Spain is Burning! Go and Watch

Watch this:

Now hurry up and get to Valencia, Spain so you can live it. Las Fallas (The Fires) is literally an explosive event, full of parades, music and street performances. Arrange your own trip or check out the Busabout 5-day tour (it includes a Sangria & Paella Welcome Party).

Las Fallas takes place throughout March, but the big events happen from March 15-19. The dates are the same every year, so if you can’t pull together a trip in a couple of weeks, start planning now for March 15-19, 2012.

Get Up-Helly-Aa and Get Your Viking On

Awesome photo by the BBC

“Oh boy, sleep! That’s where I’m a Viking!” – Ralph Wiggum

Unlike Ralph, I’ve never been able to dream myself into Vikinghood, but I’ve often thought it would be cool to experience the raw, primal Viking lifestyle.

Not for weeks, of course, but maybe for a few hours. After that I would probably want a hot shower, a comfy mattress and electricity.

Well, if you make your way to Scotland you can get a look at Viking life through one of their fire festivals. It might be too late to plan for this year, but Up-Helly-Aa, Britain’s biggest fire festival, is held in Lerwick on the last Tuesday of every January to mark the end of the pagan Yule season, so you can start planning now for next year.

And just what is a fire festival? According to visitscotland.com it’s “a 1000-strong torchlit procession of ‘guizers’ followed by the spectacular burning of a viking longship or galley. The squads of guizers then perform acts and dances in various halls into the early hours.”

Fire! Dances! People dressed like Vikings! I love it!

Lerwick’s Up-Helly-Aa isn’t the only fire festival though. Celebrations continue throughout January, February and March:

Scalloway Fire Festival                     Nesting Up-Helly-Aa                       Uyeasound Up-Helly-Aa                   Northmavine Up-Helly-Aa                 Bressay Up-Helly-Aa                         Cullivoe Up-Helly-Aa                          Norwick Up-Helly-Aa                          South Mainland Up-Helly-Aa            Brae Up-Helly-Aa

Friday, January 14 Friday, February 4 Friday, February 11 Friday, February 18 Friday, February 25 Friday, February 25 Saturday, February 26 Friday, March 11 Friday, March 18

I can’t believe I’m missing this, but it’s going on my travel to-do list for next year. See you there?

Lisa

Summer Festivals in Europe for Student Travellers

It’s not like there aren’t already a million things to see in Europe between the museums, monuments, historical sites, parks, canals, cafes, castles and tasty locals. But hey, since you’re already going that far, you may as well throw in a once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience as well. Europe hosts some of the largest, most exciting festivals in the world. Time your trip right and you can take in one of these events:

La Tomatina
Bunol, Spain
August 25, 2010
It might be the world’s largest food fight. Certainly it’s the most well-known and best organized. Feel like a kid again when you spend an hour throwing tomatoes at friends and strangers and rolling around in the pulpy goo.

Notting Hill Carnival
London, England
August 29-30, 2010
Billed as “Europe’s largset streetfaire”, the Caribbean-flavored carnival includes a parade, DJs, and lots of glitter and sequins. Take a minute to get a photo of the shop with the blue door that was Hugh Grant’s book store in “Notting Hill”.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Edinburgh, Scotland
August 6 – 30, 2008
At this open arts festival, anyone can perform, including comedians, street performers, and other artists. In 2009, participants put on 2,200 different shows for a total of 34,265 performances in 256 venues.

Oktoberfest
Munich, Germany
September 18 – October  4, 2010
Pretzels. Shnitzel. Beer. Music. Yum.

Music festivals all over Europe
The Guardian has a great list of the best music fests to check out from the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia to Reykjavik, Iceland.

Find more festival ideas and, as always, chat with a TravelCUTS student travel expert before you go. They can help you find student airfares, hostels and rail passes, and they’re just fun to talk to. Cute too.

Traveling to Britain Rocks!

Here’s a new website and a new contest for Canadian students: Check out VisitBritainRocks.ca to enter to win a trip to London for you and three of your closest friends. The contest is sponsored by Contiki, Transat and Travel CUTS, so you know the prizes will include heaps of student travel perks.

The contest runs until May 31, 2009, so you have plenty of time to get all of your friends to enter.

The site also includes really good information for planning a trip around one of England’s many big music festivals, letting you know when and where to go and giving you some history on the English music scene. Sign up for the podcast and enjoy the musical flavors of the U.K. on your iPod.

Have an Adventure Weekend at These Festivals

It’s not like there aren’t already a million things to see in Europe between the museums, monuments, historical sites, parks, canals, cafes, castles, and tasty locals. But, hey, since you’re already going that far, you may as well throw in a once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience as well. Europe hosts some of the largest, most exciting festivals in the world. Time your trip right and you can take in one of these events:

La Tomatina
Bunol, Spain
August 27, 2008
It might be the world’s largest food fight. Certainly it’s the most well-known and best organized. Feel like a kid again when you spend an hour throwing tomatos at friends and strangers and rolling around in the pulpy goo.

Notting Hill Carnival
London, England
August 24-25, 2008
Billed as “Europe’s largset streetfaire”, the Caribbean-flavored carnival includes a parade, DJs, and lots of glitter and sequins. Take a minute to get a photo of the shop with the blue door that was Hugh Grant’s book store in “Notting Hill”.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Edinburgh, Scotland
August 8 – 31, 2008
This is the world’s largest arts festival, featuring music, theater, opera, and dance.

Not to be confused with:

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Edinburgh, Scotland
August 2 – 25, 2008
Held at the same time, but as an open arts festival, anyone can perform, including comedians, street performers, and edgier acts than the other festival offers. In 2007, participants put on 2,050 different shows for a total of 31,000 performances in 250 venues.

Oktoberfest
Munich, Germany
September 20 – October 5
Pretzels. Shnitzel. Beer. Music. Yum.

Find more festival ideas and, as always, chat with a TravelCUTS student travel expert before you go. They can help you find student airfares, hostels and rail passes. And they’re just fun to talk to. Cute too.