About me:

It all started a long time ago, on a trip to place far, far away. I stayed, in an studio apartment with my family. We had a really good stay, enjoying both the flexibility of a self catering apartment and the great value it afforded. We repeated this experience staying at different places with different apartment chains each year.
Then in 1997, I connected an Amiga Computer to the Internet, learned some HTML Programming and wondered what to publish as a hobby. As I already enjoyed travelling around Europe, I thought a Web site on that subject would be ideal. Not only could I share what I had learned, but the research would help me plan future trips.
You already know that I enjoy European Travel, but what else? Following a week snowboarding in 2006, I continue to snowboard with a passion. I grew up in the hills of North Wales and have always enjoyed hill walking,. I also enjoy the different cultures of Europe. Being in a place where I don't really understand what is going on because I don't speak the language is awesome. To paraphrase the Travel Writer, Bill Bryson, it lets you look at the world through the eyes and ears of an eight year old again, with everything new and slightly incomprehensible.
I love to sit at a table at a pavement café, or on a train or bus and observe people of different countries carrying on their lives.
Eurapart is still a hobby of mine, along with a few Blogs including the TravelCrunch blog and "Around Europe with Ghosts". The resources needed to make it a comprehensive budget, sustainable travel guide to Europe are considerable, much more than I and the occasional contribution by other's could achieve. I can devote more time to the Eurapart project at present as I went on sabbatical from my job as a Health, Safety and Environmental Adviser, taking a pension from an earlier employment and never went back.
However, it is not the main focus in my life and when other more important issues arise then I will attend to them before this website.
MeMe paragliding
 


Eurapart

From that formative stay in an apartment in France, the Internet site became Eurapart; the first three letters of Europe and the first five letters of apartment. Although sounding like it could be comprised of words in most European languages, it was not a word in any language. It helped therefore as the domain name was available.
In 1997, many travel companies did not have an Internet presence. I would get lots of e-mails asking about budget hotel chains, so I would reply with information. It became easier to add the budget hotel chains to the site and provide most of the answers there. The budget hotel resource has since become a very popular part of the site.


Site Contents

Browse the navigation bar or use the search box highlighting the "eurapart.com" button to see what this site has to offer.

Sustainability

Part of my previous employment's role was that of Environmental Adviser. Researching into subjects such as Climate Change, pollution, Peak Oil, the decline of the bee population, water shortages and more, highlighted to me how fragile the the eco systems are that keep us all alive. I learnt that travel poses a threat to future generations' well being if not carried out in a sustainable manner.
Budget airlines have made a huge contribution to budget travel, but their growth is hastening the advent of Climate Change and Peak Oil, even though they are less damaging than First Class, Business Class travel or even a flight on a legacy carrier. It was for this reason that I decided not to promote cheap flights in 2009. There is still a list of links to budget airlines but this may to soon disappear as everyone can use search engines.
blog comments powered by Disqus