Galavanting Women's Travel Magazine & Web Series

Five reasons to travel to Europe in June

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:19:03 +0000

June is what you call, in European travel talk, the ‘shoulder season’. Just short of the peak season months of July, August and September, up until about the third week of June, travellers are blessed with mild, sunny weather and a more relaxed vibe.

Peak season in any country is never the best time to travel as crowds swarm and prices soar. And while July and August are the most popular months for international tourists to travel around Europe, just a few weeks earlier makes an ideal time for holidaymakers from the UK to travel over the Channel and into the heart of Europe.

But if you’re not convinced, here are five reasons why you should be planning a long weekend break in Europe in June rather than July or August:

The weather’s hot but not too hot

During peak season, it’s hard to peel yourself off the sun lounge and away from the water that provides sweet relief from the sun. In fact, many people spend their entire August holiday in the ocean, avoiding the incessant sweltering heat that’s unavoidable on land. June, on the other hand, is lovely. Countries are usually in full bloom since the winter rain has passed, the nights are getting longer, and the sun is shining rather than scorching.

The crowds haven’t arrived yet

If you don’t fancy queuing for hours to get into a museum, competing for sought after beach space with hundreds of other sunbathers and paying much more than reasonable prices for everything from hotels to tourist trinkets, then you should avoid Europe’s peak season. Millions of travellers from every corner of the globe flock to Europe every year to have a European adventure. And they all come at the same time – July and August. In June, there’s still space to move and the beaches are a lot barer.

Some of the best events are on

Europe is known for its festivals. It’s safe to say the continent has some of the best music festivals in the world. But there are some exceptional events on in June. Scandinavia is a particularly good place to travel to, with Hove Festival in Norway, Northside in Denmark, Summerburst in Sweden and Sonisphere in Finland to choose from. You’ll hear everything from electronic to rock and pop. The other main events are in Spain, France and Germany, where festivals including Sonar, Solidays and Hurricane are on respectively.

It’s (slightly) cheaper

There’s no way around it, travelling in the summer season is going to be pricey. But, by leaving just a few weeks earlier, you can find some great deals and discounts on flights and popular accommodation options. Many restaurants also knock up their prices come peak season, so you can save money on eating out as well.

Certain cities shine in June

For some European countries, June (rather than the usual July and August) is the best time to travel. Scandinavia is possibly at its prettiest in spring, when the days are splendidly long and the temperatures mild. Spain is the same. Ireland also has a lot to offer in June, when the sun’s shining and the summer rain hasn’t approached yet. And you can’t look past Greece, where the tourists have only just started arriving at this time and the locals come out of hibernation from the winter, dusting off the cobwebs around Easter in preparation for the summer tourist season.

Valentine's Day Warmth: Aruba's Times Square pop-up beach - 563

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:06:48 +0000

Aruban Fofoti tree photo by Greg Lord

Sloshing through New York City’s leftovers from last week’s snow dump and dreaming of a warmer place? Well, so is Aruba Tourism. This Valentine’s Day, Aruba will host visitors at their heated pop-up beach in Times Square, where they’ll enjoy hourly trip giveaways to the One happy island and photo opportunities under the destination’s signature Fofoti tree.

From noon to 5:30 p.m. passersby can also stroll through the Situ Studio’s Heartwalk, a wooden, heart-shaped enclosure made of materials collected in areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

The romance continues at 6 p.m., when couples will renew their vows on the iconic Red Steps and celebrate their love during a reception on the pop-up beach. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the American Eagle Times Square Digital Billboard and webcast live at TimesSquareNY.org as part of “Free Love in Times Square.”

One lucky couple will win a second honeymoon to Aruba, including roundtrip airfare for two and a four night/ five day stay at the Divi & Tamarijn Aruba All Inclusives.

Lovebirds outside of New York City need not despair, as they can share and renew their own love stories through Aruba’s Facebook page for a chance to win a second honeymoon to One happy island.

Sounds like a lot of fun, with or without a valentine.

Planning Your Easter Holidays To Spain

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 00:46:34 +0000

What to do After Punxsutawney Phil Doesn't See His Shadow - 562

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 17:37:23 +0000

Is Birmingham the Best Shopping City in the UK?

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:54:14 +0000

Review: Revel Resort in Atlantic City

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 22:24:59 +0000

Hotel Review: Koh Yao Yai Village -564

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 19:03:54 +0000

Review: Go Girl Guides: Thailand - 562

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:40:00 +0000

Review: Cathay Pacific Business Lounge Tour in Hong Kong - 561

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:09:49 +0000

Review: Boutique Hotel Garni Allegra in Belgrade, Serbia - 560

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:29:19 +0000

Travel Tips: Making Friends While Traveling Alone

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Fun Ways to Kill Time at the Airport

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:02:16 +0000

Staying Vegetarian While Traveling

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:04:00 +0000

Flats, football, fannies and double-fisting: Speaking American vs. English

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:58:45 +0000

Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday Top 10 Tips

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:07:59 +0000

Travel Tips: Combine Tech and Old School

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:00:32 +0000

First-Timer Things to Consider When Going to Europe

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:03:18 +0000

The Ripe Traveler

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:32:45 +0000

How-to Check Hotel Rooms For Bed Bugs

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:25:06 +0000

How to Eat Well on a Shoestring Budget

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:59:46 +0000

Tomatina Festival in Buñol, Spain: a survival guide

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:24:50 +0000

Who hasn’t dreamed of throwing a tomato at their boss, bitchy boyfriend or girlfriend, an annoying brother or sister, or the classic throwing tomatoes at a bad stage performer?

Thanks to the fun loving Spaniards the yearly Tomatina Festival allows food fighting fanatics a street arena for an all out tomato war. Tomatina only happens every so often, and if you’re planning to head there for the first time here are some things you’ll need to know to survive the battle and emerge victorious!

Flying tomatoes at the Tomatina Festival in Buñol, Spain.

History

Tomatina first began back in 1945 when some punk teenagers joined a parade dancing in the streets and interrupting the festivities which angered the parade participants. One particular person began throwing things and others followed by taking tomatoes from a food stand and tossing them at the teens. A year later the same teens returned to the fest armed with their own tomatoes and began what has been a growing tradition. The festival was shut down many times during the 1950’s but the cancellation in 1957 sparked the locals to put on a ‘Tomato Funeral’ where they carried around a large tomato in a coffin through the streets. The funeral gained the right attention and the festival was allowed once again and has continued without issue ever since.

The city is prepped and ready for tomatoes being flung at buildings

Strategy

Plan ahead! The fest takes place in Buñol, Spain and with an estimated 20,000+ people attending the fest from around the world accommodations are scarce. Most stay in the town of Valencia using the Sant Isidre Train to Buñol. It’s best to travel hours, if not the night before the fest to take advantage of the music, food, and festivities happening in the streets. It’s also a great way to avoid the overcrowded train and cab traffic.

If coming from a major city like Barcelona or Madrid you can do a day trip to Tomatina offered by many bus and tour companies for around $100 USD. These will pick you up very early, around 3-4 am, as it takes about three hours to get to Buñol. This will give you some time to enjoy the festival before the fight and get a decent spot to view “Palo Jabon” a greased pole with a ham hanging from the top. Tradition is that someone climbs the pole and releases the ham, once that happens a siren to begin the fight sounds. If no one releases the ham, which is nearly impossible but entertaining to watch, the fight siren will sounds at 11 am. The fight lasts for only one hour and two sirens will sound to signal the end.

Writer Melissa Castello’s got her goggles to try and avoid a tomato in the eye.

Battle Gear

This is a basic battle gear checklist to make sure you have the best time at Tomatina!

