ThunderingTyphoons!

This is a Wikivoyage user page.

Wikivoyage administrator

Hello, world! I'm ThunderingTyphoons!, or "Jamie", as people in real life tend to call me, when they're being nice. I come from Hampshire in the United Kingdom, with family roots in Liverpool and Cardiff. A graduate of the University of Sheffield, I have been a fully committed francophile for as long as I can remember.

As of 15 January 2023, I have been a Wikivoyager for ten years and I am a bureaucrat on the administrative team.

If you need help with anything at all, please leave a message on my talk page.
If there's something you need to discuss in private, email me in strictest confidence.

My work on Wikivoyage

Babel user information

en-N	This user has a native understanding of English.

fr-3	Cet utilisateur dispose de connaissances avancées en français.

es-2	Este usuario tiene un conocimiento intermedio del español.

cy-1	Maehwn yn medru'r Gymraeg ar lefel syml.

Sandbox

I prefer to work on destination articles related to the United Kingdom and France, though I also patrol recent changes and my watchlist. Many of the weirder Discover facts you read will have been chosen by me. Pages I have created (bold) and / or have contributed extensively to:

Airport articles
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Belgian coast by tram (mostly copyediting)
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Bouzigues and its French-language counterpart
Canberra/Hall (to help with Star nomination)
England
English phrasebook (for French speakers)
Farnborough
Fordingbridge
France
French phrasebook (for English speakers)
Gestures
Grand-Est
Hampshire
Hauts-de-France
Lautrec

Lot-et-Garonne
Malay phrasebook (for French speakers)
Normandy
Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Oamaru to Dunedin avoiding SH1
Occitanie
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Ringwood (England)
Sheffield
South East England
Tours
Travelling with a mental health condition
United Kingdom
York
Wikivoyage: Welcome, locals
Wikivoyage:Here to build a travel guide

Rather annoyingly, my 10,000th edit on Wikivoyage, usually a milestone to celebrate, was undoing vandalism to my own userpage. Ten thousand thundering typhoons!

Thoughts on editing

As an editor, I enjoy:

writing in lively style about places I know.
finding new facts for Wikivoyage:Discover all over the world's best travel guide.
writing article leads.
contributing to history, transport and food-related articles and sections.
welcoming new users to Wikivoyage.

I think the following aspects of editing are tedious but necessary:

adding images
adding listings (seriously)
copy-editing
dealing with problematic edits
anything to do with impossible-to-remember but damn useful templates

Things you won't find me doing:

doing "technical" things - my programming skills are nonexistent
making a static map - see above
working on anything related to the United States - we have a large number of fine American editors who are brilliant at what they do, so a destination article for just about anywhere else in the world is much more in need of my time.

Favourite infoboxes of mine

20 August 1944

Two local men were caught stealing a bomb from a munitions factory. As punishment, they were taken by Nazi soldiers and shut in the factory to be blown up with it... Read more

Cream tea wars

Devon and Cornwall are divided not just by the Tamar, but by the proper way to prepare scones... Read more

Culture shock

In some cases, culture shock is unavoidable, but learning to recognise it in yourself is the first step to overcoming it. Contributing factors include... Read more

Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé !

Every third Thursday of November, the new Beaujolais wine arrives at bars and restaurants across France... Read more

Quelle cuisson ?

A common question when ordering meat in Francophone countries (especially steak) is how long you want it cooked for: bleu, à point, or bien cuit? Read more

The girl beneath the Gherkin

In 1995, during construction of the Gherkin skyscraper, the skeleton of a young girl was unearthed... Read more

The Highgate vampire

As 1969 turned to 1970, letters sent to the Hampstead and Highgate Express related frightened locals' alleged encounters with evil... Read more

'Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma' what?

York is popularly known as a place "where the streets are gates, the gates are bars, and the bars are pubs!"... Read more

Barncompasses

	The Wikivoyage Barncompass
	Next to excellence is the appreciation of it. So here is your medal of appreciation. We need ten thousand thundering typhoons like you! Well done Jamie. Saqib (talk) 14:27, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

	The Wikivoyage Barncompass
	For being willing and able to change your mind, and for having the courage to say so. Happy and successful communities depend upon people like you. WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:29, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

	The Wikivoyage Barncompass
	Great work on handling outdated docent notices. ---Selfie City (talk \| contributions) 00:29, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

	Barnstar of Good Humor
	Thank you for making me smile today. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:30, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

