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Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Easy Spanish words for travellers 20 words



 Spanish - English (memory aid)

carro - car (Double the r to remember to roll your r. Add an o because unlike ships traditionally she in English, cars are a man's or boy's toy.)

buena - good (una buena idea = a brilliant/beautiful idea)

buscando - (I am) looking for (busy scanning the surroundings or the horizon)

cielo - sky (like ceiling)

clase - class

costa - coast (as in Costa del Sol in southern Spain)

demasiado - too, too much (think of deluge)

ellas/ellos planean - they (each and every one, female or male, like los angeles meaning the angels is plural for the) plan 

equipage - luggage, (like equipment)

es - is (yes it is)

estatua - statue

gratis - free, no charge

idea - idea

isla - island just drop the last two letters, (it's a small island)

libre - free, unoccupied

los - the (plural, like Los angeles, city in the USA, meaning the angels)

sol - sun

solo - only/solo (both words have the letters o and l)

train - tren (you have to roll your r, or listen for the word said with a rolled r. To roll your r, pull the tip of your tongue backwards along the roof of your mouth whilst breathing out - say three whilst breathing out)

el turista - the tourist


If you know all these words you can now say, it is a car, it is luggage, it is an island, it is a tourist. Raise your voice and your eyebrows to turn a statement into a question in Spanish.

Useful Language Websites

duolingo.com

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Costa+del+Sol

See my other posts on Spanish.

Please follow my blog and share links to your favourite posts.

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

New Zealand Airline Socks In Beautiful Colours

 I love airline socks. And these stripey socks match many of my outfits.


Angela Lansbury wearing New Zealand Airline socks. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Don't you love free gifts? Doesn't everybody? Apparently not everybody. I saw a sock left behind, by a departed passenger, as I left the plane. 

For a fleeting moment, I was tempted to leap across the plane and grab the abandoned sock. But the thought fled.

I trundled on, forever haunted by the thought that I had lost out. A wasted opportunity. A wasted pair of socks. If you ever find an abandoned pair of airline socks, send them to me. Even if they have been worn by a member of one's own family, or another family, a pair of airline socks can be washed by hand, and often by machine. They come in really handy. 

I have airline socks from Singapore Airlines, pre-Covid, in navy blue, or maroon. I have a red pair from Virgin Atlantic.  

These New Zealand socks are the best. Beautiful colours. Stripey. Go with green or blue. It is worthwhile going premium Economy on Air New Zealand just to get the socks. A great start to my holiday.

Useful Websites


Please share links to your favourite posts.

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Guildhall Art Gallery - Fabulous Outside and inside - and free!

 

Guildhall Art Gallery, entrance. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

This is a remarkable building with exciting art and sculpture. Outside, to the right of the door, is a bust of William Shakespeare. Inside to the left, is a bust of King Charles III. Famous paintings are all around. Downstairs are the remains of  old London - a Roman amphitheatre, under a glass floor. Down in the basement is a magnificent Guildhall, full of statues, architecture, inscriptions and paintings and other things to look at.
Definitely worth a visit. And a return visit. Admission is free. A great place to take your foreign visitors and large families, if you are the one who is paying!

Nearest underground station, Bank.
Their online shop includes a bookworm brooch,  mug, travel mug, tea towel, pencil case, bag, fridge magnet and books.

Useful Websites
https://guildhall-art-gallery.myshopify.com/products/roman-mug-red-white

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Videoconferencing - what you need to know and teach




1 Choose Your System
Work out the sites which are free or costing and any time constraints.
What will you get from the premium versions?
If it is a free trial, do you have to give a credit card and risk making monthly purchases forever if you forget or can't succeed in cancelling?
Who can fund a premium account?
Who do you know in your business or social group who already has an account which they will share?

2 Set up your webconferencing system account.
Note any logins and passwords and save the information in two places. Try to make it memorable by finding a pattern, or keep repeating it.

3 Read the webconferencing help page.

4 Print the help page or screen capture.
Highlight the important points and actions.

5 Or store login codes and directions somewhere you can quickly copy it and forward it to your co-hosts audience members.

6 You also want to know:
How do you share or hand over hosting the videoconferencing site? (Usually just an icon you click, saying 'share hosting', or words to that effect, then select a name from participants.)

7 How do you admit people? Or

8 Signing in
The first questions your attendees will ask are:
How do I log in? What is the code?  What is the password?
Have this written up large on a board beside your laptop.

