It is interesting how travel―or the prospect
of forthcoming travel―can focus the mind, and change long-held habits seemingly
overnight. I write about this today, because just last week I bought an early
bird return ticket from Adelaide, Australia to Athens, Greece. Although the
trip won’t take place until late April, 2014, I am already thinking about the
journey, and planning my extended itinerary.
I am also trying to work out where I can cutback and rein in
my spending. Obviously, the less I spend over the next seven months, the more I
will have to live on when I am travelling. On my iPad 2 I have a copy of Numbers,
Apple’s excellent spreadsheet application. For the past year or so I have been
maintaining a daily spreadsheet of my expenses under various categories,
including groceries, transport, phone and Internet fees and other expenses.
The great thing about maintaining this daily record of
expenses is that I can see at a glance where my money is going, and more
importantly where I can make savings.
One of the line items in the spreadsheet documents spending
which I, for better or worse, call ‘Eats’. This is where I add up expenses such
as coffee, sandwiches, bagels, cakes and other light snacks. To my surprise, I
recently noticed that for several months I have been spending an average of
$250 each month on ‘Eats’. While that doesn’t seem like a lot, if I maintain
that spending level, the figure adds up to $3000 a year. Three thousand
dollars! I could buy an economy class return ticket to pretty much any city on
the planet for that price.
Now you might argue that while that may be true, surely I am
not advocating never again buying a cappuccino and cinnamon donut. You would of
course, be right. But even if I can reduce that discretionary spending by half,
to $1500, I could still purchase a ticket to most places across the world, and
in deed, the early bird ticket I bought last week cost me $1620.
While I don’t want to turn into a modern day Scrooge, my goal
over the next six to seven months is to focus on the journey ahead, and to
reduce my discretionary spending to a level that allows me to enjoy life
without feeling like I can’t leave the house for fear of spending a few dollars
on myself before departing Australia’s shores.
Feel free to use the Comments section below to share
your successful strategies for saving money before long planned vacations.
Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Joerg Niggli's creative interests
include producing time-lapse movies using his own video footage and
photographs. The films on his Vimeo page provide stunning images of Jordan via his videos of Amman, Petra, and Wadi Rum,
while other videos include a hot air balloon flight over the Swiss and French
Alps, and today's Armchair Travel video documenting a day in Venice, Italy.
Venice is one of the most interesting and lovely places in
the world. Visitors with a special interest in architecture will find much to
delight and occupy them, with a seemingly endless array of stunning
architecturally significant buildings on every narrow street or facing the many
canals that make Venice such a special experience. The city is virtually the
same as it was six hundred years ago, which adds to its fascinating character,
and although Venice has decayed since its heyday, the city's romantic charm
remains to fascinate and seduce millions of annual visitors.
The Republic of Venice dates back to 827, when a Byzantine
Duke moved to what is now known as the Rialto, and for the following 970 years,
the city prospered as a centre for trade under the rule of a Roman-style Senate
headed by the Doge. In 1797, the city was conquered by Napoleon, a blow from
which it never fully recovered. Today, Venice remains a monument to the glory
days of the Renaissance, and Joerg Niggli has captured the city’s charm,
beauty, and stunning buildings magnificently in his short film.
Joerg writes, “A day in Venice (Venezia) in Italy, from
daybreak to sunset in time lapse. It's really a great place and I hope I can
share some of its magic with this short video.” Rest assured Joerg, you have.
The video was part of the selection of Artfutura 2012and will be shown in large cities around the world.
Music: «Heart of Champions», Chris Haigh, with a licence from premiumbeat.com.
Joerg Niggli adds that the video was recorded mostly using a Canon G10, with some wide angle shots taken with a Canon 7D. Post production was completed in Motion, After Effects, and
edited and graded in Final Cut Pro X.
The Ocean Center Building at 110 West Ocean Boulevard
On the penultimate day of my 2012 visit to America, I went
to Long Beach, California. I had never been there before, and wanting to get
out of downtown Los Angeles, a trip to the ocean seemed just the ticket before
a long flight back to Australia. Here are some snapshots of my visit.
