Travel
Bon Voyage!
June 21st, 2010 | Published under Travel | 2 Comments
Well, not for a few months. But when the long wait is finally over, I’ll be on my way to my very first trip out of Australia and on to the lands beyond! For nearly fourteen weeks, I’ll explore three continents, at least eight countries and many, many states and cities. So where am I going? Here’s the breakdown:
Week 1: Departing from Melbourne to visit our brother country New Zealand, including Christchurch, Lake Ohau and Milford Sound.
Week 2: Continuing to explore New Zealand I’ll visit Queenstown, Franz Josef Glacier, Christchurch (again) and Wellington.
Week 3: I’ll leave windy Wellington to check out Taupo, Rotorua, Waitomo and Bay of Islands before stopping for a few days in Auckland to relax.
Week 4: After relaxing in Auckland I’ll make my way to my next big stop, the USA. Here I’ll check out San Francisco for a few days before starting the trek through 22 states.
Week 5: Down to Los Angeles I’ll go, before starting a tour with the famous “Sin City” (Las Vegas), the Grand Canyon and the surrounding national park.
Week 6: Continuing on the tour I’ll visit Cortez, Monument Valley, Durango, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Dallas and then celebrate Christmas in Memphis.
Week 7: With another Christmas done and gone, I’ll next check out New Orleans, Tallahassee, Orlando (where I’ll celebrate the New Year), the Everglades and then Miami.
Week 8: Now more than halfway through my trip I’ll finish the last week of the tour with Cocoa Beach, the Kennedy Space Centre, St. Augustine, Savannah, Charleston, Raleigh and then Washington D.C.
Top 10 Reasons All Men Should Travel
June 5th, 2010 | Published under Travel | No Comments
Having recently organized and planned my long awaited overseas holiday, I spotted a great article that suited my exact purpose at AskMen.com. Among their many collections of Top 10s lists (the Travel category currently being my favorite) I spotted the article “Top 10 Reasons All Men Should Travel.”
So if you needed a reason why you should, or needed to convince a male friend or family member why they should, here they are:
10. To meet new people
From the people staying down the hall in your hotel to the locals you’ll meet at every stop, the people are one of the best reasons to travel. You can run into people from all walks of life, including ones very different from your own. Travel can put you in contact with types of people you might never meet in your daily life, and the stories and perspectives are usually fascinating. And do we really need to remind you that half the people you meet will be women? Thought not. Caipirinhas are great, but that’s not why people go to Rio.
9. To eat new food
Street Meat! No matter where your travels take you, some things will always be constant, such as food. You have to eat, and that you have the opportunity to dig into the local cuisine at least three times a day. That means lots of new eating and drinking experiences; great beers and wines go hand in hand with traveling. In some cases, traveling will expose you to wonderful new foods and, other times, you’ll be eating old favourites, but with authentic flavours. Finally, many regional cuisines are based around local ingredients, so you’ll be enjoying foods at the peak of their freshness. If you’re a fan of lobster, a trip to Maine in the United States Of America will show you just how flavourful a lobster can be.
8. To think on your feet
At some point during your trip, something’s going to vary from your plan. Whether you leave your wallet at the last hotel or it starts raining on the day you planned to do something outdoors, you’ll quickly learn there are hundreds of variables when traveling. At some point you’ll have to think on your feet. Traveling challenges you to be creative and flexible if you’re really going to enjoy yourself. Don’t believe us? Your first experience with a squat-style toilet will remind you that you’re going to need to be adaptable.
7. To buy some sweet gear
Let’s face it, guys like shopping too, but not necessarily for clothes or shoes. However, all men love an excuse to buy new gear. Picking out the perfect tent, backpack, digital camera, GPS device, tough luggage, or tiny netbook can get us amped up for our trip. The joy of preparing for your trip by dreaming up the cool stuff you have to buy, putting together your Amazon wish list, or even just reading reviews comparing two items you’re looking at is the closest we’ll ever get to understanding our girlfriends’ shoe obsession.
6. To achieve a big goal
Most people don’t think of this when they plan a trip, but it’s a big undertaking. If your dream holiday is to visit another country, accomplishing that goal will take hard work. The biggest lesson is financial discipline: to save a little money each month toward the couple grand it will take for your trip. In addition to the financial side, you’re also looking at making sure your paperwork is in order (passports, hotel vouchers, etc.), and shots or immunizations you need are up-to-date, that you have all your affairs at home taken care of, and much more. To pull off a trip to someplace you’ve always wanted to go is a large, complicated goal that will teach you to be persistent and self-reliant in all areas of your life.
