The Margaret River region is best known for its surf and premium wines but visitors shouldn’t overlook the area’s culinary delights. I’ve put together a list of the must-taste addresses that should be on every itinerary. Plenty of restaurants may be found around here but it’s always nice to have some gourmet goodies to make a picnic from.

Fresh muffins at the Margaret River Providore

Local Producers

Berry Farm – Fans of gourmet jams, preserves, pickles, relishes and other condiments must visit this shop, cafe and cellar door for a range of products, wine and port. (43 Bessell Rd, Margaret River)
Bettenay’s Margaret River Nougat Company – Hand made French-style nougat is created in small batches and sold in large bars. It’s absolutely delicious and comes in a range of flavours – I recommend Wildberry & Macadamia Nut. (Corner Tom Cullity Dr & Miamup Rd, Cowaramup)
Dunsborough Bakery – Famous for their pies and bread, everyone will find a treat they’re happy with at this popular spot. (243 Naturaliste Tce, Dunsborough)
Gabriel Chocolate – Fine, single-origin chocolate bars, chocolate-dipped gelato bars and rich hot chocolate, with free tastings. It’s interesting to try the chocolates from different locations side by side. (Corner Caves Rd and Quininup Rd, Yallingup)
Margaret River Chocolate Company – Chocoholics will love the free tastings and huge product range: chocolate bars, truffles, novelties, ice cream, chocolate milk, cakes and desserts are on offer. (Cnr Harman’s Mill Road and Tom Cullity Dr, Metricup)
Margaret River Fudge Factory – Delicious hand made fudge is available right in the centre of town. (152 Bussell Highway, Margaret River)
Margaret River Providore – This upscale vendor offers local, home made sauces, jams and preserves, cheeses, wines, produce and changing gourmet delights in a modern “tasting centre.” (448 Tom Cullity Dr, Wilyabrup)

Yallingup Woodfired Bread

Margaret River Venison – If you’re looking for something slightly exotic, try the venison prosciutto, pates, liverwurst, pastrami and biltong at this specialty shop. (Caves Rd, Margaret River)
Miller’s Ice Cream – Enjoy ice cream, full cream milk, milkshakes and other quality treats from a family of local dairy farmers – a great place to take the family. (314 Wirring Road, Cowaramup)
Old Cheddar Cheese Company – Try the award-winning cheeses including the twice-voted best flavoured cheddar in Australia. (Glendon Rd, midway between Busselton and Capel, Ludlow)
Olio Bello – Sample award winning organic olive oils at the tasting room and café, along with marinated olives, produce and preserves. The estate has grown 14 different varieties of olives, which are picked and pressed on the same day. (Armstrong Rd, Cowaramup)
Petra Olive Oil Estate – The store offers a range of products, from infused olive oils to sauces and salad dressings. Six different olive varieties are grown on the property and visitors can relax with a “Bruschette” on the beautiful grounds. (233 Sheoak Drive, cnr Lagoon Drive, Yallingup)
Simmos Ice Cream – Ireland has some of the most delicious dairy products I’ve ever tasted. This is a traditional Irish ice cream brand whose product is still made from old family secret recipes using fresh milk and cream. Plenty of varieties are on offer and kids can enjoy the playground. (161 Commonage Road, Dunsborough)
Vasse Virgin – In addition to their delicious extra virgin olive oil, this tasting room offers table olives, tapenades, vinaigrettes, pasta sauces, pesto and dukkah. (135 Puzey Rd, off Abbey Farm Rd, Wilyabrup)
Yahava Koffee Works – An excellent place for a range of gourmet coffee and tea. (Corner Bussell Hwy & Rosa Brook Rd, Margaret River)
Yallingup Woodfired Bakery – This place is a little bit hidden but still easy enough to find. Come in the morning or late afternoon for seriously addictive biodynamic white, sourdough and fruit bread baked fresh daily. (Off Biddles Rd at Balmoral Dr near McLachlan, between Dunsborough and Yallingup, look for the white signs with firey flames)

Steak and pepper pie from Dunsborough Bakery

Markets

Vasse Markets – 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month (Vasse Community Hall, Vasse)
Margaret River Farmer’s Markets – 2nd & 4th Saturday of the month (only 4th June-August) (Cnr Turnbridge & Farrelly Streets, Margaret River)
Dunsborough Markets – 2nd & 4th Saturday of each month (Palmer’s Winery, Caves Road, Dunsborough)
Town Square Markets – Select Sundays (Town Square, Margaret River)
Barnard Park Markets – 1st, 3rd & 5th Sunday of the month (Yoganup Park, Busselton)
Railway Markets – 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month (Railway Building Park, Busselton)

Single-origin chocolate bars from Gabriel Chocolate

Festivals

South West Craft Beer Festival – 25-26 Feb, celebrating the region’s beer, produce and music (3 Oceans Palandri Winery, Margaret River)
Wine vintage – Feb – April
Margaret River Wine Region Festival – 13-16 March
Oktoberfest – Duckstein Festbier, German food and live music, October (Duckstein Brewery, Wilyabrup)

Have you ever visited Margaret River? What did you like best about the area?

Today’s guest post is by Nancy Sathre-Vogel, who made an inspiring three-year journey on bikes through the Americas with her family. The adventure provided her sons the opportunity to earn a world record as the youngest cyclists of the Pan-American Highway. Here she shares some excellent reasons to travel as a family.

I’ve heard it all. Some people feel travel is the best experience kids can have. Others feel kids are better off staying home and going to school each day. I say there’s good on both sides of the equation.

Hanging out with colorful people in Cuzco, Peru.

There is benefit in giving kids a stable home where they can sleep in the same bed every night. There is also benefit in taking kids out traveling.

In the end travel with kids is good for both kids and for parents.

Travel is good for kids because:

1) Travel gets kids out of their comfortable routine and opens their eyes to the idea that others live differently than they do. As they visit other cultures and eat different foods, they start to realize the interconnectedness of our world. They step outside their ethnocentric mindset and realize that the world doesn’t revolve around them.

2) Being global citizens in today’s society is critical. In a world that’s shrinking daily, understanding other cultures is a huge advantage.

3) While traveling, kids learn in context. Rather than reading random facts and figures from a book, they are living, touching, breathing new experiences, which makes their learning more effective.

4) While traveling, kids are exposed to many new ideas and may discover new interests or expand on interests they already have.

5) Because they are placed in so many unique situations while traveling, kids learn to be flexible and to adapt to whatever comes their way.

Daryl gets to know these monks.

Travel is good for parents because:

1) In today’s workaday world, we rarely get to spend more than a few fleeting moments with our children. While traveling, parents get the opportunity to be with them all day. It takes time to forge a relationship and travel can provide that time.

2) Traveling with kids opens new doors that you would never even know existed if you traveled without them. You’ll meet more people and be invited to events that otherwise would remain off-limits to adult travelers.

3) Kids force us to stop and smell the roses. Whereas we might be tempted to see the sights at breakneck speed on our own, that pace doesn’t make sense with kids. You’ll see less but see it better.

4) Travel with kids is just plain ol’ fun.

Family on Bikes at the Arctic Circle.

Can all of these things be accomplished other ways? You bet. Is travel essential to have time together as a family and to create global citizens? Absolutely not.

