Where to find tourist board websites and cities

Problem
How do I find tourist board websites and cities?

Answer
Country List with Flags and Capitals
Got to www.Wikitravel.org
See www.countryconnect.co.uk

The quickest way to find a list of countries of the world is not to go to wikipedia which gives you the flags, which is good, together with the capital which is good, but in most of their tables several columns of other information.

Simpler List
Instead go to Simple.wikipedia.org

It's no use copying with select all because you get all the wikipedia page logos which overlay anything else you have already typed above.

Finding Addresses
How to find the tourist board addresses? I used the address cards and the WTM Catalogue 2016, issued in November 2016. Then I discovered a website with the addresses of the tourist boards in London and the addresses for getting a visa.

USA
Major cities and states include: Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington DC.
Visit sites associated with Edgar Allen Poe, Houdini, Molly Brown, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley and Presidents Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, JF Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jnr.

www.visitusa.org.uk
www.VisitTheUsa.com

UK
www.visitbritain.org

ENGLAND
Major cities in England include: Bath, Brighton, Cambridge, London, Manchester, Oxford, Windsor, York.
Major attractions include Madame Tussaud's, Sherlock Holmes' House, The V&A, Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, and a trip to Warner Brothers Studio Tour (Harry Potter locations).
Visit sites connected with Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Disraeli, Beatrix Potter, Queen Victoria, The Rothschilds, William Shakespeare, Wordsworth.
Major areas to visit include Cornwall and Devon, or the Lake District.

The National Trust
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
www.visitlondon.com
www.visitbath.co.uk
www.visitbrighton.com
www.wembleystadium.com
www.westminster-abbey.org
www.wimbledon.com/museum
www.wbstudiotour.co.uk
www.visitisleofwight.co.uk

www.VisitEngland.com is the official tourist board for England.

WALES
Places to see: Caerleon, Cardiff, Fishguard, Llangollen, Tenby.
Northern Ireland
Major attractions are The Giants' Causeway; Belfast's Titanic Exhibition.
www.visitwales.com

SCOTLAND
Major cities are Glasgow and Edinburgh.
www.visitscotland.com

CHANNEL ISLANDS
www.visit.guernsey.com
www.jersey.com

ANTIGUA and BARBUDA tourism authority
www.antigua-barbuda.com

ARGENTINA
www.argentina.travel

ARUBA
www.aruba.com

AUSTRALIA
(Major cities: Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney.)
http://www.australia.com/en-gb

AUSTRIA
See Salzburg, Vienna (Freud Museum).

BELARUS
Major cities include Minsk, not to be confused with next city which is Pinsk.
www.belarustourist.by

BELGIUM
See Brussels and Flanders Fields.
www.visitflanders.com
www.waterlooandbeyond.be

BRAZIL
visitbrasil.com

CAMBODIA
Allow three days to visit Ankor Wat temple and city walls, and tour half a dozen other temples, near the top tourist city, Seam Reap. Recently voted the world's top attraction. Tour in a tuk-tuk. the capital city is Phnom Penh.
tourism.cambodia.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Penh

CANADA
visit-canada.com
www.tourism-vancouver.org

CHILE
www.chile.travel/patagonia

CHINA
Top tourist cities are huge Shanghai with art deco waterfront, Big Beijing the capital and Xian for the now exposed once buried statues of warriors.
www.cnta.gov.cn

COSTA RICA
essentialcostarica.com
www.visitcostarica.com

CROATIA
www.croatia.hr

CZECH REPUBLIC
Captal Prague with Charles bridge hilltop castle and Kafka museum.
www.czechtourism.com

CYPRUS
www.visitcyprus.com

DENMARK
Major city Copenhagen.
Major character: Hans Andersen.
www.visitdenmark.co.uk

DUBAI - see UAE

FINLAND
www.visitfinland.com

FRANCE
From the UK on the ferry or tunnel or by air. Paris, the capital, the Loire valley castles, or south to the riviera.
www.uk.rendezvousenfrance.com

