Getting the OK from the Boss...

Good fortune is such that as I drove off with the warning that I would have to speak to the Boss, I saw John McCallum in the street around 200 yards down the road. He couldn't be more helpful and tomorrow I am going in to see the guys make haggis.

The haggis challenge starts here....

Having been challenged to show a Danish butcher how to make haggis when in Billung I thought I had better find out how to make haggis. We have an award winning haggis maker in the next village to us, so I went to ask. What I think is great about this clip is the way the young lad is a bit coy (obviously not wanting to commit) and says 'Oh we'll no be makin haggis for a while.' but when the other guy comes throug from the back he says: 'I thought we were making it tomorrow?' Both said that before I could get permission to go in and see them making haggis I would have to speak to their boss, John McCallum

A travelogue with a difference!

This is Cheapflighttuesday. The Afro Celt looking for Jocks in European cities served by Ryanair. If there’s a cheap flight to get there and Spartan accommodation in a cheap hotel on arrival I’ll take it. Then I’ll tell you about it! I’m going to go all over Europe. Next week I’m off to Sardinia to cover it with a beach towel that can be turned into a kilt. The Germans will be furious. Follow this blog..... It’s the must follow travel guide. It’s the only blog based, Scot driven, eco friendly, video evidenced, potentially fatal, bargain basement travelogue. I’ll be taking haggis to Denmark, Sporrans to Switzerland and whiskey wherever I can afford it. Rougher than the rough guide lonelier than the lonely planet, more potentially explosive than a constipated bull elephant.... and just as full of shit!
Just click follow and join in the fun.....

Yeeeehaaargh!!

After much surfing I managed to get accommodation. It was becoming a bit of a problem, as everyone wanted to charge me for a double room. I think the webcam on my computer must have been transmitting pictures. Then at around 1.50am this morning with the hazy cloud of the dinner I was speaking at still hanging over me I saw a site with 'youth hostel' in it's description. Well I have been in Edinburgh at Festival and seen the unhealthily healthy looking young people, normally wearing neckerchiefs and talking in animated fashion =- spaghetti, multo bene... prego. I've always thought that meant 'What does that fat man eat?' Now I will have the chance to find out because I will, for the first time in my life spend two nights in a youth hostel. Yes I have one bed in a dorm booked with these youthful types and a teach yourself Italian course on my IPOD (I'm down with the kids) and all for the princely sum of 22 euros per night. My online exchange rate calculator tells me that that is a total of £39.88. Must learn the Italian for 'Sorry about the smell.'

I will be at
Cagliari - Hostel Marina
Piazza San Sepolcro, 2
09100 Cagliari

Tired and a bit down....

After a hard nights work at a dinner finding out that the RAF base I was told existed near Cagliari,,,, doesn't. This may be a dead end for Scots and cheap accomodation. What's Italian for: 'Have you got 50p till I get my bus home to Perth?'

Smooth FM with Dougie Jackson

Dougie Jackson at Smooth FM was kind enough to have me in to talk about Robrert the Bruce and Cheapflighttuesday. This is me coming in to reception and meeting the production assistant Mike. You can listen again at http://www.smoothradioglasgow.co.uk/

Just say 'No' to Carbon dioxide

Nancy Nairn has pointed out to me that at a time of global warming it may be seen as irresponsible to be jetting all over Europe. In fact methane is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2. If we all avoid farting for a week the world will fall into balance. If we all fart into a sack with the saved up methane I could make a lighter than air balloon and avoid Ryanair. Any volunteers for the fart flight fueling get together let me know. In the meantime here is the certificate to show that I have paid £6.30 towards a hydro scheme. That means only £193.70 for the rest of the challenge!

Sardinia Challenges and Carbon Offsetting

Next stop Calgiari, Sardinia

Just in case anyone else is planning cheap flights to Italy or Sardinia, I know in this clip I have said Sardinia is the island at the bottom of Italy. I know that it's probably nearer the middle and off to the west. I'm not used to the movie business, I panicked OK! Nevertheless send me in a challenge for Calgiari.

