Travel Blog

What happens when the oil runs out?

2008-07-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Everybody these days knows about Peak Oil. Even if they never heard the phrase, folks from Marseille to Malaysia know that it's getting damn expensive to fill the tank. But if you thought filling a car was costly (and General Motors knows all about it), how would you like to fill a plane? That's the reality that is making airline executives today wish they were on holiday.

According to the New York Times, the inexorable rise in the price of jet fuel is behind the biggest shake-up of the airline industry since 9-11. It is leading to route cuts and fare increases, bankruptcies and mergers the world over, and worse is forecast.

So...the big question for travellers: is this the end of cheap flights? And if so, what happens next? Will we see the return of sail? Or is it time to revive the romance of rail? (Cue plug for one of our favourite sites, The Man in Seat Sixty-One.)

What are your thoughts? What is the future of travel when the oil runs out?

Michael Day

Solo in Singapore

2008-07-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

The solo traveller is free to do what he likes. If you want to drink beer in the morning or eat pizza every day, no one's going to tell you off. If you want to walk 20km in the heat, because you can't be stuffed sorting out the bus route, there's no grumbling companion, dragging their heels in protest to bother you. And of course your memories are your own.

This is what I recall of my first day as a lone wolf, a stopover in Singapore en route to Bombay (Mumbai).
The humidity clinging to me like a warm, wet blanket as I left Changi airport's well-controlled climes and headed out into the green, clean streets of Singapore. Checking into my hotel room to find business cards offering 'special massages' and more exotically a note on the back of the door detailing the hotel-wide ban on durian, that stinky-sweet Asian treat. Humbly asking the bellhop where the train station was, only to be returned a blank, puzzled stare. A few more minutes of scrambling for every descriptive I could think of for, 'where the train is', and he realised I was referring to the MRT, Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit, AKA, the train station. My first experience of how annoying an acronym can be for a newcomer. Newton's Circus outdoor food court, where stall after stall offered glorious variations on the Asian staples of noodles and rice. I think I ate three lunches and drank an enormous fresh coconut. I didn't chew gum. Somebody put ice in my beer. I should have had a suit made for me by one of the countless Indian tailors, whose little shops studded the subterranean malls. The only person I saw who seemed to be stepping outside the established order was an old grandmother. With grandchild in tow, she was standing by a lychee tree in a park, knocking the fruit out of the tree with a stick.
I was young, single and could have told lies for days. I still hate acronyms and I look forward to knocking fruit out trees when I'm old.

Larry O'Leary

Baby, it's cold inside

2008-06-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

I'm nosing around for some accommodation in Leh - high high high in the Indian part of the Himalayas - and remembering when I was last there, at the end of September. The gardens were still bright with sunflowers and cornflowers and poppies, but as soon as the sun dipped below the mountains I would be scrabbling through my backpack for ever-more elaborate sleep outfits. The Tibetan family who ran my guesthouse thought I was hilarious. 'It's not even cold yet!' they would scoff as I begged for my morning bucket of water to be heated. By the last few days of September, I was spending the nights under siege in my unheated room - sleeping in hat and coat and thermals and socks and zero-degree sleeping bag, and still so bone-chilled I was awake all night (the starscapes outside my 17 windows were some consolation).
I've been driven from Leh in September, Kathmandu in December, and Edinburgh in July by a constitutional aversion to the cold. Of course, there are some hardier souls who love nothing better than to feel their very capillaries crackling under the touch of Jack Frost - it makes them feel alive, I'm told - but for those of us who would rather feel alive in a less hypothermic way, travel can turn into a series of ingenious contortions to beat out the chill. Take these tips from a good citizen of Baguio, in the Philippines. Hairdryers under the clothes and heating your room with a toaster oven - hmmm. Perhaps I should reroute this trip to Jamaica.

