Out last stop in Australia was Melbourne, a lovely city on the South East coast, a quick flight from Sydney.

I was getting pretty excited about visiting Melbourne as we had arranged to stay with a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade. (Wow, that makes me feel really old.) We were planning to meet up with my friend, Victoria, and her family and head to nearby Phillip Island to relax a bit.

Before meeting up with Vic, we checked out some of the scenes in Melbourne. Personally, I liked Melbourne a lot because it was so “green.” I don’t mean in the environmentally friends sense, although it may be, but that it was literally very green with beautiful flowers everywhere and Gardens to walk around in for hours.

We started with the Royal Botanic Gardens, which was just a short walk from our hotel. We could literally have gotten lost there and enjoyed the colors the whole time. We wandered around and checked out the huge variety of plant species. Everything is nicely labeled, which is awesome so you can know just what are looking at and finding some cool facts out. There are gazebos everywhere for relaxing while taking in the scenery. All around awesome place.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Griffin’s favorite bird of all time, which we found in Melbourne, the Cassowary. We like to call it the Dino Bird because of the oddly shaped crest on the top of its head that looks prehistoric in our minds, if to no one else. Anyway, Griffin has become obsessed with this bird.

After checking out the garden for a while, we stopped in the nearby Shrine of Remembrance, a military museum detailing Australia’s journey to freedom and contributions to world wars. It’s a solemn place of remembrance and touched our hearts even as foreign visitors. The place also boasts a pretty amazing architectural feat, which can be seen in the Sanctuary. A sunken stone plaque which reads, “Greater love hath no man” is read by the visitors in such a way that they much bow their heads to read it. The quote is part of the Bible verse, John 15:13, which states, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Every year on November 11th at exactly 11:00am, the sun shines through a open block in the roof and lands directly on the word “Love.” Daylight savings time has caused the necessity of a mirror to be placed to continue to tradition, but it is no less powerful. During the rest of the year, visitors can enjoy a simulation.

Finally we were ready to meet up with Vic’s husband, Chris, for the ride down to Phillip Island. I was happy to see my friend again and meet her sweet family. We had a great time catching up. As it turned out, we also got to meet Chris’ parents and Victoria’s parents as well, which was a blessing to us.

Vic and Chris offered lots of advice for things to see around the island, so we started with the Phillip Island Wildlife Park. This place is getting up close and personal with all kinds of animals and we loved every minute of it. We got to pet Kangaroos, Wallabies, and Emus and saw Koalas, Eagles, and so many more animals I can’t even think of them all. Basically, I didn’t want to leave there and tried to talk Griffin into letting me have a Kangaroo to take home. He said no. =(

We took an extended family trip with all ten of us to The Nobbies, a nature park with one of the most beautiful coastal walkways I’ve ever seen. There is a small island off the coast with hundreds of seals sunbathing, which we enjoyed seeing as well.

Finally, we had to do it, we went to the Penguin Parade. This is a natural phenomenon that occurs nearly every evening at the same time, when hundreds of penguins arrive on shore after a day of fishing and waddle to their beach homes. These are not just any penguins, though, they are “Fairy Penguins,” tiny little fuzzy penguins that stand about 12 inches tall. They are some of the cutest things you’ve ever seen. People have been coming to watch the penguins come home since the 1920′s and it’s still extremely popular. I tried to talk Griffin into letting me have a penguin to take home. He said no. =(

After a few days of seeing the sites on Phillip Island, we tagged along to Vic and Chris’ home back in Melbourne and had a great time hanging out and playing with her cute kids. From there, we booked a rushed flight to continue our journey in New Zealand!

If your in the area, I can’t recommend beautiful Melbourne or Phillip Island highly enough!

Depending on your sense of adventure, there are plenty of ways to get away on holiday and explore your destination. Some choose to book their own flight and hotel, and plan their trip with local public transport networks. Others choose fly-drive holidays, and pick up a hire car on arrival to set off on a voyage of discovery across their chosen destination.

Still more prefer to take package holidays, and for many, this is one of the best and most hassle-free ways to get away.

When you travel with a tour operator as part of a package holiday, you’ll typically have your return flights, accommodation and local resort transfers included in the cost. This means that on arrival at your destination, your transport arrangements to the hotel are included, so all you have to do is turn up and make your way to the relevant pick-up point. The same goes for the return leg, as the bus will usually collect you from your hotel or from a central point in the resort.

Whatever type of holiday you’re planning, whether it’s cheap holidays in Tunisia or a voyage of discovery across ancient Egypt, package holidays represent one of the easiest and most stress-free ways to go abroad.

On top of flights, accommodation and transfers, in most cases you’ll also have the added benefit of a representative to provide help and support while you’re on holiday. This is ideal for finding out more about your local area, including the best tours and trips available, the best sights to visit, and even the best local restaurants. It’s also a useful resource if you encounter difficulties, such as problems with your hotel room or a lost passport.

So from cheap Malta package holidays to luxury Caribbean breaks in five-star surroundings, there’s a package holiday with your name on it…

After spending several weeks enjoying the coast of Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, we decided to continue down the east coast to Sydney.

Griffin had visited Sydney before, but I hadn’t, so I was getting pretty excited.

Upon landing we headed out to Bondi Beach to catch up with Griffin’s friend, Joel, who was letting us crash at his place for a few days. Bondi Beach is an awesome place and we had a great time relaxing there for a few days.

After a couple of days at Bondi Beach, we hopped a train to just outside the city center, where we were greeted by Kathryn, a friend of Griffin’s from his previous travels, and her husband James, who had graciously offered to let us stay with them during our visit.

We arrived to a wonderful home cooked meal, which we had been missing for a while. And, after a good night’s sleep we were ready to go explore Sydney.

Our first stop was the most recognized landmark in Australia, The Sydney Opera House. The place is huge and it was interesting reading the placards and learning a bit more of the history of it. We opted out of the tour because it was a little too expensive for us and we were having a hard time fitting our Australian expenses into our budget already. We took a fun walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens and then walked across the Harbor Bridge for a great view of Sydney Harbor and another look at the iconic Opera House.

We did, however, decided to tour “The Rocks,” which was the area where the British Prisoners, who would become the first Australians, initially settled upon arrival into Sydney Harbor. Since it was a national holiday, the tour was only two Australian Dollars. Sweet! The tour was interesting and I highly recommend checking it out as it really gives you a feel for Australian history.

Later we went down to the harbor to watch the fireworks for Australia Day, which was a nice surprise since we hadn’t planned that!

We spent the next couple of days catching up on work. You may have noticed that pattern by now. Usually, our travel schedule consists of touring for a few days and then working a couple days. While we saved up for our travels while we were in Korea, we decided that we didn’t want to deplete our savings and then have nothing when we arrived back home, so Griffin ramped up his business and I’ve been doing what I can to help. If you are thinking of long-term travel and can do some work remotely, I encourage you to try it! It can also be a nice break from the constant barrage of tourism.

So, after relaxing and working a couple of days, we went back into town and took a ferry out to the Manly Beach area. Basically, all of Sydney is beautiful and lined with beaches. I love Sydney!

Kathryn and James could not have been more gracious hosts. They took their free time on the weekend to drive us to the Blue Mountains to see the view. I’m sure the scenes there were beautiful, but unfortunately we weren’t able to see them! There was a fog that moved in and we couldn’t see a thing! We settled for checking out some postcards of what the scene would have looked like. We hope to visit again one day when the weather is better. Kath and James are such a fun couple that we really didn’t need to see the mountains to have fun.

We spent a total of about a week and a half in Sydney, which was not nearly enough for this beautiful city. We hope to visit again some time after we’ve saved enough Aussie Dollars to see everything!

It’s that time of year again, when couples in their hoards celebrate their love by being ridiculously romantic and over-affectionate. Whether they decide to stay at home or opt for a city break, Valentine’s Day is pretty much the only day when overt canoodling is pretty much acceptable. If you’re planning a visit to London for the day, or even a long weekend, what kind of things are on offer that will keep you and your flame happy?