GERMANY
Berlin, the Romantic road through cities with riverside castles.
www.german.travel

GHANA
www.ghana.travel

GIBRALTAR
Gibraltar Tourist Board, 150 Strand, London WC2R 1JA UK
tel:+44 (0) 20 7386 0777.
www.visitgibraltar.gi

GREECE
Athens or second city Thessaloniki. Islands including Crete, Kefalonia, Mykonos. Trip to Olympia, flame site.
www.visitgreece.gr

GUYANA
www.guyana-tourism.com

GUATEMALA
Land of Catholics, cobblestones, coffee, Conquistadors, Mayan villages and volcanoess.
www.visitguatemala.com

INDIA
Major tourist cities and states and areas include: Agra, Delhi, Mumbai (previously called Bombay), Calcutta.
Ministry of Tourism:
www.incredibleindia.org
Railways:
www.irctc.to.in
Hotel Association of India (HAI) www.hotelassociationofindia.com
Airindia:
www.home.airindia.in
London Office:
email:indiatourism@aol.com

INDONESIA
Jakarta. Bali.
www.indonesia.travel

ISRAEL
Major cities include: Bethlehem, Eilat, Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv (Bauhaus-art deco). Biblical characters (Old and New testament, too many to list. OK - cities, tombs, walls, building, Abraham, Solomon, Jonathan, David, Romans and ruins, Jesus, rabbis.)
Jerusalem-hotels.org.il

IRELAND
Major city Dublin.
www.tourismireland.com

ITALY
Major cities include: Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, Assisi, Perugia.
www.umbriatourism.it

JORDAN
Roman ruins and churches, Moses stood here.
www.visitjordan.com

KOREA - South Korea
Major city is Seoul.

english.visitkorea.or.kr/

LITHUANIA
Major city Vilnius.
www.vilnius.lt

MACEDONIA
www.visitmacedonia.com

MALAYSIA
Day trips and buses from Singapore. KL capital city. Waterfalls. Pink city.
www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my

MALDIVES
www.visitmaldives.com

MALTA
Side trip to second island.
www.airmalta.com
www.visitgozo.com

MEXICO
visitmexico.com
www.mexicoonline.com

The NETHERLANDS / Holland
Amsterdam.
Board of Tourism
Http://www.nbt..nl/holland

PERU
www.peru.travel

PHILIPPINES
www.tourism.gov.ph:
itsmorefuninthephilippines.co.uk
https://www.tourismphilippines.com.au/

PORTUGAL
Lisbon. Oporto.
www.visitportugal.com

ROMANIA
Bucharest.
www.romaniatourism.com

email romaniatravel@btconnect.com

or tel:0 207 935 6435.

RUSSIA
Moscow. Stalingrad / Volgograd / St Petersburg.
www.visitrussia.org.uk

SERBIA
www.serbia.travel

SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg, Pretoria,  Durban. Trip to Sun City.
www.durbanexerience.co.za

SPAIN
Madrid. Seville. Fly drive staying at paradores.
Barcelona is in the Catalan region.
Catalan Tourist Board
17 Fleet Street, 3rd floor, London EC4Y 1AA. tel:+44 (0)20 7583
8855
info.act.uk@gencat.cat
www.andalucia.com
www.catalunya.com
www.spain.info

SWEDEN
www.visitsweden.com

THAILAND
https://www.tourismthailand.org/
Tourism Authority of Thailand

Address: 370 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238870

Phone: +65 6235 7901.