For Sale? Yes, please. Long Beach, California
I assumed Long Beach was part of Los Angeles, but it seems
Long Beach is a city in its own right. In fact it qualifies as the 36th-largest
city in the United States, and the seventh-largest in California. In addition,
Long Beach is the second largest city within the Greater Los Angeles Area,
after Los Angeles itself. As of 2010, its population was just over 462,000.
Parkers’ Lighthouse, Long Beach, California
Long Beach apparently suffers from some of the worst air
pollution in Southern California and the United States. Thankfully, on the afternoon
I visited, non of this pollution seemed to be in evidence judging by the mostly
cloudless, and ever present bright blue sky.
Lighthouse, Long Beach, California
The Port of Long Beach is the United States' second busiest
container port and one of the world's largest shipping ports. Trade valued
annually at more than $140 billion moves through Long Beach, making it the
second-busiest seaport in the United States.
Carnival Inspiration (left), and Queen Mary (right), Long Beach, California
The RMS Queen Mary is a 1936 art deco ocean liner
which is permanently docked at Long Beach. Roughly 200 ft (61 m) longer than
the RMS Titanic, the former Cunard Liner is famous for being the fastest
in the world from 1936 to 1952; for its distinctive art deco design, and for
its use during World War II as a troop transport. It was purchased by the city
of Long Beach in 1967, and converted to a hotel and maritime museum.
Unfortunately, I did not have time to get any closer than this view, which is a
pity. As a former ship yard worker, I would have loved the opportunity to go on
board and give the ship a closer inspection.
The Carnival Inspiration, Long Beach, California
With the Carnival Inspiration berthed so close to the
Queen Mary, it was a perfect opportunity to make a visual comparison
between the old and new cruise liners. One imagines vast differences between
the layout and facilities of each ship, but both no doubt have their champions,
even today. If you had a choice, which would you prefer to sail on?
Shopping outlet at Shoreline Village, Long Beach, California
I did not have time to check out other attractions around
Long Beach, but the 5-acre (20,000 m2) Aquarium of the Pacific is located
nearby, as is the Long Beach Convention Center, and the Shoreline Village,
where these two images (above and below) were taken―as were the two photos
above of Parker’s Lighthouse.
Waiting for my ship to come in at Long Beach, California
Downtown Long Beach is located approximately 25 miles (40
km) south of Downtown Los Angeles. I got there by boarding a Metro train
somewhere downtown, and riding it to Long Beach. I enjoyed my visit, although
it was far too brief, and given the chance I would like an opportunity to spend
several days in the area exploring further.
Multimedia, performance and installation
artist Sue Austin challenges our notions of what disability is. Sue is
the founder and artistic director of Freewheeling, an initiative aiming
to further the genre of Disability Arts.
Sue states: "My studio practice has, for sometime,
centred around finding ways to understand and represent my embodied experience
as a wheelchair user, opening up profound issues about methods of self-representation
and the power of self-narration in challenging the nexus of power and control
that created the ‘disabled’ as other."
When Sue got a powered wheelchair more than sixteen years
ago, she felt a tremendous sense of freedom. However, others looked at her as
though she had lost something precious―her ability to walk and move about
freely. On the other hand, for Sue Austin, the power chair gave her precisely
that ability. By adding modifications and additions to her chair, Sue is able
to create art, and just as importantly, travel and explore the world in ways
that almost defy the imagination.
This talk, filmed at TEDxWomen 2012 includes stunning
footage of Sue as she dons an oxygen tank and breathing apparatus, and turns
her powered wheelchair into an underwater vessel that propels her across vast
ocean floors, and amongst schools of multi-coloured fish. In doing so, Sue
Austin reshapes how we think about disability, and proves once again, that
where there is a will, there is always a way.
~ So when you travel, where do you prefer to sit: window,
aisle or middle seat?
I am definitely a window seat traveller. When I take
international flights, I prefer the window seat, not because I can spend most
of the flight looking at the scenery from the window – at 30,000 feet, there is
not a lot of scenery to see passing over the Pacific Ocean between Australia
and North America.