Firstly, a long weekend in London doesn’t have to break the bank and sure, it’s Valentine’s Day, but that doesn’t mean you have to overspend on boutique hotels and luxuries that aren’t needed. You’d be better off opting for the affordable option, by heading over to https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/book/london-hotels and giving yourself more money in the bank to play around with, keeping you both busy and laden with fun and romantic treats.

With a plethora of events, activities and places to visit that will keep you both entertained; you’ll be spoiled for choice with a Valentine’s Day in London. Sure, it falls on a Thursday this year which isn’t the best day for it, but there’s no reason why you can’t extend your stay for a long weekend to see and
do as much as possible.

If you’re both lovers of the Silver Screen, you can catch a romantic film at any of the screenings across the city. Try the BFI Southbank for a great selection of 50s classics, being shown throughout the day. Be warned though, you may want to pack your tissues as you get transported back to the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Meanwhile, music lovers could get whisked away into a magical ambience with the help of some romantic music at the Barbican hall Performed by a live orchestra, lovers of classical music will love it.

Are you adrenaline junkies? If you are, what better way to spend Valentine’s Day than throwing yourself off of a platform and plummeting towards the ground with only the safety of a bungee rope attached to you? Although it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, some people would revel in the experience. It’s possible to jump in tandem too, AKA Lover’s Leap, to really share the experience with each other. Don’t worry either, once you’re fully back on terra firma, you can have a lovely glass of bubbly to celebrate.

Of course, all of this wouldn’t be complete without a beautiful gourmet meal at one of the best restaurants in town. With a myriad of options available, why not push the boat out and treat your loved one to the 3* Michelin culinary prowess at one of the two in the city that possess such an accolade. Head for either Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester or Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea, for a fine dining experience you will never forget.

Whatever you decide to do with your other half this Valentine’s Day, just remember: after all of the activity is over, the main thing is you get to spend some quality time together.

About midway through our time in Indonesia, we needed to decide our next destination. Griffin’s little sister had set a wedding date, so our time was limited, but we knew we wanted to see all we could of Oceania before heading back to the U.S. So, we booked our next flight to Cairns, Australia, the most popular access point to Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef.

We arrived in Cairns and got settled into our hostel before trying to determine what avenue we wanted to take to get out on the reef. Griffin had been diving before and easily talked me into wanting to give it a try. We looked into several intro-diving options, but they were all pretty expensive. Finally, we found an option that would grant us the opportunity to actually get our diver certification, as well as a way to get our budget around it.

We headed down to the Reef Encounter office to talk with them about their Hostie program. Basically, we needed to go out on the live-aboard boat as paying customers, during which time we would get our diving certificates, then we would stay aboard to help with things like washing dishes and making up beds, etc. In return, we would have free accommodation, free gourmet food, and at least two free dives each day. We figured out that in order to balance out the amount of money we needed to spend as customers, we would need to stay aboard for an extra 10 days. It seemed like a lot of dishes, but we decided to give it a try.

Early the next morning, we boarded the Reef Experience, a day boat by the same company that would dock near the Reef Encounter and serve as a taxi out to our floating hotel.

We settled into our rooms and got started with our course right away. I believe we had the best dive instructor possible in ‘Albie.’ The guy was patient, fun and extremely talented and knowledgeable. Not only was he a great teacher under the water, but his explanations of theory were easy to understand as well. Eight dives, several hours of book work and a test later, we were certified divers able to dive on our own up to 15 meters.

Each time we went under the water was a new experience. It honestly could never get old to me. Sometimes we had an agenda, something special we wanted to see, sometimes we just went for a relaxed exploration. We enjoyed swimming through tunnels, or just peaking into some of the soft corals to see what fish were hiding there. No matter what, we always saw something new and amazing.

As hosties, our days started early with setting up for breakfast. As soon as that was finished, we would go out for our morning dive. From the water, we would grab a quick shower to get the salt water off us and then head downstairs to wash up the breakfast dishes. Then we would spend the rest of the morning cleaning up rooms for the incoming new passengers. Lunch setup, lunch dishes, afternoon cleaning… all just the next steps until we could get in the water again for the afternoon dive at 3:30. After the dive, wash off again, dinner setup and dishes, plating up desert and then waiting to see if there is room for us on the night dive. Head to sleep and then do it all again the next day. By the time we left there, we felt like regular crew members. We stayed aboard so long, we decided to go ahead and get our Advanced certification. Now we can dive down to 30 meters. =) Not to mention, we gained several new friends. Always the best part of travel.

When we finally got off the boat, we literally had land-sickness. For the first couple of days on land, we felt like we were constantly swaying. It was a crazy feeling.

We ended up sticking around in Cairns for another couple of weeks, catching up on some work and checking out the town. We even went back out to Reef Encounter for a another night and a few more dives.

Cairns is a beautiful place with a million options for checking out the reef. We met some great people and had some of the best experiences of our trip.

Have any of you been scuba diving? Share some of your favorite memories and locations in the comments. We would love to hear them.

From here, we booked a flight down the coast to Sydney. Check back to see what we got to do there. =)

I have rested my head on everything from plush amazingness, to a couch cushion, to nothing at all. A couple of months in, I was a little worried about the possible future pillows I might encounter, but I wasn’t thrilled at the thought of lugging around a giant pillow or fighting to stuff it into my bag every morning. So, I did some research on what other travelers suggest for the best travel pillow.

This is not ideal.

This is really not ideal.

It didn’t take long to figure out that a down pillow is the way to go. Firstly, I love down stuff. If I could surround myself in down cushiness all the time, I totally would. It’s comfortable, it has a nice cooling affect and it’s lightweight. Additionally, a travel size feather pillow can fit almost anywhere. Believe me, if there is an inch of open space in my bag, I can force my travel pillow into it!

The best travel pillow I came across was from GooseFeet Gear, a one-man company that makes custom down gear including everything from down socks to pants to pretty much anything you want.

I got in touch with Ben, the main man over at GooseFeet to ask about his options for a travel pillow and he quickly gave me some great advice. This guy really knows his trade. He asked me all kinds of questions about how I sleep and what I like in terms of firmness and loft in pillows, etc. By the time he was putting my pillow together, (and Griffin’s, who had to have one as well), I was getting pretty excited about it. Ben actually makes all his products by hand and to order. You can’t beat that!

Optimal.

The pillow was perfect! I chose a black color so as not to show much dirt and Ben chose a rip-stop material to make sure it was durable. The first thing I did was spend some time squishing the pillow down and checking to see how long it took to regain its shape. Then I practiced stuffing it into the smallest spaces I could find and then taking it out and shaking it back to its original form. The pillow passed every test I could throw at it, so I thought it was time for the ultimate test, sleeping. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, my hostel-provided pillow granted me a great opportunity as it was basically a rock with a pillowcase. I whipped out my down travel pillow and was ready to go. I woke up the next morning and decided Ben had done me a huge favor. The thing slept great and I woke up feeling refreshed, without the sore neck I knew would await me with the cotton rock I would have been sleeping on.

From that point on, the pillow has stayed with me on planes, trains, buses, cars, etc. I just shove it into my day pack and I’m ready to dream. It adds no weight to my bag, which is ideal, it’s withstood everything I can throw at it, and grants me the ability to sleep on those rocky overnight trains.

If you’re a traveler looking for lightweight, durable, stuffable pillow, GooseFeet Gear is the place to shop. If you’re like me and your idea of heaven has down clouds, just drop Ben a line and he can hook you up with pretty much anything you want! Don’t sleep on this advice… just get the pillow.

We’ve all sat through the recorded information that bores people to tears on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. The information is fed to you through an ear piece, if it’s working, and then you’re left to wonder what’s been left out and wish you could ask someone directly about particular points that interested you. But there’s no one there but the driver, who may or may not speak your language.

Gray Line Tours was a refreshing change. Everything was streamlined and the tour ran like a well-oiled machine. The bus rolled on in a timely manner to all the places on our list, while a very knowledgeable guide told us information about places we were passing as well as the places we would soon visit. She answered questions for us about the tour bus operations and any other little questions we could come up with about the city and tourist attractions. This was extremely helpful as we had a limited time and wanted to make the most of it. Since we both love European history, having someone we could get facts from was welcome part of our time in Munich.