But traveling together is perhaps, the easiest way, and there’s no doubt it’s a lot of fun.

Bio: Nancy Sathre-Vogel, more commonly known as Mom to Family on Bikes, is a long-time traveler. She’s gallivanted around our planet for the past 29 years, the past fourteen with her twin sons. Her most recent excursion was a three-year journey on bicycles from Alaska to Argentina. Now her mission is to encourage others to live their dream – wherever it leads!

Check out her newest book, Twenty Miles per Cookie: 9000 Miles of Kid-Powered Adventures.

A friend emailed me the other day and said she noticed that I hadn’t written anything about Perth and wasn’t there anything to say about it? John grew up in the “sunniest city in Australia” and we’ve lived there together from time to time since the beginning of 2005. So when we visit we tend to see family and friends, relax and take it easy rather than go sightseeing.  Aside from our day trip to Mandurah, we haven’t done anything even remotely touristy. After all, there isn’t too much to do in Perth aside from hanging out at the beach, eating seafood and perhaps a bit of sport or shopping. Not that it would be considered a destination for either of the latter.

The sun sets over the city of Perth along the Swan River. Photo by berendsrob from Flickr.

But Perth is a beautiful city and it’s enough to just spend time here and have the chance to go to the beaches whenever we want and take in spectacular sunsets. The beaches and the sunsets are the most beautiful in the world (spoken like a true sandgroper, I know). But instead of talking about Rottnest Island, Kings Park, Northbridge or Fremantle, I thought I’d share with you the things that we do when we’re in Perth. These mainly consist of eating fresh food, checking out nature, walking at the beach and, as I mentioned already, plenty of R&R.

We love taking walks along the beach when we're in Perth. Photo by Katatoniq from Flickr.

John’s family background is Macedonian, which means he has a huge extended family and everyone has a garden. The Maco thing to do is to share around their homegrown vegetables, go for dinner at each other’s houses and enjoy really fresh meats and produce. I always look forward to our Perth visits because it means I actually know where most of my food is coming from. John’s parents visit local farms to buy things like fruit, meat, eggs and vegetables or, even better, get the produce right out of their own garden. Then we relax over a nice meal at lunchtime (the European way) and some tasty Australian beer or wine to wash it all down. Barbecues are held at least once a week. That’s the very Aussie part of it all.

Tomatoes growing in John's parents' garden.

Deliciously sweet Western Australian cherries from down south.

John's father makes a mean roasted lamb on the spit - our mouths water for weeks in anticipation of this.

As I mentioned in my last post, we gained some weight travelling around the world last year so we made an effort to walk at the beach a lot. Perth has some excellent walking and bicycle tracks that run right up the coast so if the weather isn’t too hot (as it has been), it’s wonderful to just go walking right along the beach in the mornings or evenings and watch the sun rise or set with the famous Fremantle doctor (the strongest and most consistent sea breeze in the world) cooling you off as you walk.

Peppers (or peperki) are to Macedonians what tomatoes are to Italians.

There's a little genetic selection going on at the moment in preparation for this year's planting.

Only the seeds from the strongest will survive.

Perth is also great for sitting in a park and birdwatching, with so many interesting native birds and parrots around. Or in our case we can birdwatch in John’s parents’ backyard: they have several families of canaries and babies are born all the time.

A good mother canary sitting on her eggs. We noticed she takes turns with the dad.

Meanwhile in another cage this pair have barely been born.

By the time you read this we’ll be off on our road trip down south, another must-do activity on a visit to Perth. So stay tuned for more photographs and information from beautiful Western Australia.

Have you been to Perth? What do you like to do there?

*** Just a couple of more days for the  Moving to Australia eBook sale – only A$10! Just use promo code ‘OZDAY2012? ***

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So we got a little fat.
 
It was bound to happen eventually, I suppose. Eating in restaurants every day, drinking more than we normally do and trying all sorts of foodie delights across four continents certainly doesn’t help one’s waistline. And who wants to miss out on any of this stuff when they’re travelling.

One week into our 2011 travels in Auckland - we were pretty fit.

We actually did pretty well the first four months. New Zealand and Chile were places where we were hiking long distances at least once a week on average and staying pretty active the rest of the time. Then Argentina came along. Steak dinners, red wine, pizza, ham and cheese sandwiches and medialunas were the staple diet there. Bolivia was healthier and then we had a few bouts of food poisoning in Peru to get us back to normal. Colombia began the decline with its delicious food and craft beer. We were much less active in Europe with our long hikes becoming fewer and fewer. Then winter hit and it was all over, even in the Middle East where the food was sublime.
 
The places that really killed us: Argentina, Ireland, UK, Austria, Turkey, Germany and Jordan. Not that we’re complaining too much. And may I add airports and flights? Lack of sleep and overeating in transit are incredibly damaging to one’s figure.
 
So now we’re finished with full-time travel and back to a slightly more normal routine, though sitting around looking for overseas work and not being able to exercise in the Australian heat isn’t helping. But we do have a plan: Operation Rewind, where we will attempt to turn the clock back one year to our fitter selves.

Pigging out in Jordan eleven months later. Notice the same shirts but a much tighter fit.

How will we achieve this? Everyone knows crash diets don’t work so we just have to take it slow and get it off the healthier way. We have a three step plan:
 
1. Eat healthy. We’re eliminating fattening foods from our diet and sticking to vegetables, fruit, lean meats and whole grains. We won’t be eating processed foods, red meat, fried foods, fast food, snack foods and refined carbohydrates. In the past it has helped to have one “free day” to keep us from losing our minds (and we’ve found that we don’t usually eat that much on the free day because we’ve been so good all week).

2. Curb alcohol. We usually stick to beer and wine but even these drinks have around 200 calories per beverage, which adds up quickly when you’re having one or two a day, three or four times a week. We’ll be cutting out alcohol except for once a week when we have a social event. Life doesn’t stop just because you’re dieting.
 
3. Exercise. We hate gyms so for us this means getting active outdoors. Unfortunately we’re in very hot weather at the moment and our one hour racewalking at the beach three times a week has been difficult to keep up with. Sometimes it’s still 32-34 degrees C at 7pm and that makes it hard to get a walk in before dark. We’re going to have to start getting up early in the mornings to walk if the weather keeps it up.
 
Unfortunately this is not a post containing a magic formula to help others lose weight post-travel but I thought I’d share our battle with you. John’s goal is to lose 15-20 kilograms and I need to lose around five to get back to our pre-travel weights. We’ll keep you posted on the progress.
 
In the meantime, help us out: do you have any tips for losing weight, keeping it off or preventing travel weight gain in the first place? Do you tend to lose or gain weight when you travel?
 

Valentine’s Day is coming soon so today we have a guest post from Marina Villatoro, who shares her favourite romantic restaurants in Antigua, Guatemala.

One of my secrets to keep romance in my marriage is to schedule a romantic night out at least once or twice a month. So I’m always looking for places where I can get what I like to call, a different experience with my husband. After eating at almost every restaurant in Antigua, I have to say these are my top choices.