Goggles – A must! Though they are not very fashionable, they are there to protect your eyes from the acid in the tomato juice. If you forget your own there are plenty of vendors selling goggles on the street for about 2 Euro.
Camera – This is a once in a lifetime experience that you will want to do again and again, but one that you definitely will want to capture on film. Bring a waterproof camera or plastic baggie to protect your camera. No matter how careful you are it is inevitable you get soaked with tomato juice or sprayed with water from the towns-peoples hoses.
Gym Shoes – Flip flops will be eaten by the crowd in a matter of seconds. The environment is a 20,000 person mosh pit of tomatoes. People are literally standing on top of each other pushing and shoving each other into spaces that don’t exist. You want to protect your feet from getting stepped on as much as possible so wear a cheap paid of gym shoes you can throw away after.
Clothing – Don’t wear anything you are attached to. Especially don’t wear jewelry, you risk getting something ripped out or lost completely. It is extremely hot in August in Spain and being surrounded but thousands of sweaty people pressed up against you definitely doesn’t help the heat factor. Dress light, shorts, tank, and/or sports bra for the ladies. Women should be extra careful because even though it’s against the rules to rip clothes once that siren starts it really does become and all out war and rules or not clothes are flying. If you take a bus bring a bag to leave on it with new shoes and new clothes. Most tour busses won’t let you back on in your tomato covered clothes but even more so you won’t want to ride home in those clothes. It won’t be a pretty sight or smell that’s for sure!
Money – Bring some cash and tuck it away in your sweaty shoe or in your bra. Don’t bother with a purse or bag; those will be gone in no time or possibly ruined. There are food and drink stands lined up throughout the city and you don’t want to miss out on some of the delicious locally prepared foods and the cervezas will help out by providing a good dose of liquid courage for those of you with crowd anxiety! Tomatina is not for the claustrophobic!

Rules

Squish the tomatoes before throwing!
No ripping of clothes, though it happens anyway
No throwing hard objects. Also happens anyway, I was hit with someone’s ripped shirt which does not feel good. I also saw water bottles and flip flops flying above the crowds.
No throwing tomatoes after the siren signaling the end of the fight. This rule is the best to break. Not that I’m condoning it or anything but this is when the crowd breaks apart and you have the room to move. I had the most fun in the 5 minutes after the buzzer throwing tomatoes and sloshing around in the juice.
Avoid the trucks full of tomatoes. They won’t move for you so you must move for them. This one seems like common sense but I guess it has to be included.

Things can get a little messy at the Tomatina Festival.
General Warfare Guidelines

Besides for the basic ones I’ve mentioned above I just want to throw in a fair warning, especially to the ladies. When walking through the city of Bunol, from my bus stop through the fair and down to the fest I saw about two Port-A-Potties, and by the way they were absolutely disgusting but I will save the gory details and leave it as that. Ewwww. I had a girl squat and pee next to me while mid fight; once you are in that crowd there is no getting out. Prepare yourself in advance for this and you should be fine. Washing up after can be done in the local river which is easy to find if you just follow the massive crowd of people going to get cleaned. There are shower stalls near the train station and a self service car wash in the town that I saw being used as a shower by some. Clever idea I’d say, much better and powerful than the muddy river. I would use that next time for sure!
Drink plenty of Estrella (and water), taste the local foods, dance to techno in the street at 8am, throw a tomato at a complete stranger (or better yet a friend), and just enjoy the awesome party culture that is Spain. The fest is unlike anything I’ve ever done before and if you use some of the tips above you will have a great time and lots of photos to make your friends and family jealous!

¡Buena suerte!

Melissa Castello has worked half a decade as a hostess and producer on the poker circuit traveling to the largest poker tournaments around the world. Her love of poker and passion for travel has brought her to 15 different countries. Follow her on twitter at @Chitownbeotch.

Photo Essay: Get to know Jamaica through Little Ochie

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:12:08 +0000

It’s not a stretch to associate Jamaica with jerk chicken, reggae and Sandals Resorts. To deal in clichés, one doesn’t have to dig very deep. It’s an island nation with a lot to offer that gets overlooked in favor of surface aspects, well known for a reason.

After all, Jerk Chicken is amazing.

Reggae music has its merits.

And Sandals Resorts do have a lot to offer if you’re a
couple looking for a romantic escape from reality.

The real Jamaica, however, isn’t as easily pigeonholed as cliché might suggest. Local cuisine in Jamaica is far more varied than simple jerk seasoning. Fresh fruit is an abundant element of most meals and a delicacy that looks and tastes like egg: ackee, is simply astonishing in its simplistic appeal.It’s truly hard to believe eating it, that it’s a fruit and not a protein. Yet it’s the fresh, right-off-the-boat seafood that truly defines the real culinary Jamaica found beyond cliches.

For the traveler to Jamaica to really appreciate fresh seafood, find a guide that will take you to Little Ochie.

Pick your chosen venue from the colorful grass-roofed huts, enjoy the ocean breeze blowing in your hair, listen to the sound of melodic Jamaican accents flowing and be prepared to have your world rocked as boats pull in and fisherman sell their day’s catch.