UAE
Dubai is the largest city. UAE consists of several emirates.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
https://www.visitdubai.com/en-uk/

UKRAINE
(Main cities: Kiev; Lviv; Odessa.)
kyivcity.travel e-mail:kyivtourism@gmail.com
www.lviv.travel
www.odessa-tourism.com

VIETNAM
www.vietnametourism.gov.vn

Open top buses:
www.bigbustours.com
www.city-sightseeing.com
For the latest feedback on which is best in the city your are visiting, see TripAdvisor.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to posts.
Azerbaijani is the primary and official language of Azerbaijan, and is also known as Azeri Turkish. It is alUKRAINEso t

Authe primary language in northwestern Iran, and is also spoken to a small extent in southern Dagestan (Russia), the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia, and eastern Turkey. It is a Turkic language with notes of Russian and Persian influence.
Azerbaijani is the primary and official language of Azerbaijan, and is also known as Azeri Turkish. It is also the primary language in northwestern Iran, and is also spoken to a small extent in southern Dagestan (Russia), the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia, and eastern Turkey. It is a Turkic language with notes of Russian and Persian influence.

Remembering the name of the restaurant, next person you meet or the person on your plane

Problem
1 You meet somebody new, the say their name and five minutes later you have forgotten. How do you remember the names of the people sitting beside you on planes, the restaurant or hotel, the group when you are holding a social or business meeting, the conference guests?
2 How do you get them to remember your name?
3 How do you remember a room full of people?

Answer
You have several ways of learning and remembering names.
These include repetition, alliteration, easy to remember names, nicknames, descriptions or the person, a halo background picture.

Remembering Individuals
1 Research a name or choose an easy name, preferably one syllable.
2 Visualise the place you met.
3  Visualise them in an imaginary house and garden or zoo with an alliterative connection.
4 Learn names in advance.
5 Attach an appearance, character, trade or profession.
6 Give or ask for a nickname.
7  Keep saying their name - and discussing their name.
8 Write it down - showing that you are doing so.
9 Write it down secretly.
10 Learn the country's popular first names and family names, and their meanings.
11 Attach some alliterative names to the places you are visiting.

Remembering groups
If you are a toastmaster at a wedding you will get a guest list printed out to announce people as they enter formally, maybe with the bride and groom first with their new name Mr And Mrs Brown, and so on. You can do this for any other occasion. If you are going to a restaurant, find out the name of the owner or manager, and ask about him on arrival. When phoning ask if the owner or manager or chef will be present, or who is speaking to you on the phone and who will be on the reception or cash desk.

Restaurants
When you reach the restaurant, even if they don't have your booking, you can say, 'I spoke to Sandra about Sicily'. If the person you met is at the door, with three others, you can ask, "which one of you is Sandra? Say, "We spoke on the phone!" and give her a big smile. If you are in luck, they will be ahead of you, and recognize you. Some of the top hotels keep cards on guests, check your birthday or star sign in your passport. When I go to Writers Holiday or Writers Summer School they keep a record of my room number and try to give me the same room every year. In a business such as a restaurant you could remember your customer's favourite cocktail and food.

Are restaurant booking people likely to mis-spell your name? You could leave your card in advance and ask them to staple it to their page for the weekend bookings. (Obviously not if you are trying to be anonymous. But good if you want to be noticed or just be sure to have a table.)

Identifying Yourself or Your Business
1 Find an alliteration or draw a caricature on your address card.
2 If you are in business, or retired with an interest in cats or cars, you can add such a symbol.
3 Add a symbol of your city to your address card or signature.
Where to find pictures?

a) Take a good picture of yourself dressed up at a family outing, wedding, Christmas party.

b) Wear your national costume or a local national costume or hat with the city or country name.
If I had been teaching English in the USA I could have worn a Union Jack tee-shirt in the USA. If I had been too shy to wear it in public, I could have photographed myself in it and had that picture printed on my address card.

Companies such as Able Label and Vistaprint have a huge stock of visuals you can add to cards.

c) If you are teaching English to a class of a dozen or more children or adults, the same people on a regular basis, create a list of names with the national flag or country map. No time? First lesson in class, teach everybody to say a sentence, ideally alliterative, and find one for every country or every letter of the alphabet, such: as
I am Al from America
I am from Brussels in Belgium
I came from Cambodia
I am Chinese from China
I live in London,
I am learning in London
I am Mr Lim from London
I am Larry from LA
I am Mike from Middlesex, Mike the Magician
I am new to New York
I am relocating to Russia
I am a citizen of Singapore
I come from sunny Singapore

Examples.
1 If you call yourself Paul the plumber or Mike the magician and sign yourself that way you increase the number of people who will remember you. I call myself Angela the Author. (This also distinguishes me from Angel the actress.)