5 Restaurants for Romance and Adventure

Meson Panza Verde

Panza Verde is a boutique hotel in a typical colonial-style building. What sets it apart from most places is the amazing restaurant that is probably one of the most creative in town with their unique option for couples. Here you can make a reservation for a private, romantic dinner in a dome that they have on their terrace. They decorate the staircase and dome for you with roses, candles and other fun stuff, but not cheesy! And you get your own waiter that is there at your beck and call. Even though it’s a hotel and there are rooms around the dome, no one uses the staircase it’s closest to, so it’s as though the entire terrace is all for your own private party. Plus, the views are absolutely insane of two volcanoes – one of which spits out smoke all the time.

Casa Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo del Cerro

El Convento

Antigua is full of colonial-style boutique hotels. Yet only a few have restaurants worth visiting and even fewer that offer romantic packages that include a four course dinner with wine, a personal waiter and a decorated table either on the terrace or in a very private room. We chose the terrace. I can sit in a room at home; here you want to enjoy the views and the perfect weather.

Inca Restaurant

Recently for our nine year anniversary my husband found a Peruvian restaurant. We’ve passed it a hundred times in the two years we’ve lived here and finally decided to try it out. From the outside it looks so tiny, but once you enter inside it has five dining areas, two of which are almost completely private with fireplaces and your own personal bathroom. Plus, the food is traditional Peruvian cuisine that is truly delicious!

Who would have thought that as tiny a town as Antigua would have so much to offer! What’s your most memorable romantic dinner adventure?

Bio: Marina K. Villatoro is an expat living with her family and traveling in Central America. Join Marina on Facebook and Twitter for more Central and Latin American fun!

Now that the train line from Perth has been completed, peaceful Mandurah is as popular a day-trip destination as ever. Located just 72 km south, Western Australia’s second-largest city is bordered by the Indian Ocean, Peel-Harvey Estuary and the Serpentine River, making it a naturally nautical place. What started as a modest fishing village has turned into a thriving tourist destination, with international visitors who flock to its beaches and protected waterways for fishing and boating.

The Mandurah foreshore has relaxing areas for picnics and strolling.

We headed down to Mandurah with John’s parents by train on a weekday afternoon in January, a journey that takes only about an hour. Our first stop was for lunch at the Red Manna restaurant (Upstairs 5/9 Mandurah Tce, ph. 08 9581 1248) on the foreshore where we enjoyed a delicious lunch of fresh regional specialties and a great view of Mandjar bay. Afterwards we took a walk to the dock in front of the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre to catch one of the ferry cruises and tour the waterways.

Red Manna's Duo of South West Lamb: lamb cutlets and braised lamb pave with sweet potato mash

Twice cooked pork fillet with seared scallops, apple purée and fingers of crackling

Cruises leave from the dock in front of the Performing Arts Centre - just look for the aqua banners that say 'cruises.'

Dolphins live in the waterways but we didn’t spot any, so we focussed our attention on the boat harbour and multi-million dollar homes along the canals. Everyone has a boat and I can imagine hopping into one to go out to dinner instead of a car. Everything in Mandurah seems suited to the water.

Mandurah War Memorial

For family recreation, hire some of these water toys or a paddleboat or canoe, or visit the King’s Carnival on the western foreshore to ride the ferris wheel.

Check out some of the flashy houses we saw on our cruise:

Visitors with more time to spare can enjoy the Yalgorup National Park, the Jarrah and Marri forests, four-wheel drives on the beach or a game of golf on one of seven courses in the area. It’s easy to hire a houseboat and cruise the waterways or just relax and enjoy some nice food and wine. At Christmas, the residents decorate their houses and everyone goes out on their boats to celebrate and check out each others’ creativity – the atmosphere must be so festive.

Getting there: Take the Transperth Mandurah train line from the Underground or Esplanade stations in Perth city (if you’re coming from the northern suburbs on the Clarkson line, your train will probably go directly to Mandurah after passing through the city – listen for announcements). Once you arrive in Mandurah (the last stop), catch one of the shuttle buses to the foreshore. By car you have two options: the fast route is to take the Kwinana Freeway, exiting onto Mandjoogoordap Drive. This connects to Mandurah Road, which leads into the city centre. Otherwise, enjoy the scenic route along South Western Highway to Old Coast Road, which connects to Forrest Highway and then to Mandurah.

For more information, check out the Visit Mandurah website

Don’t miss:
Crab Fest (mid-March)
Stretch Arts and Community Festival (May)
Mandurah Boat Show (mid-October)
Little Nippers Maawit Kara Children’s Festival (October)
Seniors Expo (October)

Have you been to Mandurah? What’s your favourite thing to do there?
 

*** Now through 5 February, I’ve lowered the price of my Moving to Australia eBook to only A$10! Just use promo code ‘OZDAY2012? ***

 

 Not interested in Australia? I’m sure you’ll find a suitable travel-related book in our eBook shop – including many FREE titles available for immediate download.

I’m a relatively new Australian, gaining citizenship in May 2010. For me, Australia Day has always held a special significance because it is the day I came to visit Australia for the first time back in 2005. This wasn’t intentional – my flight out of New York was delayed for over a day due to a blizzard and because I missed connections and had to be re-routed, I ended up arriving right on the country’s official national day.

It doesn't get much more Aussie than thongs and barbecues. Photo by Nina Matthews Photography from Flickr.

Today Australia celebrates, officially, the landing of Captain Arthur Phillip at Port Jackson in what is now Sydney, claiming the land for the British Empire on 26 January, 1788. What started as a small annual celebration in the state of New South Wales from 1808 has evolved into a major national public holiday for the entire country since 1946. While these early celebrations were about the white, British aspect of the new society, today Australia Day has a different meaning: embracing diversity, tolerance, reconciliation and community. Aussies celebrate modern Australia with all of its triumphs and challenges.

Aussies hit the beach on Australia Day 2011. Photo by Rule17_ from Flickr.

Most Aussies will celebrate with family and friends at a barbecue in the searing summer heat, go to the beach or attend a sporting event. Over the years different traditions have developed, from the first Australia Day Regatta in 1836, which is now the oldest continuous sailing race in the world. In 1838, the first ever public holiday was held for the occasion, fifty years after the First Fleet landed. People crowded the foreshores and filled boats on the water, ending the day with crackers and rockets. In 1960, Sir Macfarlane Burnet became the first Australian of the Year in what would become an annual award. In 1968, Lionel Rose was named the first Aboriginal Australian of the Year.
 
In the 1970′s citizenship became a focus for Australia Day. Citizens were encouraged to make non-citizens feel like part of the Australian family with a coupon from the major newspapers reading ‘Belong to Australia – as a citizen.’ Today, Australia Day is the greatest occasion for becoming a citizen, with over 300 ceremonies taking place on the holiday last year to make Australians out of 13,000 people from 143 countries. Existing citizens can also re-affirm their dedication to their country.

A citizenship ceremony for around 70 new citizens on Australia Day 2011. Photo by Mosman Council from Flickr.

Not everyone was pleased with the celebration of white settlement in Australia. The Aboriginal Community has given the 26th of January names like Invasion Day and Survival Day. Huge demonstrations, such as the ‘Freedom, Justice and Hope’ march in Sydney called for an evaluation of the treatment of Aboriginals and a request for improvements in democracy for them. Re-enactments of the landing of the First Fleet were common until 1988 when they were declared insensitive to the Aboriginals. That year was named the Year of Mourning for Aboriginals. It also became symbolic of their survival.

