Three if by land, two if by sea. Sorry, Paul Revere, but you got lit up your way, I’ll do it mine. I was at Frenchman’s Reef and Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort on St. Thomas recently, a glorious iconic resort perched high on a bluff and overlooking the capital city of Charlotte Amalie, which a few years ago did a $48-million renovation, jazzing up the spacious rooms (which start around $220 a night), and adding a fitness center, two pools, … [Read more...]
Can food broker peace? Mamnoon Restaurant, Seattle
Celebrating Syria: “We couldn’t go back, so we started mamnoon instead.” -Richard Bangs “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” -T.S. Elliot There are so many delicious facets to this story. I first met Wassef Haroun in Zambia, at the Kafue River Camp, owned by a mutual friend who had invited us for a week-long private safari. Towards the end of the week Wassef excused himself from the Rhodesian teak table … [Read more...]
My Journey to the massive Kata Tjuta stones in Australia
Here is my personal journey, which started in Sydney and ended up in me finding the most peaceful yet mind-blowing place on Earth - the Kata Tjuta stones in the Northern Territory. Ticking things off When you go to any country in the world for the first time there are certain places you need to tick off your to-do list. In Australia those places are the Gold Coast in Queensland and of course, Sydney. The Opera House, Bondi Beach, the … [Read more...]
East Coast Road Trippin’, Australia
If you’ve been thinking about doing a road trip to see the many amazing sites of this great country, there’s one service I’d recommend you take a look at. DriveNow offer a one-way campervan relocation service; where rental companies decide to move their campervans to a different state to accommodate to greater demand in that area due to big events or seasonal changes they, through Drive Now, give the general public an opportunity to relocate … [Read more...]
My Role as one of Tourism Australia’s Digital corOZpondents
I am honored to have been selected as one of Tourism Australia's digital corOZpondents for 2013/2014. As part of being a corOZpondent I will be making a trip to this great continent for nearly a month (I was in Sydney and vicinity earlier this year for the New Year's fireworks). I'm on the road quite a bit each year - and every trip has its own merit - but there are few trips I have been looking forward to as much as this one. I already know it … [Read more...]
My Winter Wish List for the Holidays
As the weather cools, travel heats up this time of year- visits to friends and family during the holidays, local trips to experience outdoor activities or destination trips to warmer locales certainly sounds appealing - especially as I write this - huddled next to a space heater. The warmth of this heater is making me reflect upon warm weather destinations that I visited earlier this year; Bermuda (an easy flight from the East Coast), Sydney, … [Read more...]
A professional traveler looks back at her decades on the road
My first overseas trip was at the age of two months when Mum and I travelled by boat from Sydney with all our belongings to join Dad who was then working as an agricultural scientist in Papua New Guinea. For the next 18 years the family, eventually with three daughters, moved around the country and my mother remembers that, as a small child, this traumatized me – I hated change, hated moving and screamed every time I saw a suitcase. I … [Read more...]
Greetings from the Village – Eastern Thailand
We are back in the village for the next month - enjoying some fine R&R after a hectic schedule from this past year. The kids are learning Chinese in school and are happy to practice. Our niece of almost 5 years old informed us today that she is "tired of being a Thai girl and wants to be an American girl". We asked her to speak some English but all she could say was "thank you" over and over again! There is a rash of road accidents this past … [Read more...]
Trekking in the Papua New Guinea Highlands
Today we trekked for about 5.5 hours - most of it all uphill over a steep, rocky, muddy slippery trail. Arriving at a plateau (and a small village) we were greeted by the entire village welcoming us with a cheerful song. We busted open the heavy glass jar of Prima Scelta Chargrilled Artichokes that we dragged up here from when we bought them in Sydney. Food had rarely tasted so good despite these chockes being saturated in the heaviest of … [Read more...]
Coogee Beach & 2013 Sydney Fireworks
We are still trying to catch up on blog posts as its been a hectic past couple of weeks! Trying to avoid Bondi like the plague on the last day of 2012 we headed straight for Coogee. So did many others - there were more views of people than sand. Walking up the coastal walk I stumbled upon Wylies, boasting public swimming baths perched on the edge of the cliffs with its own sea pool built into the existing sandstone rock next to the crashing … [Read more...]