Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating once famously said: “If you don’t live in Sydney, you’re just camping out.” It would seem that many agree with him.
The New South Wales capital was named “Australasia’s leading destination” at the 25th Annual World Travel Awards held in September 2018.
Continue reading Sydney first, but don’t forget the rest of Australasia
In common with keen tourists from around the world, Australians are taking to cruising like ducks to water.
The cruise industry is the fastest-growing segment of travel and tourism — and Queensland, my home state, is jumping on the bandwagon big time.
Continue reading Queensland cruises into the future
A recent Twitter exchange about long stopovers reminded me of one thing that has absolutely improved about travel over the years I’ve been doing it: the standard of airport terminals.
Although some may complain that the departure area has been taken over by duty-free booze and perfume outlets, not to mention all-too-familiar fast-food franchises, it’s a far cry from what was on offer not so long ago.
Continue reading Airports aren’t what they used to be, thank goodnessIn Hollywood, when anybody is pitching a project, they have to brace for the inevitable question from the bean counters: “Yes, but what’s it like?”
And by that they mean that they want to know that the “new” thing is reassuringly similar to a film or television show that was popular and made money. Now, it seems, that attitude is creeping into the way we view our cities — with negative consequences for residents and tourists alike.
Continue reading It’s not Little London, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen
“Brisbane,” said a friend over coffee, “is like a boring boyfriend.
“Dependable, but after a while you want to run away with someone more exciting.”
I’ve arrived onboard P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Aria for a seven-day journey from Brisbane to New Caledonia and back.
I’ll be blogging when I can, and posting updates on social media. In the meantime, I’ve undertaken a reconnaissance mission and here are some pictures of the ship and the port.
As I write, my seven-day cruise on the Pacific Aria is due to set sail in eight hours. It’s been raining all night in my departure port, Brisbane, and here’s the forecast for Noumea, New Caledonia, where I will arrive on Sunday.
Wish me luck! And stay tuned for updates here and on social media.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is one of my favourite planes and it didn’t disappoint on my recent journey from Abu Dhabi to Brisbane. Neither did the Etihad Airlines service.
In fact, the only hitch was a 15-minute delay at immigration at Abu Dhabi Airport, apparently because my passport lacked a stamp indicating that I had reentered the United Arab Emirates after my recent Gulf cruise.
I’m on the move again. There will be more words soon, but first, some pictures from the past few weeks spent in Australia.
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 often claim to be a “citizen of the world” — which I am. We all are, and if more of us felt that way, then maybe we’d stop being unkind to each other on the basis of nationality, skin colour or religion.
OK, I won’t hold my breath on that. But maybe if we viewed the Earth as our home, we’d look after the planet a lot better than we do.
I understand why travel advertisements often feature pictures of beautiful young people frolicking about in exotic destinations or relaxing in impossibly large airline seats. It’s because young people do travel a lot and airlines and hotels want their business. But these pictures don’t reflect reality.
The real money in the tourism industry isn’t made from beautiful young people, because beautiful young people generally travel on the cheap.