Australia Day 2011 fireworks at Birrarung Marr on the Yarra River in Melbourne. Photo by JamesDPhotography from Flickr.

For most Australians, today will be a fun, relaxing day off work. We’ll enjoy barbecues, sports, concerts, festivals and fireworks with our friends and families. Some of us will become true Australians for the first time. If you’re Aussie or live in Australia, John and I raise our beers to you – have a wonderful day!

For more information, check out the Australia Day website.

*** In honour of Australia Day, I’ve lowered the price of my Moving to Australia eBook to only A$10 until 5 February! Just use promo code ‘OZDAY2012′ ***

 
Are you interested in moving to Australia for the long-term or just for a working holiday? I migrated to Australia in 2006 and became a citizen a few years later. In this book I share my story, from applying for the partner visa to becoming a citizen. I’ve also packed it with tips, other visa information, resources for moving, settling, finding work, making friends, travel and everything else you can possibly think of. An invaluable resource for moving to Australia.

Get it now!

 
Not interested in Australia? I’m sure you’ll find a suitable travel-related book in our eBook shop – including many FREE titles available for immediate download.

Today begins the Chinese New Year celebrations and in honour of this we have a guest post from Erin Lidz, an English language teacher currently living and working in China and blogging at Hobosapient.

In China the anticipation of Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) can be felt weeks away. Red lanterns start to line the streets, bazaars pop up selling all kinds of food and candy, and trees are decorated with festive lights. As a working expat living in China it’s especially exciting, as with the holiday comes a lovely 5-10 day paid vacation! It didn’t take long for my excitement to wane, though, as I discovered that traveling during Chinese New Year is dreaded by Chinese, expats, and short term travelers alike. I’m a budget traveler, and the New Year is the most hectic and expensive time of the year to travel in China. Most Chinese people head back to their hometowns to spend the holiday with their close family. For many people it’s the only time a year that they’ll make the trip home. Additionally, most workers have at least a few days, but up to a week, before or after the holiday off, so tons of people are using that time to check out tourist attractions and take relaxed vacations!

However stressful traveling during Chinese New Year may be, the block of time off is too tempting to pass up, so my boyfriend, Kevin, and I decided we had to make use of our vacation and explore somewhere new. Figuring out a way to avoid tons of tourists and stick to our pretty tight budget was a challenge. We made many mistakes, and our trip definitely didn’t pan out just how we expected, but through trial and error we were able to better understand traveling during the most traveled time of year. Through this experience we discovered that Chinese New Year isn’t necessarily a time to avoid travel. Rather, it’s a time to plan differently.

Pick a place that’s off the tourist trail or off-season

Book ahead!

Seems so obvious, yet this is the area where Kevin and I went terribly wrong, which resulted in a 14 hour, overnight train in hard seats. Granted, we decided to grab our tickets a mere 6 hours before we wanted to leave. Whoops!
It’s not impossible to get reasonably priced transportation around Chinese New Year, but it’s definitely not the time to wait until the last minute to book! Train tickets become available 10 days in advance at train stations and ticket offices. Chinese people will begin lining up to book their tickets, and for good reason! Train tickets don’t become more expensive for the holiday, so if you’re on the ball and make arrangements early you can get where ever you need to go without breaking your budget.

Be flexible!

Chinese New Year is an exciting, festive time of year, so don’t be afraid to get out and explore. If you’re an expat, you can definitely put that time off to really good use. If you’re travelling through China short term, don’t have heart failure when you see hotel and transportation prices skyrocket. Think outside the box a little, and be extremely flexible, and a budget vacation is definitely within reach!

Travel is a largely unregulated industry. Even hawkish countries like Australia and the UK don’t have travel ombudsmans. What does this mean for the consumer? Buyer beware. In 2011 alone we’ve taken 29 flights, 7 tours (mostly day and one longer) and stayed in 56 hotels, 39 hostels, 10 B&Bs and 7 apartments. We’ve taken countless bus and train rides and eaten in at least one restaurant every day. So I feel qualified to say what I’m about to say.

I am not impressed.

 
I’ve been fortunate enough to stay at some of the world’s finest hotels in my lifetime and took my first business class flight when I was in high school. I’m also humble enough to have stayed in plenty of hostels and one or two star hotels. So I’ve observed the changes in the travel industry over the last 16 years in every aspect from budget to luxury travel. Sometimes the former make more of an effort than the places that cost hundreds of dollars a night. I know I’m not the only traveller who feels this way either, noting recent posts from Suzy Guese and Emily in Chile. That said, we’ve also had some remarkably positive experiences from managers, companies and brands who really get it. This post is not aimed at them.

Photo by jusben from morgueFile

When travelling full-time it isn’t as big a deal when something goes wrong. But I still always complain if something is truly unacceptable. Because what about those people who are enjoying their only two week holiday for the entire year? When things don’t meet their expectations it can ruin their entire trip. The staff looking after me at a hotel don’t know my personal situation, that this day is just a blip in the scheme of things. Expectations may differ but the nature of people remains the same. We want to get what we pay for and expect value, comfort and a certain level of enjoyment from the travel industry providers we choose.
 
Travel companies market a dream: relaxation, a safe, reliable way to get from points A to B, cultural awareness, adventure or “getting away from it all.” What many consumers are getting these days is inconvenience and disappointment due largely to rude staff, misinformation, false advertising, sloppy administration and cost-cutting, unless they can afford to pay top dollar for the very best. Even then there are no guarantees.
 
Some people spend a considerable amount of time selecting what hotel they will stay at, their travel gear, restaurants and activities at the destination. For many travellers, these are not business decisions. They are taking their hard-earned money and spending it on leisure. Their choice was to travel, not purchase a new television or other product in lieu of this activity. Travel providers should care about customer satisfaction. I won’t go into detail about some of the things we’ve seen this year. They range from the minor inconvenience to the seriously shocking. More often than not a dignified response from management will suffice in smoothing things over. But we’ve also been on the receiving end of snarky, snobbish, defensive and manipulative reactions from management. And this I find surprising.

Has this bathroom been serviced properly? Photo by clarita from morgueFile.

Yes, mistakes happen. We’re all human and sometimes a person has a bad day or something was simply overlooked. But there’s no reason to make things worse by refusing to apologize and treating the customer like an idiot. Travellers are now often coached to lower their expectations when they travel. “Be flexible” or “it’s all part of the adventure,” we’re told. Not at four hundred euros a night or thousands of dollars on a package tour it isn’t. Someone’s getting rich off these little mantras. And many of the offences are simple maintenance and communication issues: that broken arm rest or tray table on an airplane,  a broken showerhead, non-working elevators, incorrect information on websites or official communications, faulty internet connections, old mattresses, loose toilet seat hinges, slow drains, etc.  How difficult is it to check each room thoroughly after each guest leaves? Or to service your aircraft or update information on your website?
 
