Mediterranean Cruise 2011

In April of 2011 I went on my first cruise! One of the best holiday experiences you can get. It's a great way to see many cities and countries and even experience different cuisine in a short space of time, in my case it was a week cruise.  The cruise line we went with was MSC Cruises and spent the week on MSC Fantasia. 


Ports of Call
Valletta, Malta
Messina, Sicily
Civitavecchia/Rome, Italy
Genoa, Italy
Marseille, France 
Barcelona, Spain

MSC Fantasia

Departure was firstly from London Gatwick, flying to Barcelona, Spain for the first port. It was quite a while to get onto the ship as you can imagine, the ship held up to around 4,000 passengers at any time. We finally made it into our balcony cabin.

Cabin


The original itinerary was to first stop in Tunis, Tunisia on the Northern Coast of Africa. However, due to political issues there it was not allowed. Full steam to Malta! Valetta is the capital of Malta and here we went on two excursions around Valetta and into Mdina, a second city. 

 Valetta

 Mdina

Messina in Sicily was the second port of call. Here we visited Mount Etna which is the tallest active volcano in Europe, standing just over 10,000ft. 12 days prior it had erupted. 

Mount Etna


 Civitavecchia/Rome was the port of call everyone was most excited about. Previous to this I had been to Rome for the day once in 2006. It's a great city, lot's to see and a great range of ways to explore the city. Highlights included The Trevi Fountain (Fontana Di Trevi) and petite restaurant on a back road which was amazing! 

St Peters Basilica/ The Vatican 

 Trevi Fountain

Colosseum

Spanish Steps


Genoa did not grant us from good weather, none the less, Portfolio, another highlight of the cruise. It's a chic, small fishing village situated on the Italian Riviera. It's a very stylish and expensive area with shops in the likes of Louis Vuitton and Gucci. It's pastel colored buildings and ambiance created a perfect atmosphere.

 Portofino

Portofino

MSC Cruises. What a great company to cruise with. Their customer service, facilities, decoration, atmosphere and especially the food was first class! The Red Velvet Restaurant was the main dining area and here each table had their own personal waiting service, had a different menu every evening and made extra effort on top of the first class service for the formal Gala evenings. I would highly recommend a MSC Cruise and a cruise's in general.

 Red Velvet Restaurant

 MSC Fantasia

 Upper Deck Pool

 Swarovski Crystal Staircase

Six Dream Destinations

I haven't done a new post for quite a while now, sorry about that. I want to see a great majority of the world, I have six dream destinations though at the minute.

Los Angeles, California

Machu Picchu, Peru

Niagara Falls, North America

Australia

Taj Mahal, India

Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

 While I am in Thailand in July, I will very jealous of my mum walking the four day (82km) trek on the Inca Trail in Peru to Machu Picchu with her friends, although I will be having a great time I still can't help but jealous! Someday I will go! I hope to be able to have the chance to go to Australia for my study abroad year at university, currently chosen Victoria University in Melbourne.

Twitter: @tomas_a

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

I have been interested in this castle and visiting it for a very long time. Neuschwanstein Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival palace is located in the Bavaria state in southeast Germany. It's truly an amazing site don't you agree? I hope to visit some day!

Twitter: @tomas_a

Island's of Paradise

As well as the attraction of the bustling cities of Asia, America and Europe for me, the islands of paradise around the world also very appealing..and I am sure a lot of you too! Laying there, on the white sandy beach, crystal clear water and the sun, what could be better? The best place I have been for that is Jolly Harbor in Antigua, Caribbean - it's simply stunning!

Jolly Harbor, Antigua, Caribbean

I came across a website earlier which had an article titled "Superman's View of Island Paradises: 37 Amazing Aerial Pics" - "Have you ever wanted to retreat from the daily grind to an island paradise?" 

Images include locations from the Maldives, Seychelles, Fiji, Thailand plus many more exotic locations. 

Here are some of my favorite aerial shots;

Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Palau Islands, Philippines 

Republic of Fiji Islands

See the rest of the aerial shots and read the article here.

Twitter: @tomas_a

Researching Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Kanchanaburi Province in Thailand

I have just been researching a province and city in Thailand named Kanchanaburi where on the summer school we will be going to for a two day visit. The city lies on the River Kwai where the Bridge of Kwai was built, destroyed and built again after World War II for a link into Burma (Mynamar) - which is interesting as I didn't realise World War II was also affecting parts of Asia...unless I am just being naive or it has nothing to do with World War II in Europe?  

Bridge of Kwai

 The main attraction here is the Bridge of Kwai of course and I am sure it will be all interesting and things like that...what I am most excited about is seeing and interacting with the elephants again! I went elephant trekking for the day when I was in Phuket 2010. However here we get to experience be closer to them, bathing with the elephants in the river and feeding with the elephants! I have seen some of my friends photos who have done this and it looks fantastic! I seriously can't wait to do this!

 Also as a little present...its advertised I can bring back a photo frame made from elephant dung...I'll think about that one! 

 

Washing the elephants in Thailand

I thought this was quite funny after searching 'Elephant trekking Thailand'

Twitter: @tomas_a

UH Media Summer School 2011

This July I will be traveling to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. I was lucky enough to get onto a 4 week media summer school with my university who is partnered with the 'royal' university of Thailand, Chulalongkorn University. 

 The beautiful Chulalongkorn University Campus.

"The UH-Chula Media Summer School will give an insight into various aspects of communication media in Thailand and in south east Asia generally. It will cover Thai art, music, theatre and dance, as well as journalism, film and advertising. It will also introduce Thai history, culture and language. The Summer School will offer study visits to an advertising agency, a television production and post production studio, and a newspaper publisher, and field trips to Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand, and Kanchanaburi, a scenic province, know for ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’."

We had a pre-departure meeting at the end of May and everyone seems really nice and we are all so excited! 4 weeks in Bangkok, living in a new place, meeting Thai students, learning the language and just doing something different. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Lucky enough, we are staying in a 3star hotel and in Thailand 3 star is like our 4 star in the UK. Plus, it has an outside pool which is rare for a central hotel in Bangkok! Seriously cannot wait to go! So many things to do and see when we get there! New experiences like the floating markets!

Floating Market in Bangkok

Twitter: @tomas_a