As guests of the Munich Tourism Board or, München Tourismus as is it official called, we were so excited to get tickets to Gray Line Tours Grand Circle tour, which visits virtually every touristy area in the city.

We decided that to get the most of our experience, we would take the tour around in a complete circle, listen to all of the information uninterrupted, and then choose the specific places to “hop-off” at during our second time around.

This plan worked out great for us and we enjoyed getting to glean as much information about the city as we could before getting out and about at the sites of interest.

All in all, we can highly recommend Gray Line Tours in Munich. We very much enjoyed getting to see the city from the open top of the tour bus, get some extra information and avoid losing precious time by having everything organized for us. If you have the opportunity, please check Gray Line out in any city. You won’t regret it!

When someone says Munich, most people immediately think of Oktoberfest. Yes, this famous festival does fill up the city for 2 weeks each year, but there is so much more to Munich than beer and pretzels.

We had the opportunity to visit Munich as guests of the Munich Tourism Board, officially known a München Tourismus. Their website, with information on just about everything available in Munich, may be the only guide you need. It’s certainly one of the most comprehensive city websites I’ve ever seen… and I’ve seen a lot.

Upon arrival at the main train station, we walked just a few hundred meters to King’s Hotel, which was exactly what we needed to get rested for our whirlwind tour. After a quick and delicious dinner at the famous Augustiner Keller and a tour around the beer cellar, we spent the next several hours before bed trying to decide what to see for the next two days. It was no easy task! We could easily have stayed two weeks and still not see everything! Instead I turned page corners in a city guide book and then tried to cull it down from roughly 30 of my favorite activities listed.

We jumped up early the next morning and headed off to the city center to take in some of the sites. Munich has so much history to learn about that we barely had time to take it all in. We even passed by a little known building with just a plain marker indicating the place where plans for the holocaust were first hatched. From there we took a short walk over to The Frauenkirche, also known as The Cathedral of Our Dear Lady, a beautiful church with several unique aspects, including the legendary “devil’s footprint,” and a curious menorah on the ceiling. You’ll have to visit to find out why it’s there! (It’s quite a touching story.)

By then it was nearly 11:00am and we rushed back to the Marienplatz to get a glimpse of the Glockenspiel in action. We were delighted when the hour struck and the giant clock came to life. You really can’t miss it and it wasn’t at all disappointing to us! Below is a video of the clock in action. It’s a bit long, but fascinating, especially if you’ve never seen it before. Although, I highly encourage you to head there and see yourself!

We settled down to lunch with Isabella from München Tourismus and took her advice on some traditional Bavarian menu items. I think we would weigh entirely too much if we stayed in Munich for any longer than a few days. Wow, that food is amazing.

Finally we headed off to meet up with the famous New Europe Free Walking Tour group to catch some more history for a couple of hours. If you’ve never tried one of these walking tours, you don’t know what you’re missing. They are informative beyond belief, entertaining and will help you get oriented in the city in no time. Plus, they’re free! You should tip your guide at the end according to what you think their tour was worth. What a nice business plan.

When I say that it’s important to get into a tour, I really mean that. Any walking tour will take you around the city to places you never knew existed and give you more information than you could find in a thousand guide books. We had no idea about some of the landmarks in Munich as they are so subtle, yet so important. We saw an extremely unique memorial to the German resistance, the place where the army tried to block the Nazi’s from marching, fun things like the May Pole in the city center, markets, beer gardens and so much more, all while being thoroughly entertained and enlightened about each of these places. The more you know about a city, the more you will love it! München Tourismus can also set you up with a tour, and personally knowing how thorough they are, I know it would be a great option for sure.

When the tour was finished we took a closer look at a couple of beer gardens and had a bratwurst dog for dinner. Yum. Griffin tried out the famous Weissbier, or Wheat Beer, but I’m not crazy about beer so I settled for a Fanta. After Griffin grabbed some night photography time, we headed back to the hotel to catch up on rest.

As if day one didn’t hold enough, we quickly headed out the next morning to see what else we could get into. We were delighted to “hop” onto a Gray Line tour bus to hop on and hop off throughout the city. What’s great about this company is there is a live tour guide to give you information about the upcoming stops and different landmarks about the city. Other companies tend to have a recording, but recordings don’t answer questions, so we were happy for the change. A complete circle takes around an hour and half, which we actually did just to have some uninterrupted information about the city. Then we jumped off at the different stops that interested us the first time around.

Of course, no tour of Munich would be complete without a visit to BMW Welt (World). Here you can catch people driving their new cars around the indoor test facility or venture over to the BMW Museum and see how the company got started as well as all the makes and models! It was really cool, but there was no free gift of a new BMW at end! Too bad!

BMW Welt is the same tour stop as the Olympic Park, which is a beautiful site in itself. It’s easy to spend hours wandering around taking in all the athletic history.

We were also able to check out the English Garden, Opera House, City Hall, and the Nymphenburg Palace, all within a few steps of a Gray Line stop.

After picking up a few souvenirs, we finally and regrettably had to leave the beautiful city of Munich all too soon. I am absolutely sure we’ll be back again! If you get the chance, please make sure to visit Munich… even if it’s not Oktober!

We were greeted at the King’s Center Hotel by a friendly staff and a smooth and quick check-in. (Also a plus when you’ve still got those backpacks on!)

Our greatest greeting, though, was when we entered our room. The room was absolutely beautiful. It included a large, wood-framed bed carved with beautiful designs, a desk, a beautiful wardrobe and others. I have to admit to you that I love a clean bathroom… I wasn’t disappointed with the bathroom in our room. It was spacious and clean and had everything we needed, including plush towels. We’re both into nice linens, so we love good towels! Is that weird? =)

We asked reception for a recommendation for a good restaurant nearby and we were so glad we did. The staff didn’t hesitate in directing us to Augustiner Keller, the famous beer garden and cellar that we didn’t even realize was close to us. We had a wonderful dinner there and then took a walk around the cellar as well.

After dinner we settled into our room and spent some time looking through guidebooks at the limitless things to see in Munich. (No easy task.)

We both slept like rocks and awoke feeling so much more rested and happier. If you’ve done long term travel, you know the importance of good sleep and recuperation to help you travel well. Cranky travelers are not good to be around!

We crept downstairs in our PJ’s to have breakfast and we were, again, pleasantly surprised. A buffet of deliciousness awaited us and we couldn’t wait. I love breakfast food and I could eat it three meals a day. This buffet had everything I wanted and then some! I definitely ate too much, but it was so worth it!

It is so much less stressful to go see the sights of a city when you know you don’t need to worry about the place you’re coming “home” to that night. We knew our hotel was centrally located, comfortable, clean, offered good sleep and a delicious breakfast the next morning. You can’t beat that.

To top it all off, when we were getting ready to leave, the staff made it leisurely by offering to hold our luggage for us while we spent the last day in the city seeing the rest of the sites on our list.

I will say that we encountered one slight issue, which was a slow internet connection. Internet is not included in the room prices, which is annoying this day and age, so we purchased it separately. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the connection we were hoping for, which slowed us down in our work a bit. Overall, not a big deal, but something we feel the hotel should work on.

If you’re looking for good accommodation in Munich, we can definitely recommend King’s Center Hotel, a fantastic place to get rest and then get involved in everything Munich has to offer!

After debating a while on whether or not to go to Thailand after an exhausting trip through India, we decided to give Indonesia a try, as we had previously visited Thailand on our honeymoon.

We did some research and found that you can rent houses in Bali, world renowned for surfing and beach life, for only a couple hundred dollars. We booked into a little hotel for a few nights to relax and find a place to spend a few weeks.

We arrived in Bali on November 23rd, which was pretty much perfect. Although a lot cooler temperature-wise than the burning sun of India, we weren’t complaining of feeling the Summer heat while our friends and family back home in the states were bundling up for Winter.

