I've travelled to a few countries in my time, although most of them have been in Europe, in fact the only country I've been to outside of Europe is Tunisia.
European Tour
A few years ago I went on a 9 day road trip with a very dear friend of mine Henning Vilen.
We visited several interesting places and stopped for lots of good food and wine in some very fine restaurants as we travelled.
We started In Slagelse (Denmark), and on the first day we drove to Amsterdam where we met some friends of Henning's, and had a wonderful evening meal with them at a lovely little Indian restaurant, the next day we tool a boat trip around the canals and walked around the Red-Light district... you know! To do a bit of window shopping and to sample the local goods! I had to try one of the hash muffins, but it just left my throat dry.
We went into an Italian restaurant for dinner as we sat down we asked the very attractive young waitress for a menu. She snapped back "NO!" then laughed and with a smile, gave us a menu each, and then left. We studied the menu and decided to have the duck, we beckoned the waitress back, and she came with a smile. We told her that we were going to have the duck, but couldn't decide on what wine to have, could she go and ask the chef where the duck had come from, that would help us make up our minds on the wine... off she went, and a few minutes later she returned, knowing that we had got her back for the "NO!" we all laughed.
The next day we drove onto Paris, it's not a good city to drive in, the roads are thin and the other drivers have on courtesy what so ever, it seems you have the right of way if you can get it. We stayed in a hotel overlooking the city and we could see the Eiffel Tower from our window. Early the next morning I got up and went for a walk on my own, I walked to the top of the hill up about a thousand steps to where the Sacri-C ur Basilica (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris, or otherwise known as The Big Church On The Hill), you can see the whole of Paris from up there.
We went to visit the Louvre Museum, stood in a very long queue to go up the Eiffel Tower and took another boat trip this time along the Seine.
I had les escargots (snails) for dinner cooked in garlic butter in a charming little restaurant run by a mother and her daughter, the mother did the cooking and the daughter did the serving.
The next day we drove on to Folkestone via the Channel Tunnel. We booked Henning into a hotel before going to visit some of my family. I stayed with my brother Tim that night, my Muvver (mother) was there too. In the evening we took the family to the Oriental Buffet (all you can eat) restaurant, stuffed myself silly, it was great.
The next morning we did a little shopping and I took Henning to get his first tattoo (not bad at the age of 68 and he didn't cry or anything) after that we drove on to London.
When we arrived in London we booked into our hotel near Earls Court.
The next day we went for a walk into the centre of the city. Henning had wanted to get some CD's and sheet music, and he wanted to go to a shop that he had visited on an earlier trip called Chappells Of Bond Street, only the shop had moved from Bond Street after asking a stranger if he knew where it had moved to, we got the street name where he thought it was now situated, Portland Street or Great Portland Street, so off we walked looking for it... these two roads are bloody long, after walking for hours up one and down the other, I saw a telephone directory on a doorstep outside a shop I decided to take a look... the shop wasn't in either of these streets, it was in Wardour Street, on the other side of Oxford Street, apparently we had passed it on the way from Bond Street hours before, but we got there eventually, after the long walk and look around the store it was dinner time and we went to an Indian restaurant just around the corner... velly good!, velly, velly good!
We were lucky to be in London on the first Sunday of the month, so off we went to visit the LAM (London Alternative Market). It's a market for adults where you'll meet some very interesting people and you can buy lots of outrageous things, there are people to talk to that will give advice on anything you may wish to know about the adult scene. In the afternoon they have a demonstration or exhibition. I was surprised and overjoyed to see the Leather Family turn up to do one of their Fantastic shows, it was a very touching show but that's another story.
The next day again we walked around the city centre, I bought a bottle of Aberlour Whisky 60.2% for #90 from a little shop in Soho that only sells Whisky, and that evening we went to China Town for crispy duck, I had been to this restaurant many timed before and Henning goes there every time he is in London.
The next day it was time to start making our way back to Denmark. This time we were going to take the ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg in Denmark, it took us most of the day to drive to Harwich.
We had a little time to kill before we boarded the boat so I suggested that we should have a traditional English meal before leaving. Henning had steak and ale pie, and I had bangers and mash, Henning wasn't over keen on his (not what he's used to), but I loved mine.
Off we went to board the ferry, we were the first in line, so we would be the first off at the other end. The trip across the North Sea takes about 18 hours, so we had booked a cabin so that we could sleep in comfort and not have to sleep on a chair in the lounge.
From Esbjerg it's a couple of hours drive back to Slagelse.
An incredible experience and a great road trip, but there's a little more to this story... it's called the European Coin Collection  See the Coin Collection...