- Cherry Washington

Am Teen, Can't Travel

2008-06-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

I am 15 years old and as you would expect independent travel is both a difficult and overwhelming aspiration. I've got many tentative plans for after I finish school but until then I'm looking for ways to see the world while still under the roof of parental control. My first attempt to bust out was a year and a half ago when I went to LA with my family. I had aimed to go to a local punk night at a club in Echo Park, live music being an interest of mine wherever I am. The fact that this night in particular didn't work out has not deterred me from searching for my own interests through and while travelling. As other aspiring travellers of similar ages will agree, if you are in the situation where you can't travel alone that makes it extremely difficult to look into things that solely interest you and not just your guardians. Despite these challenges I think everyone should take the opportunity to travel free while you still can because sooner or later we will have to fund and guide ourselves and who knows? That could be half the fun. If anyone has any tips (other than wait a while) for under 18s wanting to explore the world, please throw them here.

- Max Mildren, work experience student

Saved by Pop

2008-06-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Western pop culture has an insidious way of travelling. Pop icons you're familiar with from home often appear up in the most far-flung of places, winning the hearts and minds of locals. And while this might seem like another shameful example of homogenous, ubiquitous western cultural colonialism, it's great for conversation starters.

I realised this in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, while visiting a local primary school for a day of English conversation classes. The school is situated in the Old Town of Tashkent, not a great distance, but conceptually very far from the gleaming concrete and glass buildings of the city's relatively affluent centre. The Old Town has constrasts of its own; while houses are crumbling and household waste is burned in neat piles in concrete pits for lack of any other disposal method, footpaths are immaculately swept and flowerbeds are arranged in geometrically perfect formations and tended by house-proud residents.

This school is a particularly large one, attracting students from several hours away with its daily lunch, a meal that might otherwise not be possible. During the lunch break in the staff tea room, we met Mohammed, a 21-year old physical education teacher. Each struggling with our broken Russian, we found ourselves comfortably on common ground discussing one topic in particular: Britney Spears.

After covering all the usuals, favourite songs, film clips, dance moves, I became intensely curious about his personal take on the pop-princess's latest troubles: the head shaving, the rehab, the custody battles. The ensuing silence spoke volumes.

Britney's hits have made it around the world several times over, and while every Uzbek worth their salt knows the lyrics to her songs almost perfectly ("Oops I did it, oh yeah"), not all were completely abreast with her recent spate of personal problems. How was I to know news travelled so slowly in the Former Soviet Union?

But after the silence, during which Mohammed processed the meaning of what I had just told him about his favourite and most revered musical influence, he responded with a maturity and wisdom far beyond his years, experience and situation.

"I guess that's what happens when you have too much money."

Jenni Kauppi

Art Deco Walking Tours

2008-06-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

If you're strapped for cash and can't afford to travel right now, here's a tip - check out the walking tours available in your home town. I recently did an Art Deco walking tour in my city and it was like seeing a whole other version of it. Who knew there were such sleek and curvy architectural gems languishing between the Starbucks and the Foot Lockers? You can stride amongst the Deco in Miami of course, a city renowned for its Deco buildings, but such tours are also happening in Napier, Los Angeles, Sydney, you name it. So go on, pony up a few bucks and canter through your city on a whole other track.

- Dee Dee Luxe

Go Hard, or Go Home

2008-06-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

Should travel involve challenges? Perhaps going from business class to hotel transfer, up to the King Farouk suite, down to the buffet and out to the pool bar sounds like paradise, but is it really in the spirit of things?

Travel should involve just a little struggle, a few annoyances, a bit of frustration.

Queuing for overcrowded buses, sleeping in smelly dorms, spending hours guarding packs on cold railway platforms.These are all part of the complex mix of excitement, boredom and hassle that makes seeing the world such a joy.

Of course, the more challenging the experience, the more satisfying the memory and, most importantly, the more imposing the travel anecdote.

No one ever got any street cred by complaining about the unsatisfactory complimentary massage they received while staying at the LuxuryLand, or the lack of quality single malts in the mini-bar. But explain that you only made it to your destination after 40 hours of non-air conditioned, third-class train travel, with no one but drunken soldiers and consumptive old-timers for company, and three cigarettes, a flask of raki and a day old borek for sustenance, and you have a tale worth telling.

Throwing yourself into confusing and confronting situations and seeing how you cope is what makes life, and travel worth experiencing.

When did you truly rise to the challenge, or when was the easy way, the only way?

