Today I shook hands with a man who has been to Antarctica, and travels down there each Antarctic summer – Mr Roger Slade. Roger Slade has a website over at Roger Slade Photo where the sells some of the most exquisite images of penguins, ice, the Antarctic region etc: Roger Slade’s Photo Gallery.

I’ve always been interested in the history of South Pole exploration. I’ve collected many books from the survivors of Scott’s expedition, (even getting hold of a 1911 two volume Smith Elder edition of Scott’s Diaries). The whole adventure, heroism and magnificent effort of all the “ice explorers” – Shackleton, Amundsen, Peary etc has always intrigued me.

And I had to shake Roger Slade’s hand as I pointed out to him – “You’re probably the only person in Essex or East Anglia at the moment who has been in Antarctica”. He had an even better statistic which was that if you take all the people who have ever been to the South Pole, (That’s all the known explorers etc etc), or the Antarctic region, and put them all together – they probably would only fill an average size football stadium. That’s amazing, right?

Anyway, please go visit Roger Slade’s website over at Roger Slade Photo. And if you’re interested in taking an adventure cruise to Antarctica, please take a look over at Quark Expeditions.

Oh yes – wrap up warm if you head for Antarctica – the average temperature is -49 degrees Celsius!

Dec 6th, 2009 Click here to comment »

Tags: adventure cruise, Amundsen, antarctic region, antarctic summer, Antarctica, Elder, Expeditions, Exploration, explorers, heroism, Peary, penguins, photo gallery, quark expeditions, roger slade, Scott, Shackleton, Smith, South Pole, south pole exploration

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Galway, Ireland – Galway City, Co. Galway, Ireland. Recently I went to Galway on business. To lovely Galway City in Co. Galway, Ireland.

Galway City is a great place. Although I was only in Galway for two days. I managed to find out “How To Cross The Road in Galway” -:

The Guinness in Galway is lovely. Here I am drinking Guniess in the Hole In The Wall pub in Galway:

But where to stay in Galway? Well, I was booked into the delicious Victoria Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway. My room looked a bit like this….

And in case you didn’t get all that – I had a huge family room in the delicious Victoria Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway:

Victoria Hotel, Galway, Ireland

For all things Galway, take a look here:

But the people of Galway were marvellous folk! We wondered off down some side streets, found some great pubs, drank Guinness, and really felt quite “at home” in Galway City…

But if you’re looking for a recommendation of a great place to eat, drink and where “the crack” is grand, you can go no better than Garveys Hotel, Eyre Square:

Garveys Hotel & Restaurant, Eyre Square, Galway, Ireland

The food, service, and the Guinness (!), was superb in Garveys – I can highly recommend it.

So, there you have it. How can one place on an overnight stop have so much effect on me? Well – it did! Visit Galway. Galway, Ireland – Galway City, Co. Galway, Ireland; get yourself there soon and enjoy the food, Guinness and the friendliness of the people of Galway, Ireland.

May 31st, 2009 one comment »

Tags: co galway, eyre square galway, friendliness, galway city, guinness, hole in the wall, hotel galway ireland, huge family room, ireland galway, victoria hotel galway

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