Check out the other five at Ask Men – Top 10 Reasons All Men Should Travel.
10 Cities I Can’t Wait To Visit
June 21st, 2009 | Published under Top 10 Lists, Travel | No Comments
The world is a huge place and there are so many sights, cities and activities I can’t wait to visit when I begin travelling around the world. With all these places to go and things to see, I thought it would appropriate for a blog of the top 10 cities I can’t wait to visit.
10 – Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo is a vibrant and futuristic city and at the same time is full of culture, good food and shopping. There’s the Imperial Palace, countless shrines, museums and temples such as the Sensoji Temple and Meiji Shrine. And for some modern sights there’s Tokyo Tower, Dome City and even Tokyo Dinseyland.
09 – Shanghai, China
Shanghai in the People’s Republic of China is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world with a modern and continuously expanding skyline including the fantastic looking Oriental Pearl Tower. Shanghai is the home to the world’s fastest growing economy.
08 – San Francisco, United States
San Francisco is one America’s most popular destinations and one of the country’s most liberal cities. San Francisco is a warm, sunny city with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge as its highlight and the beautiful surrounding bay. There’s also Alcatraz, the famous island prison located in the harbour. Most of all, I can’t wait to cross the Golden Gate Bridge.
07 – London, England
It’s expensive and cold but London is the capital of the country formerly the centre for finance, business and the highest standard of living. There are attractions such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye and the Tower of London. Maybe I’ll even see the Queen!
06 – Toronto, Canada
Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the fifth most populous city in North America. Something has always told me to visit Canada, and Toronto seems like the place to be. Toronto is known as a global city and one of the financial centres of the world. There’s also the CN Tower, the tallest free-standing land structure in the world.
Adelaide
April 22nd, 2009 | Published under Travel | No Comments
Last Easter weekend I made a trip down to our friend to the left, the city of Adelaide. We decided to use our long weekend visiting our good friend Nathan who has recently moved to Adelaide with his girlfriend and works just outside the city.
We left on the Friday morning and made the long trip up by car. We stopped by a nice park with the Grampians in the background and had a quick lunch and picked up some snacks. We then made our way more or less straight to Adelaide, only stopping for a quick break and a look at some white kangaroos.
Nathan’s apartment is located in the city and has a nice big balcony that looks out over his street in Adelaide. It’s a nice apartment and location and nestled nicely in the city with a quick walk to pretty much anywhere in Adelaide.
On the Friday night we didn’t do much more then catch up and have a chat, eat dinner and watch a few DVDs. We were pretty tired from the drive and thought we’d leave any more activities for the next day.
On Saturday we headed out to the wineries where I was the designated driver while everyone drank lots of wine. The wineries and the roads surrounding them look fantastic and they’re all complete with great looking gardens and landscapes. We had lunch with the different cheeses we had bought and glasses of wine.
Echuca
June 11th, 2008 | Published under Travel | 2 Comments
For the recent Queen’s birthday weekend me and my girlfriend took a trip down to the country town of Echuca, just near the Murray River. We spent two nights at the Georgian Motor Lodge, complete with spa, wireless internet and 46-inch plasma TV. It was a great location, on the main strip of town and just down the road from the port.
We took an hour trip down the Murray on the Emmy Lou paddle steamer seeing the scenery and relaxing on the upper deck. We also took a horse and carriage ride down main street, which of course I steered. Well, I pretended to in the photo anyway.
On the way back we took the scenic route home via Ballarat, where we stopped for a very nice pub lunch in a corner hotel full of very quiet people. We ended up driving for about 5 hours for the trip home, in which we saw some really nice mountains which looked great even in the pouring rain.
Definitely a nice relaxing weekend away!
A long way home...
Back From Queensland!
December 21st, 2007 | Published under Travel | No Comments
Well as some of you may or may not know I recently embarked on a trip to the sunny Gold Coast with my good friends Ben, Matt, Ivan, Vincent, Lisa, Runny, John, Dominic and Tony to live it up and enjoy all the Coast has to offer. Due to work commitments, I joined up a bit later by plane and left earlier. This means that I can bring you all the current news before the other guys get back! Although I’m sure they’re having a lot of fun at the moment still.
