Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Blog Post #197 - Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Posted by Denny Hatch
http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2023/11/197-gibraltar.html
How Dozens of Splendid YouTube Travel Adventures Kept Me Sane, Safe and Happy In the Bleak Years of COVID-19.
A Brief Backgrounder. Remember January30, 2020?
COVID-19 Arrived that week. The ferociouspandemic began killing people in the tens of thousands. (Total tally worldwideso far: 6.9 million dead.) Peggy and I — devout travelers — went cold turkey on all trips and reluctantlyhunkered down. Three years later we booked a cruise on the Great Lakes.
Saved from SeriousDepression
And Cabin Fever by Steve Marsh.
Haveyou ever come across the chap in photoabove? Steve Marsh is one of a kind — a fun, funny low key Scotsman, exuberantdocent, world-class photographer and superb film editor. His unique businessmodel is escorting his flock of armchair followers on splendid impromptuYouTube adventures around Scotland, the British Isles, Northern Europe andthe USA — (Amtrak, Mystic, Connecticut and a splendid quickie tour of Seattle!) On my 55" LG screen Steve's photography is professional cinema quality.He has gifted me with glorious videos and memories of trips I never would havetaken in real life.
“Impromptu” YouTube Adventures?
“Done without being planned, organized, or rehearsed.”
—OxfordDictionary
Steve picks a destination,researches the history, the photo ops and directions for getting there and back— by road, rail, bus, air (jets to puddle jumpers), funky ferries, cruiseships and, oh yes, long walks (his favorite form of transportation).
Whereupon he invites hisfollowersto join him as he heads out. Sometimes he’s been there. Sometimes not. Youhaven’t a clue what the hell is coming next. Neither does Steve. Maybe terribleweather closes in or sudden cancellations knock his schedule galley-west.Whatever happens, Steve deals with it. And always he is fun, funny and afolksy conversationalist who ad libs totally unscripted commentary in adelightful Scottish accent.
Above all, whenever Steve Marsh is in mylife, the kalaidoscope of terrible news disappears: the mass shootings, wars,world hunger, whining and lying politicians, the plight and desperation ofragtag refugees, hurricanes, floods, vaccine deniers and the daily diet of nastynattering nabobs dominating the news and social media.
Of theMany Journeys with Steve I
Especially Loved His Tour of Gibraltar!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxKvlbfERs4&t=20s
In50 years of worldtravels I’ve flown over Gib a number of times, passed by it on cruise ships,we even spent a couple of hours there on a quickie stopover while driving throughSpain. But I never spent quality time there. What’s more, as a lifelonganglophile and history nut I read all the Horatio Hornblower and PatrickO’BrianAubrey-Maturin novels about the British Navy in the Napoleonic Wars whereGibraltar figured heavily in the action. The teensy 2.6 square miles ofGibraltar is the U.K.'s only footprint on the Continent and a linchpin of the U.K.'s foreign real estate since this outpost was ceded to Britain in 1713.
Under Steve Marsh’senthusiastic and energetic editing we flew into Gibraltar International Airport.Its main runway doubles as the dangerous and bizarre main highway across the island.Fifteen times a day lines of pedestrians and vehicles are halted so planes ofall stripes and sizes can land and take off. It's nuts!
Ifyou join Steve's tour of Gibraltar, you'llstart to climb the 1,398 feet to the top of this supercolossal half-British/half- Spanish Rock. Aseries of magnificent views of harbors, ships and Spain in the distance unfoldas you go higher. Steve — totally winded and wiped — gives up and splurges for the cable car ride on the remainder of the way to the top. (We all earned it! After all we huffed and puffed walking up hundreds of steps!)
Along the way we met some of the island's 300 wild BarbaryApes heavily protected by the authorities."
“Legend says if the monkeys disappear fromGibraltar so will the British. This is why during the Second WorldWar, with the numbers dwindling, Winston Churchill sent to North Africa forreplacements. Churchill's plan worked, and the colony thrives to this day.” —Google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxKvlbfERs4&t=20s
I’dLike to Share with You Another
Marvelous YouTube Expedition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2SUC4IMH4g&t=20s
At some point Steve Marsh connected with Alicja, his upbeat and captivating assistant and travel companion who matches him stride-for-stride in his walking marathons. They sometimes log in an exhausting 20 miles a day or more and finish up smiling and exhilarated! In the very north of coastal Scotland you will be dazzled by the massive rock caves and prehistoric rock formations unlike anything I have seen before.
Enjoy!
Takeaways to Consider:
The 11 Unbeatable Joys of YouTube Travel
(1) No packing and unpacking.
(2) No gawdawful crowds and long waiting lines in airportsand tourist hot spots.
(3) Magnificent still photographs and video footage youcan download for your memory collections and send to friends, associates andfamily.
(4) No lugging cameras around or fumbling for the iPhone and time wasted positioning yourself for “justthe right shot" and right spot.
(5) Knowledgeable upbeat, fun, friendly andinformation-packed narration — while you're there — filled with humor, history and insidestories about the great sites of the world that make you an expert.
(6) No drivers, guides, cabin crew or wait staff hanging around hoping for tips.
(7) You never leave the comforts of your home.
(8) No four- and five-digitbank-breaking costs for transportation, entrance fees, meals, drinks and lodging.
.
(9) Nodebilitating jet lag and sleep pattern screw-ups when you get home.
(10) You see the worldABSOLUTELY FREE.
(11) And you can return and repeat as often as you like!
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At age 15, Denny Hatch—as a lowly apprentice—wrote his first news release for a Connecticut summer theater. To his astonishment it ran verbatim in The Middletown Press.He was instantly hooked on writing. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1958-60), Denny had nine jobs in his first 12 years in business. He was fired from five of them and went on to save two businesses and start three others. One of his businesses—WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletterand archive service founded in 1984—revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of competitors’ direct mail. In the past 55 yearshe has been a book club director, magazine publisher, advertising copywriter/designer, editor, journalist and marketing consultant. He is the author of four published novels and seven books on business and marketing.
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