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Cathrene celebrates her 40th birthday by spending a nday on a narrow-boat.

National Handwriting Day is today, the 23rd of January. The art of elegant (legible) handwriting is almost certainly under threat, and the hand-written postcard seems to be fast becoming a thing of the past.

From all of us here at Just about Travel, have a very Merry Christmas wherever you are. Enjoy the sight of St Nicholas flying over the Hamburg Christmas Market this year!

I have spent my whole life being disappointed with the hotels I stayed in. It is only recently that I stayed in a hotel which exceeded my expectations!

Cathrene meets Edwina Curre and the dog lovers find that holidaying with their pets is a must for both.

Cathrene visits Bugsworth Basin which was once the busiest inland port on Britain’s narrow canal system.

A few years ago I wrote about my love of Chester and presented a possible days’ worth of sights. My enthusiasm for this small Roman city, with over 2000 years of history and some beautiful architecture, has never changed.

One of the great TV successes of the last year has been the Great British Bake-Off and it was a cookery book that was the best seller last year. Does the same appeal extend to us visiting food festivals and food shows? Do these events attract us for days-out? Take the largest which will be held this weekend in Knutsford, Cheshire at Tatton Park.

The annual Lyme Regis Fossil Festival draws crowds of up to 14,000 every year to meet with other enthusiastic amateurs as well as experts. Coming up this bank holiday weekend is the 2013 Fossil Festival.

Today is Shrove Tuesday – aka the time to indulge in a pancake or five. Cathrene has some suggestions on how to create the perfect pancake

The RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch is this weekend (26th and 27th January 2013), giving people across the UK the chance to be part of the World’s biggest wildlife survey. Almost 600,000 people across the UK took part in 2012 and between them counted more than 9 million birds. The popularity of this survey reflects the increase in the number of people who take bird watching holidays, short breaks and day trips. Now there are dozens of specialist tour operators who will take you to
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lthough we have Christmas markets strewn across the UK these days, it is in Germany that the tradition endures. the number of tour operators offering short breaks to tour the markets has grown even as we ave developed our own. And Hamburg has one of the biggest and best.

Aside from the bright lights, pubs, clubs, bars and theatres of the Reeperbahn that I visit on every trip, I was introduced to something new in Hamburg this weekend: Santa Pauli’s Weihnachtsmarkt. (Christmas market)

There are so many events happening for Halloween that we can’t list them all. here are links to 8 organisations who between them will have hundreds from which to choose.

The Highland midge has ruined many summer holidays in Scotland. Cathrene Rowell has some tips on how to avoid midge misery

The Jura, an area in the east of France named after the mountains, is easy to bypass on your way to the Mediterranean in summer or the Alps in winter on your way to the ski slopes. DON’T! It is one of the most beautiful regions I know in France.

I hadn’t been back to Besançon since I was a student. And that was in the last century! So with a friend, I decide it was time to return. The city fortifications, designed by the foremost military engineer in France, Vauban’s work include the citadelle and two urban fortresses in Besançon. Since I had been there, the walled city in Besançon had been registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 The citadelle of Besançon, which took nearly thirty years to construct is located
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Chester will celebrate the jubilee on Monday (tomorrow) in a slghtly different way. 60 Jubilee GiANTS will parade around the centre of Chester.

From May to September at venues along the 95 miles of Jurassic Coast from Exmouth to Studland Bay, towns and communities will be participating in and enjoying a wide range of events to celebrate England’s only natural World Heritage Site. It is billed as the greatest ‘rock’ festival in the history of the world.

Recently we have had was “No Trousers on the Tube” Day which was held as part of the international “Global No Pants on the Subway Day.” Maybe you wouldn’t have gone to see that one but there are lots of “interesting events” that happen each year that will give a good day out.

Farmhouse Breakfast Week (22 – 28 January 2012) is the time that hundreds of events take place across the country celebrating the most important meal of the day.

As Christmas in the UK rapidly approaches, and kids are starting to write their letters to Father Christmas. December 6th is still the main day for gift giving and merrymaking in much of Europe.

We understand that many of you will be struggling to find things to do with your kids today, as a result of the strikes in many schools across the country. Here’s a few fab ideas…

Mistletoe is great for warming up winter with kisses – so wrap up warm and make your way to Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Festival on 3rd December 2011, National Mistletoe Day!

Starting today, the chocolate festival in Brugge begins: Choco-Laté is a chocolate festival like no other. It is truly the place to go for everyone who is mad about chocolate.

Although many parts of Thailand have been affected by floods, they are expected to recede in a few weeks, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) team have welcomed guests at this week’s World Travel Market with smiles and enthusiasm, despite the damage that the floods are causing back home.

When Dubrovnik was part of Yugoslavia, it was one of the most popular of destinations for Brits to visit. The split up of the country set visitor numbers tumbling. Now they are on the rise again as new visitors find – and previous ones rediscover – just what a beautiful city this is.

Starving after a long hard day of meetings in Edinburgh, for which I had left my house at 5am that morning, I got on the train in Edinburgh back to Crewe. I knew it was going to be a long, hard day, so had deliberately booked into first class – that way, I could sit back, relax and enjoy a hot meal and a drink and reflect over the days events in peace.Couldn’t I?