Category: Travels

Categories
Eating Out Thoughts Travels

It is like a Summer’s Day in Brighton

This week will not be a great week for me personally, I have a couple of health issues which need resolve, so to find that the weather here in the UK is just like summer, and it is still only March, what better way is there to enjoy the present day and make the best of what the world has to give me.

With not a cloud in the sky, a trip to Brighton was called for. In less than two hours I could be by the sea, a place that I find invigorating, relaxing, empowering and enjoyable, just two train journeys, rather than driving down in my RX7, spending money on petrol, parking fees and the chance of endless traffic jams. Unknown to me, there were problems on the train network, which meant catching three trains, and wasted time waiting on station platforms for delayed trains.

Take a deep breath in, close my eyes, and RELAX.
At last the train arrived in Brighton, and on exiting the station, there infront of me, down the long road from the station to the seafront, the shimmering sea could be seen, and strange feeling of boyhood joy overcame me, I wanted to jump for joy, and I set out on what seemed a never ending walk, past shops and restaurants that had little interest for me. I wanted to be by the sea.
I was amazed at the number of people that were on the pebbled beach, sunning themselves, just relaxing. Perhaps they were some of the many foreign students that seem to go to Brighton to learn English, or unemployed or retired people, or people just like me, wanting to rejuvenate themselves?
Just walking up and down the promenade and beside the beach, just being there, being part of humanity brought me back to normality.
Brighton seafront and the Brighton Pier, March 2012
Brighton seafront and the Brighton Pier, March 2012
A walk down the Brighton Pier, one of the long jetties running out into the sea in the UK, which often have theatres, restaurants and amusement arcades on them, where people walk along, sometimes stopping to relax in a deck chair, perhaps imagining that they are sitting on an ocean liner sailing the seven seas on a cruise, gave me the chance to breath fresh air into my lungs.
I availed the amusement arcades, because I was hungry, and where better to go and have the traditional British meal of fish-n-chips than on Brighton Pier. 
Great British food, Fish n Chips
Great British food, Fish n Chips
I have not had fish and chips for many months, and although it was pointed out to me that deep fat fried for is bad for the health, it was also said that once in a while was OK. So why not, I may not be here next week, and after all, fish is good for you.
Why is it that everything I do not like is always good for me?
My mother always used to tell me to eat the vegetables as it would make my hair curl, or eat the bread and butter as it would make me grow into a big strong boy?
My hair is still straight, and yes I have grown into a big boy, but that is because I have eaten too much bread and butter and that has left me overweight.
So much for believing everything my mother told me as being true, including Santa Claus. coming down the chimney on Christmas Day, and the tooth fairy leaving me money under my pillow after I lost a tooth.
What a glorious day out. Now I can face what the week is going to throw at me.
Categories
Italian NLP Travels

NLP Practitioner Italy with Coach4Life and NLPNOW

One of the many countries I love to visit is Italy, especially when I am delivering training courses, the people are so warm and friendly, and so eager to learn.

We have just finished module one of two of an NLP (PNL) Practitioner Course with the Society of NLP with over 30 participants, one coming from Germany. Coach4Life the organisers have done a good job in organising such an event.
Although I have been giving NLP courses or trainings in Italy since the mid 1990’s, I do not think my name has ever appeared on any certification or licenses, that honour and credit was always taken by the organisers, so now my name will be in lights for once.
We had some great fun on this first module, setting a firm foundation to start with, so that we can build a strong knowledge of what Richard Bandler and John Grinder created so many years ago, meaning that when the course is finished, the participants can truly use the title of a Society of NLP Licensed Practitioner, and use the skills in many aspects of their life.
I can truly say even after the first module, I can see changes happening in people.
In many courses I have seen given by others as an NLP Practitioner, I have often seen a watered down version, missing out many of the elements required by the Society and Bandler, either through lack of knowledge or understanding, or that the subject has been learnt from someone who has learnt from someone else who has learnt from someone else, and so on and so on. Some courses even miss out one of the pillars of NLP, the work and practise of Milton Erickson.
So here is to module two in the next few weeks, and future courses organised by Coach4Life.
NLP Practitioner Course in Italy with Phillip Holt and Coach4Life
Categories
English Courses Travels Turkish

Learning English with NLP

My travels giving courses, talks and presentations, takes me to many countries around the world, East to West, and I enjoy my work.

I have just completed a ten day course in the southern Turkish city of Antalya, where the participants learned the English language.
Working with Kaya Firat of BIZ, we took participants with some knowledge of English, and over the days together, from 4pm until 10pm, we helped them, nurtured them, taught them how to speak and converse in English so much better.
Biz Egitim Dansmanik, Antalya, with Phillip Holt, Learning English
Biz Egitim Dansmanik, Antalya, with Phillip Holt, Learning English
I was amazed by how over the time together, peoples confidence grew, that they were more willing to engage in conversation, especially with myself who speaks no Turkish.
There is no magic switch in the brain that will instantaneously take a non English speaking person into a fluent English speaker, there is a need of practise, practise, practise.
There is a need to engage the whole body to speak a language, the tongue, the breathing, the jaw, the muscles, and those that followed the course and participated in the exercises, certainly improved their English.
Should you or your organisation need help in Learning English with NLP contact Phillip Holt by clicking on the email link on the left, or send a comment below.
I love my work.
Categories
Culture Eating Out Travels

It is good to get home

I love my work, teaching participants, passing on information, giving people confidence, improving self-esteem, what ever, but it is always great to be home.

As Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz would say, “There’s no place like home.“
After a week in Istanbul giving a Society of NLP Practitioner course, a delayed flight, I could set about washing my shirts, answering my mail and telephone messages, collect my new reading glasses, and enjoying a walk into my home town centre.
When I arrived in the market square of Kingston upon Thames, I was surprised to find the Christmas Market had arrived with all the stalls selling seasonal fare, food, gifts, sweets, and drinks. The familiar smell of mulled wine entered my senses, a typical Christmas drink, red wine with added spices and served warm.
My senses came alive, as this is a special time in the UK culture, a season of good will, of being with friends and family. The trouble is my work takes me away from friends and family, but the deep memories from years gone by warmed me as much as the mulled wine.
The Christmas Market in Kingston upon Thames
The Christmas Market in Kingston upon Thames
Categories
Presentations Travels

Monte Carlo – International Conference of Human Resources

An International Conference of Human Resources takes place 15th – 16th November 2011 inMonte Carlo.

An Internationally Renowned team of great speakers has been assembled, including Tom Ziglar, Owen Fitzpatrick, Brian Colbert, Poll Moussoulides, Paul Boross, Matt Traverso, Marco Paret, and myself Phillip Holt.

This special event is aimed at business leaders, directors, managers, sales people, marketing executives, entrepreneurs, trainers or anyone wishing to gain more expertise in the art of communication.
Join others and myself there in Monte Carlo for this extra special conference by visiting the web site of the conference, www.meetingtrainers.com.
Categories
Culture English Sayings Thoughts Travels

A Grebe Takes a Meal

I love observing the world around me, finding the little things that people normally miss, and when I find the unusual, I need to know what is gaining on, what is the history, what makes it work, but sometimes I just like to observe and enjoy the time.

A grebe on the River Thames, Kingston Upon Thames
A grebe on the River Thames, Kingston Upon Thames
Walking recently by the River Thames I noticed the bird called the grebe swimming low in the water, and diving down for what seems an age, to resurface a long way away from where it entered.
It was the first time that I saw the result of a dive, that the grebe had caught a fish. Nature can be so cruel when you think of the poor fish that was just swimming about just a few seconds before, but life on earth is like this, a tree or plant will take nutrients from the soil, perhaps depriving another plant or tree which will then die. A lion will kill an antelope to feed to live. A bird will eat a caterpillar so we will never see a beautiful butterfly, and then perhaps the bird will be eaten by another animal.

A grebe on the River Thames, Kingston Upon Thames, eating a fish.
A grebe on the River Thames, Kingston Upon Thames, eating a fish.

It is a dog eats dog world.
Even in business, cultural or beliefs systems, in living or existing as we have seen in recent months say in Libya, it is the same, it is dog eat dog or the survival of the fittest.
Life can be Poo Poo seen from one perspective, or beautiful and productive if seen from another.
Categories
Italian Thoughts Travels

Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero Update

In the past I have written about the Italian Second World War aircraft, the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero, or Sparrow Hawk.

It was my privilege to talk to Gianni Golfera’s Grandfather, who had flown this aircraft during the war, and how he had shot down two British Hurricanes.
It was on one of my trips to research my interests, that I visited Bletchley Park, once home in the Second War World to the Code Breakers that were able to break the secret Enigma Codes of the Germans, plus the home of the world’s first electronic computer, Colossus.
In Bletchley Park’s many displays, there are models of many aircraft that flew and fought in WWII, but one aircraft that was missing was the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero, and as I had found as in my articles on Part of My History is Missing, I wanted other visitors to be aware of more of the WWII history.
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero
So, to honour a great man, I donated my little plastic aircraft to the museum. I hope others will see it and wonder what has been missing from their learnings.
Categories
Memory Mind Maps NLP PhotoReading Presentations Travels Türkçe Turkish

Antalya Koleji or A Day in Antalya College School

A few weeks ago it was my privilege to be invited to give a days seminar to Antalya Koleji, or Antalya College School, in Southern Turkey. 

A full report can be seen by clicking here, but be warned, it is in Turkish.
Thank you Asuman for translating the entry into English :-

Seminar on Developing Memory Techniques and Learning Skills
 
NLP Master Phillip Holt gave a seminar to 5th grade students on Memory Techniques and Learning Skills.
 
NLP Expert Phillip Holt helped the students gain an understanding of what Mind Maps are and where they can use the technique.
 
Holt stated that Mind Maps is a useful learning and remembering tool that helps the individuals visualise and recall when necessary an idea or concept through creative ways. Students also played interactive games covering the seminar theme.
 
Primary School 5th grade students used Mind Maps to make learnings lasting, imagining the items given by the NLP Expert Phillip Holt, and visualising them in a memory exercise.