It’s that fresh fish that will become your lunch.

Jerk seasoning will be an option but here is where the real Jamaica shines — the complexity of flavors in the different fish and present in the different spices could only be narrowed down by a seasoned chef. The seafood is served with a sort of hush-puppy style carbohydrate side that coats the stomach against the most heated of jerk seasoning and the knotted bread, slightly sweet, tows the line between dessert and any-time-of-day comfort food.

Leave with your appetite sated, your skin flushed from a combination of the sun and spice, your heart happy. You now know the real Jamaica. At the least, the Jamaica outside resort walls. Just don’t give away the location. Little Ochie is, like so many gems, best known only to locals.

Kirsten Alana is a photographer, iPhoneography artist, a travel diarist and freelance writer. She’s based in NYC when not out galavanting around the globe. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Sardinia's Quiet Charm

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:59:16 +0000

Alghero has cobblestone charm in spades. I’d always thought of Italy as a mecca for tourists and travellers alike, a place where crowds were never far away—whether posing for photos in front of the Tower of Pisa, lining up for gondola rides in Venice, or fighting for beach space on the Amalfi Coast.

And then I went to Sardinia. In January.

Galavanter: Erika Nelson of World's Largest Things

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:38:51 +0000

Famously appearing in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Claude Bell’s dinosaur, Dinney. “I love finding the bizarre and unexpected that many people pass up because they don’t want to be ‘taken in’ by a tourist trap. I want to see!” So says Erika Nelson, founder and creative mind behind the wandering World’s Largest Collection of World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. Tourist traps are Nelson’s stock-in-trade, having navigated the country’s backroads and highways in search of the monuments to eccentricity, creativity and good-ole Americana.

Romancing a Cookie: Making Macarons in Paris

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:19:14 +0000

Ladurée macrons in its Paris shop window. Photo by Kristin Conard. I think most Americans, or at least most Americans I know, think of macarons as coconut macaroons – the chewy cookie that shows up at bake sales or in plastic sleeves at grocery stores. But in France, they are macarons, perfectly round shells with frosting in the middle. These are French cookies, Parisian cookies. They’re elegant and refined, sweet without being overwhelming and come in flavors like blackcurrant, violet, licorice, spice, orange blossom and mint.

The Truth About Brazilian Women

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:00:47 +0000

“There’s a lot to us. We love dancing, we love clothes, we love everything!” Belmonte cheers, her bright eyes and smile embodying the fun-loving outlook of cariocas.

Behind the Veil

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Sat, 01 May 2010 17:02:45 +0000

As I sat on on a cushion with my legs tucked beside me, I was struck by my unique privilege. I had joined Hind at the mosque and also the hammam, where we had lain naked on marble slabs as the bath attendant sloughed dead skin from our bodies. I had sat chatting with her grandmother about her tattoos and taken the groom’s 12-year-old sister to the market to buy sweets. Yet as a Western woman, I was not expected to follow the rules of my Muslim counterparts.

Gentle Spirit, the island of Curaçao

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:50:52 +0000

The greatest mystery of all may be how its residents have forged a culture where more than 50 ethnic groups live together in peace and harmony. The secret may be in how they describe themselves in Papiamento: “yiu di Korsow,” literally, “I am a child of Curaçao.” Islanders claim that Curaçao is the only country in the world where residents refer to themselves as children of a nation.

7 weeks in Kyrgyzstan

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:00:09 +0000

As our new Kazakh friend noticed that a male (the apartment owner and host) was so kindly pouring everyone tea from a dainty silver teapot, he asked in a bewildered yet serious tone, “Wait, there’s a girl here. Why are you pouring the tea?” His comment very clearly relayed the idea that I automatically had a role to play because of my gender, and I was having none of that. I started walking down the streets of Bishkek thinking, “Watch out, Kyrgyz boys! You’re not snatching this one!

Paniolo-Style Horseback Riding on the Big Island

thegals@gogalavanting.com (Galavanting) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:00:50 +0000

The Big Island of Hawaii isn’t the first place you expect to come across cowboy culture, but paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys) have been roping and riding on the island for over 200 years. It all started in 1793, when British Captain George Vancouver gave Hawaii’s King Kamehameha five longhorn cattle as a gift.