We picked Lemongrass and Ginger hotel in Cambodia. No trouble remembering the name to tell a taxi driver when there or even remember it weeks later.

2 If you are looking for a hotel in New York, USA, America, pick a hotel with the letters N Y U S A. Always stay in hotels which start with your own initials. Pick an international hotel in your price range, always stay in one of them, keep their directory at home or on your laptop, and join their loyalty scheme.  Pick a hotel near a landmark or railway station so you can always get a taxi back easily, see the route on a map and know your driver is going in the right direction, and ask passers by for the way. On arrival at a hotel or office building, ask for the best known landmark in the street or area.

Big Meetings
When I was teaching another teacher showed me how to draw a plan of the classroom with boxes for the tables. It helps if you have a list of pupils. The school has the list. They might not think to give it to you in advance unless you ask. You might want to keep a list by surnames and a list by first names. Learn to pronounce the difficult names, and identify the country of origin or the name.

In Singapore we had to take a class register. It was not just for fun. It was a regulation, a requirement. This was done so the government could check that people with a student visa claiming to be students were actually attending a class and not working.

Table Plan
WhenI draw a plan of the table and the number of chairs around it with dots or boxes. I do this when I go to a toastmasters international club meeting in Singapore, or am involved with organising a wine tasting evening around a long table in a private room in a restaurant in London, whether I am a n organiser or guest, I draw a plan of the table and the number of chairs, write in my own name, add the people either side, or the name of the VIP at the top, and add the names of attendees or latecomers down the side so I can identify them fast when they shout or mumble their names. Then I can write the correctly spelled name on my chart, or even just the initial.

At a wedding or conference you will often have a table plan with a list of guests outside. You can photograph your table, learn the names of the people you will sit next to. Find them in the drinks reception in advance, decide if you want to be sitting next to them, or recognize them or walk in with them so two of you can circulate in opposite directions to locate your table number. If you already have their business card, you already know their name, and their spouse or college before you it down.

Changing places
I go into the hall and check where I will be sitting. Am I near enough to hear the speeches? Am I far enough from a noisy band? Am I near an exit if I feel claustrophobic, need to run to the toilet or to take a mobile phone call? Am I near enough to the buffet to get the smoked salmon? Am I far enough to avoid the temptation to eat two chocolate desserts?

Is it free seating - if so which table is my favourite? Am I seated next to my spouse? (Let's swap the cards so we separate - we've been talking all day. Let's both meet two new people.) Am I too far from my family and colleagues? Maybe get together to share drinks and stories.

Am I miles away from the VIP? Let's find him at the reception, in case he/she leaves earlier and we don't meet. I can hand my business card and say what we have in common. Maybe he or she will be left lonely in a crowd of foreigners speaking another language and come and find me to talk.

You also want to see if you need to be in contact with the organisers. On the other hand, the PR may be giving you a sales pitch all evening preventing you from doing your own networking and stopping you from making a date with the attractive person you spy elsewhere. The way to escape and be popular is to say you don't want to monopolies them and introduce them to somebody else who will be a good prospect for them.

Keep moving. For example, "Dear public company PR, you must meet my husband, would you like a drink - I'll get you one.  ... Hello, again, So sorry, I got waylaid by your charming, boss / PR lady / guest.)

Now, how can I help you to remember my posts?

Author
Angela Lansbury the author from London, speaker in Singapore, internet inspiration, inspiring teacher of English and your local languages on the internet, top travel tips and photos.

How To Speed Up In An Airport Or Other Queue (Line-up)

Problem
You are stuck forever in the queue at the airport. You are tired and your taxi driver is waiting. What to do?

