In NE Australia (a bit south of Cairns), there is a place called Tarzali Lakes that you can see platypus in the wild. This is a small lake that there are several platypi in. They are small and very fast so something like this may be the best picture you can get. You have to …
Using U.S. Credit Cards in China? Not so much. When I was planning to go to China, I was trying to figure out how I was going to always have enough cash/credit on hand since our US credit cards don't work in Beijing. However, it seems Discover has worked out a deal with UnionPay …
Continue reading Using U.S. Credit Cards in China? Not so much.
Trip planning: attraction grid for cities like London and Paris When you are going to stay for several days in one place and do different things around the area, I find an info grid to be very helpful. I have used grids like this in Amsterdam, London, Paris, and Rome for a few examples. …
Continue reading Trip planning: attraction grid for cities like London and Paris
One day after returning from a trip, as I went through a turnstile on my way to the train to go home from work, it was weird realizing that I'll go weeks or months going through multiple turn-styles nearly every day, and then I'll go on a vacation and possibly not go through a single …
Ouzoud Falls - Morocco About 100 miles (150KM) northwest of Marrakesh is one of the most popular attractions in the area, and possibly in Morocco -- Ouzoud Falls. Many tours are available on TripAdvisor, Viator, etc to take you from Marrakesh, give you a tour, and take you home if you want to go. The …
This is Little Sahara, a 2 square kilometer set of sand dunes in the southern central portion of Kangaroo Island, Australia. You can sandboard, sand ski, sand sled, etc there. There is a fairly tiring climb to get to the top of the dunes as every step you sink into the sand, but then you …
Continue reading Is it the Sahara? No, it’s Little Sahara (Australia) #sand #dunes
To pack in just carry-on is a slowly learned skill. You can only take essentials and have to plan on washing clothing. You can see more about this in other posts ( quick wash clothes, multi-way clothes, Random things pouch, Health and Safety pouch, etc. Finally, you need your electronics to be compact and versatile, so …
Aruba - History and general info Tourism is Aruba's main industry. People here speak Dutch and Papiamentu (which is an amalgam of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch), as well as in many cases English and Spanish. Children start with Papiamentu, and then in school routinely learn multiple languages. Their passports are Dutch. The basic history of …
Time slows and nearly stops in a hammam (hamam or Turkish Bath), while you sit in your sweat, with only a small thin piece of fabric to cover yourself. How long have I been lying here, you ask? My first hammam experience was at a large hammam in Istanbul. There are many wonderful hammams there …
Continue reading Hammam (Turkish bath) experience – Turkey vs Morocco
Cruise to nowhere, AKA the Thailand/Laos/Myanmar border While in Thailand, I took a full day tour that went to a Karen village and on a river cruise to Laos and also the white temple in Chiang Rai. I do not recommend taking this tour for several reasons, stated below. The tour started very early in …
Continue reading Cruise to nowhere, AKA the Thailand/Laos/Myanmar border
Recently I realized that since my plan when I retire is to travel more, I really should start getting rid of the clutter in my home. In the past year or so, I've easily gotten rid of approximately 2 filing cabinets full of paper/photos/books, etc as well as a ton of other non-paper stuff. The …
Continue reading Travel prep: Digitize your life; travel more – dealing with paper
Unusual foods: Durian - Like stinky feet or heavenly? You decide Durian is a spiky-shelled fruit that smells horrible. Various people have compared it to combinations involving dirty gym socks, death, paint thinner, onions, and sweat. The smell is comprised of many different compounds and what you smell just depends on which compounds your …
Continue reading Unusual foods: Durian – Like stinky feet or heavenly? You decide
Tiger Kingdom, in the far reaches of Chiang Mai, is an excellent way to see tigers up close. The animals here are mostly rescues from zoos and circuses, and live out their lives here; the younger ones are more tourist friends, the older ones have areas that the tourists don't visit) I had …
I'm so glad I went to Cuba a couple years ago, as it seems to be even more shut off by the US now. Cuba is a short flight from Florida, and has many attractions for tourists to see. I've made a few posts about it already, and more are coming. Earnest Hemmingway' …
King's Canyon (near Uluru) Uluru is the main draw of the Red Center of Australia. It is sad that most visitors don't even go out to Kata Tjuja (which oddly means "many heads") which is less than an hour from the Uluru lodging area. King's Canyon is substantially further away, and comparatively few visitors get …
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