	The Wikivoyage Barncompass
	I just read the Stratford-upon-Avon article, and the quotes are a great touch. What a delightful theme for that article. —Granger (talk · contribs) 16:04, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

	The Wikivoyage Barncompass
	I am giving you this for all your hard work on Wikivoyage, although this is Wikipedia and I am mostly found here. Cupper52 (talk) 17:17, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

		The Original Barnstar
		Thank you for helping me! I saw that you had a barnstar and thought I'd give you a second one. 82.3.185.12 14:12, 23 December 2020 (UTC)

	The Wikivoyage Barncompass
	This Barncompass is for helping me creating those new articles. I also saw you were collecting them. 82.3.185.12 14:14, 23 December 2020 (UTC)

	The Kiwi Barncompass
	For making, maintaining and keeping Oamaru to Dunedin avoiding State Highway 1. Hope I can use that route when I go to New Zealand next year. --08:25, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

	The Sysop's Barncompass
	This Barncompass is to show appreciation for your great work on being a great admin on Wikivoyage and reverting the Projects guy's harassment and vandalism.--SHB2000 (talk contribs en.wikipedia) 05:47, 21 April 2021 (UTC)

Trips

Upcoming

January 2024: retour à Paris

Recent

November 2023: Bracklesham Bay and Chichester long weekend

September 2023: Cancale between Saint-Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel

May 2023: Return to Edinburgh; first time in North Berwick and Newcastle-upon-Tyne

March 2023: Shanklin, IoW long weekend

September-October 2022: The Algarve - postponed since 2020

May 2022: Berlin

March 2022: Cardiff

December 2021: Edinburgh, fulfilling a lifelong ambition.

September 2021: Llanrhian in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

July 2021: York, Harrogate, and Knaresborough

May 2021: Isle of Wight - it's the era of the hyperlocal staycation!

Trips made earlier than two years ago are stored in my trips archive. Because I'm thoroughly anal like that.

Pointless lists to do with my own travels that I find interesting

Travel records

(table shamelessly stolen from Andrewssi2)

My records	Place	Figure
Northernmost	The Trossachs	56.24° N
Southernmost	Sea Lion Island	52.26° S
Easternmost	Taupo	176.06° E
Westernmost	Port Howard	59.50° W
Closest to the equator	Singapore	1.29° N
Highest	Fox Glacier	3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level
Lowest	Channel Tunnel	115 m (377 ft) below sea level
Furthest inland	Kraków	500 km (310 mi) from Baltic Sea
Longest flight	Single plane: RAF Brize Norton (BZZ^IATA) — RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN^IATA) Multiple planes: Christchurch (CHC^IATA) — London Heathrow (LHR^IATA)	13,000 km (8,100 mi) 19,000 km (12,000 mi)
Longest sea voyage	Plymouth — Santander	770 km (480 mi)
Longest rail journey	Single train: Tours (Saint-Pierre-des-Corps) — Strasbourg (Ville) Multiple trains: Farnborough (Main) — Tours (Gare de Tours)	700 km (430 mi) 790 km (490 mi)
Longest road journey	Farnborough — Barcelona	1,600 km (990 mi)
Longest walk	Southampton — Portsmouth on the Solent Way	40 km (25 mi) / 9 hr
Longest border crossing	Karasovići (Dubrovnik-Neretva) / Debeli Brijeg (Herceg Novi)	90 min / 2.2 km (1.4 mi)

Most-memorable travel experiences

Teaching kids English for seven months in Tours.
Any time I go to Wales, the land of my father(s).
Experiencing the spectacular wildlife of the Falkland Islands.
My first time in the Channel Tunnel, as a wide-eyed four year-old.
Flying to and walking on the source of Fox Glacier on Mount Cook in New Zealand: in shorts and a t-shirt!
Anything archaeological, particularly prehistoric art, stone circles, Roman stuff, or proper nice castles.
Seeing over 50,000 northern gannets (depleted from 150,000 due to the pandemic), plus puffins, shags and eider ducks on and around the Bass Rock.
Being stripped of my European citizenship (acquired at birth) and travelling back in time 50 years.
Visiting the remains of Auschwitz-Birkenau, for reflection and mourning.

Countries I have been to

I have been very lucky so far in my life to have done a lot of travelling. I have set foot in 22 countries around the world, mainly in Europe, though I have also visited Asia and Oceania and done my fair share of Atlantic islands:

Ascension Island