On Saturday night I arrived in perfect timing for The Germ to pick me up from the airport. We settled in to our rooms and later figured out that night that the Gold Coast isn’t the place to be looking for a 24-hour supermarket, let alone one that opens early in the morning.
On Sunday he headed down the Seaworld which was a good start to the trip enjoying such rides as the Corkscrew and the Pirate Ship. There was also plenty to see such as the polar bear, dolphins and other marine life. That night (if I remember correctly) we had a nice barbecue and relaxed with some TV. Me, Dominic and Ben also enjoyed a nice bubble bath / spa which required some cleaning up afterwards.
Monday was Movieworld with arguably some of the best rides of the trip. Most people thoroughly enjoyed the Superman ride with its “4 G-Forces and one negative G-Force”, and speed of 0-100km/h in 2 seconds. Also close to this was the Batman ride which goes directly upwards at an amazing speed. There was also plenty of fun with the old rides, the Scooby Doo rollercoaster, Wild West and of course Lethal Weapon.
Tuesday was a day off in which everyone was unsure what to do. We ended up taking a drive to Brisbane, which looked so crap that the decision was made (which some people weren’t happy about later) to continue up to the Sunshine Coast. Although the Sunshine Coast did prove to be a nice little stop on the beach, it probably wasn’t nesscary to go that far for it. But you live and you learn. We made it back home with a nice drive through Queensland scenery and got home safe in our cabin, where we later enjoyed relaxing and having fun on the nice beach of the Gold Coast.
Wednesday was my last day to which was finished off with a trip to Dreamworld. Dreamworld was quite fun and I took the plunge and me and Tony went on the Giant Drop, which proved to be quite good and I was glad I went on it in the end. Dreamworld also had the old fun of The Claw, Tower of Terror, Wipeout and the back-aching Cyclone rollarcoaster. The new Motocoaster ended up being quite a good ride as well. At Dreamworld we also took a trip to the wildlife section where we got to see Tigers, Lizards, an Eagle, Koalas and many more. We also got to sit around with some kangaroos and feed them.
All in all I must say it was an awesome trip and definitely worth me making the arrangements to come down and join the fun. I’m sure you’ll hear a lot more about our trip as soon as the other guys come back, so stay tuned. And I’m sure we’ll see plenty of pics from Vincent.
Sydney!
December 19th, 2006 | Published under Travel | No Comments
Well as most of you know I headed down to Sydney on thursday to give my brother some company on the drive back to Melbourne. It was my first flight and I loved it! It was good to be able to go to the airport and go on a plane coz over the past few months it seems I’ve been taking everyone else to the airport but never going myself. One week I think i went to the airport about 6 times (Sister and her bf, parents, brothers, karl) so this time it was my turn!
I got random explosive checked which was interesting, maybe they thought I was a terrorist? At the airport I loved looking at the planes and thinking how the hell does that get up in the air, and the X-ray machines are awesome coz I learnt all about them on that Border Security show and on How Stuff Works! I got to Sydney Airport around 10:30 and my brother picked me up in his army gear and all and we went to all kinds of Army bases which are huge and everywhere you look in Moorebank.
After my brother had done all his stuff and packed at about 5pm we decided we may as well leave for the trip ahead instead of leaving it until the next day. The trip ended up taking 9 hours and 26 minutes and we averaged a pretty good fuel consumption of 9.7l/100km! It was an awfully long trip but with two people taking turns driving and talking it wasn’t too bad, I couldn’t imagine how crap it would be driving alone which my brother had done before and found it much easier with another person. The roads were covered with cops both on the roads and hiding in bushes, and after the driving it was good to be home. Sydney and back in a day! And I took some crappy pics of planes too when I was there – not my plane but the picture of the wing is mine (window seat 
). I thought it must have been a funny sight with about 5 5-10 year-old-kids all excited looking the planes and one 19-year-old just as excited among them.
Plannnnneeeeeee
December 13th, 2006 | Published under Travel | 2 Comments
Well I’m up bright and early and everythings packed and I’m ready to go – off to Sydney and finally on a plane. Hrmmm well its not really bright but its getting there! Can’t wait
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