Episode 30 The Travel Show

How would you like to hang out with the happiest people in the world

next time you go on holiday?

Well, see if you can guess where they live.

'Coming up on the programme this week...

'I investigate the secret of true happiness.

'Apparently, it's got something to do with the genes.'

It's pretty good!

Of course they're happy. They're rich. They're sexy. They're funny.

They don't work that much.

We head to Budapest

to test our skills at the latest craze in adventure games.

-So, I came to Budapest on holiday.

-Yeah.

Why would I want to lock myself in a room?

Tommy's here with his review of the latest travel gadgets.

I feel a little challenge coming on. Can I have a clock, please?

Thank you. And go!

And we'll take you on a 60-second stopover tour of Los Angeles.

Hello and welcome to The Travel Show,

coming this week from Copenhagen in Denmark.

Now, if you're after perfect holiday happiness,

studies suggest you might well find it here,

where the locals have it in their very DNA.

JOLLY MUSIC PLAYS

Right in the busy heart of central Copenhagen is a place with

a rather slower pace.

An old-style amusement park

and pleasure garden that first opened its doors in 1843.

It's known as the Tivoli Gardens.

This is one of the oldest and most beloved attractions in Copenhagen.

And Danes come here year-round to do what they do best -

enjoy themselves.

Since the early 1970s, surveys have consistently shown Danish people

to be the happiest in the world.

So, when the first World Happiness Report

was released by the UN in 2013, it was not surprising that Denmark

registered the highest life satisfaction scores

of all countries.

So, what is it that makes the people of this country so happy?

MUSIC ENDS

Danish happiness is quite complicated. I have something I call

the happiness onion, where you keep on peeling and peeling and peeling.

Sharmi Albrechtsen is a local expert on the topic.

Having lived in Denmark for over 12 years,

she writes a blog about the secrets to a happy Danish life.

First layer is our wonderful social welfare system.

I mean, it really provides a lot of people with, you know,

a feeling of safety and security.

You know, I call it, "Daddy Denmark takes care of you."

Then if you take it down to like, you know, everyday values,

people value the simple things in life.

# Forget your troubles Come on, get happy

# You better chase all your cares away... #

The Danes I speak to certainly seem to

enjoy their status as the world's happiest people.

I think we're quite proud to have that honour.

It's a privilege, and I think it's one of those things

that people outside from Denmark really remember.

# Shout Hallelujah Come on, get happy... #

But is there more to it?

A recent study shows that this Danish predisposition

towards happiness may be much more than just skin deep.

At the University of Warwick in the UK, I caught up with

Professor Andrew Oswald,

who, along with his research partner, Dr Eugene Proto,

has reached some very interesting conclusions about Danish happiness.

We think that there is a genetic component in part

to why the Danes do so well, coming so regularly at the head

of happiness international league tables.

The key factor seems to be in having less of a particular group of genes

that affect serotonin levels, which, when combined with

adverse life circumstances, can result in depression.

It does appear from the data that the Danes have the smallest

amount of, you might say, dangerous short kind of genetic patterns.

So they may have a kind of inoculation

against the possibility of depression.

We see in the picture, a very clear pattern that the less your genes

are like Danish genes, the worse you feel in your country, on average.

But genes don't make up the whole picture.

Michael Booth investigated the nature of Nordic happiness

for a recent book and believes that

there is another side to the Danish equation.

There are so many reasons why the Danes are happy,

why they're content, that have nothing to do with DNA.

Of course they're happy. They're rich. They're sexy. They're funny.

They don't work that much. You know, everything's safe here.

Everything's beautiful in the Garden of Eden and Denmark, you know.

There are downsides, of course.

The Danes are good at kind of denying the bad things, going "La-la-la"

to any of the bad stuff around them.

But they are very good at just appreciating what they have,

not worrying about the big stuff, but you open a bottle of red wine,

you light some candles, you'll have a happy Dane.

This Danish love of simple comforts even has a name - hygge.

You can translate it maybe as "cosiness".

What you want to do is

create a really nice environment for you and your family,

so you put everyone together in maybe a nice, cosy room

and you light some candles and you have some warm drinks

and maybe you have a beautiful fire.

And you sit together and have nice conversation. That is hygge.

Happiness may be inherent to the Danes,

but it is possible for visitors to get a little piece of it.

For instance, with one of these.

Traditional home-made ice cream served with

a meringue-like substance called guf and a flodebolle chocolate top.

Some say this is the best in the world. Let me be the judge of that.

Oh! Pretty good.

# Baby, I fell asleep beneath the flowers

# For a couple of hours

# On a beautiful day... #

Tourists can do as the Danes do, cycling around the beautiful

city centre or simply enjoy being in nature on a sunny day.

This is probably a more pleasant alternative

than the Danes' favourite winter activity -

plunging naked into a frozen river just for the thrill of it.

For the tourists I met here,

there are some lessons to be learned from these happy Danes.