We quickly worked out a housing deal with Bernard, a seasonal worker in Bali, to rent his house for the next several weeks. Because Bernard’s place came with high speed internet and several other perks, it was a bit more expensive at right about $430 for just under a month. It was just what we needed to get away from the chaos of the surfer laden Kuta area, but still have internet access to fit Griffin’s growing freelance design business.

The house was two bedrooms and situated near the beach, although the walk down proved to be a larger task than we thought. It also had a full kitchen and pretty large bathroom. Strangely, the kitchen and bathroom were separate from the bedrooms. We’re still a little unsure of the architectural design there. Perhaps the best part: it came with a daily maid! Every day the sweetest lady would come and make the beds, sweep, dust, wash dishes, clean the bathroom, change the sheets or whatever else she noticed. It was awesome.

Meanwhile in Bali we took in the sights and even tried our hand at surfing. Griffin, who had been surfing before, got it straight away, while I had to work a little longer. I’m not saying we’re professional or anything, but… yeah. Throughout the month we had lots of opportunities to play in the water, walk on the beach, try out cool restaurants and just relax.

Finally toward the end of our trip we headed out of the island of Bali and ventured North to Java to check out attractions there.

We were a little disappointed because the famous Ijen Volcano, known for it’s sulfur mines and huge crater lake, was not open to visitors due to an eruption only a few days before we arrived. So, we carried on to our next volcanic destination, Mr. Bromo.

Mt. Bromo is known for it’s volcano inside a volcano structure and for it’s ash cloud eruptions that happen about every half hour or so. The volcano has spread ash over the nearby region of Cemoro Lewang at least a few times over the past decade or so.

We checked out Mt. Bromo at sunrise which was a beautiful and awe-inspiring site. To get there, we just booked a jeep ride at one of the mountain side homestays that took us most of the way up to the view point. From there, some stair climbing was a good way to get some warmth as it was pretty chilly in that higher altitude at 4:30am. We watched the sun come up over the beautiful landscape and stayed a little longer to see the ash clouds erupting from the mountain. Then back down to our hostel for a nap!

From Mt. Bromo we headed to Yogyakarta to visit Borobudur Temple. This magnificent architectural wonder is one the most spectacular buddhist temples in the world and probably the coolest one we’ve seen. It dates back to the 8th or 9th century. The bell shaped stupas each house a buddha statue inside. Again, we were up early for a sunrise tour of the World Heritage site. It did not disappoint. As much as I hate waking up before daylight, it’s always worth it to see such beauty.

Yogyakarta also boasts another World Heritage Site, the Prambanan Temples, which are Hindu temples first built around 850 and rediscovered in the early 1800′s. It reminded us a bit of Angkor Wat, a site we got to see while visiting Cambodia on our honeymoon.

During our month long stay in Indonesia, we relaxed, saw some awesome sites and made some new friend. We even got to attend a wedding there, which was definitely a highlight of the trip.

After so much time in Asia, we decided to check out a new part of the world and booked a quick flight to Cairns, Australia. Check back soon to hear about our tour of Eastern Australia.

As we prepared for our 12+ month around-the-world-trip, we didn’t quite manage to fit everything into a carry on, but we were able to find a lot of helpful ways to reduce the size and weight of our chargers. As I’m sure we are not the only ones who are frustrated by the space and weight of these things while traveling, we thought we’d share our solutions and some other options that have since been discovered as well.

The first item we wanted to reduce was the power adapters for our two computers.

You have been lugging two computers around the world on your backs!?!

Yes. We would not recommend it for everyone and for most couples, one computer or a tablet would probably work fine, but, as Griffin is running a Design Company and Valerie’s computer weighs less than many tablets, that is conclusion we came to. That being said, we would not recommend it for most people and Griffin does not enjoy lugging around his 5+ pound behemoth of a laptop all that much.

Power Cables

We researched and tried to find a smaller, lighter option from the 45 and 85 Watt power bricks we had and found some interesting options, but nothing that seemed to be worth the time or additional money for our needs. We also knew we didn’t want to get rid of the 6 foot extension cables from our chargers as many times, they are needed to reach from outlets to our laptops. In the end we ended up going with a 6 foot extension cable to share between our two adapters and this has worked really well. We made sure to get one with three plug on the end so that we could charge two commuters, or one computer and two other devices if needed.

USB Chargers

Once we had reduced our laptop cables by one extender, it was time to move on to our USB Devices. We travel with the following USB rechargeable items:

• iPhone(2) - These have changed travel for us forever! Griffin traveled for 6 months in 2007 before the iPhone came out and had to spend hours researching online for hostels, train routes, maps, tourist information, hotel directions and more. Now with the iPhone and all the amazing travel apps that have been made for it, within about 20 minutes, we can find and book a hostel, get train directions to that city from our current city, get walking directions from the train station to the new hostel and look up things to see and do in the new city all without needing to waste paper with printing or writing all the information down.
• iOS Backup Batteries(2) – We use these on long trips to get some extra use out of our iPhones, iPods or iPad as desired.
• iPod Classic(2) - Capable of holding the most music and also has a much longer battery life than our iPhones. In addition, we use these as back up hard drives for our important documents and files as they really are just music playing multifunction hard drives.
• Kindle(1) – Valerie reads all her Jodi Picult novels on this and we also use it for internet when we have no other options as it has free 3G in most countries around the world.
• iPad(1) – Griffin uses this for all his reading as well as for quality checks when designing and testing interactive iBooks and Custom eBook Templates for his clients.
• AAA(4) & AA(2) Batteries – (These may not seem like USB rechargeable items, but we’ll get to this in a minute.)  We use the triple A batteries to charge one of our favorite travel accessories – our in-ear noise canceling Audio Technica Earphones. We keep one in each set and two charged up in the charger. The Double A is used for Griffin’s Whahl trimmer which we use to save money on hair cuts and to try and keep his beard under control.

OK, so we know this is a long list and that all of these items are wants, not needs especially for travel, but we enjoy them enough to lug them around and some of them are needed for business and sanity reasons as well. (We always seem to get the seat right next to the only crying baby on the plane, train, bus or boat no matter what!)  That being said, we have them and we needed to figure out a way to charge them with as little equipment as possible.

Let’s first look at the iOS devices since we have seen that most travelers have them and the charging systems for them, while small, can be made even smaller with a little effort and research.  Here is what we use to charge these:

Kindle USB Power Adaptor(2) – These are thinner than the standard apple USB chargers and allow us to fit two of them on the 6 foot extension cable listed above whereas we could only fit one of the Apple iPhone chargers, so we left those at home.

InCase USB Mini Cable Kit(2) – These are awesome.  They come with an iPhone/iPod/iPad charge/sync cable as well as a mini and micro USB cable and they are all only about 3 inches long, so they take up no space or weight.  We recommend this kit over other options as it is to Apple specs and works with any and all iOS cases even ones as exacting as the LifeProof Case whereas the others we have tried do not.

Retractable USB Extension Cable(2) – We use these in case we need or want a little extra length to our cables when charging.  The only downside we have found is that, possibly due to how thin they are, they sometimes are unable to sync and they also tend to fray somewhat easily.  We have replaced one of them while on this trip, but had already gotten about two years of use out of it by then, so not a big issue.  If we need to sync then we just unplug and use the short cables and are good to go.

Now you may have noticed that the above options will also work to charge any electronics that use Micro and Mini USB such as some camera, cell phones, Kindle and more.

In order to charge our batteries, we purchased the following:

AA & AAA USB Battery Charger – We use this with a set of two AA and four AAA eneloop rechargeable batteries and it works great.  It is small, compact and we like that is can easily charge both types of batteries.  As a side note, we highly recommend eneloop batteries linked above.  They are a little more expensive, but, currently, they are by far the best as far as number of charge cycles, quick recharge, and charge length.

NOTE: We also have brought along the included Apple iPad Charging brick as it is needed to quickly and fully charge the iPad.  That being said, we have seen USB adapters that claim to boost the normal USB output in order to be able to charge the iPad, but are a little skeptical as the ones we have seen all seem to be made by no-name companies in China and probably aren’t too reliable.

Alternative Options:

While we have used and are quite happy with the above system, since we have left the U.S., we have seen some new and clever alternatives become available.  They are listed below.

