Travel to Croatia - where to find information

This is the Croatia flag, same as the Serbian flag, red white and blue from the top down, but with the added picture in the centre.

Where is it? Who are the neighbouring countries? What are the major cities and tourist places?


TRAVEL
CROATIA
Tourist Board
croatia.hr

Independent Information
wikipedia (detailed including history) no ads . Orignally from out of date encyclpaedias, supplemented by a few nerds and people. Increasingly written by full time or retired experts in a confusing amount of detail and jargon. Original reserach and opinions and promotion not allowed, or marked as such - must be from outside independent sources, with references. Out of copyright photos, or notes of in which country the photos may be used.

simple wikipedia (language for people for whom English is a second language, less jargon, quicker to find a fact or photo of a well-known place)

wikitravel (with ads)

wikivoyage (without ads)

tripadvisor (reviews from the public of hotels, museums, landmarks, tours) ads. Reviews may be critical. Hotel managers, restaurant staff and other owners are given the chance to reply with apologies, explanations or retorts.

Travel Advice for your nationality and from your home government

Tour operators (Often for specific regions, or types of travel, such as budget or luxury)
Outgoing operators
Outging (usually show flights from your country of origin). If you are researching on holiday in Italy, the tickbox allowing them to know where you are will give flights from where your phone or laptop is physically, which is handy if you are planning on ongoing journey, no good if you want to go home and start from here later in the year.

Incoming
After you have booked your flights, these operators arrange tours within the country. It's worthwhile comparing which combination gives the best deal. For example, some airlines will give you a reduced price hotel room for a stopover.

Why The Reduction?
The airline might own the hotel or have some deal. I imagine that's an incentive from either the hotel, or the tourist board giving a subsidy or reducing tax to get visitors because the spend per day in the country (there are tables for figures on how much visitors from each country spend, broken down by age groups, time of year and all sorts of things - they know from the VAT they collect. The visitor's spend will be higher than the reduction on the room.

On the other hand, you might find that booking locally on the ground at local prices is cheaper.

See my previous posts on Croatia.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I can offer you courses, one to one online or in person in the UK and Singapore, and workshops or entertaining after dinner speeches for clubs and businesses in the UK, one-off or a series. This can be worldwide anywhere if you can organize a ipad or screen connection by whatsap, Skype, visual conference call or something better, or fly me to your destination.
Please share links to your favourite posts. I have posts on learning many languages.

Understanding Australian Slang

Australian Flag. From Wikipedia.

Problem
Waltzing Mathilda is full of words we recognize but don't understand. So is everyday conversation, whether it's Australian patrons and staff in a restaurant or shop in Sydney, Australia, bar tenders (bar men or bar women) in Earls Court in London, England, or Austrians on the ski slopes in New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, America or Canada.

The three books I look to buy in another English speaking country are a dictionary of local language and slang, a one-volume encyclopaedia and a guidebook or book of facts.

If you have a dictionary or Thesaurus symbol on a computer o the laptop screen you can find a Theseaurus fast.

Here's a list :
Australian - English
angry as a cut snake -  angry as a bull, angry as a bear, mad as a hatter
fair dinkum - all right, OK, fair enough, that's reasonable
G-strings - thongs
outback - in the Styx, in the countryside, the back of beyond, somewhere remote, the middle of nowhere
more than you can shake a stick at - heaps of, a shed load
no worries - no trouble, no problem, never mind
sheila - female, young woman
thongs - flip flops
tucker - food, snacks (as in tuck box)

English - Australian
fair enough - fair dinkum
flip-flops - thongs
girl / lass / lassie / woman - sheila
no trouble - no worries
thongs - G-strings

You might be amused by the book Let Stalk Strine by A A Morrison, published in 1965.
More Information From
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4920118/The-origin-Australia-s-iconic-sayings.html
Macquairie Dictionary (Australian dictionary), edited by Susan Butler.
Webster's Dictionary (American English - devised by Webster who simplified American spelling for the benefit of ease and speed of immigrants. He also wrote a book of simplified grammar.)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blotto
http://andc.anu.edu.au/australian-words/meanings-origins/all
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English_vocabulary

Map of Australia from Wikitravel.

Perth is on the west coast; Sydney is on the east, Melbourne is in the south, and that little island off the south is Tasmania. White, to the right, is the two islands of New Zealand. You might like to book a trip to New Zealand on the same ticker which could be cheaper than an airfare to Australia then a separate ticket to New Zealand, especially if you try booking a round trip to New Zealand with a stopover at Australia on the way there or back or both.. 

Travel to Australia
http://www.australia.com/en-gb

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. I have other posts on Australian and other languages, Americanisms and destinations Please share links to your favourite posts.

What Are Welsh Cakes? Recipe!

Welsh cakes from Fishguard Bay Hotel. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Notice the cakes contain currants. Welsh cake can be broken into four pieces using the cross which has been scored with a knife (or fork).

Problem
What are Welsh cakes? Where or how can I try them?