Larry O'Leary

Lost and Found

2008-06-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

You were too busy with your phrasebook trying to figure out how to ask if this was your bus stop, too engrossed in the festival to realise your bag was unzipped and your camera vulnerable. Running late for your plane and left the charger in the wall? Journal under the pillow? Sunnies on the dashboard?

As anyone who's ever lost or left behind anything in the throes of travel will know, it can be anything from mildly annoying to downright devastating.

But it can also be an arcane glimpse into the universe's very bizarre brand of synchronicity when, finally eligible to redeem those karma points you've been accruing over the years, the items somehow make their way back to you.

Been reunited with long lost belongings? Sustained a devastating loss? We're listening.

P.S You might be pleased/appalled to know that there is business to be made out of unclaimed lost property that slips between the cracks of aforementioned karmic system.

Jenni Kauppi

Sydney's art mart

2008-06-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

If you're in Sydney and want to get a few good notches on your art belt in one solid hit, head to 2 Danks Street in Waterloo for a whole slew of galleries under one warehousey roof. Wander in and you enter into an artful lucky dip. One gallery might be pungent with an installation of rotting flowers, another will have concrete casts of TV sets engraved with the word 'silence', while another displays an affordable pop mash-up of plastic cast ravens and busts of Andy Warhol. All this awaits you - if you manage to drag yourself past the incredible Danks Street Depot café at the front. This is no manky-muffin-and-crappucino operation - as the slow cooked broccoli and eggs will attest.

What are you wearing?

2008-06-10T23:47:00.000-07:00

Why do we feel the need to dress differently when we travel? The 'traveller/tourist' look is usually very easy to spot - it falls into two broad (and insultingly generalised) categories: The Sensible and The Native. Why does the former get about in chunky, overly practical, asexual synthetics and the latter in baggy cottons, waistcoats and toe-rings?

Sensible doesn't have to mean you dress like you're about to climb the Eiger and Native shouldn't have to include exposed navel and dodgy tattoo.

A mate and I travelled together in Mexico some years ago and he insisted on wearing a very clean white panama hat and cravat everywhere we went - we were assumed to be a nice gay German couple, which was very understandable in hindsight.

Why are 'normal' clothes so wrong?

Larry O'leary

Where-the-Fi is it?

2008-06-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

Whether you're a blogger, an ardent correspondent or just want to keep up with the news or book ahead for accommodation, these days the internet plays a big part in the way we travel.

Several sites offer directories for where to find internet cafes, like this one in Australia. Or if you, like many others, don't dare travel without your laptop, you'll love a great wi-fi directory for Australia, Europe, the UK.

Got any hot-spots? C'mon, we want in!

Jenni Kauppi

Charity - leave it at home?

2008-06-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas and Orlando have laws that ban the feeding of homeless people in certain public spaces. Put that ladle down, son, and come out with your hands up! Such laws in a self-proclaimed Christian country have raised hackles all over the world - but what's your ethical position on giving food or money to beggars when you're travelling in poorer countries like India or Thailand? It can go against the heart to resist a plea for help; on the other hand, many argue that giving to beggars unbalances and corrupts communities, creates dependencies and encourages child trafficking. So, what to do? Do you give directly to a local charity, even though that will probably not help the unfortunate directly in front of you? Do you harden your heart and walk on?

-Cherry Washington

Liverpool Rules UK: It's Beatles Day!

2008-06-04T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well, almost: put 10 July in your diary, because this auspicious date not only marks 44 years since the Fab Four's triumphant return to Liverpool after conquering the USA in 1964, but also... the city's first Beatles Day!

It was only a matter of time. Liverpool has long been a Beatles mecca, luring starry-eyed fans with attractions like the famous Cavern Club (yes, I confess: I had my photo taken on the stage), the Beatles Story at Albert Dock, the wallet-whacking Beatles Shop, and, of course, the Magical Mystery Tour, which takes in the city's key Beatles landmarks.

Not forgetting the recently opened Hard Day's Night Hotel, complete with Beatles artwork, Lennon and McCartney suites and, one would hope, at least a Starr spa or a Harrison health club...