A variety of online companies exist to empower today’s traveller, from review sites like TripAdvisor, Virtual Tourist and TravBuddy to travel forums and blogs. It is important to examine the effects these sites have on travel providers and customers of hotels, restaurants and services. We now have a place to vent when we have a bad experience. Unhappy customers can be passive-aggressive and dash off a bad review, never bringing the problem to the attention of the manager or someone else in a position to make decisions at the company. Customer relations personnel spend time fighting the fires of the bad reviews, pasting an “official” or “corporate” reply back to the reviewer or, worse, becoming defensive and failing to offer a solution. Even if they respond in a constructive way it is usually too late to positively impact the customer’s experience at the property. I get no satisfaction from leaving a bad review post-experience; by then there will rarely be a satisfying resolution.

Special occasion, special service? Photo by seemann from morgueFile

I like to do a good job and hold others to my high standards when I’ve paid for something. But I am reasonable. I do not expect the same standards at a hostel as I do at a luxury hotel and can easily adjust between the two. I also tend to confront a situation when it’s happening, to give the service provider a chance to rectify the situation. My approach is to contact the most senior person in the company I am aware of because he or she is the ultimate decision maker (CEO emails are easy to find online if you do a little crafty searching). I keep things nonpersonal and stick to the facts. This approach has resulted in everything from angry, defensive, unprofessional, even illegal behaviour from staff to glowing, beautiful displays of grace in knowing exactly how to handle a disappointed client. In my mind, this is what separates the winners of the travel industry from the losers. I’ve been transformed from a critic to a champion of a brand and just as easily from a disappointed customer to a vehement opponent of a company. It’s all about how they handled my legitimate complaint.
 
As a person who writes about travel I evaluate companies differently than other people might. But we all have the common ground of being human in how we deal with things. Have sites like Trip Advisor made us impersonal and ineffective in dealing with each other in travel? Of course, if your complaint got you nowhere and you received poor services, complaining online may be your only recourse. Most companies are reluctant to provide the one thing they should: money back (or at least something the customer really wants). If the company only provided 60 per cent of the promised service, why should it be paid 100 per cent?
 
What can managers and CEOs do to improve? Putting themselves in the shoes of their customers would be a good way to start. If your customer is so worked up about something that they’re angry when they complain, don’t get defensive and take the same tone with him. Listen quietly, understand that this is supposed to be HIS relaxation time (after all, he’s paying for it). Apologize for the problem – just saying that you’re sorry can make such a difference. Offer him something (of real value) and do whatever you can to make the situation right. Appreciate the amount of time you’ve taken away from him on his holiday. Do the right thing by your customers or you may one day find you’ve lost them to the competitors who get it. I’m pretty sure this is Customer Service 101.
 
I am, of course, a capitalist, so I understand the bottom line and why these companies are in business in the first place. But I can’t help but feel that cost-cutting measures have gone too far in many corporate (and even independent) travel businesses. I suspect low pay is the cause of many zero care-factor employees. I’ve even heard a staff member complain about how little she was paid to her customers (yikes!) Whatever it is, I ask every person working in the travel industry to ask himself, “What do I expect when I am on holiday? Am I really being fair to my guests? And if I don’t have the power to change things, or if my bosses won’t listen to advice like this, should I be moving on to another company that does?”
 
What are your thoughts on the current state of the travel industry? And what’s your style of handling complaints when you travel? Do you rely on sites like Trip Advisor? In general do you feel that travel providers do a good job, either in service or the handling of complaints and disputes? Who shines in this area?
 
***A note on comments to this post: please do not mention specific business names or people if you have something negative to say. For legal reasons we cannot allow naming and shaming on this website (the stories are fine minus the identifying details of the parties involved, however). We’re responsible for all content on this site, even comments. Thanks and we look forward to your responses!***

Today we’re excited to welcome our first guest contributor to Inspiring Travellers, Adam Pervez from Happiness Plunge. If you would like to guest post, please review our guidelines and drop us a line.

What the heck am I doing with my life?

That’s a question I had as I sat unhappily in my apartment in Brande, Denmark wondering how I found myself despondent and stressed out despite achieving exactly what I had set out to accomplish. I am an engineer, I worked in the Persian Gulf for an oil services company, I got a MBA in Spain from one of the best business schools in the world, and I achieved my “dream” of working in renewable energy in Scandinavia.

Pervez, teaching villagers how to set up a solar system in Honduras.

I realized I had to start from scratch and ask myself the important questions I’ve never really pondered like what my purpose and passions in life are. I called this process The Happiness Plunge as once you know who you are, what you are meant to do with your life, and what would make you happy, it’s impossible not to take the plunge into this new, better, healthier life. But it’s still a plunge since we so often have to leave the comfortable, “normal” life behind.

But hey, we are different, right?

Pervez, with a class of students in Yoloaiquin, El Salvador

In my case, my happiness plunge is what I call “The Happy Nomad Tour.” I’m living a life that encompasses my passions of traveling, writing, helping others, teaching, learning, and telling stories. I travel and volunteer each place I go trying to leave them a bit better than how I found them.

So far in Latin America I’ve cleaned dog cages at an abandoned dog shelter, done menial tasks at a nursing home, helped an indigenous women’s co-op with their website, done publicity and marketing for an organization that takes used bikes and turns them into human-powered machines, installed solar panels and built a website for an indigenous Mayan co-op, helped a new NGO with strategies to become more financially sustainable, helped a medical/dental brigade with English/Spanish translation, and helped an eco-lodge with their website and gardening/home improvement. And I’ve just gotten started so there are lots more experiences to come.

Pervez, riding a bike blending machine while volunteering at Maya Pedal in Guatemala.

I knew before I got started that it would be hard to give more than I take since my trip and lifestyle relies so much on the kindness of others. I stay with local people for free, for example, instead of the synthetic experience of staying in a hotel or hostel. But I have been overwhelmed with the kindness of strangers who help me without ulterior motive or reason to do so.

In many ways it’s reinforced my faith in humanity. I know that’s a loaded sentence but it’s true and the people I’ve met along my journey have been amazing. It’s almost impossible for me to picture myself back in my corporate life. This new life is infinitely more enriching, interesting, and challenging.

The best streetfood experience of my life - in Guatemala

I don’t advocate my style of traveling, nor my style of living. Rather, I advocate self-discovery and understanding who you really are, what your motivations are and what your purpose is. If we were all out there pursuing our passions, the world would be a much happier and better place! I now do my best to help people question the path they are on so they can think about how to live up to their full potential.

What would the world look like if all tourists had a goal of improving the places they visit instead of taking as much as they can from them? Ponder that the next time you’re on the beach.

Bio: Adam Pervez gave up his comfortable, six-figure life to hit the road, pursue his passions, and live the life of a nomad to make the world a bit better. Follow his Happy Nomad Tour at Happiness Plunge or on Facebook or Twitter.

When starting to build our traffic to this blog, several wonderful established bloggers allowed us to write for them. We’re now in a position to allow guest posts on this blog so please consider this post your official invitation to send your interesting and inspiring travel stories our way.

In order to help you, I’ve drafted a set of guidelines for guest posts on Inspiring Travellers. This page also lets you know a little more about the type of content we’re looking for. Please read it carefully before submission. If you have a question about something that isn’t mentioned, please feel free to email us and ask.

