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…
Robots to Protect Thai Food
I have yet to meet a Thai person who is not passionate about their food. From small street stalls to five star rooftop restaurants, Thai people expect the flavours of their food to be right. And with good result. I rate Thai cuisine as one of the top five in the world (with French, Italian, Lebanese and Vietnamese)! Thais will tell you passionately where the best place in their city is to buy sticky rice or Som Tam (Spicy PawPaw/Papaya Salad) or Kai Pad Med Mamuang Himmapan (Stir-Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts): They will also…
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…
TajMahal Memories- A Top Experience
Was reflecting that, eight years ago this week, I was at the Taj Mahal for an amazing dawn. From out of the dark… the first rays of the sun lit up the historic building. Gradually more and more of the building appeared. It was beautiful. I include that as one of the top 100 experiences of my life! My camera was much more primitive than it is now. What have been some of your best travel experiences? Related Posts World’s best airlines -skytrax 2013 All about #Bargaining /Haggling Don’t carry a Money Belt
The Child and the Chewing Gum
I boarded the train in Thailand to find a medium sized child (say 9 or 10 or 11) sitting in my seat. I smiled at the child, as his mother called him back to his rightful seat. I would have done the same at his age: wandering around the train carriage to get different views of the world from the train windows. Ah this picture of exotic travel, domestic bliss and happy reminiscing was shattered when I found “the monster” before vacating my seat had carefully left his freshly chewed gum carefully along the side…
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”…
Drone’s eye view of an airport
Despite flying to or from 213 airports across the globe, Mexico City International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México).is not one of them. This amazing “bird’s eye” video is the closest I have got to that airport so far! I have really been enjoying the three and a bit minutes of stunning visual coverage of the airport, its runways and planes. We are assured that the “video was created with the permission and supervision of the Mexico City International Airport authorities”. They also state that the “drone operators were in close contact with…
Embarrassing or funny? TV Cluelessness over Euro vs Pound
In the fifty or so times, I have visited the USA, the question often comes up about how I as an Australian feel about the US dollar. Half of the questions will ask me how I deal with switching from the Euro. Inevitably, people look incredibly confused when I explain that Australia does not use the Euro. Apparently this confusion is quite universal as evidenced in this video from the TV show: Squawk Box. Scroll through to 6:55 minute mark and prepare to be amazed: The commentators show complete ignorance and then tell Martin Shanahan,…
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…
Peeve about Express Security Lines
Many airports have express lines for the security process. These lines are open to elite and/or frequent fliers. I rely on them to make my airport transits as short as possible. I have a few peeves about them. One being is there are not enough of them. Another is that when the “normal lines” are full, they redirect regular passengers to the express lines. I know I should not be selfish and share and slow down etc but it drives me crazy! At Sydney Airport, yesterday, this happened. Two young backpackers got moved into the…
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