She Goes

I decided to do something romantic for The Future Husband and like all romantic gestures, it was a little bit selfish. I have always wanted to go to Melbourne for a weekend of window shopping, laneway strolling and gastronomic overload, preferably whilst wearing a ball gown and chasing a large ball of red woo...

Setja upp gestaspjot (Icelandic): A phrase denoting the action taken by a cat when cleaning itself, with its body curled tightly in a circle with one back leg sticking up directly in the air. When a cat is seen doing this it is supposed to indicate that visitors will be turning up (literally, ‘put u...

Paul Brown, the Executive Chef at Stamford Grand in Glenelg spent five years working for the King of Bahrain. Here’s his story: 1. How on earth did you wind up working for the King of Bahrain? To cut a long story short, I was head hunted for the position. The King asked the General Manager of Palaces to...

The next best thing to going somwhere is hearing all about it from someone who has just been. Whether it’s a cautionary tale, a romantic comedy or a simple fact box, I crave other people’s stories, photos and itineraries. And when people get sick of my incessant questions and avoid me in th...

Pisan zapra (Malay): The time needed to eat a banana

Things I’ve learnt about passports and visas … By Doug Meyer (aka The Fourth Secretary) I turned in my passport today. It still has three years of life on it (Expires 20 Jan 2013, Issued Washington DC, etc). I hope to get it back soon but in the meantime, I feel strangely naked without a current p...

Some words on travel from great thinkers, past and present … ‘A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it.’ George Moore ‘He who would travel happily must travel light.’ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ‘Certainly, travel is more than the se...

Bay of Fires, Tasmania By Verity Twydale Named the world’s ‘hottest’ travel destination for 2009, Tasmania’s Bay of Fires – located on the state’s East Coast – remains one of its best kept secrets. Tasmanians are good at keeping secrets. I remember when my family first emigrated ...

I love Australia. I love the intensity of the sunlight, the wild, menacing oceans and the white-hot sand. I love the eucalyptus-scented mountains, the idling, granite-bound rivers and the vast, red interior. Australia is a land of courage and pride and ‘no worries’; a nation blessed with free he...

I am vain with a capital V. Put me in front of a reflective surface and I will look at myself. Subsequently, going on safari presents a number of challenges – namely the lack of showers, mirrors and power points. 1. Dry Shampoo by Lee Stafford The very lovely Laura Blasdale from WordStorm PR sent me a s...