Companies/SEO practitioners/Marketers/etc. – This is mentioned in the guidelines, but here it is again: guest posts are open to travel writers and bloggers who are not being paid to represent or write for a company or business interest aside from their own personal travel blogs or content-driven websites. Please do not send guest post requests under the guise of being this type of contributor. It wastes everyone’s time. If you are interested in advertising on InspiringTravellers.com, please review our dedicated advertising page and contact the sales address for a rate schedule.

Thank you in advance to all our fantastic contributors and we hope to hear from plenty of both new and established voices in this niche!

This is a fun little post going around the travel blog community where you get to learn a bit more about me and my travel history and preferences. Thanks to Cathy of Traveling With Sweeney for nominating me to participate. It’s a bit long so I’ll get straight into it.

Age you went on your first international trip: My father took me overseas for the first time when I was 19 to London, France and Italy.

Best (foreign) beer you’ve had and where: At the moment I’m in love with Emerson’s Pilsner from New Zealand.

Cuisine (favourite): This is a tough one because my answer might be different depending on whether I was eating the cuisine at home or in the particular country. For the sake of this post I’ll go with my favourite cuisine when I’m in that country – Thai food. But about five others are coming in at a very, very close second.

Destinations, favourite, least favourite and why: Is it cheating to say New York City since I used to live there and have so many friends and family in the area that it’s pretty much one of my homes? Least favourite at the moment is Croatia.

Event you experienced abroad that made you say “wow”: The Cirque du Soleil ‘O’ show in Vegas took my breath away. Just in case that doesn’t count since I’m an American citizen,  I’ll also toss in seeing Saturn through a telescope in Kaikoura, New Zealand.

Favourite mode of transportation: Train

Greatest feeling while travelling: Excitement – seeing a new place (or even an old favourite) is exhilarating.

Hottest place you’ve travelled to: Europe can be pretty disgusting in the summer…

Incredible service you’ve experienced and where: We recently returned from Abu Dhabi and we stayed at the Shangri-La hotel there. I can’t stop raving about their staff and service.

The view from our balcony at the delightful Shangri-La hotel in Abu Dhabi.

Journey that took the longest: When I first came to Australia to be with my husband, John, I was leaving New York in the middle of a blizzard. My flight was delayed until the following day and when the plane finally took off it was late. I had a cheap ticket that involved two stops and the staff at my particular airline’s connection desk decided that all of them taking their lunch break at the same time was more important than processing the incredibly long queue of people needing to catch their next flights. So that caused me to miss mine and also to lose my seat on the third flight. So I had to fly from there to Singapore to Sydney and then finally over to Perth, instead of flying directly to my destination. That one is still the hell journey to which I compare all others.

Keepsake from your travels: A rock from the Red Beach in Santorini where John and I went shortly after we met.

Let-down sight, why and where: Machu Picchu, not because it isn’t incredible, but because I was so exhausted and miserable after the Inca Trail experience we had that I just couldn’t appreciate it.

Moment where you fell in love with travel: I went to New Orleans with some friends as a teenager and had a simply magical time. It wasn’t Mardi Gras or anything, but we stayed with some local friends there and I just remember thinking, “Man I have to see more places.”

Nicest hotel you’ve stayed in: ‘Nicest’ is kind of a vague term and I could probably answer with a few different ones. But I’ll go with the fancy place my father and I stayed in Venice on that same trip when I was 19 – can’t remember the name of it, unfortunately. It was expensive, sure, but the historical building aspect and view over the Grand Canal was spectacular.

Obsession—what are you obsessed with taking pictures of while travelling?: I love taking photos with people in them. This year I hope to try my hand at portraits.

I really enjoy taking photos with people in action. This one is from my Chilean gaucho post.

Passport stamps, how many and from where?: I have two relatively new passports and my old one, which was almost full when my name changed. I filled up half of one of the new ones last year so let’s just say too many to count.

Quirkiest attraction you’ve visited and where: The Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, New Zealand were pretty unusual.

Recommended sight, event or experience: Just one? I’ll go with Iguazu Falls in Argentina.

Splurge; something you have no problem forking over money for while travelling: Hotels and food are my travel vices.

Inside the Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, New Zealand

Touristy thing you’ve done: I kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland last year.

Unforgettable travel memory: Meeting John in Crete over seven years ago is one that won’t ever fade.

Visas, how many and for where?: I’ve had a couple for Australia in the past but I’m now a citizen there. We got one for Jordan and Turkey this year as well but you just get those on arrival.

Wine, best glass of wine while travelling and where?: Ha! As if I remember it!

eXcellent view and from where?: The views from the Hassler Rooftop Restaurant in Rome are pretty amazing.

Years spent travelling?: Not counting trips with my parents when I was a child, 16.

Zealous sports fans and where?: They’re everywhere but the ones I’m most aware of are in Australia, the States, Europe and South America.

I’m supposed to tag a few fellow bloggers now but this post chain has been going around for awhile and I don’t know who hasn’t done it, so if you want to participate, consider this your invitation from me!

As we travelled around the world last year, we captured some funny pictures of signs and interesting graffiti:

Some very specific food restrictons on a bus in Croatia

Don't smoke in this Dunedin hostel.

The locals aren't pleased with the gentrification happening in Prenzlauerberg, Berlin. Not sure exactly what this sign says, though...anyone?

Similarly, some people aren't fond of the tourist influx in Puerto Varas, Chile.

Hmmm...saw this one in Budapest, Hungary.

This was stamped on the door of a brothel in Napier. Only a very specific 37%?

Seen on the door of a cafe in Berlin

We don't have any children yet but I enjoyed this sign from a shop in Ireland.

in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Auckland, New Zealand

Good advice in Prague

We love the little island state of Tasmania and were delighted to be able to attend our good friends’ wedding in Hobart last month. Visitors to Australia shouldn’t skip Tassie. It’s such a natural place with beautiful scenery, nature activities, fresh food, wine and friendly locals. Most people begin their journey in the capital city and they shouldn’t miss these excellent attractions in Hobart.

1. The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) - Photo by russelljsmith from Flickr.

About as interesting as the museum itself is the story behind its creation. Tasmanian professional gambler, David Walsh made millions and then built this subterranean wonderland on Berriedale peninsula. The biggest privately funded museum in the country, MONA is home to modern and contemporary art ranging from the bizarre to the macabre. $20 for non-Tasmanians, open daily except for Christmas Day, website

2. Salamanca Market and Place

Hobart's Salamanca Market keeps thousands of visitors busy with 300 stalls every Saturday. Photo by veen from Flickr.

This lively area is home to several bars, cafes, theatres, shops and galleries, but is probably best known for its festive Saturday market. Celebrating its 40th birthday this year, the Salamanca Market features around 300 outdoor stalls every Saturday, attracting thousands of visitors. Enjoy fresh food, music, buskers and shopping the wares of artists and craftsmen in a beautiful setting near the harbour. Market open Saturdays 8.30am – 3pm (and Sunday if the Saturday falls on Christmas or Anzac Day), rain or shine, website

3. Port Arthur Convict Settlement

Port Arthur Convict Settlement - Photo by Paradoxiko*Beck* from Flickr.

Located 60 km southeast of the city, the small town of Port Arthur makes for a nice day trip or overnight stay on the Tasman Peninsula. Beautiful and historic, it is best known for its penal colony, housing the worst criminals from Britain and Ireland between 1833 and 1853. This is Tasmania’s most popular attraction and tours to the penitentiary, model prison and church ruins are available. It’s also possible to visit the nearby Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park (because there’s not much chance of seeing a Devil in the wild).