Apple Micro USB to iPhone Adapter – If you wanted to cut the above set up down to one less cable, you could purchase this adapter made by Apple for the European market and get rid of the purpose built iPhone adapter above.  Alternatively, you could keep the three cables and have the option to charge 1 iPhone/iPod, 1 Micro USB device, and 1 Mini USB device or 2 iPhone/iPods and one Mini USB Device with the adapter.

Innergic Magic 3 in 1 Charge Cable – We have not tried this out ourselves, but it looks like it could be a pretty cool solution with two caveats.  First, you could only charge one device at a time, which is usually not ideal and secondly, if any of the end pieces break or malfunction, you are stuck with a useless cable depending on which one it is.  For these reasons, we would not recommend this as your only charging solution except for maybe on short trips where new cables could be purchased easily if needed.

Keychain Charge & Sync Cables – These things are really compact and fold away into a self protecting plastic shell.  They come in different versions including one for Micro and Mini USB and one for iPhone/iPods, etc.  We have purchased and used the Micro and Mini USB one and can highly recommend it as an option.

Storage

While you could just store all these things in a plastic bag or something, as for the USB cables and power adapters, we have been using the smallest envelope from this Travelon set and find it works perfectly.  Initially, I was not impressed with these as the zipper seems to weigh about five pounds and seems excessive for a travel specific bag, but as we have used them over the last 11+ months they have proven to be amazingly durable and tough.

The rest of the items we throw in a zip-able mesh type bag so we can easily see what is in there, but also easily pack it by moving things around inside, if needed, to fit into a tight space.  Another cool option we have considered, but not tried, would be to use one of these cool Grid-it systems to keep it all together and organized.

Extra Outlets

If you find yourself needing more outlets, as we did, here is the best solution we have found so far:

Monster Cable Outlets To Go 3 Plug Outlet wit USB – This is the smallest, lightest, and most versatile three outlet option we could find.  This three port charger wraps nicely around itself for easy and compact storage and has one USB charging port as well.  We  don’t use this all the time, but when we need it, it is awesome and only takes up a small amount of space in our bag.

3 Prong to Two Prong Adapter - If you are going to take along the above power outlet, you may find times you will need to use it without the third ground pin (the round one), so you can either remove the ground pin (not recommended, but an option), or buy one of these for about a dollar and have both options available.

Plugging It All In

There seems to be a lot of confusion among frequent travelers and non-frequent travelers alike as to what is needed when heading off to another country in terms of being able to plug in your electronics and making sure they don’t blow up or catch on fire because of the higher voltage, etc.  Many think you need a heavy and expensive voltage converter as well as plug adapters, and, for some things that would be the case, but for 90% or more of electronic equipment, you will not be needing a heavy and expensive voltage converter.  Let me say that again.

For 90% or more of electronic equipment, you will not need a heavy and expensive voltage converter.

Not only do you most likely not need one, but there is an easy way to check each piece of equipment you have in order to make sure.  What you need to do is look for small  writing usually found of the charger for your equipment or sometimes on the actual electronic.  It is usually next to some logos and company names like the UL Listed, CE, and maybe a “do not throw away” logo, etc as seen below on the Apple iPad Charging brick.

What you are looking for are words similar to or including:

Input: 100-240v~ 50-60Hz

This means that the device can handle a range on input voltage from 100 all the way up to 240 and means you can safely use it in every country in the world without a voltage converter.  If your device reads something like Input: 100-120v~… then you cannot use it in any country with more 120v of power without a voltage converter.  Hope that helps.

Once you have determined whether or not you need a voltage adapter, the next thing you will need is a plug adapter to allow your plug to fit in a plug socket from another country.  If you are only going to be visiting one continent or country, then I would just recommend checking what those places use for plugs and buy the one you need as it will be the smallest and lightest option.  You could also just show up in that country and most likely buy an adapter from a local market or hardware store for a lot cheaper, but if you are not willing to risk it, go ahead and pre-order.  If you will be visiting a lot of countries with various socket shapes and sizes, then we can recommend universal adapters like the one below:

Universal Plug Adapter with Surge Protection - This is about as small and light as these things come and it has worked well for us all around the world.  We highly recommend you to make sure the one you buy has surge protection built in, as we were using the power plug on a train in India and it fried our adapter and, more importantly, our Apple Mag-Safe power cable and at about $90 a piece that was not a cheap mistake.  It would have been much better to have fried a 10¢ fuze.  Lesson learned.  Don’t make the same mistake we did!

In all, we were able to save several pounds of weight and a lot of space simply by changing a few things out for smaller versions. Obviously, some products are better quality than others, but we have personally tried out the things above and can recommend them to anyone looking for better electronics solutions. We hope this stuff helps you as much as it has us!

All our chargers and electronics gear ready to be packed away.

All packed up and ready for our backpacks!

With a combined total of more than 50 countries visited, Griffin and I have stayed in our fair share of questionable hotels. It’s a rare opportunity to report accommodation that actually exceeds our expectations.

While checking out the sites in Brussels, Belgium, we had the absolute pleasure of staying in a fabulous boutique hotel called Pillows. This hotel is one of Sandton’s “concept hotels” being introduced throughout Europe. Basically, the concept is that the hotel is all-inclusive, with as many extras as you can possibly think up, all for the price of any room that you book. I think we must have asked the poor receptionist a million questions about this to be sure we had it right!

Upon check-in we were just in time for afternoon tea and sweets, which was provided in the downstairs lobby. We were permitted to help ourselves to whatever we liked. After settling into our amazing room and not really wanting to go out again for dinner, we went back downstairs and made a meal from the appetizers and drinks served in evening, which suited us fine. We were offered any drink we wanted and an array of finger foods that filled us up while we relaxed at the bar.

Initially, I thought the name Pillows was an odd one for a hotel, but after one night’s sleep in that bed, it seemed perfect! That was, hands down, the best bed I’ve slept in on our travels. It truly felt as if I were sleeping on a cloud for an amazing night of much needed rest and recuperation.

We slept in for an extra hour, which I can seldom do in most places, but the quiet location of Pillows afforded me the luxury. When we woke up, we padded downstairs in our PJ’s to see breakfast would hold for us.

This is just one of the three tables full of breakfast food to choose from.

We were not disappointed! If you’re counting the number of “bests” we’ve encountered, here is another: this was the best breakfast we’ve had in any of the 32 countries we’ve visited so far! Talk about a buffet! There was every kind of bread, spread, egg and sausage you can think of for breakfast, including what has to be my favorite kind of toast spread I’ve ever tried. (It tasted like a kind of ginger cookie, but with the consistency of peanut butter. I have yet to find this spread since, though I’ve been looking everywhere!)

After filling up on bacon and eggs, etc., we headed back up stairs to get caught up on some work. The internet was super fast, so that wasn’t a problem.

Before long we were off to see the sights in Brussels, feeling completed rested. We were pretty much just plain excited we had booked two night and could do it all again!

Honestly, after just two nights at Pillows, we felt like we’d had a week-long vacation. It was just what we needed and at just the right time!

My only complaint, if you can even call it that, was that the sensor lights in the bathroom (Yeah, I said sensor lights in the bathroom) were positioned just a little too far away from the shower, which prompted the lights to periodically turn off while I was in the shower. Not to worry, though. A quick wave of the hand and everything came back to life.

If the other Sandton Hotels are anything like Pillows Brussels, I can’t wait to try them! If you’re in going to Belgium, I cannot recommend Pillows highly enough!

Blue

I grabbed this photo while taking in Carnivale in Venice in 2007. Blue is my favorite color, so when I saw these two revelers, I knew I had to take this shot. The masks are not only beautiful, but also mysterious. I also liked how the texture of the material make the photo seem almost a little icy. (Incidentally, this is my wife’s all time favorite of my photos.)

Green

This photo is one I treasure. After the long hike up the top of these rice terraces, I looked out over the landscape and just had to pause at the beauty of the place. When I saw this farmer with his back to the view, going about his work, I had to wonder how he kept himself from looking back all the time to see what he had created.