Answer
The answer should be obvious but last time we went through Heathrow, despite having been through three or four airports in the past few weeks, we still forgot our strategy, so it's worthwhile making a mental note.

IDENTIFY SUITCASES WITH COLOURS AND PHOTOGRAPH
Before leaving home, identify your luggage. Try to buy a distinctive pattern or colour. Black is nicely anonymous. But colours are handy to deter thieves and identify your luggage fast.

Stick a large ribbon on the handle. Write a name of a person or place or even a large initial letter on the side of your case. Buy a set of luggage all the same colour so you can tell airport staff or other tourists, "Have you seen a suitcase same colour as this but smaller / larger?" Write a funny message on the bag, "Mine. Not yours. Contains left shoes. Contains right shoes."

Photograph your bag at home and print a picture. Photograph again in the departure hall. This proves you had it with you for insurance. Helps you find it. Reminds you the brand and colour if you are filling out a lost item form. Count your pieces of luggage, out of the door and into the taxi, out of the taxi, into the airport check-in.

PLAN FAST ARRIVAL
In the taxi, check your terminal to be sure you are dropped at the nearest door. You can check the airport layout on line. Also see if you get free trolleys, need a coin, or need money for the tip or fee.

GENERAL
1 Have your passport and ticket handy, so you can check check in counters on the board overhead.
Make sure you are not delayed before the queue trying to decide which queue you are eligible to join.
Be ready if you see a free counter.
At checkin and security you might get called or beckoned forward to the front of the queue at very busy times because staff know you and others have a connecting flight and little time.

CHECK IN DEPARTURE
Checking in at passport in the airport arrival hall, one of the family might be in business class, another on a redemption fare. If the lines are all busy, you must go to the correct line.

Keep your eyes open and smile at the smartly dressed girls or boys handling the queues.
If another desk is free, rather than leave you wearing behind somebody in economy with twenty bags, you might be beckoned forward to the business class or even first class desk even if it's the first class or business and only your partner is business and you are not.

BOARDING
a) In the departure lounge, you might get priority boarding and be eligible to go first onto the plane if you are business, with children, with a disabled person.

b) After that some airlines board by row and call out Seats 1-20. So you need your ticket handy to check the number - unless you have memorised it. In any case you are going to need to show it.

ARRIVING
2 If you have a fast track ticket because you are a frequent flyer, get your ticket out and know where it is. For example, in top right pocket, in lower left pocket, in front pocket of around my neck bag.

The frequent flyer's fast track ticket should get both of you through in the same queue - no point in having one of you going through fast toad the other delaying them. Have your brief explanation ready and say it confidently.

3 COLLECTING LUGGAGE
While waiting by an empty carousel, one of you can watch and keep a place beside the carousel whilst the other goes to the toilet.

Check with staff where oversize items are delivered. Your large suitcase or box or skis might already be at the other end of the luggage hall waiting for you.

JOING QUEUES
As you approach the lines, don't just join the nearest. Watch all the lines to see which are shortest and which are moving fastest. Whether you are at an airport or supermarket, if your family group has two or more people, you might split between two lines. If possible jump from the slower line to the faster one. (Either both/all of you move to a different line. Usually the line at the far end has fewest people and a member of the airport staff is trying to encourage people to move to the gap. Or one of you joins the spouse in the quicker line.

Lots of people will be half asleep, too tired to move. Others are chatting to family, and / or stuck with heavy carry on bags, coats and small children.

TAXIS
Check where in the airport to find the taxi queue and the desk where you pay in advance (for example, Changi Airport in Singapore.) Have your hotel name address ready for the taxi advance payment desk, including postcode so they can calculate the fare. Note that cities my have several hotels called Marriott or Holiday Inn and variations on local names such as Royal Hotel or Paris something or other.

In Phoenix, Arizona, USA, we went to the Holiday Inn and checked in only to find we were at the wrong one. In Wales we went to the Castle Hotel when we were booked into the Castle View hotel, smaller - that's why it was cheaper.