Of course, too much John, George, Paul and Ringo is never enough, and Beatles Day promises to amp up the fun with a street parade, a citywide mop-top-wig-wearing drive (I kid you not), inflatable guitars, and a huge fundraising concert to top it all off.

Not a day tripper? (yay! Finally got my corny song title allusion in there) Go the whole hog with the annual Beatle Week '08, from 20 to 26 August. It's not for nothing Liverpool was designated Europe's Capital of Culture for 2008...

What's your most memorable Liverpool experience? Did you spot anyone wearing a mop-top wig while you were there?!

- Suzy Watusi

Better pack a lawyer, just in case...

2008-06-03T23:49:00.000-07:00

In recent days, a British tourist was awarded compensation for a holiday on the grounds that it wasn't what he was expecting. His family holiday in Greece was hugely disappointing because the resort catered almost exclusively to German tourists.

Whether a resort crammed with buffet-hogging Germans is less fun than a beach town full of pink, pissed and parochial Britons is an argument for the tabloids. Better yet, next time you and your flock head off to Greece, buy a German Phrasebook for the kids.

I'm interested in how far this 'disappointment' compensation could go. If the sunset isn't quite right, the coffee's a little bitter, the rain's a bit fierce, the parties dull, the locals jaded, the bed too hard, or whatever, should you be able to get your money back?

If your entire travel experience doesn't mirror the brochure, then sue.

I remember a holiday we had when I was a child. The beach was often quite windy, I was stung by hordes of mosquitoes, and I never got to bat while playing cricket. My solicitor is currently contacting my family over the matter.

What holiday do you want to be compensated for?

Larry O'Leary

Art and the Underground

2008-06-02T23:04:00.000-07:00

The main attractions as you wander the globe may well be the galleries you visit and their world-renowned displays of priceless art. Few would dare tread the streets of Paris without also making at least a cursory trip to the Musee du Louvre to visit its most famous face.

But take a glance from another angle. The pavement you pound in the city you visit may also be home to a less conventional brand of art, albeit a little less sanctioned and a little less legal.

Street art, also known as graffiti art (and vandalism), is a thriving movement rich in symbolism and diverse in technique, carrying with it a taste for a city's underground culture. Free of all the PR of a city's tourism board and official 'must-sees', street art speaks for the locals in a way no brochure can.

Particularly thriving in this scene is Barcelona, and LP's very own Melbourne is also known throughout the world for it's street art scene. And of course, in all matters of art and the cutting edge, there's always New York. In the UK, the elusive Banksy has made quite a reputation for himself with his art as social commentary.

But, to be fair, it's everywhere and anywhere in the world, and if you like your art a little on the subversive side, you get the pleasure for free.

Got any recommmendations? Favourite pieces or artists?

Jenni Kauppi

Hitting where it hurts?

2008-05-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

One of the hottest (but sadly, let's face it, most boring) topics of conversation right now is the price of fuel. One glance at the price boards at the local service station is seriously the cheapest facelift you can get - those eyebrows aren't coming down for a good long while. In light of this rise in fuel prices, some airlines are cutting their services to less popular destinations (or 'low-yeilding leisure routes' as they call them - how'dya like that, Gold Coast? Wow.) Both domestic and international services will be getting their wings clipped.
This is really interesting. Are the days of 10-cent travel over? Is that flurry of budget flights finally coming to rest? How is this going to affect the future of travel? Are we all going to start investigating destinations closer to home or are we just gonna suck up that price hike and awkward schedule?

I'm interested, I'm conflicted, I'm kinda excited. How's this going to pan out? What do you think?

-- Slickarus

North Melbourne's 'Underbelly'

2008-05-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

North Melbourne doesn't tend to rate much of a mention in guidebooks about our fair city, but this may change now given the suburb's starring role in controversial Aussie TV series Underbelly. For those of you who've been living on the moon or in the wilds of Mongolia lately, Underbelly is an absorbing and shamelessly flashy dramatisation of the infamous 'gangland wars' that shook this town between 1995 and 2004.

Ironically, it's banned from screening in Victoria until ongoing court cases pertaining to the gangland wars are finalised.