They are more relaxed than New Yorkers.

Time seems to go on for ever.

It's good to be carefree, to enjoy life, like I can see right now.

A lot of people are relaxing in the sun. I'm doing the same thing.

I'm joining the crowd.

Whether it's the mindset, the standard of living

or a secret hidden in their very genes, one thing is clear.

The Danes have an awful lot to be happy about.

And if you're thinking of taking a trip to Denmark,

here are some other ideas to keep you feeling happy.

# We are young, we run free... #

Danes love to cycle.

In fact, the country is crisscrossed

by over 12,000km of signposted cycle routes.

Usually there are short distances between sights and plenty of places

to stop on the way to eat and drink while you recharge your batteries.

# See our friends, see the sights Feel all right... #

Why not leave the capital

and take a big, green bite out of Denmark's largest island, Zealand?

Travelling around the region, you'll experience a landscape

full of contrasts, from green hills and high cliffs, to beaches, islands

and long Viking fjords where you can spend time

exploring 1,000 years of history.

North Jutland is a must if you enjoy the great outdoors.

The top of Denmark is an island split from mainland Jutland

by the enormous Limfjord.

To the north, it juts dramatically out into the sea.

You'll also find that this isolation produces a very special light

and more hours of sunshine than the rest of Denmark.

And finally, travelling on the cheap?

A holiday to Denmark needn't break the bank.

There are many free events, attractions and activities that

can fill a holiday which should send you home with change in your pocket.

The changing of the Royal Guard takes place every day

at around 11.30am where you can watch

the march from Rosenborg Castle, through the city,

to Amalienborg Place,

ready to take their post at Queen Margrethe's door.

Time now to take a look at what else is happening in travel this week.

We begin this week in the UK

where thousands of passengers had their travel plans disrupted

after all flights were cancelled at Luton Airport

because of a security alert.

The airport was closed on Monday as bomb disposal experts

carried out a controlled explosion on a suspicious package.

It was later discovered that the item was, in fact,

a pair of curling tongs.

To Mariposa in California now,

where an evacuation order has been lifted following

wildfires near Yosemite National Park.

Earlier this week, hikers were ordered to leave the park

because of a blaze that covered more than 300 acres.

Cooler weather slowed the spread of the fires

which was the helicopter evacuation of dozens of people

from the famous Half Dome rock.

The Middle East is to get its first Legoland theme park

which will be part of a giant new entertainment complex

being built in Dubai.

Other projects will include the creation of a Bollywood theme park,

the first attraction in the world dedicated solely

to the Indian film industry.

And, finally, if you were in downtown Phoenix this week,

you might have seen this.

An enormous dust storm which covered most of the city's airport,

causing delays and cancellations of some flights.

These local pictures show the dust cloud

stretching across the horizon and covering parts of the city.

But don't worry, dust warning alerts have since been lifted.

Still to come on The Travel Show...

Fancy your chances trying to escape from a sealed room?

The most fun is when you are inside and trying to solve the puzzles.

We look at a growing trend in Budapest,

inspired by computer games and horror movies.

The trap door opens. Something to do with these.

And Tommy is back with his trove of travel gadget goodies.

He's brilliant, he's my favourite one.

The Travel Show, your essential guide wherever you are headed.

Do you love taking pictures on holiday?

Do you want to help save the planet?

Well, now you can do both with this.

The Sun and Cloud Camera can be charged through USB,

or if you are not near a power supply you can charge it through

the solar panel or with the hand crank.

If you are somewhere where there isn't enough sunshine, you are

going to have to use the hand crank at the side to get the power going.

Now, the makers say you have got to rotate this

between 100 to 150 times to get some charge.

I feel a little challenge coming on.

Can I have a clock, please?

Thank you...and go.

98, 99, 100.

How did I do? Not bad.

All of that effort only gives you one minute's worth of charge,

and my fingers are well and truly dented.

When the camera is powered up you get some really stylised shots

using the in-built filters, but the photo resolution is only three

megapixels and most camera phones nowadays are way better than that.

This is lovely.

It's a camera with a heart.

But it's just too bulky and the resolution is too low,

so until that gets sorted out

it is great in principle, just not in practice.

What a pain!

Having to travel with all of these wires

and adapters for your e-readers, your tablets,

your iPhones or your Android phones, it is a nightmare.

Well, here is a way of surviving this techie tangle.

The USB utility charge tool has three foldout adapters

that connect to your devices.

If you did have three tablets rigged up to this

all at the same time you may struggle with space trying to make them

all fit around this Swiss Army knife design, and you do need a flat

surface to rest them on otherwise the gadgets simply wouldn't be supported.

But, on the plus side, it is convenient.

It is lightweight, it works, and it is a handy piece of kit to have

to charge all three devices together without a wire in sight.

When I go away I am all about getting great photos,

and right now everybody's taking selfies so what I've got here is

a piece of kit that will allow you to up your selfie game.

The remote controls your phone's camera via Bluetooth.

