Newsletter - March 2005

Hostel News

Booking a hostel? - Read our Booking Tips!

With spring break coming, good hostel deals and availability in hostels around Europe become scarce. Here are a few tips to find the best deals at St-Christopher’s Inns.

New Great Tours around Eastern Europe !!!

Eastern Trekker is a complete Eastern European travel network designed for independent travellers. Our focus is on Eastern Europe. We’ve created awesome inter-linking discovery tours, for travellers with a positive esprit, that treasure their hard earned holiday time, and posses that overwhelming urge to discover new territory. Our discovery tours have been imaginatively designed with the help of locals. We’ll get you amongst the best scenic, adventurous, and cultural highlights the East’s got to offer.

Horse riding over the Transylvanian plains, the Sarajevo city walk, a Croatian sunset and loads of great eating experiences will inspire and totally satisfy. Being a local independent tour operator, we feel entirely comfortable showing you the real Eastern Europe. It’s a region of startling, natural beauty, jumping, vibrant cities, and an awesome coastal paradise, at prices you’ll enjoy! We are the only tour operator travelling to the Plitvice national park, we have pioneered Bosnia, and will totally immerse you in Transylvania. The East’s Alive in 2005.

Visit: http://www.easterntrekker.com/home.html

Travel Story of the Month: Amsterdam

Nikki from England sent us this very fresh reminder of why we should all book tickets to Holland next week! Nice one, Nikki, you’ve won free accommodation at St-Christopher’s Inns!

Amsterdam... what a city! I'm from England, where you shouldn't wear hats indoors, smoking in public is frowned upon (and even banned in some places) and people give you odd looks if you wear sunglasses in the winter. You can do literally anything in Amsterdam, in fact if you don't do those things listed above at least once...that's when you get the odd looks! A city where anything goes.

BIG Wave Action in Newquay - The Cribbar!

Chris Bertish South African Big Wave charger has conquered The Cribbar — Britain's biggest wave. He spent around three hours riding the 35ft-high monster.

The Cribbar occurs just once or twice a year when the right weather and tide conditions combine.

Come join the Craic this St Paddy's Day!!

March 17th is St Patrick's Day to be sure and as always we will be celebrating it large at all our venues. With fantastic food & drink promotions, music and lots more! So be sure to pop in for a Guinness or two. You'd be a feckin eejit not to!

Live it large in Brighton!

Whaat's up Brighton!

Check it out!

DJs in the Bar every Saturday Night 8 till 11 every Sat
Karaoke every Friday in the bar from 25th March
Open Mic Night in the Bar every Sunday from 20th March
DJs play at the biggest Week end party nights in The Junction Nightclub, Fridays with John Mancel and Saturdays with Richard Reynolds from 10.30 till 2am.

Also for anyone bringing this newsletter will gain FREE ADMISSION for 2 Persons B4 11.15pm any Friday. Valid Till end of April 2005 (Over 21,s) Normal Club Rules Apply.

We will also welcome the weekly arrival of the Disco Decker Party Bus and the club will be hosting the "Girlie Show" (Male strippers and comedian so ladies only) in the Junction Nightclub on Saturdays 5th & 26th March the show is from 8 to 10pm prior to the club opening to the public, tickets available on 07885 145871!

It's madness on NASN this March!

NASN is the home of North American sports - NASN is the only TV channel dedicated to 100% grade-A North American sports, 24 hours a day 365 days a year, in the UK and Ireland. NASN brings you the biggest events in the North American sports calendar direct from source including CBC, ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS and ABC! It's not like being back home, it's better! NASN has a menu of sports you'll love including full coverage of the Canadian Football League, over 250 Major League Baseball games a season, the only ice hockey coverage on British television from the American Hockey League and NCAA, live NBA games, full and extensive coverage of NCAA Football and Basketball including the Bowl Season and March Madness, plus hours of sports news and talk direct from ESPN! And when the NHL gets back to work, we'll bring you up to 10 games a week including live Hockey Night in Canada!

Check Out Belushis.com

For a run down of what's on when and other fantastic meal and drink deals visit Belushis.com or click on you local venue above! Including live music at Shepherd's Bush every other Thursday, 2 for 1 meal deals at Camden and Tuesday night is Jazz night at Greenwich where you can enjoy a pint of cider for £1.50 'til 9pm Mon-Thu.

