Wednesday, March 9, 2011

See You In Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-gogerychwyrndrobwll-llandysiliogogogoch!!!

Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde or George Bernard Shaw said, depending on which source you choose to reference, "Britain and America are divided by a common language". That statement has become more relevant as we are preparing for our tour of the British Empire. The title of this post is the name of a small town in Wales which means "Church of St. Mary in the hollow of the white hazel trees, near a fierce whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysillio, near the red cave". Any country that has a town named that, that means that, has to have a culture and a people worth visiting and getting to know. Of course, Wales is fiercely protective of its language and its culture. I say mympwyol, i.e. fantastic!!!  So why is this important and why do we care and what does any of this have to do with finding a great hotel? A great place to stay, as defined throughout this blog, cannot be separated from the people and culture it is located in.  If it is, you end up with just another expensive "hotel property".

A friend once opined that you could be dropped from the air at the interchange of any interstate in America and you would have no idea where you are. That is sad, when you think of the diversity of  America. One can only hope this doesn't happen in Europe and other parts of the world. You have to take the road less traveled to find those places that haven't been homogenized by the travel industry. Places that add to your street cred as a true nomad.

Yeah, yippee, hallelujah!!! We finally found an amazing Hotel/Pub in the Snowdonia National Park in Wales. This was the last piece of our hotel puzzle for our tour of the UK. I will let you know how it goes during the trip.

Travel Quote of The Day
Twenty years from now you will be disappointed by the things that that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.   -  Mark Twain

hwyl fawr (goodbye)     DLS

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