Yellow

I love looking up to take photos! This is a simple photo taken from directly underneath The Eiffel Tower in Paris. At night, the tower lights up and puts on a great show. But not many people think to look up when walking right underneath!

White

I took this photo while waiting for a little friend who was enjoying her time on the Carousel. The movement of the whole apparatus, decorated with white lights for Christmas, really grabbed my attention. I couldn’t help getting this motion on camera by holding the shutter open.

Red

While living in Korea for two years, I saw a lot of gazebos, temples and pagodas. This one, however, really captured my imagination with its unique and secluded setting. I had to wait for a while for the rain to stop to get this shot, but it was worth it.

Thanks so much for taking the time to view these photos. I love photography and sharing with others the amazing scenes the world has to offer.

Nominations

Here are the 5 bloggers that I am nominating. If your name is not here and you think that it should be, no worries you can enter anyway. Just check out the link and make your own post. These are people who I greatly admire in both their photography skills and vision and find to be inspirational.

The 5 bloggers that I nominate that I think should participate in this contest are:

• Justin Troupe

• Trey Ratcliff
• Neil van Niekerk
• Gary Arnt
• Beth

After railing westward through the Northern states of India, we finally arrived at Jaisalmer, a desert city situated only about 40 miles from the Pakistan border.

By this point, we had enjoyed a lot of Indian food, some hot weather and some interesting places. However, for Jaisalmer, we were mostly interested in the Sam Sand Dunes, just about 30 minutes’ drive outside of town.

We quickly booked a jeep tour and headed out to the desert! The dunes did not disappoint. It was strange to see a sudden desert come up on the horizon and be able to access it from a main road. I can’t say that the desert stretched as far as the eye can see, because, frankly, it didn’t. The desert was big, don’t get me wrong, but you could easily walk to the end of it in about 20 minutes. Still impressive, though.

As we walked across into the dunes, we were spotted immediately by the touts we had grown so accustomed to in India. They were out in full force to sell everything from snacks to camel rides. (Point of advice, camels make this place one that is not friendly to bare feet. I recommend bringing sandals!)

We watched as costumed performers sang and danced and begged for tips. We enjoyed an ice cold water in the desert as we watched the sun set over the dunes. Then we headed back to our hotel and counted the day as a good one.

There were other cool places to see in Jaisalmer, which we quickly set out for. We took in the Gadisar Lake, which was near the place we met for the jeep tour. I found this one interesting mostly because of the giant fish that call the man made lake home. Apparently most Indians don’t eat fish, but like to feed them. =) The fish grow large and plentiful and are a lot of fun to watch.

Jaisalmer, like any other Indian city, also has a large fort, which we also scoped out. This was was honestly a little more decorative than some of the other forts we had seen, so that was a nice change.

We also spent some time looking at the Patwaon Ki Haveli and the Bada Bagh, two really beautiful pieces of architecture.

At this point on our journey, we had spent about six weeks in India, and to be honest, we were sort of itching to get out. We sped through the sites and booked our flight out of New Delhi, hopped a train to the airport and away we went.

We hope you will continue to follow along on our journey. Please check back soon to read al about our month-long vacation in Bali, Indonesia.

Travel Tips:
As I said, at this point of our trip through India, we were a little tired of India. We sprung for a nicer hotel, which did not disappoint. Hotel Roop Mahal, which had great food, nice room (with ac) and was in a good location. The price was steep for India at around $14 per night.

Transportation: We took an AC 3 Tier class train to from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, which cost about $7 per person. Remember, if you want to book a train in India you need to do that as far in advance as possible. For help in booking train tickets, you can always e-mail us, or check out seat61.com and click on India on the left hand side.

For Jaisalmer, we actually didn’t hire a driver and just talked with the autorickshaw guys for the one-two times we wanted to ride instead of walk. This is mostly a walking city, so no need to secure a tour guide or driver. Your one-way trip in an auto-rickshaw should cost you no more than $1-2. We did book the jeep tour out to the Sam Sand Dunes, which cost us about $5 each.

Daily Budget: Our daily was $40.08 for 4 days including train travel, accommodation, food and all attraction entrances.

Griffin and I have had pleasure and opportunity to see some of the most beaufiul places on the planet. But, sometimes, it’s not the most beautiful things that are the most interesting.

Deep in the heart of China’s mainland, sits the city of Xi’An, one of China’s Four Great Ancient Capitals. Though it’s not much to look at, it holds one of the most fascinating scenes in the world.

Xi’an, with over 3,000 years of history, took its place as China’s capital city during several different ruling dynasties for a total of more than 400 years. Its significance is far reaching as the start of the “Silk Road,” one of the most important trade routes in history, interconnecting Africa, Europe and Asia.

Since we’re not trading anything, we came to Xi’an to see something different. That is, something different that you can find anywhere else on earth.

During the days of Qinshihuang, the first emperor of unified China, one thing became abundantly clear: this guy was paranoid about death. Though the man is credited with many of China’s historal feats, including the beginning of construction of the Great Wall, he is perhaps best known for one thing, the 8,000 life-size clay soldiers that now guard his tomb.

First discovered by a group of farmers in 1974, archaeologists unearthed the now famous, Terracotta Army, still standing at attention and in perfect formation for their job as the attendants of the emeror’s soul. Every soldier is unique, with their differing facial features most likely being attributed to the unpaid laborers who constructed each one. The soldiers are also ranked and stand ready for their individual jobs as messengers, horsemen (complete with horses), officers, and even those tasked to accompany the carriage believed to house Qinshihuang’s soul.

There are four known pits where the soldiers are burried, located about 1.5km away from the emperor’s burial mound. Each of the soldiers was once painted from head to toe, but the oxygen that reaches it upon excavation instantly fades the colors and the true clay color emerges with minutes.

Standing at the enourmous warehouses, where the army members are still being systematically excavated and restored is truly mind-blowing. The details of their armor and the eyes that search out enemies are hallowing.

We toured the grounds with a guide who filled us in on the history, as well as the rank and job of each of the soldiers. What struck me, was just how life-like the army actually is. They are not only life-size, but they are actually set-up to be efficient. There are clay guards at the meeting room doors of clay officers. There are clay horses at the ready for messeges that may need to reach the clay ears of an officer at another camp. Some soldiers stand at attention and some kneel in reverence, to an emperor who was afraid of being vulnerable in life and in death. By the time we left there, we were talking about the Terracotta Warriors like they were real men, suspended in animation.

This experience was one that I will truly never forget. Looking out at this sea of soldiers made me feel small and and yet safe. I can’t recommend this destination highly enough.

If you’re making your way to China, it’s good to remember that Qinshihuang built more than a wall. His creations are still standing ready to greet you.

This article was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast

On from Jaipur, we took about a 5 hour train ride to Jodhpur, also known as The Blue City.

We were pleasantly surprised that The Blue City is actually blue. Since visiting Jaipur, which was supposed to be pink, but really wasn’t, it was cool to look out over the city and see a whole lot of blue.

Jodhpur boasts an amazing asset, its incredible Mehrangarh Fort, which is set up on a hill, visible throughout the city. What’s more, the tour of the fort itself, is fantastic. A thorough tour of Mehrangarh will take several hours. What’s unique about this fort is that it’s not just old city walls, it’s an actual museum throughout the tour. You can visit the rooms where former Indian kings met with foreign dignitaries, see the actual palanquins (lifted chairs carried by servants) that the royal families used to ride on, battle tested armor and swords, and other really amazing artifacts. The fort is actually one of the best stocked museums in India.

Jodhpur also has a pretty cool building, which we didn’t take the time to visit, called Umaid Bhawan Palace. The palace is actually split up into three parts, a museum, a hotel and the primary residence of the Erstwhile royal family. If you do get the time, please go visit it.

Another cool thing we did see was the Jaswant Thada, a really cool white marble mausoleum which has walls thin enough that the sunlight shines through the marble and creates a cool glowing effect. It’s a small place, but well worth the visit.

We knocked out everything we wanted to see in Jodhpur fairly quickly, so we headed on to our last stop, Jaisalmer.