Events Diary

Sports in March

What better way to celebrate the winter weather hitting all of the UK then by popping by your Local St. Christopher’s or Belushi’s to watch some sizzling sports action. On offer this month a are the first round of the knock out stage of the Champions League with Chelsea facing Barcelona on the 8th of March at Stamford Bridge, needing to fight back from a defeat and Arsenal looking to do the same against Bayern Munich on the 9th of March at Highbury. Then we turn to rugby and the six nations, which is now being contested across Europe. Next up is, England versus Italy on the 12th of March at Twickenham followed by Scotland at home facing Wales on the 13th of March at Murrayfield. The last game for both countries is the 19th of March at Twickenham and considering each teams form it may very well be a quite important game. From across the pond don’t forget the NCAA men’s basketball tournament will be running in March. From the start, to the sweet sixteen to the final four, Belushi’s and St. Christopher’s will have your March Madness fix, so catch the game in Edinburgh, Covent Garden, Shepard’s Bush and at the Village in Southwark.

Edinburgh Area Events

This month the Edinburgh/Glasgow region hosts two big events, each funny in their own way. From the 10th to 26th of March, Glasgow is home to the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. Glasgow's first-ever international comedy festival took place in 2003. So successful was it that, hey presto, an annual event was born. With around 150 laughter-filled events in venues throughout the city, the festival will be sure to entertain. On the 19th and 20th of March, pulses will certainly be racing as diminutive Australian pop goddess Kylie Minogue visits Glasgow’s SECC pushing her Greatest Hits Tour and her new compilation album.

Concerts in Brighton

Always the home to important musical history, this month Brighton hosts some big time concerts from some historical acts and some hoping to make history. Beginning with two shows at the Brighton Centre, first legend Paul Weller on the 7th of March followed by Westlife on the 8th of March. That same day, The Doves play the Brighton Concert Hall. Closing out the month, Daniel Bedingfield performs at the Brighton Centre on the 22nd of March.

Events in London

Arguably the home of the Antipodean and backpacking community in the UK, London hosts two important events this March for both the traveller and the artists. Proving that Australian cinema is more than just Chopper and the Crocodile Hunter, the Barbican Centre hosts Europe's only major annual showcase dedicated exclusively to Australian cinema. The Australian Film Festival runs from the 3rd of March until the 13th and will attract considerable audiences over this year, with the help of its patron, Cate Blanchett. Then on the 12th of March, you have the TNT Magazine Travel Show (formerly the Independent Traveller’s World) to show you the delights of travelling the globe. Geared especially to the many Antipodean travellers who make Britain and the rest of Europe an essential stop on their travels, the world of independent travel is vividly brought to life at the TNT Magazine Travel Show at London's New Connaught Rooms.

St. Patrick’s Day

Always a highlight and low light of the party calendar, why not dress up in green and order too many pints of Guinness on the 17th of March and properly celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Each Belushi’s Bar and St. Christopher’s Pub will be celebrating the holiday in their own unique way, and if you are in London then celebrates St Patrick's Day with a parade, a festival in Trafalgar Square and, no doubt, plenty of Guinness. Events are also taking place in Leicester Square and Covent Garden.

Edinburgh Tsunami Appeal

With each country in their own phase of returning to some form of normality, the effects of the South East Asian Tsunami are still difficult to comprehend. With St. Christopher’s and Belushi’s banding together with the backpacking community to raise funds to help, our Edinburgh branch has set their own honourable goal. The staff and managers of Edinburgh have set a goal of £10,000 to be raised solely by their location to aid in the building of a pre-school in Sri Lanka in conjunction with Hope for Children (H.O.P.E.). Many of our staff will be travelling to aid in the schools building once the funds are raised. Towards this goal, local musicians and Edinburgh house band Bleeker will be holding a charity fundraising concert and auction on the 27th March. With a £5 entrance fee going straight to our fundraising, Bleeker and Ned Goodwin providing the entertainment, and numerous items on offer at auction, the night should be both fun and constructive. For more information or to donate, please contact Edinburgh directly at 0131 226 1446 or by email.

That's is just about it except to say enjoy the month and the Easter Holidays.

Hope to see you very soon! In the meantime you can see us on the BUSHCAM!

Thank you for reading.

The Live Your Life Team

Quote:

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.”

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894) Scottish author, poet, essayist, critic Travels with a Donkey.