4. Cascade Brewery

The Cascade Brewery - Photo by frivolous_accumulation from Flickr.

Tasmania boasts some of the best non-craft Aussie beer and competition is fierce between the two major brands, Cascade and Boag’s. Despite the fact that the latter is from Launceston, one bartender told us that many locals in Hobart actually prefer it to their own brew, Cascade. Visitors will have the chance to try both and make their own decision. But whichever one you like best, a visit to the local brewery should be on the cards. Located in a beautiful setting not far from town, the Cascade Brewery offers three different tours with knowledgeable guides and tastings. website

5. Mt. Wellington

Hobart's harbour with Mt. Wellington in the background.

Towering over the city is this 1271 metre (4166ft) mountain and there’s more to do there than just driving up to The Pinnacle for a look. The park offers opportunities for bush walking, bike and horseback riding, bird watching and rock climbing among other activities. Picnic areas with barbecues are located at Fern Tree Park, Tolosa Park and The Chalet as well as other areas, which may also include forests, trails and play areas for children. website

Have you visited Tasmania? What were your impressions?

A couple of years ago I made a list of 15 things I would miss when we moved away from Melbourne. It should come as no surprise that many of these were food related, not just because I’m a hopeless foodie but also because Melbourne has arguably the best culinary scene in all of Australia.
 
Last month we found ourselves back on our old stomping grounds for a week as we stopped over to organize some items left behind when we went on our sabbatical and also to catch up with friends. We had the opportunity to pop into a few of our old haunts and were pleasantly surprised to find them still open and as delicious as ever. Visitors shouldn’t miss these five Melbourne CBD restaurants – there’s something here for every budget and taste bud.

A delicious mushroom parma at Mrs. Parma's in Melbourne.

Mrs. Parma’s

Few things are more Australian than a parmigiana and the kitchen at this popular spot serves up ten different varieties under strict standards it calls, “Parmology.” Choose veal, chicken or eggplant and one of the special recipes, which include Mexican, Calabrese and the uber-hot Parma’geddon. The delightfulness doesn’t stop there either as you’ll be washing it down with selections from their Victorian craft beer menu, including 10 on tap. 25 Little Bourke Street, tel + 61 3 9639 2269, website, pub atmosphere

Pea, pancetta, and onion risotto at Tutto Bene. Photo by Charles Haynes from Flickr.

Tutto Bene

Melbourne has more Italian restaurants than even full-time residents can handle. If I only had time for one I’d pick this lively little eatery in Southgate. While it used to be mostly known for its risotto, which is still excellent and available in several innovative varieties, diners will find plenty of other dishes on the menu. I never bypass the handmade mozzarella of the day, for example, or the olive ascalone: yummy, meat-filled and crumbed green olives. Don’t miss a selection (or two) from their organic and biodynamic wine list.  Mid Level Southgate, tel + 61 3 9696 3334, website, bistro atmosphere

Betel Leaf Parcels at Longrain. Photo by avlxyz from Flickr.

Longrain

Just across the street is another favourite, featuring Asian dishes from Thailand and Southern China. Don’t be put off by the communal tables, we’ve always met (or observed with amusement) interesting people when we’ve dined there. Everything is designed to share with the other members of your group and the servers are always eager to help you select the perfect balance of flavours for your meal. Be sure to try the yummy cocktails or something off the wine list and arrive early if you don’t want to wait as they don’t take reservations. 40/44 Little Bourke St, tel +61 3 9671 3151, website, high-end dining in a busy atmosphere

Try Shoya's degustation menu - shown here is an Unagi Canape topped with crab salad, smoky grilled egg, salmon roe and a black truffle wafer. Photo by avlxyz from Flickr.

Shoya

I found the city’s best sushi here but we came back continuously for the delicious cooked dishes. The restaurant features six split levels to choose from depending on the type of meal the guests would like to have. These include the Japanese style BBQ levels with smokeless grills set into the tables for self-cooking of the ingredients, traditional Japanese style Horigotatsu and country style floor settings and regular seating near the sushi bar. After dinner, continue the evening in the upstairs karaoke rooms.

25 Market Lane, tel +61 3 9650 0848, website, fine dining in a variety of settings

Grass Fed Sirloin on the Bone with Parmesan Herb Crumbed Onion Rings at Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons.

Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons

The service was so frustrating the last time we visited this Italian restaurant at the Crown Entertainment Complex that I almost dropped it from the list. But the food won us over as it always does. The menu is unique in both offerings and design and it will take newcomers some time to explore it as they munch on the delicious table breads and the restaurant’s own olive oil. I recommend starting with olives, cheese or salumi and then moving on to one of the hearty meat or pasta dishes. The steaks here are my favourite in the city, as delicious to me as the ones served at Rockpool down the corridor. Plenty of delicious Italian and Australian wines are also on offer. The restaurant doesn’t accept reservations so be prepared to wait at the bar on busy nights, potentially for hours on Friday and Saturday nights.
25/8 Whiteman Street, tel +61 3 9694 7400, website, casual, busy atmosphere
 

What’s Melbourne’s best restaurant in your opinion?

We visited 22 countries last year in Australasia, South America, Europe and the Middle East and came to some realizations during our international travels. Do any of these resonate with you?

1. English was spoken pretty much everywhere we went.

With a few exceptions, enough English was spoken in areas where foreigners visit to make our travels very easy. We certainly weren’t expecting this and made an effort to learn the language in non-English speaking regions if we were going to be there for more than a couple of weeks. But the spread of English language education has really made visiting foreign countries much easier. Some places surprised us more than others: while many people seem to speak English in Santiago, for example, very few speak it in the rural areas. The language barrier will be an issue for visitors to Buenos Aires who don’t speak any Spanish as well.

Photo by seemann of morgueFile.

2. We rarely needed to book in advance.

Aside from festivals, major holidays and small towns during high season, we found no reason to make reservations far in advance. We visited New Zealand during summer and, though this year could have been an anomaly because of the Rugby World Cup being held later in the year, we could have easily found a place to stay when we arrived in each town. We did save money on booking buses there in advance because of their particular system, but otherwise we regret not leaving our schedule more flexible. Elsewhere the only places that required advance reservations were Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival, Oktoberfest and El Chalten, Argentina.

3. The world is indeed flat.

I’m referring to the popular book by Thomas Friedman about globalization, which postulates that the histories and geographical distances between countries no longer matter or serve as points of vast differentiation. We noticed very little differences between towns and cities of similar size to each other as we moved from continent to continent. People’s cultural differences stood out in some instances but we mostly felt like the environment was the same whether we were in Lima or Berlin. This further enforces the theory that human beings are the same everywhere, sharing common desires and traits. And now that commerce is so globalized, it’s possible to find practically the same goods and services from one region to the next. There’s plenty of other apt stuff in that book too, but this was the major point for me.

4. If we don’t like a place, we leave.

Some might say that’s not giving a place a fair chance, but if we’re not having a good time after a few days, we’re out of there. Given the situation outlined in item three above, we find little reason to linger in a location with unfriendly people or nothing of appeal for us.

