Just come back from a 2 day break at Legoland in Billund, Denmark, including an overnight stay at the Legoland hotel, which put us conveniently close to the theme park, as well as direct tickets into the park, with no queues.
While I so far sound like an unpaid affiliate link, its worth noting that not everything was rosy. For starters, the theme park is much smaller than I expected, although I guess that is due to the fame and cachet of the LEGO branding more than inadequacies in the park itself.
What surprised me mostly, going on a Sunday and Monday, was the shortness of the queues to get on the rides. The weather both days was sweltering hot, so I'm not sure that had much to do with it, but the theme park, with signs for approx minutes wait times, etc. is obviously built to do much brisker trade than it got. while this could be a forbinger of the credit crunch and less free cash in consumer wallets, maybe LEGO is losing its trendiness? Either way, if this is an indicator of regular trade levels, it seems like an excellent time to consider a trip. Overall, I can honestly say, all our kids loved it, and they range from 7 to 20 months, so there is plenty of range there to test the rides available to all ages. Especially great is the pirate ship, where you can fire water gun broadsides with competing ships, and also at innocent passers-by who happen to get in range.
Anyhow, so far the good bits. Not so good is one my bugbears, a captive audience theme park that also charges you for parking, in this case 49 kroner. We stayed at the hotel, which offers free parking, and this leads onto my tip, which is to park at, or near to, the hotel, which has plentiful free parking and also a nearby swimming baths with extended free parking, then walk to the theme park itself (I guess if the wife complains, you could drop them off at the gate then park up for free and walk back)
The second bugbear is that the food inside the theme park is awful. Yes, I don't expect Egon Ronay standard at these places, but even a basic chicken salad contained only reconstituted mush passed off as barbecue chicken pieces, and the family buffet at the pizza restaurant was pathetic. Fries generally tended to be laced with dangerous levels of added salt, which even our kids refused to eat. The safest option, therefore, is a Danish hotdog, since at least these were made to a decent enough level. Be prepared for the higher prices you find at theme parks, which also makes the awful standard stand out even more. As a comparison, Djurssommerland in Northern Jutland does similar catering, but much better quality, funnily enough.
By the way, my food criticisms do not extend to the morning breakfast buffet at the hotel. This is really good, and a highly recommended part of the trip.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Mere Løn
Right now, a lot of the public sector workers in Denmark are holding various strikes. While a lot of them would probably not be missed if they decided to hold a permanent strike (fact, 38% of working Danes have direct government jobs, to say nothing about another 30-odd percent indirectly employed by the government), two of the most interesting ones are the pædagogs (childcare workers) and nurses. Since at least they contribute something useful.
The first response to this must be the old time-honoured tradition of: If you're so unhappy with your current pay levels, why not go and find another job that pays better? But the main thing, for me, to consider is that these workers are already probably the best paid in the entire world for the jobs that they do. Given that, the real solution for the economy must come in the form of lower taxes. Any foreigner coming here can see that, but all these Danes, with their long tradition of suffocating socialism seem unable to see it, instead concentrating on the free rides they have been used to getting off the miracle of the welfare state.
Of course, lower taxes also means the capitalist scum these people despise so much will also benefit, conveniently forgetting the point that its the same "scum" who paid their wages in the first place.
If Denmark has to live through a 1970s UK-style depression to change, then I'm all for it. Bring it on.
The first response to this must be the old time-honoured tradition of: If you're so unhappy with your current pay levels, why not go and find another job that pays better? But the main thing, for me, to consider is that these workers are already probably the best paid in the entire world for the jobs that they do. Given that, the real solution for the economy must come in the form of lower taxes. Any foreigner coming here can see that, but all these Danes, with their long tradition of suffocating socialism seem unable to see it, instead concentrating on the free rides they have been used to getting off the miracle of the welfare state.
Of course, lower taxes also means the capitalist scum these people despise so much will also benefit, conveniently forgetting the point that its the same "scum" who paid their wages in the first place.
If Denmark has to live through a 1970s UK-style depression to change, then I'm all for it. Bring it on.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Domain Name Investment
Domain Name Investment is the new Holy Grail amongst thousands of investors throughout the whole world today.
The concept that you can buy a name for a small fee then resell it for millions of dollars is the rags to riches story we all dream of.
Truth is, that that kind of story happens very rarely, but there are people out there who do it, and even more people or businesses who simply make a living from the purchase, development and resale of domain names.
Domain Name Investor, my latest creation, specialises in what I perceive to be important parts of the internet which I believe will see further growth in future years.