Change of plan for first trip

Unfortunately there has been a death in the family, and a funeral which will clash with the first trip to Billung. As such I have postponed the challenge for one week. The first trip will be to Caliagary in Sardinia.

I have however booked flights to Billung for June and I will take on the challenge someone has suggested in the comment on the first blog. In the one day I will have in Denmark I will seek to get a butcher in Denmark to make haggis.

In the mean time I will post the planed ittinerary and please feel free to provide me with challenges to carry out for each trip.

Here is the ittinerary so far:

5 -7 May Cagliary, Sardinia
11-13 May Paris
18-20 May Dublin
26-28 May Leipzig
1-3 June Stockholm
8-10 June Milan
22-24 June Billund, Denmark

Second attempt to contact Kim's dad...

Finding the Jock in Denmark

The first port of call on my Europe travel trips and tours around Europe is Billund in Denmark. To be honest I didn’t even know where Billund was when I booked the flight. It was just the cheapest flight available that week. It turns out Billund is basically the leggo factory .... so at least if I can't find accomodation I can build it. Only trouble is some bully will probably come along and knock it down as soon as I have it built.

In my search to find Scottish people there I decided to contact the British Consulate. It’s a no brainer! In a way it probably seems too easy, and it would be but for the fact that the nearest consulate, in Esbjerg changed it’s number without updating the information on the website....bugger! On the bright side, when I phoned the number given on the website it was answered by a very helpful Danish guy called Gert who I assume was working in a factory producing high alcohol lager and bacon sandwiches. Gert said he knew of a shipping company who had an office in Billund, Esbjerg and Aberdeen.

On the website of Blue Water Shipping at www.Bws.dk I found the number of their Aberdeen office where I spoke to Stuart Greig. Unfortunately Stuart didn’t know anyone in Denmark, but one of his colleagues in the office, Kim, has a dad who works in the oil industry and goes to Esbjerg. ‘Do you want his mobile phone number?’ said Kim. ‘Is the pope a catholic? Do Alistair Darling’s eyebrows single-handedly offset the UK’s carbon emissions?’ said I.

The story continues.....

What's it all about

When I went to Barcelona with my pal Scott to see AC/DC I realised that I have never really travelled and there is a whole European world mixing out there that I in provincial Scotland didn't even know about. Scott and I thought we were pretty exotic going to Barcelona, but in a McDonalds after the concert (I don't have that shape for no reason) I met a couple of guys who had come from Italy to go to the gig, a Danish couple who had come from Greece and a couple of guys who had come from France. We didn't meet any other Scottish people though ..... unless you know different????

So here's the deal. Over the next year I will book a Ryanair flight every week to go to a different European city. I have to go there and find Scottish people living and working there and record them to put on this blog, porridge, tartan, kilts, bagpipes and all. I will also be looking for silly quirky Scottish connections, and challenges to take up of a Scottish nature. I also have to give you some information about what you could do if you took a cheap flight to this destination. This will be the basis of next year's comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. www.edfringe.com

Based on what people in Lossiemouth have told me is the cost of a really good night out I have a maximum of £200 to spend. This includes all transport to the airport, food drink transfers at the other side, hotel accomodation and spending money for a two day trip. Each week I will go out on a Monday and come back on a Wednesday - THIS IS CHEAP FLIGHT TUESDAY!!!!

Because there are some things already booked into my calender there will be weeks I cannot go (for example during the Edinburgh Festival and during my own family holiday).

If you have any challenges you would like to set me whilst I am in these European Cities then please add a comment.

If you know of a better format to do this blog in then please add a commment.

If you think this challenge is too easy and I should have less to spend then add a comment.

If you think St Johnstone FC are the best football club in Europe then add a comment!

The Warehouse Theatre Lossiemouth 17/4/09

In the beginning

I will explain this all later. Right now I'm in the office upstairs at the Warehouse Theatre in Lossiemouth before my one man show 'About Robert the Bruce' I've got this great idea for how a middle aged fat bloke can have a lot of fun, whilst hopefully giving you a laugh and letting you see a bit of Europe on this blog. I'll tell you the rest soon.

Bruce