High life in Italy on a budget

Yes, it's possible to enjoy the famed dolche vita on a budget. With a little planning and know-how, you can travel cheaply in Italy without skimping on all the pleasures that Italy has to offer, especially the eating and drinking part. Catch the train - Italy has a cheap and excellent train system, which leaves Australian...

Healthy eating on the road

Eating new foods is one of the best things about travel. But after a few weeks of the good life, sometimes it's difficult to fit into your travel pants. So how do you balance trying new foods and experiencing all that a new destination has to offer and not turning into too much of a chubster? Maybe...

Caravan parks no longer a cheap holiday

Back in the day, the Aussie caravan park was a symbol of the classic Aussie beach holiday: BBQ's, fishing, endless summer days spent lazing around and a permanent perfume of coconut oil mixed with that unmistakable toilet block smell. These days you can still do all of that (hopefully minus the coconut toilet aroma), but it comes...

To research or not to research your trip. That is the question

Are you a trip researcher? Do you assiduously read Lonely Planet before you travel and check out blog posts on your destination? Confession: I used to and used to love reading up about a destination. Everything. The history, people, food, culture, bus timetables, you name it. But in the last few years I've got a...

Frequent Flyer Points: Punishment not Reward

Everyone wants to get something for nothing. But no corporation wants to give away something for nothing. Why would they? It would be like a gift or something. So, that is the basic problem with frequent flyer programs across the world. They are costly, unwieldy, inconvenient and a technical minefield to navigate. Often there is a...

7 Minute Workout V. Actual Exercise

Have you tried the 7 Minute Workout? Do you like it? OK, I'll rephase. Did you find it useful? If you haven't come across it, it is a set of 12 exercises designed to be done at high intensity for 30 seconds, with 8 second intervals so that you can catch your breath. The workout encompasses...

Goondiwindi – art deco dunny

A few weeks ago I went to Goondiwindi on the NSW / QLD border. Goondiwindi sits just on the QLD side and, boy, does it let you know about it. It has classic Queenslander stilt homes, palm trees line the streets and the pubs are glorious. But let's talk about the public loos. Because in Goondiwindi. the loos,...