I often search in multiple websites for a fare or series of fares. When I am disciplined, I create a nice spreadsheet in which I enter airline, origin and destination cities, fares etc This seems to take effort and is frustrating. When I am not disciplined I write fares on post it notes which pile up next to me. After a while, I cannot read my scrawls or remember my abbreviations and get frustrated! Enter Pintrips. It only works in Google Chrome though as a free web app extension. Signing up was easy. Once set…
Travel Tips (Monday)
Category Archives for Travel Tips (Monday).
Conde Nast Traveller Top 100 places to stay
77 000 readers provided one million votes in the Conde 2014 Readers’ Choice Awards to identify the top 100 places to stay in the world. Reflecting the readership, the top 100 list includes a diverse range properties from across the globe. Is this the time to confess I have not stayed at any of the Top 100? Number one was Londolozi, Sabi Sands, in the Kruger National Park, South Africa which consists of five lodges located on 35,000 acres of protected bushland populated with wild animals: Rates start at $US1200 per person per night. Condé Nast Traveler magazine was…
When to use City and Museum passes
The Paris Musee Pass is one of the best kept secrets of the city. At most Museums in Paris, the pass allows me to skip the lines. I most relish, being able to avoid the ghastly long Louvre queue and pop through a mysterious back entrance and into the centre of the gallery. Tres bien! Most cities have some sort of pass that covers the main attractions. In some cities I will grab one and in others I spurn the option. Whether I buy a pass or not buy a pass depends on…
Walking Tours are the best
I am not an organised tour type of person. After being encouraged to do a walking tour by my sister, on my first trip to Berlin, however, I now believe that walking tours are the best way to see a city. I have now done that Berlin walking tour five times now! Walking tours are the best way to be introduced to a city. It allows me to see and feel the city while learning about its history, architecture and culture while getting exercise! I am not trapped! If you do not like the tour, I can wander…
I do not carry my passport
Passports are such a crucial tool. It seems crazy to me in this modern world that I still need to show a physical bundle of papers to cross a border (or in the USA fly on a plane domestically). On a visit of mine to Zimbabwe, I met an Irish guy was staying in my hotel. While sitting in Harare‘s Africa Unity square, he had put down next to him, his moneybag. It contained his cash, passport, credit cards, driver’s licence and even a copy of his birth certificate. After some minutes, he realised that…
Giving money to beggars
One of the biggest dilemmas in travel is whether to give money to beggars or not. Whether I meet one on the streets of Baltimore, Bangkok, Brisbane, Budapest or Bulawayo, I am faced with a myriad of thoughts and questions. For me, when accosted by a child or a mother and child or a disabled person, I have to work through what my position is afresh. Other colleagues I travel with have no such qualms. They calmly step over beggars as if they were invisible. On some occasions, I have seen it lead to tension…
Lessons from “The Embassy”
Almost a million Australians a year travel to Thailand. Many get into trouble and some of them are now captured for eternity in a fascinating new TV series “The Embassy“, set at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. It is compelling viewing. Trailer: The hour long episodes deal with everything that can go wrong on holidays in Thailand: ladyboys, love, lust, lost passports, lunatic drinking and lame behaviour. My favourite line comes from one of the Thai staff at the embassy: “low cost airfares meant the end of ‘the calm’ for consular offices.” The “observational documentary series”…
How to say I love you in 50 Languages
This is serious. You never know when you might need this! Or impress your loved one on your next dinner date! Happy to take corrections and additions! Afrikaans – Ek het jou lief Albanian – Te dua. Arabic – Ana behibak (to male) Ana behibek (to female) Armenian – Yes kez sirumem. Catalan – T’estimo Chinese –Mandarin -Wo ai ni Creole – Mi aime jou Croatian – Volim te Czech – Miluji te Danish – Jeg Elsker Dig Dutch – Ik hou van jou. English – I love you. Ethiopian – Afgreki Farsi – Dooset daram. Finnish…
All about #Bargaining /Haggling
I have bargained for Books in Bombay, Cards in Cambodia, Drivers in Delhi, Face-creams in Fiji, Household oddments in Hong Kong, Linen in Lebanon, Night time accommodation in Nicaragua, Sunglasses in Singapore, Trousers in Thailand, Zimbabwean stone carvings and more! Yup, I love bargaining (also known as haggling)! This shopping method for me is all part of the fun of travel. For other travellers, it feels annoying, confusing and frustrating and even terrifying. I have had friends insist I bargain for them. Others give up buying, lamenting “why can’t it be fixed price?” When I see people struggling with bargaining or when I am tired of the bargaining…
Don’t carry a Money Belt
It seems it is almost compulsory for a tourist on their first overseas trip, to carry a money belt. Every travel goods shop will tell you that you have to have one. I don’t do it! I tried for a few trips. I wore the one around my neck and the one around my waist. With relief, I abandoned the practice for the following reasons: 1. Nothing spells “Target” more than a money belt. I try to look like I belong wherever I visit and money belts blow that! Thieves can see them, shopkeepers see…
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