Travel Tips:

Our visit in Jodhpur included some work time, which worked nicely for us because although Jodhpur is a great city to visit and I highly recommend you stop there, the tour time you need there isn’t that much. I recommend only 1 1/2 -2 days.

Hotel: We stayed at a place called Shivam Paying Guesthouse. The cost, per night was about $8 per night for the two of us. This included a free breakfast and free wifi. The food was good and the beds comfortable. We did have a couple of problems. Our first night was spent with an “air conditioner” that was actually an extremely loud fan which just circulated hot air. We had to open the windows for fresh air, which invited mosquitos. We finally upgraded to a room with an actual a/c. We then had some trouble with the free breakfast, which they wanted to charge for. We had a discussion with the manager guy and eventually got what was advertised.

Transportation: We took an AC 2 Tier class train to from Jaipur to Jodhpur, which cost about $11 per person. Remember, if you want to book a train in India you need to do that as far in advance as possible. For help in booking train tickets, you can always e-mail us, or check out seat61.com and click on India on the left hand side.

For Jodhpur, we actually didn’t hire a driver and just talked with the autorickshaw guys for the one-two times we wanted to ride instead of walk. This is mostly a walking city, so no need to secure a tour guide or driver. Your one-way trip in an auto-rickshaw should cost you no more than $1-2.

Daily Budget: Our daily was $41.78 for 3 days including train travel, accommodation, food and all attraction entrances.

When it came time to finding a lens for our one year around the world trip, I made sure to do my homework. I wanted to be able to take as many different pictures in different situations as possible, while still balancing the cost and weight of the lens. I wanted a versatile lens that would also be reasonably compact and light. When you carry all of your possessions on your back for a year, every square inch of space and ounce of weight is important.

I knew we would possibly be going to Africa, so I wanted to have a zoom lens to handle safaris and animal sightings. Something around at least 300mm zoom would be ideal for capturing elephants, lions, and zebras from a relatively far off distance. From my experience with a previous 300mm lens that did not have stabilization built in, I knew that I would either need a stabilized lens or be mostly limited to having to use a tripod or monopod at the full zoom range. My preference was to to find a lens with stabilization built in but this can usually add significant weight and size to the lens, so this was a concern. I enjoy mostly taking landscape shots, so I also wanted a lens that could zoom out to 18mm or less to capture as much of the view as possible.

Finding The Lens

With these criteria and possible trade offs in mind I started searching the internet for options. First I checked Canon’s lenses but none of them had the zoom range I was looking for and any of their stabilized lenses were usually rather large and heavier than I would have preferred so I moved on. In the end, I searched through a total of four of the top lens manufacturers in the world and was excited to find one lens that met all of my criteria and more and is actually the worlds smallest and lightest zoom lens in its class! In addition to this, it was priced in a reasonable range for such versatility and far cheaper than anything similar by most of the other manufacturers.

The lens I am talking about is the TamronThe Company who makes this lens. They are among the top four manufacturers in the world. 18-270mmThis is the zoom range in millimeters. For point and shoot users, this is equivalent o a 15X optical zoom and is almost unheard of for D-SLR Cameras F/3.5-6.3This is the lowest f-stop range of this lens. It is a measurement of how much light the lens can let in. More on f-stop later. Di IIThis is Tamron's indication that this lens is made for most consumer DSLRs and engineered for optimal image quality. VCStands for Vibration Compensation - the technology that is built into this lens to help keep images sharp. This is great for longer exposures, or highly zoomed in images as your hand can shake a little and would otherwise cause some blur. PZDStands for Piezo Drive - Tamron's breakthrough technology that allows for faster and quieter precision autofocus while also reducing the size and weight from the previous version of this lens.. To help myself and others out, I have added some tooltips to explain what all those letters and numbers mean for humans;-) Just hover your mouse over the word you want to know about and a pop-up will give you some more information about it.

Design

I am no scientist or optical expert, but, by judging from the size, shape and weight of other lenses with similar and even less capabilities, I think Tamron has made more than a few technological breakthroughs with this lens. This is actually the second version of an 18-270mm lens that Tamron has made. Their first one was also amazingly small and light, but this one took everything a step further and they were able to achieve an incredible 24% reduction in length and a 18% reduction in weight. Check out the image below for what that looks like visually. Very impressive in my opinion.

A 24% reduction in length and 18% reduction in weight from previous version


Having an Industrial Design background, I am very picky about the way things look, feel and operate. That being said, I have been very impressed with this lens given its price range and versatility.

Size & Weight

As stated earlier, this is the the world’s lightest and smallest lens in its range, so it kind of speaks for itself on that. There is no competition for this lens from a size, weight and versatility perspective. It measures 3.8″ from the tip of the lens to the base of the mount and probably a little closer to 4″ long with the lens cap and mount protector on it. It is just under 3″ in diameter and fits nicely into even my very small draw-string type daypack with many other supplies. Overall, the lens is about the size of my fist, which, for a 15X zoom SLR lens is amazing. One of the fun things about this lens due to it’s compact size is the surprised comments I get from people when they see it go from 18mm to fully zoomed. This is because as it looks about the size or smaller than most 18-50mm lenses that come standard on most DSLR Cameras when zoomed out, but is about three times longer than any of them when zoomed in. check out the picture below to see what I am talking about.

The lens weighs right under 1 pound and when handling it, feels a little on the heavy side for its size, due to its compactness. However, when fully extended the weight seems to jump to the other side and feels almost too light, but it is, in fact, well balanced. Too light from an old school weight = performance perspective, but the lighter the better from a new school travel photographer perspective.

“Illegal” Activities

One situation where this lens really helped out was when visiting the DMZ or Demilitarized Zone on the border of North and South Korea. They have a rule that no lenses with a zoom range of greater than 90mm is allowed. Normally any lens with a zoom range is rather easy to spot as it would either be a lot lot longer, or a lot wider diameter (or both) than this Tamron lens, but this lens is deceptively small. Because of this, my lens was not spotted or inspected closely and I was able to get this shot of a north Korean soldier from across the border line.

Taken using the Tamron 18-270MM-F3.5-6.3-Di-II-VC-PZD fully zoomed at 270mm.
Click to view larger, or see original image here.

To give you a better idea of the incredible zoom range of this lens, here is a picture take from the same location at 18mm.  The guard from the picture above is just barely visible next to the centered door of the building in the background.

Taken using the Tamron 18-270MM-F3.5-6.3-Di-II-VC-PZD fully zoomed out to 18mm.
Click to view larger, or see original image here

Build

The lens feels very solid and reasonably durable but is also very small and light for its capabilities, which shows in some of the build techniques as a lot of the parts of the lens are made of a high quality plastic in where other, more expensive lens might use metal. I see this as more of an advantage than a disadvantage because of the focus of this lens. Tamron set out to make the smallest, lightest and one of the most versatile lenses in the world and they could not have done that with heavier metal parts or maintained the reasonable price with less strong, but more expensive aluminum. I can tell from holding the lens and using it that this is a quality made lens and that, while made out of plastic, it will withstand reasonable abuse and has for the past 9 months of our trip so far. The only semi complaint I would have about the build quality is that he lens does seem to creep

Switches

There are three total switches on the lens including an Autofocus /Manual Focus, Vibration On/Off and a lens lock switch. All the switches feel pretty solid with the exception of the lens lock button, but it it the one that is used the most and having it be easier to moves actually makes more sense, so I wouldn’t call it a disadvantage so much, just hope it doesn’t break as it does feel less than solid overall. That being said, no issue to date that I have experienced.

Features

The biggest feature of this lens by far, is its combined size, weight and zoom range. Add to all that, the virtually silent vibration control and this is a very full featured lens.

Negatives

What? Did you think this lens was all cherries and ice cream? While this lens does have an impressive feature set and amazing versatility, there are a few trade offs that go against a possible purchase.

F-Stop

In the tooltips at the beginning I said I would touch back on f-stop later. Well now is the time. f-stop is a measurement for the amount of light a lens lets in to the camera. Below is an example of some different f-stop settings.

