• Plus (inevitably) Libya (Lonely Planet Country Guide) - Anthony Ham

Weather

Forecasts (www.accuweather.com)

• Tripoli, Libya
• Zuwarah, Libya (similar to Sabratha / Sabratah)
• Cyrene, Libya
• Benghazi, Libya
• Sebha, Libya
• Home (for comparison):London, United Kingdom

One of the problems of reading on holiday, whether it's Central Asia Overland, or one's Honeymoon, is that there's often no access to a computer to write up my Reading on SparklyTrainers... Hence a backlog of entries covering the reading I did in Xinjiang/Kyrgyzstan/Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan (September/October) and upto/over Christmas (which I spent flickring my Central Asia photos).

I've spent this afternoon on a whistlestop review of that reading and there's still the past week's honeymoon reading to catch up on, but that's only another six books....

Central Asia Overland reading list:

• Mirrors of the Unseen - Jason Elliot
• The Lost Heart of Asia - Colin Thubron
• Sharpe's Rifles - Bernard Cornwell
• The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell
• Dissolution - C. J. Sansom
• Bones to Ashes - Kathy Reichs
• In the Company of the Courtesan - Sarah Dunant

December/January reading list:

• The Island of Lost Maps: A Story of Cartographic Crime - Miles Harvey
• The Anonymous Venetian - Donna Leon
• The Concrete Blonde - Michael Connelly
• The Last Coyote - Michael Connelly
• Sword Song - Bernard Cornwell
• Revelation - C. J. Sansom
• Sharpe's Escape - Bernard Cornwell

The honeymoon six:

• Fleshmarket Close - Ian Rankin
• The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Shooting - Melissa Banks
• The Love Knot - Charlotte Bingham
• Vagabond - Bernard Cornwell
• Suffer the Little Children - Donna Leon
• Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

We got back from a week in St Ives in Cornwall last night.

Yep, nothing exotic, just a cosy "Corner Cottage" in the heart of old St Ives with a (gas-powered) log fire, plenty of books and a sofa each. A great location, with the Tate and Porthmeor (surf) beach at one end of our cobbled street, Fore Street (shops - lots of shops!) and the harbour at the other end and the cheery Norway Stores just round the corner.

We had a beautiful sunny day on Wednesday, so headed out down the coastal path towards Zennor to enjoy great views back over St Ives and dramatic waves crashing against the cliffs. We also discovered the town's main "normal" shopping streets, complete with Pegenna Pasty shop and lots and lots of charity shops with a great selection of second hand books on offer. Most of the others days didn't see us venture out so much, but with plenty to read and a snug cottage to enjoy we did just that!

Bliss.

We indulged in plenty of fine dining too - Alba on Monday, pizza at OnShore on Tuesday, mexican at The Mex on Wednesday, a quiet night in with nibbles from the Fore Street Deli and The Digey Food Hall on Thursday and a final three course extravanza at the Porthminster Beach cafe on Friday, courtesy of a wedding present voucher from Phil's Bristol friends.

I've spent this morning catching up on email, Flickr photos from Tom and Dad, and girding my loins for the return to work. But first I've got to catch up on my backlog of Reading... starting with Jason Elliot's marvellous Mirrors of the Unseen, which I read at the start of my Central Asia Overland trip way back in September last year...