No, I choose window seats because I can wedge myself up
against the internal fuselage of the aircraft and get a reasonable amount of
sleep without being disturbed by the comings and goings of the other passengers
sharing my seating section. The ability to look at the landscape once the plane
is passing over areas of country is an added bonus
Gulf Coast from Greyhound Bus window
When travelling by bus or train, I again choose window
seats. I am not one of those travellers who bury their head in a book or
digital device, or who try to blot out my surroundings by listening to music
through a pair of tiny ear buds.
I spend most of the trip looking out the window at the
passing parade of small towns and villages, with their pedestrians and local
traffic; examining the local architecture, both civic and private; and trying
get an understanding (no matter how brief and fleeting) of the lives and loves
of the local population.
How about you. Where do you prefer to sit, and why?
Feel free to share your opinions and thoughts via the Comments section below.
~ 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.
While I was there, a major installation, Ballroom,
attracted much attention from visitors and locals alike. The installation was
created by American artist, Patrick Dougherty, who bends, weaves, snags and
flexes a humble pile of sticks to create works of art that are inseparable from
nature and landscape. Over the last twenty five years, Dougherty has build more
than two hundred works throughout the Untied States, Canada, Europe and Asia,
with every piece mesmerising in its ability to fly through trees, overtake
buildings, and virtually defy gravity.
In addition to freestanding structures, Patrick’s art
functions just as easily as adornments. What shape the works take, depends very
much on the site and methodology used.
The work took three weeks, or 2000 hours, to build with the
help of 70 volunteers. In part inspired by the architecture of Flinders Street
Station, Patrick named this piece, Ballroom.
Speaking about the installation, Patrick had this to say: “I
think that a good sculpture is one that evokes in the viewer a wealth of
personal associations. My viewers see stick castles, lairs, nests,
architectural follies; and they remember moments in the woods building forts
and hide outs.
I hear stories about the Garden of Eden, favourite trees,
and secrets about first dates. Some viewers touch the surfaces and talk about
the momentum of wind of other forces of the natural world. Most important,
people love to explore strange shapes and hidden spaces, particularly if they
encounter them in unlikely spots. I like to see children running towards the
openings and people standing on the street and pointing. I like to spark
people’s imaginations and connect them with nature in a surprising way.”
Here is a brief video I
shot of the installation during my stay:
After hotel costs, transport and food, one of the biggest
additions to the cost of any travel is the cost of sightseeing and visiting
city attractions. In a city like New York, which has more places to visit than
one could reasonably expect to see in a life time of travel, any system that
helps reduce costs has to be worth looking at. In this post I want to write
specifically about my two favorite ‘go to’ sites that offer the chance to score
tickets to a wide range of events at vastly reduced prices. These are TKTS and
Goldstar.
Most visitors to New York City, and the locals living there
full time, are aware that discounted tickets to many New York theatre
productions – including popular Broadway shows – can be found by visiting one
of the city’s TKTS outlets.
The Theatre Development Fund (TDF), is the not-for-profit
performing arts service organization that operates the TKTS Discount Booths.
TKTS Discount Booths offer tickets to Broadway and Off Broadway musicals and
plays at up to 50% off. The (TDF) operates three TKTS Discount Booths in New
York City.
1. The Times Square Booth (under the red steps at
Broadway and 47th Street), sells day-of-performance discount tickets. You can
also purchase full-price tickets to future performances for all shows and
same-day full-price tickets to shows that aren't being discounted.
2. The Downtown Brooklyn Booth (in 1 MetroTech
Center, at the corner of Jay Street and Myrtle Avenue Promenade, Brooklyn),
sells tickets to evening performances on the day of the performance and matinee
tickets the day before as well as tickets to Brooklyn performing arts events.
3. The South Street Seaport Booth (in the Seaport Marketplace at the corner of
Front and John Streets, Manhattan) sells tickets to evening performances on the
day of the performance and matinee tickets the day before. NOTE: As of this
posting, the booth is closed until further notice due to water damage from
Hurricane Sandy. Keep an eye on the TKTS website for
news and information regarding when this booth will reopen.