In Cambodia, staying at a small guesthouse, we asked the guest house to send a driver who knew the hotel.

If your hotel is a small and probably unknown guest house, try to find a nearby landmark, or ask the hotel for directions (in English and written in the local language). When leaving your hotel, ask for it to be marked and named on a map to show the taxi bringing you back.

Also get the hotel address card for the name, which you might not be pronouncing right. If they don't have an address card (it's being reprinted) nor a brochures (you book on line), get the breakfast or dinner bill receipt headed with the hotel or guest house name. Failing all else, if the towel had the hotel name and logo, photograph that; if the sewing kit or matchbook has the hotel or hotel's restaurant name, take or photograph that.

Photograph the front of the hotel as you leave. You can show the taxi the name of the hotel and what the building looks like. Photograph from the front and also approaching from both directions with the traffic flow so the driver can see if he pulls in alongside or has to cross to the other side of the road.

TAXIS
Check other hotels with similar names to be sure your driver is racing to the right one. Check the route. If he's driving towards the West and your hotel is in the East, be sure you are being taken to the right hotel.

Check the distance and the route. If he expects to take half an hour on the motorway to a hotel which is just around the corner, near enough to walk if you weren't carrying heavy luggage, either he is cheating you or he has misunderstood where you are going.

TAXI NAME AND NUMBER
Keep the taxi receipt so you can phone your favourite driver, call if you have left your luggage or umbrella or passport in the front or back seat or the boot (Americans call it the trunk). Identify the driver if he overcharges or drives dangerously.

Photograph the number of the taxi and the name and phone number of the driver (even if its hand written. If you put it in your pocket it might be quicker to find the photo than the lost scrap of paper. When you come out of the building or temple by another exit you can phone to ask where he is or say where you are.

(Cambodian temples have a one way system. You go in at the West and out of the east, occasionally vice versa. I lost everybody - different exit once. We had trouble finding our driver - correct exit but dozens of tuk-tuks in three car parks - twice.)

You might also like to ask for:
1 A driver who speaks good English.
2 A lady driver, if you are a single woman travelling alone. (Singapore has a small number of lady drivers. I had one by chance and she told me that she was the first, but now there are several. Some of her regular customers specifically ask for a lady driver.)

Author
Angela Lansbury, frequent flyer, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to posts.

Websites which teach Romanian - and handy words such as toilet

Problem
How do I learn Romanian or print off a list of handy words, for example, to check into a hotel and order food in a restaurant

Answer
http://www.wikihow.com/Say-Useful-Things-in-Romanian
google translate

I need the key to my room.
What time does the restaurant close?
This key does not work.
Is there a toilet?
Do you have a restaurant?
Where is the restaurant?
Is there a swimming pool?
Can we book a guided tour?
Is there a hop on hop off bus?
Is there one day train ticket?Can we walk there?
What number bus?
Where is the bus stop
where is the bus station
where is the train station
How much is the ticket
I want to visit
Is it open
What time does it close

Can I phone the bedroom?

What time is breakfast?

Do you serve dinner?

Is there a set meal?

How much is breakfast / lunch / dinner?

Can I order coffee?
Double espresso with milk.
Lemon tea.Do you have any milk.
I would like some water.
Still water.
Tap water.
Is it free?
I am waiting for my husband, wife, friends.

What time is checkout?
Where can I wait?
We have an appointment to see this man
here is my ticket
Here is my letter
we have a guided tour
is this the right place
Do I have time to go for a coffee
Do I have time to go to the toilet
What time are you leaving
Can you wait
I have lost my ticket, passport, friend / family
I have found my friend passport family
Do you have a map
Do you have a business card with your address
What time will it open?
Thank you so much.
what is your phone
what is your email
can you take a photo of us
may I take a photo of you
I will email you.