But you can get an Underbelly fix simply by trawling the restaurant-lined 'mean streets' of North Melbourne (standing in for Carlton, scene of actual events). Forget that dorky Neighbours tour, don those bullet-proof shades and get hungry: these gangsters had big appetites!

- Rubicon, Errol St: acting as La Porcetta, Mick Gatto's old hang-out and the place where gun-for-hire Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin met his maker. (They make a damn fine pumpkin pizza, too).
- Amiconi, Victoria St: appearing as bent lawyer Mario Condello's favourite haunt.
- Sosta Cucina, Errol St: featured in final episode.
- French Quarter Patisserie, Queensberry St: some key Tony Mokbel scenes were filmed here. (And I can vouch for their heart-stoppingly exquisite cakes).
- Town Hall Hotel, Errol St: a chase scene took place in the front bar, but don't let that stop you from lingering for a bevvie or two, some tasty pub grub and some seriously rockin' live music.
- Railway Hotel, Ireland St: I've always been too scared to go into this pub, which I suppose makes sense considering that it's the scene of the skimpy-bar where a lingerie-clad Tracey Seymour first meets bad boys Alphonse Gangitano and Jason Moran.

Have you ever visited landmarks and/or locations related to your favourite TV show?

- Suzy Watusi

The Mother of all Travels

2008-05-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

In about six months or so I will be heading off to Europe for three weeks with my Mum. We are off to England to celebrate my London-based older brother's 40th birthday and then on to Portugal.

We're expecting to have a great time travelling with Mum; she is an adventurous, curious traveller, with a lively mind who adapts well.

However, from what I have gleaned, most web-based travel advice concerning travelling with older parents assumes they are drug-dependent, semi-invalids, prone to fatigue with an insatiable appetite for dietary fibre.

Is my trip to Europe going to involve very little except medicating, reviving and hydrating Mum, eating bland bran-based food and washing tired legs?

This sounds worse than travelling with a squalling brat.

Have you ever travelled with an older parent? Was it fun, or an ordeal?

Larry O'Leary

I Never Leave Home Without it...

2008-05-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

Long-gone are the days when travel meant tying your belongings neatly in a hankerchief, securing it to the end of a stick and casually slinging it over your shoulder.

These days travel means gadgets, and travel gadgets can be highly technical, including essentials like MP-whatsits on mobile hoo-hahs, with GPRS thing-oes.

Do you have a favourite travel gadget? What do you never travel without?

Jenni Kauppi

Vietnamese Beers: A Quick Trip

2008-05-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

OK, I have to admit it: I'm hardly a beer connoisseur. I know what I like and what goes down well on a hot tropical afternoon, but I'm certainly far from as critical as the folks on Ratebeer.com.

That said, I found Vietnamese beers to be an incredibly pleasant surprise. Apart from bia hoi (fresh draught beer), which you can get on almost any street corner for a few cents, there are several national breweries that produce a fine drop. Here's my take, in order of preference:

1. Huda - Native to Hue, the old imperial capital, Huda is cheap, clean, thoroughly refreshing, and complex enough to sip slowly (if you have the self-control). A huge thumbs-up.

2. Bia Hue - Very similar to Huda, and brewed by the same company, this is a pale lager that sucks up your thirst magnificently. Harder to find than Huda.

3. Bia Ha Noi - North beats South in the battle of Vietnam's 'two capitals'. Hanoi's brew is golden, fizzy and eminently drinkable. It lacks the richness of its Hué counterparts, but it has no bitter aftertaste and sports a pleasant, malty flavour.

4. Bia Sai Gon - Ho Chi Minh City's answer to Bia Ha Noi, Bia Sai Gon is darker, more honeyed and less carbonated. It's better for a cool, breezy evening than after a hot day spent dodging scooters.

5. Halida - Produced in North Vietnam under the supervision of Carlsberg, Halida is an OK drop. Cheaper than chips and almost as uncarbonated, Halida can leave a full feeling in your stomach and a slightly bitter aftertaste. It's a fine accompaniment to spring rolls or bun, though.

6. Bia Festival - Easily the worst of the three big Hué beers, Festival is overpriced and slightly sour. Go for Huda instead.