All locations sell tickets at 50%, 40%, 30% and 20% off full
price (plus a $4.00 per ticket service charge, which helps support other TDF services
and programs. Availability and ticket inventory change throughout the day and
are always at the discretion of individual theatre productions. Currently you
are not able to purchase discounted tickets to shows in New York City via the
Theatre Development Fund website. You have to visit a TKTS Booth personally, or
use one of the apps available for this purpose (see below).
Goldstar states that it has the largest online listing of
half-price offers to live entertainment in the world, and I’m not about to
argue with that. I first learned about Goldstar in 2010 while on a nine hour
cruise from Manhattan to Bear Mountain (up the Hudson River) with the Classic Harbor Line, for which I had paid US$160.00. A
fellow passenger, who had purchased her ticket through Goldstar had only paid
US$90.00, for her discounted ticket.
Unlike TKTS, which only sells discounted tickets to theatre
shows in New York City, I have since used Goldstar to buy discounted tickets to
major league baseball games, theatre shows, roller derby events, harbor
cruises, and more. As I write, Goldstar are selling tickets for the three hour Bateaux
New York Dinner Cruises during March and April priced at around $99.65-$103.65,
compared with the full price of $166.10-$172.75. Considerable savings by any
measure. Alternatively, the Central Park Walking Tour they are also
currently selling is half priced ($22.50 instead of $45.00) for dates during
March and April.
The really great news is that again, unlike the TKTS Booths
which are only available in New York City, Goldstar offers discounts to
hundreds of events in more than 30 cities across the United States. These
include Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Diego, San
Francisco and Washington, D.C. An added bonus is that Goldstar tickets can be
bought online through their website, and via their
iPhone app (see below).
There’s an App For That!
Both TKTS and Goldstar have apps available to make it easy
for visitors to purchase tickets without the hassle of joining long queues.
According to information about the TKTS app at iTunes:
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.
Note: This app is being marketed specifically as the Goldstar Weekend app, and as the name suggests, the app appears to offer event discounts
for weekend performances only. Here’s what Goldstar themselves say about the
app:
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.
I myself have not used either of the above apps, so I can not
offer comments or reviews of their ease of use or other comments. In fact,
until I sat down to write this post, I didn’t know the two companies had apps,
and for all I know the apps weren’t available when I was visiting New York City
during the summer of 2012. However, I have used the TKTS booths while in New
York City, and in the case of Goldstar, I have always made a point of
pre-booking events via the full website, before my arrival in the city. Using the Goldstar website, you can purchase discounted tickets non-weekend events.
I have been consuming books at a great rate over the last
three months, which accounts for the lack of entries on this ‘travel’ blog. It
also reflects the fact that I haven’t been travelling much over the past year –
although I did spend five weeks house sitting in Melbourne during January and
February. In fact, my Melbourne stay has been responsible in part for my return to reading. The city has some great second hand bookshops, and on my return to Adelaide, I carried with me a carton of 22 books that I just could not ignore as I trawled through my favourite stores.
I used to have a collection of several thousand books, but
five or six years ago I sold my house and have been living in a series of
rented accommodations ever since. As a result, I got rid of the bulk of my
collection, with the rest packed in boxes, which are in turn stacked in my
niece’s shed.
The previous collection of books covered everything from
folk music to folk tales, history to fantasy, fiction and non-fiction, politics
and art, and much more. Sadly, I never seemed to have time to read most of the
books I bought. They just took up space on the bookshelves waiting patiently
for the day when I would finally find the time to devote to them.
Unfortunately, that time never came.
However, now that I am pretty much retired, I have plenty of
time to read, and that is what I have been doing. Most of my new, small, but
growing collection of books deals with 17th and 18th century history as it
relates to the United States and Europe. I have also become interested (in a
very general way) with architecture, art, and philosophy. To lighten my reading
list, I try to mix non fiction titles in amongst the serious tomes, and I must
say, I have found my renewed enthusiasm for reading quite addictive and of course
stimulating and educational.