From Google I got these translations into
Romanian

Am nevoie de cheia în camera mea.
La ce oră se apropie restaurantul?
Această cheie nu funcționează.
Există o toaletă?
Aveți un restaurant?
Unde este restaurantul?
Există o piscină?
Putem rezerva un tur cu ghid?
Există vreun hop pe autobuz?
Există bilet de tren de o zi? Putem merge acolo?
Ce număr de autobuz?
Unde este stația de autobuz
unde este stația de autobuz
Unde este gara
Cât costă biletul
vreau sa vizitez
Este deschis
La ce oră se închide

Pot să sun la dormitor?

Ce vreme este micul dejun?

Servi cina?

Există o masă stabilită?

Cât costă micul dejun / prânzul / cina?

Pot să comand cafea?
Espresor dublu cu lapte.
Ceai de ceai. Ai lapte.
Aș dori niște apă.
Apă plată.
Apă de la robinet.
Este gratis?
Îmi aștept soțul, soția, prietenii.

La ce oră se termine comanda?
Unde pot să aștept?
Avem o întâlnire pentru a vedea acest om
Aici este biletul meu
Iată scrisoarea mea
Avem un tur cu ghid
Este locul potrivit
Am timp să mă duc la o cafea
Am timp să mă duc la toaletă
La ce ora pleci
Puteți aștepta
Mi-am pierdut biletul, pașaportul, prietenul / familia
Mi-am găsit familia de pașapoarte a prietenului meu
Ai o hartă
Aveți o carte de vizită cu adresa dvs.
La ce oră se va deschide?
Mulțumesc foarte mult.
Care este telefonul tău
Care este e-mailul dvs.
Poți să ne iei o fotografie
Pot lua o fotografie cu tine
Te voi trimite prin e-mail.

I don't know how accurate this is but I recognise several useful and easy words. I shall put them in alphabetical order.

Romanian - English
camera - room
cheia - key
email - email
f a m i l i a - family
f o t o g r a f i e - photograph
t o a l e t a (flat line above the second a) - toilet


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Keeping Track of Your Photos

Problem
How do you remember where you went and when?

Answers
Group your photos by location, starting and ending with a sign of the name of the place. In theory if your photos carry a date and time, you can also use that to check the location. If you left Hotel A at 9 am and reached temple A at 10 am, you can identify the hotel and the temple by the date and time alone. You might have a gap of an hour between the last photo taken at one place and first photo taken at the next location.

Tips
Keep a log of places in your diary whilst waiting for your food to arrive at mealtimes. If you don't want to be writing or on your phone when at meals, you can make a one line note of the location from the brochure or address card each time you go to wash your hands before meals.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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How To Get Lost and Found In Cambodian Temples

Problem
"People get lost all the time in temples," the guides told us in Cambodia, several different guides, several times.

Answers
Before we drove off to Ankor Wat, our tuk-tuk driver showed us his name on the side of his tuk-tuk. He asked us two write it down. We photographed his name, his face, his tuk-tuk.

He asked if we had a local phone. "No, because we have roaming on our phones."

He gave us his number. We tested by trying to ring each other. No result.

After some delay he worked out the code for Cambodia. We needed the country code for our Singaporean or British mobile phones.

The advantage of a local phone is that a local person could afford to phone us. He or she would not have to wonder which foreign country's dialling code was needed.

He told us that any tuk-tuk driver would make a local call to another tuk-tuk driver to tell him where his lost passengers (foreign tourists ) were waiting.

I had taken the hotel's address cards and advertising leaflet so that if all else failed I could get back to the hotel. Naturally I needed local money in case I ever get lost and needed to take a tuk-tuk back.

Lost Tuk-Tuk In Ankor Wat
Ankor Wat (wat is temple) where many people start is a relatively straight forward route. You go into the area across a long bridge. You walk to the centre.

In the centre there's a tower to climb. If you don't all want to climb, the non-climbers wait at the base.

Afterwards you could walk around the outside looking at murals not he outside walls. If you keep to gather, that's all on the flat, no problem. Then you walk around and retrace your steps across the bridge.