7. Bia 333 - Pronounced 'ba ba ba' (don't ask me about tones!), 333 might not be quite as poor as Festival, but the weight of expectation sends it to the bottom of the list. It's supposedly an 'export-quality' beer, but it's horribly disappointing. If you want full flavour, go for Sai Gon; if you want a great balance, go for Huda.

Again, these are just the opinions of a complete dilettante. Anyone been to Vietnam who can recommend better/other beers, or improve this list?

-- Vivek Wagle

Let's do the Time Warp again

2008-05-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

Let's do the Time Warp again

It's not hard to be a bit of a sophisticate these days. Most people know a shiraz from a cab sav and can wax lyrical on the pleasures of a lovely, room temperature, washed-rind cheese. But some days, it can all get a bit much and you feel the need to turn your back on gourmet gentrification in favour of simpler times. In some of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, you can still find time-warped treasures doling out old school rissoles, instant coffee or greasy fried eggs while all around them, foams and foie gras abound. I respect the grim militancy of Sydney's ancient Oceanic Café, adore the homespun rudeness of Melbourne's Scheherazade. I have traced my initials in the greasy film adorning the laminex tabletops of London's New Piccadilly and chowed down on the signature tuna salad sandwich with pickles at New York's Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop, which proudly, prophetically sports a sign that reads 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

Care to share any of your favourite time-warp eateries?

- Nancy Drool

Favela Rising?

2008-05-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

Shameless voyeurism or educational experience? Opinions on slum tourism (or 'poorism' as it's sometimes called) tend to swing between these two extremes, provoking passionate arguments on both sides. Organised tours through a city's shanty towns certainly show visitors a side of their destination that official tourism bodies and guidebooks don't, but at what cost?

Although slum tourism takes place in many of the world's large cities, the favela tours of Rio de Janeiro are probably the best known exponents of this controversial travel trend. With the popularity of films like City of God and TV series like City of Men - not to mention the whole concept of 'favela chic' - it seems foreign travellers can't get enough of slumming it with the locals.

And now you can even meet a bonafide drug dealer as part of your 'authentic' favela experience. OK, is it just me, or is this taking things a little too far? I can't help feeling that it's an insult to the thousands of favela-dwellers who are just trying to get by the best they can without succumbing to corruption or violence...

What are your thoughts on favela tours? Akin to ogling animals in a zoo, or a chance to really connect with Rio's less privileged residents?

- Suzy Watusi

Football Fans Get Cosy

2008-05-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Fancamp has been set-up to cater to football fans who will gather all over Europe to witness the first 'All England' Champions league final between Chelsea and Man United. It promises secure, convenient accomodation with bonuses including in-house hair & make-up artists and 'fairly-priced' beer.

The actual digs are a little spartan: somewhere between a monk's cell and a polling booth.

Keep in mind, the game is being played in Moscow, Fancamp is in Vienna.

The Viennese are obviously keen to avoid Manchester's fate at the hands of Rangers fans watching the Uefa cup final last week.

This all got me thinking. If it's alright for football fans, why not other types of travellers? One of these could cater to young Aussies in London - they all live in crowded sharehouses, why not set-up a giant sharehouse along the lines of the FanCamp model.

FanCamp: cramped hellhole or budget accomodation solution?

Tread Lightly

2008-05-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

If you're worried about the hobbit-sized ecological footprint you leave every time you jet off to discover the world, you may be interested to know about 'carbon offset' companies, like Carbonfund.org who'll repent your sins for a nominal fee.

Hey, with all those new low-cost airlines, there may just be an opening in your travel budget.

What's your experience of carbon offset travel?

Jenni Kauppi

The Supremes of Surry Hills

2008-05-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

The people-watching in Sydney’s Surry Hills must be good. I was swinging along Bourke St on my way to the miniscule Bourke St Bakery (look for the warranted queue) and noticed many houses with trios of chairs on the terrace. Some were mottled collections, others more sharply coordinated, possibly reflecting the residents within. It must be fun to watch people pad along the street with a glimmer of hope in their eyes, and then see them coming back the other way, all sugared-up and happy, a few flakes of plum tart in their hair.