Portobello Market in West London is one of the most famous street markets in the world. It is a populart destination for Londoners and tourists alike.

Portobello Road goes straight through the heart of Notting Hill, the trendy area of London made famous by the film. Indeed, so famous is the film Notting Hill that I find scarcely a week goes by without someone or other asking me about the various set locations: the blue door, the travel bookshop, the garden fence and so on.

Check out Westfield London's centre opening hours. You can shop for fashion, homewares and more well into the evening. Our many restaurants and barsopen until midnight or later, so you can relax and enjoy an evening with friends. Early risers can pop in for breakfast - many of our restaurants open early, too.

Southall Sports Centre is just one minute away from Pay and Sleep Hostel.

Address: Beaconsfield Road, Southall UB1 1DP (see map) 
Tel: (020) 8571 8871  
Opening hours: Mon–Fri 8am-10pm, Sat and Sun 9am-7pm 
Facilities: Sports hall, Bostons gym, Bostons female gym, sauna, dance studio, treatment room.

The centre is also the home of London Progress Table Tennis club.

Facilities

Sports hall 
This area can accommodate a range of sports including table tennis, badminton, netball, volleyball and basketball. This space is available to hire, to check availability please contact the centre. 

Bostons gym 
Eightyfive fitness stations including resistance machines and free weights. 

Bostons female gym 
Women can enjoy a gym workout with a range of equipment with 25 fitness stations. An instructor will be available in the gym during the following times.

Mon-Fri: 8am-10pm 
Sat-Sun: 9am-7pm

Both gyms benefit from integrated television screens on cardio stations.

From the crowds met on the Ground floor (rooms 4) with the Egyptian sculptures and at Level 3 with galleries 61 - 66 mainly dedicated to life, death, afterlife in ancient Egypt and Nubia, this department is certainly the most visited of all the British Museum.

It is the second world's largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but only 4% of its Egyptian holdings are on display; what is a pitty I think. Best known is certainly the Rosetta Stone, on public display at the British Museum since 1802, which contributed greatly to the deciphering of the principles of hieroglyph writing in 1822 by the British scientist Thomas Young and the French scholar Jean-François Champollion credited as the principal translator. The dispute which arose over the fate of French archaeological and scientific discoveries in Egypt after the surrender of the French troops in Egypt in 1801 is captivating for those who like to know how the British Museum and Le Louvre built up their Egyptian collections. The Rosetta stone arrived in the British museum more than two centuries ago but now Mr. Zahi Hawass, chief of the Antiquities in Cairo, is aggressively claiming its return to Egypt! It is not the only artifact claimed by Mr. Hawass; there are some thousand objects he wants to get back including the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin.

It sounds a bit strange knowing that the Egyptian museums have already no room to display thousands and thousands antic objects. Much crowded by visitors are rooms 62-63 at Level 3. Here is on display a selection of the 140 mummies and coffins which make of the British Museum the largest collection outside Cairo.

Phone: 0 20 7323 8299

Directions: Holborn tube

Website: http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

For all you backpackers out there, whether you be a seasoned traveller like myself or just starting out, I have to recommend that you take out a travel insurance policy like the one I got from www.backpackertravelinsurance.com.

Yeah yeah I know a lot of you have probly got the same mentality that I had before i left to go travelling - "huh, nobody'll take my stuff!!!" However at the insistence of my rather over-bearing and somewhat protective mother I gave in and said I'd look into it. Thank god I did! I got mugged in London and pickpocketed in Thailand and even (only I could do this!) managed to lose my pack.... twice!!!

Backpackertravelinsurance have been nothing but fantastic - when I needed to make a claim I just emailed them and they emailed me back a claim form - obviously very important when your travelling and have not fixed address! You can go online and get a free instant quote from them and if you have any questions there is live help available. If there is one thing that every backpacker needs to take travelling its an open mind and a backpackertravelinsurance policy!!

Good Luck! xx

IGuide Amsterdam
The Amsterdam online guide website with information on attractions, history and highlights, hotel and excursion bookings, events and exhibitions ... Cafe Guide Amsterdam.com