Pause The Moment | Around The World Travel Blog | Archive

| July 31st, 2010 | 4507No Comments »2010-07-31+06%3A00%3A30Ryan | Ireland, Travel, Travel Tips

Dublin Tours

When I first read about the free walking tours that SANDEMANs NewEurope offers, I was a little apprehensive.

My first thought was “How good could a FREE tour actually be?”. It was just one of those offers that simply sounded too good to be true. To our surprise, the SANDEMANs New Dublin tour was worth every minute of the almost four hours that we spent scouring through some of Dublin’s most famous sights.

Where it Starts:

Between Dublin Castle and City Hall on Dame Street [Map]. Just be sure to look out for the tour guides in the RED shirts.

Meeting Times:

11AM and 1PM

What you’ll see:

Dublin Castle, Dubh Linn, Dublin’s Medieval Walls, Viking Remains, Norman Dublin, Georgian Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral, Adam and Eve Church, The National Library, Famous Writers, Temple Bar, U2- Origins of the rock legend, Ha’Penny Bridge, Spire of Dublin, City Hall, Trinity College, Leinster House, Chester Beatty Library, St. Stephen’s Green, 1916 Easter Rising and more!

Cost:

FREE! Although, if you truly enjoyed this tour (which I guarantee you will), then be sure to tip your guide what ever you can afford to. These guides rely on their tips. In our personal experience, our guide was excellent and we loved the fact that he intertwined humor into the tour which made the history a bit more interesting.

The SANDEMANs New Dublin Tour is described as “A FREE 3 hour tour we wind down the quiet streets and bound through bustling boulevards, uncovering the hidden sites as well as the famous ones.” and in my opinion, it was that and more!

| July 27th, 2010 | 45372 Comments »2010-07-27+06%3A00%3A39Ryan | Ireland, Travel, Travel Tips

The Sights of Dublin.

There are so many things to see in this city that I’m not sure where to even start! I feel like I learn something new each and every time that I visit this city but this time I feel that I’ve learned more than ever before.

I’ve compiled a list below of some of the top sights to see when visiting Dublin. Considering Dublin is a very walkable city, it should be no problem to cover a lot of these sights in less than two days.

Dublin City Hall

Built between 1769 and 1779, the Dublin City Hall is located exactly next to another famous sight in the city; Dublin Castle. The architecture in this place is amazing, and it’s one of the finest buildings in the city.

Tours of Dublin’s City Hall are available FREE of charge to groups who arrange in advance. If a tour isn’t your thing, then just walk through the open doors and head up the half spiral stair case until you arrive at the top floor. Be sure to bring your camera along in order to capture some of the beautiful art work, paintings and tile mosaics that are displayed here.

Location: Dublin City Hall on GoogleMaps

St. Stephen’s Green

This beautiful public park was built as a gift to the people of Dublin from the Guinness family in the 19th century. Adjacent to one of Dublin’s most popular shopping streets (Grafton St), St. Stephen’s Green is a place that you could easily spend the better half of your day. On a sunny day during the summer months you’ll find that St. Stephen’s Green is packed with all of the Irish that are trying to take advantage of a day without rain! Most tend to either walk the park, lay out in the sun or bring a lunch and have a nice picnic while being surrounded by a plethora of flowers, trees and lush green grass. St. Stephen’s Green also has a pond that you can bring the kids to feed the ducks.

Location: St. Stephen’s Green on GoogleMaps (more…)

| July 20th, 2010 | 447111 Comments »15+Tips+for+a+Successful+trip+to+Egypt2010-07-20+21%3A26%3A12Ryan | Egypt, Travel, Travel Tips

15 Travel tips for Egypt 1. Always ask for the bill after your finished eating at a sit down restaurant. If you don’t ask, you’ll never get it and you’ll waste your day waiting to pay for your meal.

2. Learn how to haggle. Egypt is all about haggling, whether it’s for a water at the corner store, a souvenir at the market, or a non-metered taxi fare. We even haggled for the price of our hotel room in Dahab. Seriously, everything is negotiable!

3. BYOTP! (Bring Your Own Toilet Paper). You’ll be hard pressed to find toilet paper in most restrooms in Egypt. The toilets here have a built in bidet spray nozzle so if you don’t have toilet paper with you, prepare to walk out of the bathroom with a wet or dirty behind.

4. Accept that you’re a foreigner an you will be stared at all day, every day. Literally.

5. Be careful who you trust. You should be able to figure out who is genuine and whose not after the first two minutes of conversation. If the person starts mentioning “baksheesh”, tell them “shukran” (thank you) and simply walk away. (more…)

| July 19th, 2010 | 4443No Comments »Top+5+hidden+hot-spots+in+Amsterdam2010-07-19+11%3A23%3A24Ryan | Netherlands, Sponsored Posts, Travel Tips

Note: This is a sponsored post from Easytobook.com. As you know, I normally do not accept sponsored articles on Pause The Moment unless I feel that the article is relevant to the site content and if it may be of interest of my readership. I chose to accept this article because I felt that it may be useful for some of my readers who may be planning on visiting Amsterdam in the near future. Feel free to leave a comment below if you find this article useful.