9 You can have a cork pinboard, a white wipeboard (small ones can be bought from Daeso). Failing all else, clip onto a clipboard.

10 Appoint A Technical Troubleshooter
If you don't, you will delay the proceedings every ten minutes for the first half hour whilst latecomers say they can't log in and ask for help.

11 Train people to change their name on their photo box (the oblong which looks like a microwave) and show their  face.

12 Tell everyone to mute during other people's speeches to cut down on background noises.

13 Remind peole to unmute. Show they how to do it on the large computer screen or a small mobile.

14 Follow up thanking people from attending. Send them links to videos you took of meetings.

Author
Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

Online Toastmasters International Meetings
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=braddell%20heights%20advanced%20toastmasters
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, London.
Tiarel.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product-21713991ape

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Must See Things To Do In Singapore - 30 favourites








Singapore flag

1 Open top bus tour

You are forbidden to eat or drink on trains. But by a Kit Kat. Watch out for the flavour. Asian KitKats also come in Green Tea flavour.




2 Free waterfall in Jewell at Changi Airport
Waterfall at Jewel has a nightlysound and light show.
Does the sound of running water make you think of going to the toilet.



Look for a bidet style sign on the doors of the ladies toilet in the airport terminal.

At the airport and around town look for a bun filled with been paste.



3 Butterfly Garden in ChangiAirport



4 Fish head curry on banana leaf plate in Little India

5 Mustapha's 24 hours 2 block department store and supermarket and walk along Little India, or back to Farrer Park ecological shopping mall to visit Daeso.



6 Ngee Ann city basement ; walk underground to orchard MRT and above it Ion and end at Daiso bargain shop for shopping where everything costs $2..



7 Gardens by the Bay



8 Revolving Restaurant

9 Big wheel



10 Raffles Hotel


Drink a Singapore Sling in the hotel where it was created.


11 Botanic Gardens free


12  Swim outdoors - in a condo, Country or town club or public pool


Cashew Heights condo.


13 Visit synagogue - must book

14 Visit Toastmasters at Sheraton Hotel

Sheraton Hotel.


15 For photos pass Indian temple, Chinese temple

Indian temple. Toa Payoh South, next to Toa Payoh South Community Club..

16 Green Park hotel at Chinatown MRT

17 Chinatown

18 History Museum

19 Art Museum

20 Clarke Quay and Boat Quay river walk

22 MRT and LRT


23 Night Safari

24 Ford Factory Museum

25 Valu$ at Expo MRT.




26 St Andrews Cathedral, art museum and waterfront, view of Marina Bay Sands triple skyscraper with ininity pool on top, and statue of Raffles.




Pay to go up it to Observation deck, or pay for another deck where the cost is deducted from drinks and food.












28 Claim back Singapore's VAT if you spend more than 100

29 Kaya toast breakfast. Buy a jar to take home.






30 Hawker Centre meal. Chicken rice.


Then durian dessert or milkshake.

Or green pandan cake.



Websites
To learn Chinese
singaporeair.com
https://www.visitsingapore.com/travel-guide-tips/travelling-to-singapore/changi-airport-singapore/

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Friday, June 21, 2019

Wonderful Walking Tours and Jewish Walking Tours of Sofia, capital of Bulgaria



A general walking tour, and the new Jewish walking tours, are free. Their other tours are paid for. Many people take the walking tour and go on to take another tour.

The Jewish walking tours started this year 2019. They were started by a historian and a Jewish guide and now another non-Jewish guide has joined the group of knowledgeable tour guides.

Our Jewish walking tour, in English, attracted about forty people. Another group followed a Spanish speaking guide. Our group include Jews and non Jews, Israelis - Sofia is about two and a half hours flight for them, the same as it from London. Other were speakers of German, Dutch, French and Spanish, and some well spoken English speaking Indians from the UK who had previously taken the Jewish trail around Prague in the Czech Republic and been fascinated by the Jewish history and loved the Jewish restaurants.

We stopped to buy water. The guide told us the history of the Jewish people in Bulgaria. We looked at some Jewish gravestones in a sunken garden alongside a restaurant. If we had not had the guide we would not have looked over the low hedge at the stones and noticed the Hebrew lettering.

A later stop was a momument to the Jews of WWII.

The tour did not go to the synagogue, which we went on to see afterwards. (Check my earlier post.)

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

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Free To See At Sentosa - Animals and Birds


Flag of Singapore

My friend Joshua told me that Sentosa has a free animal attraction by the beach. This is where he works. Because it is free it has no budget nor push for advertising, which is why you might not have heard of it.