What a wonderful day we had, a hall full of children, eager to learn and at the same time have fun, new ways of learning. 
Within the day they had learned how to count to ten in Japanese, they had learned the English names of the planets in our Solar System, they had remembered over twenty random words, and could recite them back to me in order backwards and forwards, they had learned how to do Mind Maps.
Antalya Koleji or Antalya College School with Phillip Holt
Antalya Koleji or Antalya College School
with
Kaya Firat and Phillip Holt 
In the afternoon, just before they left for home, the schools principal came into to hall, and they all stood on the stage, and demonstrated to her their new knowledge by counting in Japanese and telling her the planets and the random words I had given them.
What a privilege to work with children like this.
Categories
Electronics Radio and TV interviews Thoughts Travels

I failed to tune in, internet access is a big problem.

For the listeners who tune in to my weekly radio broadcast on a Saturday, (visit web to listen), whatever time it is in your country, I must apologise for not being on air on the 27th August 2011, this program and the subsequent recording will be rescheduled.

Often when I travel, internet access is a big problem.
In todays modern communication, (today being August 2011, how time flies when I read my first entry in this blog), new ways of connecting to others are emerging all the time. Some of the best, Skype, MSN, Blackberry, SMS, all require access at some point to the internet in some form to make instant connections. These connections via the internet could be by the mobile phone providers eventually routing a call or message from a receiving station say in the USA, into the internet system, then in the destination country from the internet into their transmission station to the persons receiving the call or message.
On an iPad or tablet computer a similar system could be employed or through WiFi, when the device or computer has the ability to pick-up and transmit radio signals, enabling connections to the internet, or there is the hardwired ethernet cable, where there is a physical wired connection to the internet.
All the above require a node, an access point from the computer or telephone, and without it you are lost. 
How often am I without communication as my mobile phone cannot locate a cell?
How often is it that I cannot send or receive emails as I cannot find an internet connection?
Many times. Often it is as if I am in the middle of no-where, no civilisation.
But then there are times when there is access, but because companies, individuals place restrictions on accessing via their node, perhaps by the radio frequencies or passwords I am again internet-less. I agree in principal as the  infrastructure, the equipment needs to be provided and paid for.
But, as in many cases, service providers overcharge for this access. 
Take making and receiver telephone calls when out of one’s own providers country, they are making a fortune out of travellers, data access via smartphones and tablet and mobile computing is excessively expensive.
Then there are the hotels that already have the access points, so the infrastructure has been paid for and they pay a set fee to the internet service providers for access, yet charge their guests extortionate prices for access, maybe 25 euro per day.
Yesterday I was returning from Spain to the UK, and my slot for the radio broadcast coincided with me being at the airport in Malaga preparing for boarding, but I would have time to do the interview.
Although I have a UK internet dongle for my computer, I could not afford nearly one hour international data connection charge to the USA. I tried to purchase a Spanish providers internet dongle at a cost of 49 euro, excessive cost, but non were available, so many travellers had my idea.
Surely there would be access via WiFi at the airport?
With half an before my slot, after booking-in and going through security, I sought internet access, and the only one available was Telefonica, the biggest Spanish broadband and telecommunication provider. I was able to access their login page or registration web page and found it very confusing as it was in Spanish, another language I do not speak, then I eventually found a tab for the English language, but pressing the tab I received the message in Spanish, page not available.
Fifteen minutes to go.
Not to be outdone, I asked a Spanish lady for help, who could not quite understand what I wanted, one hours worth of access to the internet. “this is not possible” was her replies to my requests, and her friends agreed with her.
Ten minutes to go.
I knew I was right, one hours worth of internet access is available.
I persuaded her to keep helping me gain access, and I led her through the web pages, until we found a registration page, for name and other details. A great debate took place as to where I placed my first name and my family name, plus other information.
Five minutes to go, still time.
I came to the entry of passport number, now I had to find my passport. People around me wondering what this madman was so anxious about.
Done, three minutes to go.
Credit card ready.
Assess refused, I needed a Spanish passport.
One minute to go, and there was no way I could gain access to the internet and my radio program.
Oh poo poo.
Modern communication works, “IF ONLY”.
Sorry for not making the slot.
Categories
Thoughts Travels

The London-Surrey Classic Bike Race 2011

This morning was so quiet, with the major road from Kingston upon Thames to London closed for the rehearsal and test cycle race for the 2012 London Olympics, the London to Surrey Classic Cycle Race.

Although the roads in the area were closed at 6am in the morning, it was not until 11:45am that the two leading riders rode through Kingston and Norbiton.
One second they were there, and the next, they were gone. Who the riders were I have no idea, nor could I read any of the logos they were wearing on their tight lycra outfits.
About a minute later, the main group rode by at speed followed by the support cars. I think most people found the cars just as interesting along with the other support teams, police, organisers etc, as the spectacle lasted longer.
Another minute went by, and a second group zoomed past.
Then followed further waits for the slower riders in smaller groups, including a rider who we were told had been knocked off his bike by a support car and who finished the race supported by two of his team mates.
All too soon the event was over and gone, and it took some time to re-open the roads to the noisy and polluting traffic.
Ban all traffic from the roads I say, well until I want to go out in my car.