Half-Day Heroes

I've been doing a spot of research since posting about my exciting New Horizons on how to transform the flyBown blog and today I discovered what I think may well be my new favourite travel site.

12HRS is a beautifully designed corner of the internet dedicated to whistle-stop tours in popular destinations. It's a must-see for those of us who love a micro-holiday and want to get under the skin of a city but don't have enough days in their calendar to do it.

This beautifully clean and flowing website was created by Anna Peuckert, a fashion and travel writer from Cologne along with Danish photographer Søren Jepsen (who is also a fan of Eurovision judging by his tweets this month -  and therefore clearly a fine gentleman in my opinion). Jepsen's imagery in particular brings the content to life and is eyewateringly inspiring and emotive.

One of my personal favourites, unsurprisingly, is their 12HRS itinerary for Berlin led by local hipster Herbert Hofmann who is the Creative Director of an über-cool boutique in Kreuzberg. The feature includes a stop for dinner at a little known restaurant called Silberlöffel - after reading about this it's now penciled in for my next trip!

I'm really looking forward to delving further into this superbly innovative take on travel writing and hopefully the team at 12HRS will keep these entertaining reviews flowing in! I'd love to see them whip up a tour of Tallinn or maybe even the great city of Nottingham... If Anna or Søren happen to stumble across these absolute gems I'd be more than happy to be of assistance!

You can jump straight to the 12HRS in Berlin feature by clicking here, or alternatively, see the entire site in all it's glory by heading to http://www.12hrs.net/

2006 Was Not A Good Vintage

I actually cant quite believe I'm about to publish this post. Those of you who know me will be aware that I will never usually hear a bad word said against the great Eurovision Song Contest...

On Sunday Evening I was home alone and took the chance to indulge myself in a little vintage euro-viewing. I picked the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest DVD from the bookcase, popped the disc into the player, opened the red wine and got comfortable ready to let the sequins, schlager and european partiality to wash over me.

I was so disappointed.

It must be a good year since I have played the 2006 contest which was held in Athens. I could not believe how dated and frankly cheap-looking not only the production was but also the quality of the songs was far worse than I had remembered. Fair enough this was broadcast almost eight years ago, but you would be forgiven for thinking it was more like eighteen.

Take this entry for example,"Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko & Connect-R" singing "Loca" for Moldova. 
It is, for want of a better word,  DIABOLICAL!!

At least the artists' name brought a smile to my face - 'ARSEnium!'

If your ears are in pain after hearing that song, then I shall afford you some sanctuary by not even posting the clip of Latvia's entry. "Vocal Group Cosmos" manage to stumble their way through an astronomically-atrocious A Cappella number wearing ill-fitting ivory suits and constantly faffing around with the most ridiculous prop in Eurovision history (of which there have been many). A song book is transformed firstly into a lectern before being walked around the stage in the finale as a robot-puppet complete with what appears to be a head made from a paper plate and horror-film-esque glowing eyes. If you are feeling adventurous however, here is a link to the youtube clip which is to be viewed at your own risk...

One saving grace did come, as to be expected, from Sweden with the mighty Carola belting out "Invincible" in front of lame-clad dancers complete with huge silver flags and the obligatory scandinavian wind machine.

Careful Carola, you'll pull a muscle if you're not careful!

For all those Brits who bang on about the contest being a corny, old fashioned, out-of-date bore-fest... I now excuse you if your opinion is based on this poor showing. Three years later the competition was held in Moscow and I genuinely think that whilst this might not have been the most popular host city for many euro-fans, the Russians pulled the competition forward a good 10 years and since then the standard of the TV production as well as the entries (with a few exceptions!) has been infinitely more credible.

I do hope it stays that way...

Tease Me...

I have stumbled across something amazing this week.... it's called TRIPTEASE.

This new app for the iPad not only looks stunning, but is completely created by its users to give a really personal alternative to travel reviews.

The format helps readers to quickly digest what the writer is trying to say, with short concise reviews of places, restaurants, hotels and anything else you might be interested in whilst on your travels, all backed up with a big focus on imagery. After all - a picture tells a thousand words!

Here are a few of the reviews I have created so far using the app:

And a few of my favourites created by others:

Triptease is available for free on the Apple app store without ads. Here is a link to my profile which you can also view on a standard web browser: http://triptease.com/profile/adam-bown