Some of my Australian friends are big critics of our national airline, Qantas. I can honestly say that I’ve never had a problem with the Flying Kangaroo, either on the ground or in the air. Well, until a few days ago, I could say that.
It seemed like a simple thing to book a Frequent Flyer classic rewards flight from Dubai to London. I wanted a business class seat on May 6 (that’s today as I write this). Continue reading Frequent frustration
As a skeptic, I’m not prepared to believe in ghosts until I get some scientific proof that they exist. Or I meet one myself. Nevertheless, I do like a good ghost story, so I thought I’d do a round-up of haunted places you can visit in Britain, which specialises in this kind of thing.
I was inspired by this article in The Scotsman detailing “six Edinburgh pubs you didn’t know were haunted”.
Two days left until my mystery tour (more on which later), and true to my word, I’ve emptied my bag.
The challenge now is to decide what goes in, and what stays out.
I’m heading off on a magical mystery tour. I don’t even know where I’m going yet. But I do know when — on Friday. Which, as I am writing this, is the day after the day after tomorrow.
I’ve been surfing the web, trying out various options, and expect to decide soon. But there’ll be more of that when I do. Right now, I’m staring at what remains in my suitcase from the last trip I took.
One of the wonderful things about cats is that they’re everywhere. In the back sois of Bangkok, on the Acropolis, at beaches and building sites. I’ve taken hundreds of pictures of cats “in the wild” over many years, in dozens of countries. This video includes only a handful of them.
For more cat-related posts, click here.
One thing travellers ought to know is that marketplaces around the world are full of fake products. If somebody is offering you a Louis Vuitton bag at a ridiculous price, then it’s not an LV bag. The same goes for all sorts of branded products that aren’t what they are supposed to be.
And the distinction between what’s legal and what isn’t applies even if the intended “recipient” is dead.
The thing about being an Australian with a taste for travel is that it’s all too easy, and extremely tempting, to jump onto a plane tosee the world without first seeing your own country.
Although I’ve done a lot of travel within the great big, broad, brown land, there are parts I’ve missed or neglected — including northern and far north Queensland, in my own home state.
How can anyone objectively name the best drinking establishments in the world without visiting all of them*?
Well, some brave souls have tried, and here I collect some of their best suggestions — with the caveat that I, too, have not tried them all.
Anybody who has ever been on a cruise ship knows that they almost always depart on time.
On the first night of my very first cruise, the cruise director told the passengers: “If you are late back to port, we will leave without you. We’ve done it before; we’ll do it again – and I’ll be standing there waving at you as we sail away.”
I’m not quite sure why an airline would compile a list of “best dressed travellers” – purely because it’s going to offend a lot of people who aren’t included, or are not as high up that list as they might like to be. Continue reading BA names best dressed
To doze or not to doze? That is the question. To sleep, perchance to dream, or to watch the latest cinema blockbuster on the inflight video?
The issue of what to do on a long-haul flight has vexed many a traveller and travel blogger, so I thought I might as well weigh in.
For many travellers, cruising is about dancing. From the couples of a certain age who still like to cut a rug the old-fashioned way to the professionals who perform for the rest of us to watch on in awe, it’s all to be seen on the high seas.
Here’s some video I took on the Costa Diadema of the ship’s animation (entertainment) team and dancers, and some of the passengers, getting into the spirit.
As I write, it’s the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare — playwright, poet and man of enduring fascination to tourists.
Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of England’s (and perhaps the world’s) greatest writer, is a major draw. Few packaged tours exclude it. His birthplace, his mother’s house, the church where he was christened, the school he attended and the theatres where his plays are still performed attract many thousands of people every week.
In at least one country I know*, it’s illegal to post a picture of a person on social media unless you have first sought and obtained their permission.
But the web is a wild place, and there are any number of sites dedicated to pictures taken in unguarded moments.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of photographing cats in the wild. By which, I mean domestic cats on the streets of big cities, in small town, at beaches, near famous monuments and anywhere else I can find them.
Despite the fact that they are a growing phenomenon — with about 60 in Tokyo alone, and many more across Asia and Europe — I haven’t yet been to a cat cafe.
There is a simple and very good reason to be wary about lists that claim to name the best (whatever) in the world. Since no researcher or writer has ever experienced every (whatever) in the world, nobody is able to make an objective judgement.
But the internet is full of such lists, many of them in the realm of travel. So, just for giggles, here are some highlights from recent best-of lists.
The thing about loyalty points is that you can never really know whether they are worth the effort.
When is a travel bargain not a bargain? When the initial price includes a lot of extras you forgot to factor in, or simply didn’t know about.
This can often be the case with cruise holidays, when the low “all-inclusive” price can suddenly balloon when you add the things you really want or need. Continue reading Extra. Read all about it!
It may be hard to be objective to write about your home town, but I’m going to try.
First, it’s true that Brisbane, where I was born and I’ve spent more than half of my life, is not the immediate “go-to” Australian city. Sydney is that — because of the harbour, the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, Bondi Beach, the Manly ferry and so many other attractions that all would-be tourists associate with the land down under. Continue reading Being in Brisbane
I’ve seen as many travel-tips websites as I’ve had hot English breakfasts. Most of them cover the same ground – about insurance, how to pack (roll your clothes, don’t fold them), how to get a cheap airfare or an upgrade, and so on – but I’ve been searching for those that are a little left-field.
Here’s a taster:
