"Tourists don't know where they've been, travellers don't know where they're going." ~ Paul Theroux
Saturday, October 5, 2013
From Spendthrift to Penny-Pincher
Monday, May 20, 2013
Armchair Travel: Venice In A Day
Friday, May 17, 2013
Friday Photos: Long Beach, California
The Ocean Center Building at 110 West Ocean Boulevard |
For Sale? Yes, please. Long Beach, California |
Parkers’ Lighthouse, Long Beach, California |
Lighthouse, Long Beach, California |
Carnival Inspiration (left), and Queen Mary (right), Long Beach, California |
The Carnival Inspiration, Long Beach, California |
Shopping outlet at Shoreline Village, Long Beach, California |
Waiting for my ship to come in at Long Beach, California |
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
TED on Tuesday: Deep Sea Diving…in a Wheelchair
Image courtesy Sue Austin website... |
Monday, April 8, 2013
Reflections From The Window Seat
Flying over the Alps to Paris, France |
Gulf Coast from Greyhound Bus window |
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Art: Ballroom
~ During my three week house sitting stint in Melbourne over January, I frequently found myself hanging out at the city’s Federation Square. The square has become the active heart of Melbourne with some type of event, or events taking place there throughout the summer, and at other times of the year.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Visiting Attractions On A Budget in New York City
The Official TKTS app, available free of charge for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone, is the only way to get fast, accurate, real-time listings of all Broadway and Off Broadway shows available at the world-famous TKTS Discount Booths in New York City. The Official TKTS app is directly linked to the display boards at the TKTS Discount Booths, so what you're seeing, in real time, is exactly what the people waiting in line are seeing.
You might be busy this weekend, but a packed schedule doesn’t mean you have something fun to do, right? That’s where Goldstar Weekend comes in. Goldstar Weekend helps you discover and buy tickets to music, sports, theater, comedy and more in two minutes or less. Upon launch, you are taken to the closest weekend day. There you can browse up to 10 top events in your area, read about them and share with friends.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The Travelling Bookworm
Books Read in January
- Imperial City: The Rise and Rise of New
York, Geoffrey
Moorhouse
- The French and Indian War, Walter R. Borneman
- Will Rogers, by Ben Yogoda
- Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell
- To Reach The Clouds, by Phillipe Petit
- Bird Cloud: A Memoir, by Annie Proulx
Books Read in February
- City Life, by Witold Rybczynski
- Architectural Details, by Marcia Reiss
- Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy’s
Guide, By Joseph
Epstein
- Zen and The Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance, by Robert
Pirsig
- How The Industrial Revolution Changed
The World, by Thomas
Crump
- All That Follows, by Jim Crace
Books Read in March
- The
Way West, by A.B. Guthrie
- History
of Pirates, by Charlotte Montague
- Midnight
in The Garden of Good and Evil, by John
Berendt
- Red
Silk: The Life of Elliott Johnston QC, by Penelope
Debelle
- The
Potomac, by Frederick Gutheim
- An Australian in America, David Dale
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
It’s a Small World After All
What a coincidence.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Welcome to 2012
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Spring Down Under
Semaphore Jetty at Sunset |
Spring is in the air, down under, and as I write this it is a beautiful day in Adelaide, Australia, where right now, I am house sitting for a member of my extended family who lives close to Semaphore Beach.
With the prospect of warmer weather and summer just a few more months away, my thoughts are turning more and more to travel.
In January I will spend five weeks house sitting again in Melbourne which coincidentally, has just been voted the most liveable city in the world – according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Survey of 140 cities. Three other Australian cities (Sydney, Adelaide and Perth), have also made it into the survey’s top ten. Canada has three cities in the top ten list, which gives the two countries a total of seven of the ten most liveable cities in the world.
Never the less, despite the fact that Australians are spoilt for choice when it comes to great cities and panoramic vistas, I am planning to head overseas on my third extended journey towards the end of April next year. Once again I’ll travel to Europe and the United States. I’m especially hoping I will be able to apartment sit for the same person I house and cat sat for last summer. The prospect of spending another two months in New York City fills me with great anticipation, as you might expect.
I just hope the Australian dollar continues to stay high on the foreign exchange rates over the next twelve months.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Technology and Travel
I am constantly amazed by the convergence of technology with modern life.
On my recent trip to Melbourne my new iPhone was permanently attached to my hand. Whether reading books while travelling on the city’s tram system, tracking my progress via Google Maps, looking up locations and information online, snapping photographs, taking notes, listening to music and podcasts, playing games, sending and receiving text messages and yes, even making the occasional phone call, my iPhone was constantly by my side.
As much as I continue to use the phone on a daily basis, I am still blown away by the marriage of technology and convenience it offers. Take this simple example: Yesterday, as I walked down Semaphore Road towards the beach, I was listening to the BBC radio program The World Today being broadcast via WHYY, a public radio station based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Semaphore Road, Adelaide; the BBC; WHYY, Philadelphia; an iPhone – and not a wire in sight. If that’s not incredible, I don’t know what is.
In future entries, I will begin reviewing some of my favourite travel applications.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Sunday Supplement 01
~ Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert seems to be experiencing problems with his luggage, in this comedy routine recorded from an unnamed Australian television broadcast. The clip is from YouTube.
- - o 0 o - -
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Numerologists Take Note
This will not happen again until the year 3009!
Of course, if you write your dates out using the American system of putting the month before the date, the above sequence of numbers will look like this:
By the way, if anything of significance does take place at that exact time, I’d like to know about it. World peace would be good, but if that is asking too much, how about a dream revealing all the winning numbers for the next multi-million dollar Powerball Lottery?
Or how about a shift in the time/space continuum that actually transports the planet earth to the year 3009?
Now that would really take the concept of travel into a whole new realm.
Bring it on!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Overseas Road Safety for Australians
More than 3000 people die on the world's roads every day. Tens of millions of people are injured or disabled every year. Approximately 90 per cent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
The World Health Organization also reports that road-crash casualties will increase by 67 per cent from now until 2020 as more cars and trucks compete for road space with pedestrians and bicyclists.
Young adults are particularly vulnerable. Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among young people between 10 and 24 years. Each year nearly 400,000 people under 25 die on the world’s roads – on average more than 1000 a day. Most of these deaths occur among vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and those using public transport.
The number of Australians involved in traffic accidents overseas is likely to increase, as more Australians travel overseas. If you are not covered by travel insurance, the cost of medical treatment as a result of traffic accidents can result in long-term financial burden for you and your family.
Motorcycle accidents involving Australians are very common in
Dangerous drivers in unsafe vehicles and ill-designed and poorly maintained roads make a lethal cocktail. Inadequate medical and emergency services, ineffective law enforcement and an often startling array of human and motorised traffic moving at different speeds add to the risks. In some countries, drivers flash their lights to indicate you should yield to them; in others, they don’t use them at all at night under the (mistaken) belief that turning them on will drain their batteries. Road travel, particularly at night and outside major cities, in countries with poor safety records and/or mountainous terrain can be very dangerous.
Australians should learn about their travel destination's road conditions and “traffic culture” in all travel destinations. It is important to be aware of local laws and security conditions when driving overseas. Driving under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants can have severe criminal penalties in many countries.
Ask about your tour group's safety record and follow safety precautions such as buckling up and not drinking and driving. The safety standards you might expect of transport and tour operators, including for adventure activities, are not always met. Sufficient safety equipment may not be provided and recommended maintenance standards and safety precautions may not be observed.
Avoid riding with drivers who seem to be under the influence of alcohol or medication, or appear over-tired, irrational or distracted. If you’re renting a car, before you start driving, make sure it’s equipped with appropriate safety features, and check the tyres, headlights, seatbelts and wipers before you leave the lot. If you’re using commercial transportation, avoid taxis without seatbelts and overweight or top-heavy buses, and speak up any time you feel you’re at risk.
Many countries require Australians to have an International Drivers Permit (IDP), in addition to a valid Australian driving licence, to legally drive a car in that country. An IDP is a widely recognised document that can be issued by associated members of the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), including the NRMA. Before driving overseas, Australians should contact the appropriate foreign mission in
Always insure yourself to drive a vehicle overseas and carry the insurance papers with you. If driving a friend’s car overseas, check before you drive that you are appropriately covered by their insurance to drive their car.
Pedestrians should look carefully in all directions before crossing the road. Remember that in many countries traffic travels in the opposite direction to that which Australians are used to. You should not take it for granted that drivers will stop at zebra crossings. When walking along the roadside, it is recommended you face the oncoming traffic so that you can better see approaching vehicles.
For more detailed information, the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) offers regularly updated Road Reports for approximately 150 countries. Available via e-mail or download (fees may apply), each report covers general road conditions, local driving style, and the realities of dealing with the police, public transportation and emergency situations. Other useful features include capsule summaries of especially dangerous roads and phonetic translations for use in unsafe or emergency situations.
While every care has been taken in preparing this travel information for travellers, neither the Australian Government nor its agents or employees including any member of
Sunday, June 21, 2009
House Swapping For A Better World?
I'd like to spend a few moments looking at a side of house swapping which is real, but probably not given a lot of thought – especially by those who haven't as yet taken part in an actual house exchange.
And that is the role that caring, sharing and generosity of spirit plays in a house swapping program, such as that facilitated by Aussie House Swap. Because when all is said and done, the parties to a house swap are engaging in what is virtually an act of trust and intimacy by opening their homes to each other.
Your home is, after all, very much a reflection and almost a defining part of who you are. It's your "inner sanctum," the private place to which you withdraw after a day out in the world of business and commerce, or even of social or community activity. It's where you rest up, kick off your shoes, and let your "real" self emerge. And where you literally wash your dirty laundry!
The home is where you and those closest to you share your private lives and your most intimate moments. It's also at times the scene of some very difficult passages in your life, and the place where you have to deal with some of your most thorny issues. And it's where you retire to when your working life is done. Opening your home to others is without doubt sharing part of your private, inner self with them.
Inviting somebody into your home is also a demonstration of your hospitality – whether it's to hold some kind of meeting, to stay for a period, or simply to share a meal together. All the more is this the case when you completely vacate your home for a number of weeks, and allow another family or couple the full use of it.
In every way the home is regarded as a special place, the opening of which to strangers, friends and family alike is an act of grace, openness and acceptance. So when two homeowners agree to swap homes, and actually make the exchange, they are showing a considerable amount of trust in each other. They're giving and receiving value, and sharing something which is fundamentally private, in a spirit of generosity.
They are, in their own small way, displaying the kind of attitudes and taking the kinds of actions which – if practised on a grand scale – could genuinely make the world a better place for all. Which, when you think about it, is a pretty worthwhile thing to do, and counters just a little of the animosity, fear and selfishness which is unquestionably harming the home of us all, the earth.
Swapping houses is also engaging in a level of mutual confidence that your home and its contents will be treated with respect, and handled carefully. That this confidence is warranted is shown by surveys which indicate that damage rarely occurs when houses are swapped, and that when it does, it's nearly always of a minor nature.
House swapping also gives you the opportunity to get to know some of the locals, and experience their lifestyle, habits and surroundings by living "in the community," rather than spending all your time in the artificial environment of a hotel or similar holiday accommodation, and just seeing the tourist attractions.
Furthermore, a house swapping holiday allows people with disabilities to take their own time, and when they need it to rest undisturbed – instead of being bumped and jostled in crowded resorts, or disturbed by maids needing to make the beds and clean up the room to meet their schedule, not yours. It's even possible to seek out house swaps with other disabled people, and each have the use of facilities – ramps, special bath rooms, toilets and the like – which are designed for their special needs.
Hosting
As well as straight swap overs covering the identical period of time, some people enjoy "hosting" another couple, then later on being hosted by them in return. This simply means that the owners remain at home, and host their swap partners as guests and visitors for an agreed period. They enjoy each other's company, do some exploring and shopping together, see some of the sights, and perhaps fish or play a round of golf together. Then at a later date, they reverse the process. The hosts become the visitors, just as the visitors become the hosts in their home and town.
Hosting is a great way to build new friendships, and increase mutual empathy and understanding between people of different backgrounds and from different parts of the country, or even overseas.
How much does it cost?
Aussie House Swap membership is only $65 per year! However, if you do not manage to house swap in your first year we will give you another 12 months membership absolutely free! This is our guarantee to you! For $65 (less than the cost of one nights motel accommodation) you can make as many house swaps as you like within your 12 months.
Article courtesy of Aussie House Swap website. Like our Partner site, Home Away, Aussie House Swap gives you the opportunity to stay in someone else’s home, while they stay in yours.
Image used for illustration purposes only.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
World’s Strangest Festivals
Yes folks, it is the colloquially named Japanese ‘Pen!s Festival’.
Here is what that wonderful online resource, Wikipedia has to say about the event.
The Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki, Japan in spring. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April.
The pen!s forms the central theme of the event that is reflected everywhere — in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a mikoshi parade.
The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local pen!s-venerating shrine once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. It is said that there are divine protections also in business prosperity and the clan's prosperity, easy delivery, marriage, and married couple harmony.
There is also a legend of a sharp-toothed demon that hid inside the vag!na of a young girl and castrated two young men on their wedding nights with the young girl before a blacksmith fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, leading to the enshrinement of the item.
Today, the festival has become somewhat of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia...
NOTE: Sorry to seem like a prude by misspelling the word pen!s, but I don't want to get this blog flagged as offensive, and have the Blogger thought police closing my account!
Friday, February 20, 2009
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Here are a few Australian dollar figures for you to think about if you are contemplating taking that fateful step.
• The average cost of getting married in Australia is $50,000
• One couple reported spending more than $62,000 on their wedding!
• The average cost of wedding receptions is almost $10,500 (approx: $110.00 per head)…
• …which means the average number of guests is around a 100
• Even wedding cakes cost a small fortune these days – an average of $387.00
All of this got me thinking about the four weddings I attended last year during my stay on the Greek island of Ikaria.
The first wedding I went to had upwards of a 1000 guests!
No, that number is not a typo – it is correct, although not precise. The exact number of guest is unknown, because although the couple getting married issue invitations to family and friends in the traditional manner, the invited guests are not expected to RSVP their intentions to attend. Both families concerned just assume that everyone invited will be there, and that if they don’t, others will make up the numbers!
By the way, at one of the other weddings I attended they were expecting 1200-1300 hundred guests! The numbers fell well short of that (again around a 1000 or so), because there were two other weddings taking place on the island at the same time, and many families would have received invitations to at least two, if not all three events.
Here is a seven minute video I put together of the wedding and the party that followed. I call it a party, because essentially that’s what it is – a huge party celebrating the marriage of the bride and groom, and the ‘marriage’ of two island families. The first couple of minutes set the scene, but once the ‘reception’ starts, the party really begins.
One could write a book about island weddings, but I have to keep this as short as practicable, so let me highlight some of the logistics of the wedding you see in the film.
The church where the marriage took place was tiny, as are most island churches. Since it was barely big enough to hold the families of the bride and groom, most people who attended the wedding itself, hung around outside chatting, and waited for the ceremony to end.
The assembled throng then walked several hundred yards to the village centre where the reception was taking place. Seated on benches, ranged along trestle tables, the wedding guests waited to be served the tradition wedding meal – a dish of rice and goat meat. There were salads and lots of mezes (Greek finger food), and plenty of red wine sourced from the island itself or from local islands.
I know what you’re thinking: How on earth do you feed a thousand people?
Well, apart from the paid ‘professionals’ working on the day, the musicians; the Wedding Rice cooks; and the photographers, virtually all other work is carried out on a voluntary basis by extended family, friends, and acquaintances of the bride and groom.
The video shows some of these people serving guests. The huge two person serving tray you see (at around the six minute mark), holds upwards of 30 plates of food, and helps distribute meals quickly and efficiently.
Since the wedding will go right through to the early morning hours (and in many cases through until late morning), the volunteers serving the meals don’t have to worry about missing out on all the fun. Once everyone has been fed, a process that might take a several hours, they still have 10-12 hours of partying ahead of them.
There are no dull speeches; no embarrassing roasting of the bride and groom; no official toasting, even. Just lots of food, wine, music, and good fellowship. Oh, and hours of constant dancing.
You will also notice that children are everywhere. Asking parents to leave their children at home would be as unthinkable as having a wedding without dancing. Greek island weddings are huge community events which involve pretty much everyone - and that includes children.
At some point convenient to the newly weds, they will each take a glass of wine and circulate among the guests clinking glasses with as many of them as they can; all the while accepting the good wishes the guests bestow upon them for a long and happy marriage (you catch a glimpse of that at the two minute mark in the film).
I can’t tell you what the typical budget for a Greek island wedding might be, but I’m sure it is a fraction of the cost of Australian weddings. Since they are held in the open air, there are no hall hire fees, no waiters to pay, no extravagantly decorated tables and chairs, no stretch limos, and no wedding planner.
The main meal, as I said, consists of rice and meat (cooked in huge cauldrons). It probably required no more than 80-100 kilograms of rice to feed everyone present, and a good quantity of meat. Rice is cheap, and while the meat is less so, you can be sure that every guest was fed for far less than the average Australian price of $110 per person.
The contrast between a typical Australian wedding and a Greek island wedding could not be more pronounced. I haven’t attended weddings in other parts of Greece or on other islands, so I don’t know how they compare with those that take place on Ikaria, but Ikarian weddings are monumental events that are a wonder to behold, and a joy to be part of.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Wired Traveller
- Jack Kerouac
~ Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the wired world.
A couple of days ago I wrote about the Plugged in Traveller. Today let’s look at the Wired Traveller.
Actually, the plugged in traveller and the wired traveller are generally one and the same person. But first, let’s reminisce…(insert dreamy transition sequence as we flash back to the olden days…).
Dear reader, if you are as old as I am, you will still remember the days of ‘snail mail’ – that ancient and all but lost art of letter writing. When men (and women) of letters sent home detailed reports of their adventures as they crossed the globe encountering strange and exotic people, in lands they had previously only read about in geography class. You do remember geography class, don’t you?
If you didn’t have time to write extended reports you could always get away with a PAR AVION* letter.
Remember them? Bought from a local post office, these were light weight, pale blue, one page, prepaid sheets of paper with gummed edges, that had to be folded in a particular sequence before you could drop them into any post box you stumbled across (see image illustrating this entry).
The really lazy traveller always made do with Post Cards. At least post cards gave you the added bonus of including a picture of a famous landmark, or island sunset to make the folks back home envious of your exciting adventures.
You can still get post cards of course, but I haven’t seen an air mail letter in years, and as for long letters home, they too are pretty much a thing of the past. Because today, we are living in a wired world, and the wired traveller wants to work fast, cheap, and online.
Yes, the wired traveller is constantly plugged in, switched on, instant messaging, and uploading to their FaceBook, MySpace, Blogger, Twitter, WordPress, Flickr, YouTube or personal web sites. In fact, the truly wired traveller probably keeps in contact through all the above portals.
Now as you travel the world you can take photographs of the pyramids with your mobile phone and upload them instantly to any number of free websites. Or you could send them to everyone on your phone contact list, and really make your friends back home jealous as they sit, shackled to their work desks, dreaming of their own foreign escapades.
The wired traveller moves around the world with a GPS enabled phone and never has to worry about getting lost in a strange city. He can check his email on the move, and answer them while enjoying a cappuccino in London, a slice of pizza in New York, or a kebab within sight of the pyramids.
The wired traveller can pop into her nearest Internet CafĂ© and Google her favourite fashion chain, before heading out to try on the latest summer craze, whether she is in Paris, Milan or Rio. Come to think of it – she can do that from her phone.
If your mobile phone is up to the task, a new opt-in service being trialled by Google called, Google Latitude allows your friends and family to know exactly where you are in the world, at any time, at the touch of a button. While there are some privacy concerns, the security conscious among us will feel a lot happier knowing our movements can be tracked in real time as we travel the world in search of new experiences. Click on the video to watch a short demonstration of Google Latitude’s features.
It won’t be long before you are able to hit a special key on your phone, to send out an alarm to the nearest police station if you are caught up in an emergency, allowing law enforcement to know exactly where you are and track your movements while they close in on you and those threatening you – if it can’t be done already!
Welcome to the wired world, indeed.
*PAR AVION is French for ‘By Air’.