Photo by gracey of morgueFile.

5. Long-term travel is becoming less of an “alternative” lifestyle.

After meeting so many people on the road and discovering so many other blogs of long-term travellers, I’m convinced that chucking it all in and taking off on an international adventure is becoming much more mainstream. While some people thought we were a bit crazy at first, we received more positive responses when we told people what we were doing and get fewer strange looks than a year ago. I think the recent economic crisis has helped this, causing people to realize that previously solid notions of “stability” are tenuous.

6. We prefer to be expats or to stay in one place for a long time.

This year was the first time either of us has travelled to so many places in such a short amount of time. We got sick of packing and unpacking bags and constantly moving from place to place. We did take a week or more in several places but since we’re used to being expats or travelling more slowly, the rest of it took its toll. I’m still glad we did what we did because of the sheer amount of places we were able to see without taking a separate long-distance trip, but I think we’ll stick to being expats and taking shorter journeys throughout the year.

Photo by chamomile of morgueFile.

7. Mastering the art of choosing the right place to stay

This is one part Trip Advisor, one part search strategy, one part cross-referencing and two parts self-awareness. And something every traveller must be able to do to enjoy themselves. I am now confident we will not be making accommodation mistakes in the future, though it has meant that the list of acceptable brands for us is considerably diminished (see item nine).

8. People make it for us.

Whether it’s spending time with old or new friends on the road or the friendliness of the locals, we’re always more interested in who is around than what is around.

9. If something isn’t right, complain.

I want to remind every traveller that if you’ve paid good money for something, be it accommodation, a meal, a tour or an activity, and what you receive is not to the standard advertised, be sure to speak up about it. Do this at the time of service, to the highest level of staff you can locate and keep your comments specific and non-personal. Find the CEO if you have to. Tell the manager what you expect to receive in return, be persistent, and take it to a governing body if they still refuse to comply. Not letting senior management know about the problem means that the next traveller has to put up with the same unacceptable service. Often poor behaviour or quality is happening without the knowledge of the people at the top of the company. If you paid good money for something, be sure you get what was offered.
 
What travel lessons did you learn last year?

We wrote 150 blog posts in 2011, but according to Google Analytics, these were the most widely read this year with thousands of page views:

5. Observing Humanity on the Inca Trail

A look at some of the people you might meet along Peru’s famous (and difficult) trail.

Both goods and smiles are available along the Inca Trail.

4. Visiting a Dinosaur Excavation in Neuquén

While in Argentina we had the amazing opportunity to visit a real, ongoing excavation site where skeletons from some of the largest dinosaurs that ever roamed the earth are being uncovered.

Lake Barreales Paleontological Centre

3. Life in the Poison Garden

An interesting garden lurks in the shadows of Blarney Castle. This photo essay features close-ups of the stories about its inhabitants – not a place to let your child or pet wander.

2. Franz Josef vs. Fox Glacier: Which Glacier Hike Should I Choose?

We notice about daily traffic on this post, an excellent resource for anyone looking to explore these incredible glaciers on the South Island of New Zealand’s west coast.

The initial ascent on the ice at Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand.

1. Awash in Salt: Photos From the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia

Our photo essay from these beautiful salt flats in southern Bolivia. To think we only scratched the surface of the land area on our day tour.

Which post did you like best?

As the year of our gap adventure, 2011 was huge for us travel-wise. We’d like to take a moment to make some shout-outs about the things we liked best.

A stop along the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in New Zealand.

Best adventure activity: Climbing Volcan Villarrica in Chile
Best attraction: Iguazu Falls, Argentina
Best beer: Brain Blasta, Porterhouse Brewing Company (John) and Emerson’s Pilsner (Andrea)

Climbing Volcan Villarrica in Pucon, Chile

Best city: London (Andrea) and Berlin (John)
Best country: Germany
Best new country: Colombia
Best food: Jordan

At a vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina

Best people (friendliest): Ireland
Best hike: Tongariro Alpine Crossing, New Zealand
Best hostel: The Albatross Backpacker Inn, Kaikoura
Best hotel or resort: Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi

At the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia

Best meal: BBQ at our mate Klemen’s place in Ljubljana
Best Museum: Terror Háza, Budapest
Best national park: Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, Argentina

On the Caribbean Coast in Colombia

Best organized: Switzerland
Best restaurant: Francis, Montevideo
Best tour guide: Raed from Jordan

Rain and wind in Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher

Best town: Grindelwald, Switzerland
Best thing we saw that we didn’t know about when planning: Bozcaada, Turkey
Best wine: Chile

Hanging out in London

About to take on the zipline at Grindelwald First in Switzerland.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the following fellow travellers we met or caught up with this year who made our time extra special. Because it’s always more about the people you meet than the places you see:

Abby (The Jungle Princess), Adam (Travels of Adam), Amar and Dipti, Andi and Lucas (My Beautiful Adventures), Andrew (Grounded Traveler), Anna, Adam and Basia in Poland, Ayngelina (Bacon is Magic), Brad (LindVentures), Brendan (Brendan’s Adventures), Cheryl (Cheryl Howard), Christina (Jandal Road), Christy and Kali (Technosyncratic), Claudia and Umit, Dalene and Peter (Hecktic Travels), Dave (Go Backpacking), Eileen (Bear Shaped Sphere), Emily and Rodolfo (Don’t Call Me Gringa), Jasmine (Jasmine Wanders), Jim (Holes in My Soles), Julie (Nueva Americana), Katrina and Dario (Tour Absurd), Kerry-Ann (Audacious Freedom), Kirsten (Aviators and Camera), Klemen, Kyle and Seba (Kyle Hepp Photography), Laura and Roberto (Travel for Love), Lucy and Michael, Marcello (Wandering Trader), Marko, Melvin and Astrid (Traveldudes), Rease (Travelated), Rob and Angelica (South America Me), Robbie and Luke, Stephanie (The Travel Chica) and Tobi.

Enjoying litres of beer at Oktoberfest

Petra, Jordan

What was your favourite travel experience of 2011?

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

We sincerely thank our readers for making this year extra special. May love and peace fill your home for the holidays.

Andrea and John

People keep talking about the property bust in Dubai but it was easy for casual visitors like us to overlook. After all, the home of the world’s tallest building, tallest hotel and largest shopping mall has so many amazing attractions.

Atlantis, The Palm has over 1,500 rooms, a water park and a place for visitors to interact with dolphins.

Dubai is still a shopper's paradise. Here's a peek inside Dubai Mall, the world's largest with 1,200 shops.

Our visit coincided with the 40th anniversary of the United Arab Emirates.

Family attractions, like the Wild Wadi Water Park, abound.

Ski Dubai, an indoor winter wonderland is one of a kind.

The super-luxurious Burj Al Arab hotel, with its incredible design, stands proudly on a man-made island.

Back in the "old town," a view across the Dubai Creek.

While its population is mostly Arabic, Dubai is home to many different people and cultures.

Madinat Jumeirah Arabian Resort

An opulent ceiling in Dubai Mall

Plenty of hard workers keep Dubai going.

Visitors check out the huge indoor aquarium inside Dubai Mall.

The world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

 Have you ever been to Dubai? What did you think of it?