Foreign Perspectives

Myrtle Beach resort in South Carolina isn’t as well known as some other resorts nearby but don’t let that put you off as it has all the facilities on offer that you could want.

In addition to a wide range of hotel choices and, of course, beach activities there are lots of non-beach based activities in the area too including Myrtle Beach golf, numerous parks, museums and nightlife. This is all in a very compact area so you won’t end up spending hours in the car to get around as you do in some beach resorts which claim to have “everything”: they may well do but usually they’re so spread out that you’re in a completely different resort by the time you get around them all.

Clearly since it’s a beach resort you’re going to get aquariums, water parks and the like but you also get a good selection of non-water based attractions including the Hopsawee Plantation and the Childrens’ Museum. There’s a surprisingly wide range of shows on offer too of which I quite fancy Medieval Times but there are lots of others to cater for all tastes.

If you’re looking for somewhere on the coast but with a good selection of activities outside the beach area then a  Myrtle Beach vacation seems like a good choice.

Popularity: 8% [?]

When it’s a clear plastic bag that’s had a knot tied in it and doesn’t have a ziploc closing mechanism.

That’s the latest nonsense to come from my travels through airport security and one that was particularly crazy. The security staff focused all their attention on that “deficiency” in my packing and managed to miss four separate items that they should have looked at including one that they very definitely should have taken off me.

So what did they miss this time around?

1. A six inch steel pin. That’s definitely on their checklist of items that aren’t allowed through security yet they missed it entirely which is worrying.
2. A rather heavy iced cake. Eh? Well, considering that it was in a sealed transparent plastic container and the icing has the same look and consistency of plastic explosive they should at the very least have rescanned it with the box open.
3. The luggage scales. These look very suspicious on the scanner thanks to the spring mechanism yet they missed them entirely.
4. The resealable plastic bottles in the above plastic bag. No tests were done of the content and they should have been.

At the moment it seems that rather than being aimed at detecting potential terrorists, the security checks are there merely to annoy honest travellers.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Paris is a wonderful city to explore but there’s so much to see that many people miss out on really fantastic experiences even if they’ve been to Paris quite often.

Tours in Paris come in all shapes and sizes of course and you’ll find something there to interest you whatever your tastes might be. For me, one of the highlights was an evening dinner cruise on Bastille Day: seeing the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower from the vantage point of a boat on the river just beside it is something you should do at least once. That’s just one of the night-time excursions of course and not to be neglected are the cabaret shows of the Moulin Rouge and the Lido among many others all over the city (most of the evening tours include dinner so they look a little more expensive than they actually are).

During the day you can take your pick from the world-famous sights such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and the enormous museums of the Louvre and d’Orsay.  One of the best daytime tours is that to the Chateau of Versailles. OK, it’s not actually in Paris but it’s very much an easy add-on to a Paris based holiday as it’s only 30 minutes or so by train outside the city.

But even if you do all the above, you’ll still have lots more to see on your next visit!

Popularity: 14% [?]