At the end of May 2007 we flew to Andalusia for a 10-day holiday. We stayed outside of Beas, a village about 50 minutes west of Sevilla. We flew to Malaga on Thursday 17 May with Vueling, Spain’s new low-cost airline. Vueling claims to be Europe’s ‘next generation’ budget airline, and though we are not sure what that means, our flight was quite pleasant and we would surely fly with Vueling again in the future. More »

Last week we came back from a vacation in Andalucia in Spain. The area is perfect for birding. Highlights for us were the Purple Gallinule, Red-knobbed Coot and Azure-winged Magpie. Another great sight were the hundreds of Stork nests on almost every electricity pole along the highway between Sevilla and Huelva. Here is a list of some great places to go birdwatching. More »

Last Sunday we visited Texel! We first took an early train (7:00) from Leiden to Den Helder, which lies in the northern-most tip of Noord Holland. On the way we saw a Spoonbill and our first Crane (Kraanvogel). When we arrived in Den Helder, we took a bus to the harbor and there stepped onto the TESO ferry to Texel, which is the largest and most populated of the Dutch Frisian Islands and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark. More »

In January 2007 we traveled to The Gambia on a 9-day package tour that included flight, transfers and accomodation. We hired a guide to take us on a 5-day upriver birdwatching trip along with three hard-core Finnish birders. We did not travel independently outside of the resort area, and many of these tips are meant for those who will visit The Gambia in a similar fashion. More »

From 5 to 15 January 2007 we were in The Gambia where we did a five-day birdwatching safari upriver to Georgetown and saw 177 different species of birds. I have just published a new travel photo album with 51 photos of this trip. More »

Many countries have a euphemism for common traveller’s gastrointestinal disorders, like diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea and bloating. For instance, in India they say Delhi Belly, and in Egypt they use the phrase Pharaoh’s Revenge. Here is a list of international terms. More »