Category Archives: Travel

Walk of shame: Posh placenta

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What would a travel adventure be without a weird and wonderful delicacies made from someone or something’s body part?

France has frogs legs, Guatemala has lizards on a plate, Scotland has haggis and New Zealand had sheep placenta face cream.

Placenta creme

Mmmm….placenta

New Zealand, as much as I love you, I will not put sheep placenta on my face. No matter how good it makes my skin look and feel. Never.

And if you think this is something reserved for silly tourists, allow me to introduce you to this little celebrity news tidbit that I spotted today in street press, Mx….

Posh placenta

All I can say is, it’s clearly bat-shit crazy to put sheep placenta on your face, especially if Posh is doing it.

I found this placenta creme in Queenstown, New Zealand.What’s craziest thing you’ve come across while travelling and where?

Travelgasm: a massive night out

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I certainly don’t need a reason to have a night out, but I’ve now got a regular excuse to drink cocktails on a school night. For the past five months I’ve stamped the last Thursday of every month in my calendar RESERVED: Travel Massive.

Brisbane Travel Massive crew

Travel Massive started as travel networking drinks at a backpackers in Sydney, Australia and has now spread around the world. It’s grown from being just a few travel-lovers sharing beers to a global travel meet-up. Travel Massive is now connecting the travel industry with start-ups, bloggers and socially engaged travellers in cities like New York, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Melbourne and Singapore. Continue reading →

A dressing down: Central America

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Dressing down [dres-ing-doun]

noun – 1. A situation characterized by unnecessarily informal or lackluster clothing.

2. An informal chat where one takes advantage of one’s well-read, well-fed, well-travelled friends, using them for one’s own selfish purposes.

My friend Amy spent several months travelling Central America. She kindly offered to be the first sacrificial lamb for a dressing down…

TT: Why did you choose Central America?

AP: We chose Central America as we heard rave reviews from fellow travellers of how great it was. Prior to our trip we had been living in Canada for a year, so it was a chance to experience something culturally completely different and it was incredibly affordable! There was also a diving course on an island off Honduras that we were keen to do. We actually started our trip in Mexico and spent three nights of indulgence at a resort in Playa del Carmen. We backpacked for another night or two in Mexico but pretty much headed straight down to Belize. If we had more time we would have liked to continue travelling down into South America – will just have to go back another day!

Copan, Honduras

TT: What was the weirdest thing you ate?

AP: Well, I didn’t actually eat it but the weirdest thing I saw for sale was a plate of lizards at some markets in Granda!

Continue reading →

One-night stand: The Sunburnt Calf, New York City

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There’s nothing worse than travelling to another country and going to a themed bar right? Wrong.

As an Aussie, I would normally NEVER go to an ‘Aussie’ bar in another country. And there are plenty of them. Yep, I’m kind of a parochial bar snob. I’m not spending eight hours plus on a plane to go to bar that’s like home. (Ironically, they’re never really like a bar at home anyway, but I digress.)

So when my American friend suggested we go have a few drinks at The Sunburnt Calf on New York City’s Upper West Side, I was less than enthusiastic. The only thing keeping me hopeful was that my friend has great taste in bars and alcohol. Continue reading →

Travelgasm: when the festival’s rockin’, do come a knockin’

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For the past 15 years, the hospitable people of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads, Queensland, Australia, have been allowing fans of everything retro to get their rocks off at Cooly Rocks On.

The celebration of all things 50s and 60s (known as Wintersun until 2010) has a long history on the Gold Coast. This festival was rocking long before it was trendy to be retro, but with the resurgence of all things nostalgic in the past five years or so, crowds continue to grow each year.

I was corrupted at a young age by nostalgia. My first birthday was at a car show. Being a first-born daughter didn’t stop my father – a total old car nut – from taking me out into the garage every chance he got to teach me the ropes. Mum and Dad took me along to rock ‘n’ roll dancing lessons, and I was MORTIFIED when I was picked up from school in our 1964 Pontiac Parisienne. (I later realised this was actually pretty cool). Continue reading →

One-night stand: a Stitch in time

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Stitch Bar, Sydney, Australia

The doors of Stitch were wide, wide open – so we* slipped right in.