Answer
Welsh cakes are round or square cakes which look like flattened scones. Like scones, they have sultanas or currants. Like scones, you can serve them with jam and butter, or cream.

I first tried them in Fishguard, Wales. You eat them hot with butter and jam.

I had them for elevenses at Jane's. Delicious and more-ish. Perfect small cake to go with coffee for mid morning or after noon tea.

Handy bag from Janes reminds you of the address and phone number.

The second time I tried them was at Fishguard Bay Hotel. Scrumptious.

The third time was on the Aviva train from Fishguard ferry port via Fishguard to change at another station for the train home to Paddington, London. At £1.50 for two small cakes, not with crockery, just from a train trolley, they seemed expensive. No receipt either.

But I still thought they were a good buy. They filled me up and left me feeling satisfied.

Tips
You can make them from a recipe such as Jamie Oliver or the BBC or the Welsh tourist board. Here's the recipe from the tourist board:
http://www.visitwales.com/explore/traditions-history/recipes/welsh-cakes

If you put a cross on them, scored with a knife, you can divide them into smaller pieces to go with coffee.

Welsh cakes bought on the Aviva local train. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Blas y Castell means Taste the Castle.
Welsh Cakes bought on the Aviva train from Fishguard to Whitland (where you can change onto the train to Paddington).

My ticket was via Whitland, which is an easy change of train. You stay on the same platform. Whitland has no café and no toilets, so if you go via Whitland you will be glad of the opportunity to buy food and drink on both trains.

Wikipedia says:

• Llech Cymraeg: cooked with plain flour (particularly wholemeal flour) - rather than the standard self-raising flour, and baking powder, resulting in a much flatter and crisper cake. Typically, this variant is made as a slab on a bakestone, or nowadays on a baking tray, hence the name Llech Cymraeg (literally, "Welsh slab").
• Jam Split: popular in South Wales. As the name suggests, this is a Welsh cake split horizontally, with jam (and sometimes butter) added, rather like a sandwich.
• Apple Dragon: Adding grated apple to the mix helps to keep the cakes moist for longer.
• The Newport Lovely: regional variant hand-crafted by the men of Newport for their women as either a wedding-gift, or engagement present.
• Mynydd Cymreig: (literally, Welsh Mountain): from North Wales, doubling the amount of baking powder results in their increased rising. They are also finely coated in icing sugar, symbolising the seasonal snow cap of some of the higher peaks in Snowdonia.
• The Kiwi Cake: exported by Welsh settlers, the Welsh cake has been produced in New Zealand for many years.

I think the Welsh Mountain Cake would be good for tea-time in a snowy winter or at Christmas.
Here's a recipe from Wikipedia:
Ingredients]

• 1 lb (450g) plain flour
• 8 oz (225g) butter
• 6 oz (170g) sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 oz (85g) currants, raisins or other dried fruit
• dash of milk
• pinch of salt

Procedure]

1. In a large mixing bowl, rub together butter, flour and salt until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Mix in sugar and fruit.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating together until mixture forms a thick dough. If dough will not form, add a small amount of milk.
4. Knead for two to three minutes until dough becomes cohesive and slightly elastic.
5. Roll dough out on a flat surface.
6. Cut two to three inch circles from the dough and fry on a griddle until golden brown.

Tips
Janes of Fishguard, Crafts, Coffee House14-18 High Street, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire.
Website: Janes-fishguard.co.uk
https://www.visitbritainshop.com/world/ (trips, tours, offers: London; England, Scotland, Wales)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author, speaker. I have several other posts on Wales and Welsh language. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Business Meetings Abroad where? Airport lounges

 Airport Lounge or Hotel in Transit
a) Choices
Check out the airline lounges airside and land side. Check time needed for stopover and be sure to adjust for changing time zones.
b) Challenges
You may be too short of time to leave the airport on one leg of the journey or going in one direction.
c) Solutions
Meet at an airport lounge or airport restaurant or airport hotel restaurant going one direction. Meet again on return journey.
d) Find out if any airlines affiliated to your carrier have lounges airside or land side. Also if the person you are meeting has a link with an airline which has a lounge.
e) If all else fails, find a coffee shop in the airport.
f) Or a coffee shop in a hotel adjoining the airport. Or a hotel with a shuttle bus.

I had this problem as a travel writer visiting St Louis in the USA. The PR for the city arranged to meet me and my family on our outbound stopover in the middle of the American continent flying East for only about an hour between East coast Washington DC and West coast America. During the first stop we went through the paperwork, brochures showing attractions of the city and arranged our itinerary for our return which he arranged whilst we were away.

On the longer return trip we had a four or five hour stopover. The PR for the tourist board met us at the airport with a car and took us on a tour of the city to a hotel, a restaurant for a quick lunch, and a museum, then up the Gateway Arch (pre-arranged with the attraction PR with complimentary tickets for the press but also to bypass the queue), then raced back to the airport to get us on the flight home.

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer, photographer, author, speaker.
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