You’d better be quick to grab one of the 6000 £15 Travelodge UK rooms up for grabs for stays.  The promotion runs until  Friday 5 February but I suspect that the rooms may sufficiently sell used up previous to them.

With the Half Term holidays approaching this is an opportunity for a cheap family getaway as many Travelodge rooms can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 kids. I’m a big fan of Travelodge as their rooms are comfortable and great value.  Looking out for their promotional rate rooms, which can be as low as £9 a night, is one of my top European travel tips.

If you’ve spent the extreme month staying in and getting over the excesses of the recent holiday time, then February is the perfect time to get out and face the world again! There are several lively festivals to kick off your year in style, and a plethora of fun events are happening on every side the country this month.

14th February – Chinese New Year celebrations, London Chinatown

The start of the Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day this year, so those of you feeling a bit sick of lovey-dovey couples will have something more interesting to look at instead. There will subsist music and acrobatics performances, and expect to bump into fantastically colourful dragons and lions as they dance around Chinatown. The events close with a spectacular fireworks display, traditionally used to scare away evil spirits. 

15th – 21st February – Jorvik Viking Festival, York

The tranquil town of York gets transformed into a Viking battlefield this week. Watch big hairy men dress up as warriors and engage in skirmishes during this entertaining historical festival.

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Ingcwaba lendoda lise …

Ingcwaba lendoda lise cankwe ndlela – 10 to 21 February 2010 (The grave of the man is next to the road). Ingcwaba lendoda lise cankwe ndlela, a moving and powerful play by the Magnet Theatre, directed by GIPCA project awardee Mandla Mbothwe, will have being at Artscape Cape Town from 10 to 21 February 2010. Told in isiXhosa with English subtitles this professional production explores economic migration and its impact, using traditional story-telling, rituals, strain, physical field and multi-media.

With the N2 highway as a constant backdrop, stories are woven together in rituals of departure and arrival and the spaces in between. It explores the physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual movement of black South Africans, specifically those whose origins lie in the Eastern Cape.

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