Lost Tuk-Tuk
You do need to know whether your tok-tuk is waiting in the car park on the right or left or down the road ahead.When we returned the area had grown crowded. The landmarks had changed, more shops and kiosks selling clothes and food. More car parks had been opened. We phoned our tuk-tuk driver. He asked, "Where are you?"

We hadn't a clue. We were near the north, east, west or south gate, in one of three roads through fields converging on the bridge, near one of a dozen restaurants with names in Cambodian letters.

We called another tuk-tuk driver to explain to ours where we were. "We are near a French restaurant," we said.

Next day was more of a challenge. I was seriously lost.

Lost in Bayon in the centre of the Ankor Thom complex
The word Thom means big. Here is the wonderful complex with the heads overhead, half smiling down on you, like sphinxes.

Take a few photos. Walk through the first entrance. Then you come to a seriously steep staircase. Somewhere between twenty and fifty steps up. Very steep. Hard to hold onto the balustrade which is burning hot.

I was starting to feel panic-stricken. The previous day I had fallen in the street over the edge of the road which had a steep curve. At the top I need a rest. I step into a shady spot. My travelling companion says he will go on. I shout, "Come back here shortly!"

After half an hour, he has not returned. The whole place is a one way system. Lots of photo opportunities on a level (no level but many rounded stones and short flights of three steps through arches). However, at the far side, there's another steep staircase. You can't walk down forwards. You need to cling on and go down sideways or backwards. I don't know how many more of these staircases are ahead. I am going back.

Returning to the original staircase, I find it is one way. A sign says no entry and the staircase is filled with people coming up.

More later!

Be Prepared - travelling with tissues

Problem
What should you carry to be prepared?

Answer
Basic emergency medical supplies, which for most people would include paper tissues, a sticking plaster or two, and an aspirin or panadol.
Some people carry water and a chocolate bar or an apple on any journey. Others take a plastic container with a secure lid for leftover food. (If it's big enough, it could also be an emergency potty for children or adults if you break down on the motorway in snow or fog or get stuck in a ski lift.)

Stories
1 A Facebook friend, David Astbury, told us how he supplied a fabric handkerchief to stop the bleeding of a child who fell of mother's lap at a wedding. I replied:
The magic is not in having a fabric handkerchief - paper tissues would have done just as well. The magic is knowing in which pocket you have placed the handkerchief or tissue in order to produce it instantly on demand. The average person can spend twenty minutes searching for a paper tissue, a door key, a train ticket, their spectacles, their handbag, or the right coins for payment at a till. I know. I'm an average person. Trying to be above average. A place for everything and everything in the correct pocket.
Angela Lansbury, author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In (a book I wrote to remind myself of everything the rest of the family and the world had taught me, all of which I forgot until and after I wrote the book.)
2 I was stuck on a three person ski chairlift in America, with two other people. Balanced in mid-air. Can't even wriggle or reach in a pocket. No food or toilet. Sitting in the cold. Eventually saw people ahead being removed by a rescuer who was abseiling. Then a megaphone told us the lifts would be starting again.
Why do you need tissues? To blow your nose. Emergency toilet paper. Mopping up spills when you talk with your hands and spill wine or water. For the child or adult who starts bleeding.

Tips
1 Before leaving the house check your checklist - which could be stuck on the back of the front door or in your phone or diary:
2 Address and phone number of people and place you are visiting. Ideally phone to check they are open and will welcome you.
3 Depending on your location, you might also carry a small umbrella.
4 Carry a pen and paper and a business card.
5 Mobile phone.
6 Paper tissues.
7 Hat and gloves.
8 Wear white at night. (To be seen by traffic when crossing the road.) I keep a white scarf or hat or bag handy. Failing all else, carry a newspaper. A newspaper is also handy if you sit on one of those cold metal seats at a railway station. (But newsprint is black so don't sit on a black newsprint item wearing a wet or white or light colour coat.)
9 Go to the toilet before a journey, even a short one on a ski lift.


AUTHOR
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
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