Those who like free things will be very glad to hear of it.

However, you also need to factor in the cost of getting to Sentosa. But it's nice to know that what you spend on transport is offset by what you save on attractions.

Of course, if you have a bigger budget, I will be worthwhile buying a combined ticket for the paid for attractions.

But isn't it nice to know that there's something free.


Sentosa has a Merlion, symbol of Singapore.

I shall add more information later.

Useful Websites
Free attraction
https://www.sentosa.com.sg/explore/attractions/animal-bird-encounters

Other paid for attractions tickets
https://store.sentosa.com.sg/

singaporeair.com

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

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Singapore/Sentosa_and_Harbourfront

https://wikitravel.org/en/Singapore/Sentosa
https://www.imoney.sg/articles/sentosa-on-a-budget/

Author
Angela Lansbury

Singapore's Bicentenial - free



Date: 1 June - 15 September 2019.

That's the whole of June, July, August, and the first half of September.

What is it all about? Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819. Statues have been added of his associates around the Raffles statue on the waterfront. One of them was a man named Scott.

At Fort Canning expect exhibitions, events, covered escalators, gardens.

I noticed a white statue of Raffles outside the Royal Plaza hotel on Scotts Road. The hotel often has topical sculptures in front of the hotel. Now I know why Raffles was chosen.

What else is free in Singapore?
Walking around the Botanical Gardens.
The bird show on Sentosa.

Useful Websites
The Bicentenial office is near Bugis MRT.

https://www.facebook.com/sgbicentennial

https://asianjourneys.com.sg/28-Jan-2019/welcoming-bicentennial-on-scotts-road-with-an-art-wall-spice-of-life-singapore-circa-1819

singaporeair.com

More details will be added later.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several more posts on Singapore. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Monday, May 6, 2019

Need a country flag image for free? Can you identify these flags? Quiz!

Sometimes you need a country flag. It is useful to label a box file storing maps and leaflets before during or after a trip. You might want to add it to a blog as a heading.

But first you need to pick the right flag. Some are so similar. Lots of crosses on the Union Jack and Scandinavian flags, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland. 

Lots of Crescents on other flags. 
A flag which looks like the flag of the USA. 

Two countries with dragons. One is Wales. The other is?

Lots of stars.
How many? Which colour? How many points?

Union Jacks with stars for Australia and New Zealand. Which is which? Which flag has the most stars - which country?

You might recognize flags with red and white stripes. But that could be Monaco or Poland or Singapore or Malaysia. Red above or below? Anything added?

What about multiple stars? That could be the EU or Linguafranca.

What about red, white and blue? That's France. Or is it the Netherlands? Vertical or horizontal stripes?

Red yellow and black. That's Germany. Or is it Belgium?

Red white and green, easy peasy, Italy. But there's another red white and green flag. And red white and orange? Which is Italy? Which is Ireland? What is the third?

Here are some flags. Get ready for a quiz! Which country is this flag from? Some hints later. If you don't like your score, read the answer and see if you can improve.

1


2

3


4



5


 6


7


8


9


10



Hints
1 Could be Singapore or China or Malaysia.
2 Could be Vietnam or Cambodia. 
3 Could be India or Spain. 
4 Could be France or the Netherlands?
5 Could be Canada or Wales?
6 Could be Australia or New Zealand.
7 Could be Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Serbia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine
8 Could be Italy?
9 Could be China or EU
10 Could be the USA or Malaysia or Indonesia.

Answers (alphabetically)
Not in right order - try matching them up!

Brazil
Canada 
China 
EU 
Esperanto 
France 
Iceland
India 
Interlingua 
Israel 
Italy
Madeira
Malaysia
New Zealand
Peru
Portugal
Scotland 
Singapore
South Africa
Spain
Switzerland
USA
UK
Wales

Answers in right order:
1 Singapore
2 Vietnam
3 India
4 The Netherlands
5 Canada
6 Australia
7 Latvia
8 Italy
9 China
10 USA


Useful websites
Wikipedia
Wikitravel
Simple wiki
wiki voyage
https://www.countryflags.com/en/australia-flag-image.html
https://www.countryflags.com/en/europe/

While we are on the subject of free, whole books for free:
https://studyreadwrite.com/2015/01/03/how-to-free-textbooks/

How to remember flags
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/01/blog-post_71.html

Quiz on flags
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/07/quiz-on-flags-with-stars-can-you-guess.html

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