Actually, wide open might be a bit of an exaggeration because the doorway of Stitch Bar is actually a haberdashery shop front, complete with a rack of clothes. Oh, and a dark mysterious man playing the electric guitar. (Yes, really. We later find out he’s security.)

Stitch entrance

Despite feeling like, so not hip enough to walk into this bar, we pushed forward through the doorway. As we descend down the darkened stairs, I spotted 20 or so vintage Singer sewing machines holding the bar up. Very clever. If I didn’t know better (and if there wasn’t Johnny Cash blasting from the speakers) I’d have thought I had just walked into my grandmother’s sitting room. But Nan didn’t own multiple sewing machines and she certainly wasn’t a Johnny Cash fan. She was a fan of the lampshade though, as are the owners of Stitch, with many vintage-style light covers softening the glow around the bar.

Sew cool - the Singer

Continue reading →

One-night stand: Melbourne

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Melbourne, Australia. She’s a saucy minx of a city.

Given she was named after the rumored lover of Queen Victoria of England, Lord Melbourne, it’s really no surprise.

One-night stand: MelbourneI missed out on the organisation gene, so I regularly find myself somewhere new without enough time to do everything I’d like. I like to see the sights without it feeling like a night of bad speed dating, rushing from one half-baked experience to the next.

With the awkwardness of three-minute dates in mind, I’ve made sure the following is a regular day, not too short and not too long, just right. By that I mean six to eight hours, not a ridiculous list you couldn’t possibly do in a day. I don’t know about you, but when I travel, especially if I’m on holidays, I do not get up before 6am.

9am – Coffee: the breakfast of champions

As my fellow caffeine addicts will know, it’s hard to start any day without a coffee, and luckily enough, Melbourne has the best brew in Australia.

A local introduced me to a funky laneway café which boasts tasty coffee and an interior not unlike stepping back in time to the 30s and 40’s. Complete with a barber and shoe-shiner, Captains of Industry is on Somerset Place, just a few left turns off Elizabeth Street, in Melbourne’s city centre.

Continue reading →

Travelgasm: five ways to do NZ

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When thinking of New Zealand, it’s hard for your imagination not to wander to those jokes about sheep and love-making.

My boyf is a Kiwi, and while I must say he is fond of sheep, he likes his wool on his back, not the other way around.

I think, however, those dirty jokes are a bit of a metaphor for the Kiwi way; clearly they can take a joke. They also know how to have a good time and they don’t take things too seriously (except maybe rugby). This is just one of the things that makes New Zealand a great place to visit.

This is my (adopted) New Zealand – five ways.

1. Nature at its naked best

New Zealand is a place where nature almost seems untouched by humans, if you squint really hard (and have questionable eyesight). Whether it’s Milford Sound on the South Island, Stewart Island or Matamata on the North Island, where the Lord of the Rings movies were famously filmed, you won’t be disappointed. Continue reading →

Travelgasm: you can leave your boots on…

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Ride ‘em cowboy. It’s a cliché for a reason.

Clearly cowboys must know how to have a good time. And Nashville’s CMA music festival is where you can take Party Like a Cowboy/Cowgirl 101. Yee-haw! (Disclaimer: the locals actually say that).

Cowboys come out to play at CMA music fest

I appreciate country music, but I can’t say I listen to it every day. How can you hate it though? Any music genre that talks about that dog-gone fella who’s a whisky drinkin’, heart breakin’ son-of-a-gun has got me by the ear. Continue reading →

One-night stand: Big ass beers and Memphis

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Where better to have a rollicking one-night stand than the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll?

Big ass beers can get you in a lot of trouble in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Big ass beer = big ass hangover

A city that rates a mention in so many legendary songs has to be pretty legendary itself. Whether it’s Marc Cohen’s Walking in Memphis, The Stones’ Honky Tonk Woman or Creedence classic Proud Mary – everyone has heard at least one.

But Memphis is much more than a catchy mention in a song. Hotel rates are really reasonable, beers come in big-ass sizes, the ribs are juicy, the music is fantastic and the history is plentiful, whether you’re there to see the birthplace of rock ’n’ roll, the home of Elvis Presley or the history of the civil rights movement. Continue reading →