I can’t imagine why you would be interested, but here for
the record is a list of the books I have read to date in 2012:
Books Read in January
1.At
The Edge of a Dream: The Story of Jewish Immigration on New York’s Lower East
Side 1880–1920
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
How true that
heading is. On my way back to Adelaide from Melbourne yesterday, I got talking
to a man who was also travelling on his own. We chatted about travel – as one
seems to do when one is travelling – and he mentioned visiting Philadelphia some
time ago with his wife.
It seems that the
bus they were travelling on was delayed on its way to Philly. When they got to
the main bus station much later than anticipated, they found that the hotel
they had booked to stay in was some “50 miles” out of town, and that the only way to get there was with an expensive taxi ride. Of course, they
cancelled that booking, and asked the agent at the bus terminal in Philadelphia
if he could recommend a local hotel.
The agent recommended the Comfort Inn. In fact, said he, “they have a courtesy bus
which can come and pick you up”. So the bus was called for and away went this
couple to the Hotel. The man and his wife were delighted to find they were
placed in a room overlooking the Delaware River, with a great view of the
Benjamin Franklin Bridge.
What a coincidence.
This is the same Comfort Inn hotel I stayed in during
my Philadelphia visit in 2010, during which I too had a room overlooking the river
and the bridge. Of course, I mentioned this to my fellow passenger, and marvelled at the serendipitous nature of travel encounters.
At a subsequent
stop (we were not sitting together), we started chatting again. This time we
began talking about the bus ride up to that point, and agreed that next time either of us were making the same trip, we would look at catching the train instead of a bus. He
mentioned that the train cost only a few dollars more anyway, and had the
advantage of letting passengers walk through the carriages, giving
them a chance to stretch their legs and move around more freely.
As we were
chatting, the thought suddenly occurred to me that the train would pass through
Mitcham station on its way into Mile End. Mitcham station is literally a couple
of hundred metres from my current address, and I told him this, mentioning that
I lived at Mitcham. Well, you could knock me down with a feather. Not only did
this man and his wife also live in Mitcham many years ago, but he said, they
“used to live in some flats opposite the Mitcham shops.”
“In Wemyss Avenue?”
ask I.
“Yes,” says he.
Go ahead. Knock me
down with a feather. Because my current address just happens to be one of those apartments in
Wemyss Avenue.
I couldn’t believe
it, and I’m not sure that he believed me, either. But there you have it. Two
complete strangers swapping travel stories during a long bus trip between
Melbourne and Adelaide, and we had both stayed in the same hotel in
Philadelphia, and in the same apartment complex in Adelaide.
Of course, the
dates and apartment/room numbers were different, but just the same – what are
the odds of this happening?
It’s traditional to offer some homilies and reflections at
the end of one year, and at the beginning of a new one, and being a bit of a
traditionalist I am happy to add my few words to the millions that have been
written already, or to those that are being uploaded across the Internet as we
speak.
Last year was not the best in my extended family, coming as
it did with the loss in May (at age 70), of an older brother, George. There was
also the untimely passing of a brother-in-laws much loved mother, and family
matriarch, Maureen (who lived a long and fulfilled life of 91 years). Of
course, all deaths are untimely, when it comes down to it, but Meg, as she was
affectionately known by one and all, passed away just a couple of weeks before
Christmas, and any death close to Christmas seems to have more impact than if
it had occurred well before significant events that are normally celebrated by
most families, or the larger community.
There were other deaths along the way, all of which served
to remind me that I am not getting younger, and that if I am going to make the
most of the rest of my life I need to focus my time and attention where I can
get the most benefit out of the years ahead. Of course, life marches to its own
beat, and it has a way of getting in the way of our best laid plans – no matter
how carefully we have made our arrangements.
So for myself, the new year begins with much reflection and
the hope that last year’s farewells will be the last I am going to see for some
time. The new year also begins with the promise – and planning – of new
journeys. Next week I head to Melbourne for a five week house sitting stint,
and in July and August I should be apartment sitting in New York City. Then
there is a much anticipated return to my ancestral home on the Greek island of
Ikaria – and another stay in Paris, France would not go amiss either.