Crete
In Crete I stayed in a little fishing village called Aghia Galini it was on the south coast, it was much the same as the little villages you would find in Cornwall or Devon (only with sunshine and no wind).
A beautiful place, with a few bars and restraints and a couple of little shops, the sort of place you'd like to spend your retirement. A really relaxing place to visit, sunshine all year round, lovely clear blue water for swimming, good fishing if you're into that sort of thing.
 I remember a big rock overhanging the harbour where the local kids were diving, they would leap off of this rock, doing summersaults and everything, it looked great, and I thought I'd give it a go... I made my way up there it was about 12 foot from the sea it didn't look too bad from down there, but when you're standing on this rock, looking down, it's a bloody long way, I couldn't not do it now, I'd reached the point of no return, and besides the little kids were all doing it so how bad could it be?
After a few minutes of looking down and a few kids pushing past for the second time, I took a deep breath and pushed myself off head first, it was like slow motion, it took ages to hit the water, in fact I was travelling through the air so long I had time to take another breath... I hit the water, I didn't have my hands together properly and my head hit the water with such a SLAP!
I'm sure the people on the beach must have heard it, I remember it was so painful, and to top it off my shorts ended up at my ankles, dazed I struggled to pull my shorts back up and did my best not to show the kids that I had hurt myself... NO! I didn't have another go!
From the harbour at night you can see what looks like a bigger town, just along the beach you could see buildings and it was all lit up and I thought there may have been more activity there, the following morning I decided to go for a short walk along the beach to have a look (Don't ever do this without taking a drink with you!).
The short walk turned into a very slow four mile hike along the sandy beach, sweating my watsits off, with the hot breeze blowing the sand up and stinging my legs (it looked a hell of a lot closer then it was) it took me 3 hours to get there.
When I finally arrived at what I thought was the next town it was bare and void of people, most of the buildings turned out to be huge green-houses full of tomato plants (why they were lit up at night I don't know).
Dying of thirst, I was lucky to find a small tavern, it looked a little run down and it was empty except for the owner, he seemed very surprised to see me (I wonder why!), I got a cold beer (one good thing the beer was cheaper there) I told him I'd just walked from Aghia Galini, and that I thought it would be easier if I walked back along the road, if he could point me in the right direction, he just laughed and told me that if I wanted to walk along the road it would probably take me a little longer as it was about 12 miles up and around the mountain road, but he said I could catch the next bus if I wanted to get back quicker it should arrive within the next 2 hours!.
I stayed for a few more beers while I waited for the bus, I got back to my hotel late that evening vowing not to take any more leisurely walks along the beach, even if the beer was cheaper.
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The only country I've been to outside of Europe.
A 10 day break to an all inclusive hotel, it had two swimming pools a private beach with guards patrolling to keep the riff-raff away, free food and drinks (eat and drink as much as you like) and there were even snacks like pizza, burgers and ice-cream in between meals. Tunisia has three things, Sand, Camels and more sand.
The first day I arrived I remember seeing a little road train,I would see this little train every day, it would turn up empty to a pickup point at the hotel where the passengers would get on.
After a few excursions, one to the site where they filmed part of the Starwars movie and another into the desert to see the sand and a camel, and more sand, and even more sand!
I decided it was time I went into the town to sample the local culture, and to pick up a souvenir or two, I decided that the best thing to do was to take this little sightseeing road train, so that I could get a look at the local scenery, and maybe take a picture or two for the album. I waited outside the hotel at the pickup point for this thing to turn up, I was the first in line (I wanted to sit at the front) when it arrived I paid my money and got seated comfortably while the rest of the passengers got aboard. Before the last passenger had got seated the road train was moving, I'm sure the driver was in forth gear before he left the hotel pickup point. I gripped the handrail in front of me and held on for dear life, there were no seat belts, we headed off towards the town at such a speed that it was impossible to take any pictures, this bloody train throw up so much sand that you had to squint or keep your eyes closed. I have to mention that there are few traffic laws in Tunisia, well none that anybody takes note of anyway, it seems that you have right of way if there is nothing in front of you, and if there are any speed limits they are ignored.
This bloody train was travelling like a bat out of hell, like there was no tomorrow, throwing the passengers from one side to the other as it weaved in and out of traffic, blowing the horn to let others know it was coming (at least that was nice of the driver) we came to a sudden, screeching halt, at the local market, I'm sure the wheels of the last carriage came off of the ground. I climbed off with wobbly legs and my heart racing. Suffice to say that I now know why the little road train always turned up at the hotel empty, that afternoon I took a long, slow walk back to the hotel.
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