I mainly invest in .co.uk and .eu Domains, which I especially feel has room for future expansion as the EU expands to include more Eastern European countries with younger, more tech-savvy populations, but also own domains as far afield as India and the USA.
And where to buy these domain names? Well, the cheapest .eu domain name seller I've found is BuyDomains, which works out about £6 per .eu domain, while 123-reg seems to be a decent balance between cost, at approx £3 per .co.uk domain.
If you're looking for just a single domain, with high traffic potential, I highly recommend One. They are a Danish company but provide their domain and hosting services worldwide in many different languages. The price and the service are both superb.
You can also visit Servage for web hosting of multiple sites and if you just want to buy domain names, visit BuyDomains.
The concept that you can buy a name for a small fee then resell it for millions of dollars is the rags to riches story we all dream of.
Truth is, that that kind of story happens very rarely, but there are people out there who do it, and even more people or businesses who simply make a living from the purchase, development and resale of domain names.
Domain Name Investor, my latest creation, specialises in what I perceive to be important parts of the internet which I believe will see further growth in future years.
I mainly invest in .co.uk and .eu Domains, which I especially feel has room for future expansion as the EU expands to include more Eastern European countries with younger, more tech-savvy populations, but also own domains as far afield as India and the USA.
And where to buy these domain names? Well, the cheapest .eu domain name seller I've found is BuyDomains, which works out about £6 per .eu domain, while 123-reg seems to be a decent balance between cost, at approx £3 per .co.uk domain.
If you're looking for just a single domain, with high traffic potential, I highly recommend One. They are a Danish company but provide their domain and hosting services worldwide in many different languages. The price and the service are both superb.
You can also visit Servage for web hosting of multiple sites and if you just want to buy domain names, visit BuyDomains.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
My personal belief in life
My core belief in life is that no man has any right whatsoever to the earnings or productivity of another man, unless the other man assigns him that right.
Obviously, in todays taxation nation society, this right is not being given, and in fact, governments probably need to become more understanding of the fact that many people today are outwardly resentful of the way others are helping themselves to their earnings, pruductivity and past earnt wealth.
Government is finished long term, simply because for now they choose to spend the earnings of the productive segment of society on schemes to secure the votes of the non-earning, parasitic portion of society.
In fact, the more you look into life in general, the more you realise everything is set up to steal your productivity and "redistribute" it to the lazy and the useless.
But thanks to the internet, globalisation, and the greater and freer movement of people, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Deep down, I'm quite optimistic that governments control over their more productive citizens is coming to an end, although there are many years of struggle on the way. It's a secret war that's already going on in many places, witness the USA and it's "patriot act", supposedly a law to counter terrorism, but really an attempt at controlling its citizens, or the EU savings directive.
Exciting and potentially troubling times ahead. I recommend we all watch governments like a hawk, and be prepared to move if the going gets too tough.
Now I've said all that, you can probably see why communist, socialist, Denmark disagrees so much with me. I've never seen so many lazy useless unproductive people before in my life, and considering I originally come from Consett, a hotbed of council estates, single mothers and lifetime benefit claimants, that's really saying something.
If you feel the same, and you're considering moving to Denmark, I urge you to think twice.
Obviously, in todays taxation nation society, this right is not being given, and in fact, governments probably need to become more understanding of the fact that many people today are outwardly resentful of the way others are helping themselves to their earnings, pruductivity and past earnt wealth.
Government is finished long term, simply because for now they choose to spend the earnings of the productive segment of society on schemes to secure the votes of the non-earning, parasitic portion of society.
In fact, the more you look into life in general, the more you realise everything is set up to steal your productivity and "redistribute" it to the lazy and the useless.
But thanks to the internet, globalisation, and the greater and freer movement of people, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Deep down, I'm quite optimistic that governments control over their more productive citizens is coming to an end, although there are many years of struggle on the way. It's a secret war that's already going on in many places, witness the USA and it's "patriot act", supposedly a law to counter terrorism, but really an attempt at controlling its citizens, or the EU savings directive.
Exciting and potentially troubling times ahead. I recommend we all watch governments like a hawk, and be prepared to move if the going gets too tough.
Now I've said all that, you can probably see why communist, socialist, Denmark disagrees so much with me. I've never seen so many lazy useless unproductive people before in my life, and considering I originally come from Consett, a hotbed of council estates, single mothers and lifetime benefit claimants, that's really saying something.
If you feel the same, and you're considering moving to Denmark, I urge you to think twice.
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