Dear reader, life is finite. The clock is ticking.
Travel blogs are filled with comments from readers wishing
that they too could embark on journeys they have been daydreaming about, in
many instances, for years.
If this sound like you, take
heart. You can have your cake and eat it too – but you will have to
decide on your priorities. You will almost certainly have to sacrifice
something to make your dreams come true. And you will again, almost certainly,
have to overcome many doubts and fears to bring your dreams to fruition. You
will also encounter naysayers, sceptics, and critics who will argue that the
world is filled with dangers lurking around every corner – as if watching an
hour of the evening news doesn’t reinforce that time and time again.
Then there are others who argue that you need to knuckle
down and focus on finding a life partner, or family, or career, or
homebuilding, or making a fortune, or [add your own inner nagging voice].
Ignore them all. Travel blogs are also filled with articles
from people – young and old – who have decided to live the dream they have been
nurturing for many years, and who have left the 9-5 rat race behind to travel
the world, in many instances for years at a time.
Some work their way from country to country, others busk or
perform on city streets and subway station platforms. Travellers can join a
wide variety of networks and organizations filled with friendly people that are
happy to offer accommodation and advice for the passing traveller. All this
information and more is available online via the monitor or portable device you
are reading this post on right now.
Make a plan. It doesn’t matter if your plan is to travel in
five years instead of five months. The important thing is to make a plan and
stay focussed on it. Nurture it. Feed it. Grow it. Read, research, make notes,
make plans, make contact with fellow travellers, and aim to put some money
aside each week until you reach your ultimate goal – and departure date.
I say again – life is finite. The clock is ticking.
So, Love The Life You Live – or change it – and may all your
dreams and more come to pass in 2012.
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.
Technology and travel; has there ever been a better time to marry the two fields together?
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.
~ 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 - -
And then there is David Holmes, who works for America's Southwest Airlines. David has achieved fame (as only the internet and YouTube can bestow it), as a rapping flight attendant who knows exactly how to get his passengers to pay attention to the pre-flight announcement that all airlines include at takeoff.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, enjoy the rest of the weekend.
And a Happy Father's Day to everyone celebrating this day in Australia and elsewhere.
~ At 5 minutes and 6 seconds after 4AM on August 7, 2009, the sequence of numbers spelling out the time and date will be 04:05:0607-08-09.
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: 04:05:0608-07-09, which makes the whole point of the exercise worthless – which it ultimately is, anyway. But then I had to write about something, and this was it.
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.
~ As the northern summer holiday season gets into full swing, my post today comes courtesy of the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 'Smartraveller' website... While targeted specifically at Australian’s travelling overseas, much of the information and advice is equally useful for all travellers to consider. As you read this, just substitute ‘Australian’ for your own nationality.
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 South-East Asia, particularly in areas such as Bali, resort areas of Thailand and in Vietnam. Australian travellers should ensure they wear helmets and other protective clothing when riding motorcycles overseas in order to minimise the risk of injury.
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 Australia for information on drivers licence requirements.
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 Australia's consular staff abroad, can accept liability for injury, loss or damage arising in respect of any statement contained therein.
~ This is the third in an occasional series of articles about house swapping your home with another family, thereby making the most of your travel experience in another city or country. The first article was House Swaps: The Practical Way To Go, while the second article, House Swapping for Seniors, provided practical advice for that age specific group of travellers. These blog entries are sourced from, and used with the permission of the Aussie House Swap website.
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 Swapwebsite. 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.
~ I recently received a bunch of photographs from a friend depicting images from a unique – to say the least – annual Japanese festival.
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.
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!
~ My attention was drawn to an article in the Adelaide Advertiser published on February 17. It detailed the enormous costs associated with getting married in Australia in 2008. I believe the original source for the data published in the paper came from an online poll conducted by Bride to Be last year.
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.
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” - 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 Café 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!