Amsterdam is one of the most popular European cities to visit in the world. The beautiful canals, green parks, stressed-free atmosphere and obviously the Red Light District and coffee shops- all make it a desirable location to visit over and over again. Because many visitors tend to come back to Amsterdam for a second or third round, we gathered here some of the best hidden hot-spots which are not mentioned in the standard guide books but still worth visiting:

CTaste Amsterdam 1. “Ctaste”- dining in the dark restaurant – Address: Amsteldijk 55 1074 HX Amsterdam
Tel: +31-(0)6 22335366:

This is a truly unique experience for everybody! Enjoy an evening where you will be using your all senses- except seeing naturally.

The food is served by blind individuals and before entering the dark eating room, you will be welcome in the restaurant’s lounge area where you will get a wide explanation about the whole experience. For those of you who are allergic for some kinds of food- no need to worry- the waiter will give you the chance to inform him about things you simply cannot or do not want to eat.

2. “Café Vertigo”- Address: Vondelpark 3, Amsterdam, NH 1071 AA Netherlands:

This charming café could not be located in a better spot-right in the middle of the famous Vondelpark, underneath the Dutch Film Museum. Not only the location will blow you away but also the décor and the delicious food. The combination of the green surrounding, relaxed environment and the sounds of birds- will all make it an incredible after noon. The greatest advantage of this café is the option to visit the film museum after a pleasant lunch. (more…)

| July 11th, 2010 | 43499 Comments »2010-07-11+12%3A10%3A34Ryan | Greece, Travel, Travel Tips

Greek Islands Collage

Everyone wants to visit the Greek Islands at some point in their lives, right? I mean, how could you resist the famous sunsets of Santorini, the beautiful beaches of the somewhat undiscovered island of Milos, or the all night parties on Ios, and more.

Getting to Greece

As far as getting to Greece itself, I cannot give you too much advice other than to keep an eye out on Kayak.com in order to try to find a decent flight from your country to Greece. They’re generally pretty expensive if you’re traveling from outside of Europe. For us, we flew from Cairo to Athens for a mere $145 USD including all taxes and fees. You can actually find cheaper flights to Athens from Cairo from time to time.

Another idea would be to find a cheap flight to somewhere in Europe or Northern Africa (Egypt) like we did and then find a budget airline from that flies from there to Greece. If you have the time to layover for a few hours in between switching flights it can definitely save you a lot of money rather than going direct to your destination. As for finding budget airline carriers, check out this website called WhichBudget.

Getting to the Islands

It’s very easy to travel to the Greek islands from Athens. The main port in Athens is called Piraeus and is easily accessed by Metro/Train from almost anywhere in the city. The metro and trains are very efficient in Athens and they run from 6AM to 12AM which is pretty convenient if you ask me!

You can book your tickets for the island of your choice by going down to one of the many ticket offices at the port of Piraeus. The most popular lines are Megajet, Blue Star, Anek, and a few others. Figure out where you want to go and what the ferry timetables are by going to (Greekferries.gr).

Once you figure out where you want to go and which ferry company you will need to take then either head down to the the port of Piraeus to purchase your tickets, or make it easier on yourself and purchase them online at your ferries official website. If you purchase online, you will receive a booking reservation number which you will have to provide at the ticket office before boarding your ferry. You’ll also receive your hard copy tickets at the ticket office on check-in.

FYI: Ferry Prices from Piraeus (Athens) to Santorini: 34 Euro. Prices vary when you travel from island to island. For example we paid 16.50 Euro for our ferry from Santorini to Milos. (more…)

| June 5th, 2010 | 4015No Comments »2010-06-05+12%3A00%3A24Ryan | Travel Tips, Travel Videos

In this video you’ll find out how:

1. I protect my backpack from those EVIL airport conveyor belts

AND…

2 Find out which day pack I chose to bring with me and why I believe it just might be the best day pack EVER!

–

If you’re interested in finding out how and what I packed check out part one of this video OR check out our itemized packing lists.

If you enjoyed this video, feel free to leave a comment below!

| June 4th, 2010 | 39964 Comments »2010-06-04+17%3A22%3A24Ryan | Travel Tips, Travel Videos

In the video above you’ll find the answers to two of the questions that we get asked most when we tell people that we’re getting ready to travel around the world.

1. What are you going to pack for this trip?

2. How are you going to pack all of your gear into a backpack!?

–

If you enjoyed this video, feel free to leave a comment below!

| April 3rd, 2010 | 301827 Comments »2010-04-04+04%3A35%3A12Ryan | Travel, Travel Tips, Trip Preparation

The Reality of Saving Money…

Let’s face it, saving money is especially tough in this economy. While the economy is at an all time low, prices continue to rise. Many of us have mortgages, children, car payments, school loans, insurance, household bills, and more. So, how in the world are we supposed to save money?

There are many ways to cut down on spending. Although, nobody ever said it was easy! Here’s a quick question for you; If it was easy to cut down on your expenses, would you actually save your money? At first most would say answer “Yes, of course, why wouldn’t I save?” BUT… Would you really?

My belief is that most people tend to make changes to their lifestyles and the way that they spend their money only when they’re feeling under pressure financially. I truly believe that it sometimes takes something unfortunate like a recession or a loss of a job to happen in order for you to make some of the most important financial decisions of your life.

How We Saved Our Money…

We’ve put a lot of hard work and effort into saving as much money as possible for this trip. Admittedly, we’ve had to make some drastic changes in our lives in order to save the money that we have. On top of that we have created a short list of money saving techniques below that have really enabled us to reach our savings goals and we’re hoping that you’ll be inspired to do the same after reading some of our best tips on How to Save Money for an Around The World Trip! (more…)