Spring break. Planning trips

March weather is unpredictable. One day it’s mild and sunny, and I’ve tossed aside the hot water bottle. The next day it’s cold and wet, and I’m wrapped up again in the duvet coat. However, there is no doubt that spring is near and I am ready to come out of hibernation.

I pulled out the diary and flicked off the dust. The following dates have been penned in:

• Several weekends taking in the sea air in Brighton;
• A day out at Bletchley Park to see the code-breaking Enigma machines;
• Bank holiday city break in Stockholm;
• And, a week visiting a friend on sabbatical in Madrid.

I’ve been couch-surfing jauntful.com and cntraveller.com for recommendations. Jauntful is a crowd-sourcing site where people have compiled their travel lists with handy printable itineraries and maps. CNtraveller is the Conde Nast Traveller site that has luscious photography and helpful lists. I love the food and restaurant lists. On both sites, you type in your destination and away you go. Oh, and of course I have to get my Everyman map guide.

And not to forget my lovely friends at the Slow Pace, who will definitely get a look-in because they know Madrid well and they’ve just been to Stockholm. How handy is that! I’ve already written down their recommendation for the best meatballs in Stockholm.

~ Spotted Cow

City Guides

Several readers have asked what guide books – if any – we use on city trips. Well, we do a fair bit of internet research at home first, but take the Everyman Mapguides along with us.

The Everyman guides are handy because they are pocket-sized and you can tuck them away into your coat or into a small handbag. They don’t weigh much and we find them especially useful in cities. The guide divides the city into sections and each has a foldout map as well as listings of places of interest, eating & drinking holes, and shops. The front and back covers also carry some cultural and logistic information.

There’s a decent spread of global cities but bear in mind that Everyman don’t update these guides very often. Places of interest remain unchanged for decades but the eating/drinking and store listings tend to be old favourites and granddaddies, rather than the hip and trendy. That doesn’t bother us too much because we discover those ideas online, through recommendations or with the concierge.

That doesn’t mean we don’t get lost. I had a long weekend in Marrakesh with The Ladies where we couldn’t make head or tail of the labyrinthine streets and alleyways of the souk and they weren’t always signposted. No matter … there were lots of ‘helpful’ citizens who led us round in circles, only to ask for a healthy tip at our destination !

Let us know how you plan your city breaks. We might indulge in a bit of crowd sourcing on this blog soon.

~ Spotted Cow