It can also connect to your music player.

You'll still need somewhere just to prop your phone up,

and it took us a few minutes to get this into position,

but once it is set, you're good to go.

You use a remote to take the pictures and also to control your music.

So here it goes.

Look, no hands.

You know what? I'm not even going to look.

Phew, end of a long day and I'm back in my hotel room,

and I'm looking forward to catching up with my favourite TV show,

which I'd normally do on the laptop - but not this time.

Today I am getting the big-screen experience right here.

The pocket projector beams images of up to one and a half metres

onto a flat surface.

It connects to most devices via a HDMI cable,

but for some Apple products you'll need an adapter lead.

Once you've set the projector up,

just a couple of metres away from the wall, you are nearly good to go.

You've got a little focus wheel at the side that allows you to

just sharpen that image up a bit, and then at the top you have

a plus and minus button for your volume control.

Now, the speakers in the projector are quite small

and a little bit tinny and if you are going to the effort

of enjoying your programmes on this big screen then you may want to pack

some travel speakers with you in your suitcase

which will plug straight into the audio jack at the back.

Right, that's it, I am good to go, let's hit play on this.

And enjoy.

I love this. Best show ever.

He's brilliant, he's my favourite one.

Whoo! Yeah!

To end this week, we are heading to the Hungarian capital

of Budapest, where a live-action game inspired by horror movies

and computer games is fast becoming a top tourist attraction.

We sent Ben Zand to try it out.

So Budapest, which is this very beautiful city around me right now,

is the home to what is a pretty unusual new craze called exit games.

It is not something for everybody, as it involves locking yourself

in a small room until you've solved a series of puzzles.

But those who do like it have created what is a booming tourist trade

in the city, with over 50 different games in different locations,

and I'm going to have a go and see how I do.

The man behind this game is Alpar Toth.

He has been running exit games since 2012.

In a previous life he was a lawyer,

so he's probably pretty used to getting people out of tight spots.

So I've come to be Budapest on holiday.

Why would I want to lock myself in a room?

-THEY LAUGH

-Because it's fun to get out.

-It's fun?

-Yes, it's fun.

Not only the last step when you finally open the last door, but

the most fun is when you are inside and trying to solve the puzzles.

For this game to work, you need team-mates.

I've got some, and they are from Liverpool,

which is coincidentally also my hometown.

-What's your name?

-Phil.

-James.

Brilliant, so one of you is the stag. You are the stag.

'And I've come to Budapest for Phil's bachelor weekend.'

All right, shall we give it a go?

This is going to be your room.

So, with these guys slightly worse for wear from the night before,

we start our game.

But we soon realise that it's going to be a lot harder

than we originally thought.

OK, guys, so I wish you good luck.

So, as we enter the Egyptian room, we are greeted by what seems to be

a random group of wooden blocks, shapes and hieroglyphics,

some of which must hold the secret of how to escape our temporary prison.

My first impressions are... it's going to be a long day!

So, basically, what we think, potentially, is that the trap door

opens something to do with these, which I'm guessing...

'The games are run by a gamesmaster who monitors the players

'through cameras that are set in the room.

'This is to ensure that all games end within the 60-minute limit.'

Are we doing well, Mr Gamesmaster?

-Yes, so far, so good.

-Is it usual to have...

-To be given many clues along the way?

-Yeah, I think it is quite usual.

Is it going to be a long day? Shall we cancel our flights and stay here?

It's a block.

They've also got slots in them.

'You can't blame us for not trying,

'but this does not seem to be going our way.'

We think we have figured it out.

We think we have figured out this puzzle.

It doesn't work. We are trapped!

'It's been 40 minutes already

'and we haven't really got any closer to finding a way out until...'

Yes!

All right. So, you know, we blew our minds one way,

and now we have this.

Finally, after an hour of repeated failure - boom, we escape.

ALL: Yes!

Is that it? Or is there...

There seems to be more. 'But not very far.'

There definitely seems to be more.

We got too excited. There's more.

But then...

..a tunnel!

'But I'm still not really sure how I'm going to escape.'

We've got the key, let's see if it works.

Come on.

'And we're free.'

But it wasn't as easy as we thought.

In fact, the gamesmaster tells us

that he has rarely seen anything quite as bad as us.

Give me a scale of, like, one to ten of goodness.

-Um... Two.

-Oh!

That's it for The Travel Show this week. Coming up next week...

Push!

Carmen is in Tokyo, looking at how you can see one of

the most expensive cities in the world on a tight budget.

-Are you going to allow me to join in, yes?

-Yes, I am.

-No singing, though.

-Are you dancing?

No, no, no, I can't sing!

Eddie heads to Jamaica to take a musical tour

of the capital, Kingston.

So do join us then if you can and in the meantime,

don't forget you can check out our website and also follow us

on social media feeds but for now, from me, Christa Larwood,

and the rest of The Travel Show team in Copenhagen, it's goodbye.