As you can see, the lower the f-stop, the bigger circle of light that is let into the camera. The benefits of being able to use a low f-stop like f/2 or f/1.8 as seen below this are twofold:

• First, because the lens is letting in more light, you are able to take more blur free images even in low light, or when zoomed in really far. If you have ever seen sports photographers with their lenses ten times bigger than their cameras, that is because they are zooming in really far, but still want the maximum amount of light available so they can get a blur-free photo of the winning touchdown or slam-dunk, etc.
• The second advantage of being able to use a very low f-stop is that it allows you create what is called a “shallow depth of field” in your images. Maybe you’ve seen a picture of a flower, or a professional outdoor portrait where the petals or the person’s face is in sharp focus, but the entire background of leaves, grass, trees, etc. is blurry and out of focus looking. This makes the subject of the photo stand out even more and the background visually seem to fade away and become unimportant further emphasizing the subject. This is called depth of field and the lower the aperture, the smaller the depth of field which, in turn make it easier to blur out the background and/or foreground and guide the viewer’s eye to the main subject of the image. Check out the slider below for a more visual way to understand depth of field.

LEFT = F5 | RIGHT = F32

I share all this to say that an f-stop of 3.5 is OK for low light and/or a shallow depth of field, but by no means ideal, and the minimum aperture of 6.3 is pretty difficult to use for blur free photos in all but the brightest of days and does not allow for a shallow depth of field for the most part. There are work-arounds to both of these issues such as using a tripod, a flash and placing the subject much farther away from its background, but these are more advanced techniques and not usually well known or utilized by the person this lens would generally be marketed to.

The other issue besides the f-stop for this lens that I ave found is that throughout the zoom range and especially at the 270mm range, pictures are not very in focus and sharp to a trained eye. Additionally there is some heavy vignetting at certain zoom ranges, but both of these issues should be considered while also taking into account the incredible zoom range of this lens is somewhat of a marvel in itself.

Conclusion

Overall I would highly recommend this lens to anyone who is a beginner to intermediate photographer looking for a versatile all-in-one lens for less than $1000 that is small and light. I say beginner to intermediate not because you can’t take professional pictures with this lens, but because I think it would be harder for a professional to set himself apart consistently due to the limitations of this lens. I knew the limitations to this lens going into it and have been more than pleased with what it can do and the lack of a burden it puts on my back while carrying and the lack of dents caused to my wallet when purchasing it. If you are looking for one great zoom lens that should be able to capture about 90% of the pictures you would want to take of cities, landscapes and people both close up and from a distance in bright light, then this is the lens for you!

Big thanks to Tamron USA for their support and partnership of our photography and for supplying the lens reviewed.

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Full Specs

*values given for Nikon AF cameras
**Length is the distance between the mount face and the tip of the lens. Entire length is the distance between the tip of the lens and the tip of the protrusion.
***The Sony mount does not include the VC image stabilization functionality, as the body of the Sony digital SLR camera includes image stabilization functionality.
Before & After demo images from flagstaffotos.com.au

We took a comfortable 5 hour train ride in the AC Chair car from Agra to Jaipur for a total cost of about $13 U.S. Upon arrival, we quickly set out to see the sites. During our four days in Jaipur, the Pink City, we were fortunate enough to encounter a great driver to take us around to all the sites. He was even honest enough to go by the taxi stand and get a pay slip so we could be sure we were not overpaying. This is basically the most honest man in India by our account.

We took time to visit the Isarlat Tower to see a great panoramic view of the city, which actually isn’t as pink as we thought it would be. Honestly, it’s more of a beige city. After seeing the view, we headed over to visit the City Palace. City Palace, once a royal residence, is now a really cool museum. It has courtyards and interesting artifacts, as well as a guy who “charms” snakes regularly outside the gate. The beautiful doorways that adorn each entryway around the palace are enough to make anyone want to stay around for hours.

Just across from the City Palace is one of the most interesting and most visited places in all of India. Jantar Mantar is an observatory and planetarium that houses fourteen large geometric devices for measuring time, tracking the positions of stars and planets and predicting eclipses, etc. The instruments were designed by Maharaja Jai Singh II, who was King of Jaipur in the 1700s. He had 5 such observatories built, of which the one in Jaipur is the largest and most famous.

Next on the list in Jaipur was the Palace of Wind, which is a really cool structure that was meant to be shaped like Krishna’s crown. It reminds most people of a honeycomb.

Griffin checked out the Amber Fort for some photo opportunities and we took a brief stop to look at the Jal Mahal, or water palace, which is visible from the main road.

We enjoyed our visit to the Pink City and were also excited to move on to the next city, Jodhpur. Check back soon for info on “The Blue City.”

A Little Background

After more than 28 years of life and despite already having visited more than 40 countries around the world, last month Valerie and I arrived in South America for our first time ever. Now the only continent Griffin has yet to see is Antarctica and Valerie will be the same once we visit Africa in about five months’ time! Needless to say we are pretty excited to finally make it down here.

We arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil after flying to the States from New Zealand and spending about two weeks with each of our families in Alabama and Georgia. We are planning to share in a future post how we were able to get our flight via Delta from Auckland, New Zealand to Atlanta, Georgia and then, one month later, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for only 40,000 sky miles each (all of which we earned without flying) and $27.50 per person in taxes! Let us know in the comments if that sounds like something you would be interested in hearing about;-)

About The Photograph

After spending some time in Rio mostly working on a few Graphic Design projects for clients sprinkled with a little sightseeing, we took a 24 hour bus ride over to Foz de Iguaçu, which is the town on the Brazilian side of one of the seven natural wonders of the world and one of the most awe-inspiring sights we have seen in our lives – Iguazu Falls.

The ride was much more comfortable than a 24 hour bus ride might sound as the busses in South America so far have been really nice and some of them even look like first class airplane cabins with fully reclining seats, complementary champagne on arrival, hot meals and more. (We can’t afford the nicest ones on our budget, but it’s nice to dream;-) We slept decently well, but still needed some additional rest upon arriving.

We stayed at, and would highly recommend, the Bambu Jungle Lodge Hostel. It was literally in middle of a jungle type forrest and we saw some wild toucans as well as a weird animal that looked like giant mouse with no tail. The place was nice and secluded, had a pool, awesome paid dinner options, amazing included breakfast and, most of all, a great hostess named Jo, with over 8 years of experience leading tours in South America and the knowledge, hospitality and friendliness that goes along with that.

We had only planned to see the falls, but were told by some of the other hostelers about the amazing Bird Park literally at the end of the road and across the street from the hostel so we decided to check it out. Entry was 26 Brazilian Reais (About $13.50 USD) with a 2 Reais discount provided by the hostel booking vouchers and we thought it was well worth the price. We saw so many different species of birds: flamingos, parrots, and even some hummingbirds. We really enjoyed seeing a small but unbelievable sampling of the amazing creativity and beauty our God has created.

In a few sections of the bird park, we were able to go into a large aviary with the birds, which would allow you to get very close as they seemed to be used to humans from their daily interactions. We took advantage of this to get some pictures of the local birds that would otherwise have not been possible. This one of the Tucan is one of my favorites as it really shows their somewhat curious nature as he checked out me and my camera. Hope you enjoy!

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Photos taken using a Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens

Travel Photo Of The Week Sponsored By Tamron USA.

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While traveling in New Zealand, we definitely wanted to take a stop in Rotorua, New Zealand’s hotspot for geothermal activity. A short stroll around town can take you past countless hot pools and bubbling mud pits being heated directly by the Earth’s core.

The absolute best way to see everything Rotorua has to offer in one place is with a morning visit to Wai-O-Tapu.

While Wai-O-Tapu is great to visit at any time of day, I recommend visiting in the morning; at 10:15 to be exact. That’s the time the Lady Knox Geyser erupts each day and you definitely don’t want to miss it. Griffin and I were surprised by how much we learned about geysers in the brief speech given by a park guide shortly before the spout gave us a show. It was still going when we finished our photos and headed to the main park area to check out the rest of the “geothermal wonderland.” Of course, don’t show up at 10:15 exactly. You’ll need to get there early to get tickets and make your way to the viewing area, which is a little past the main entrance to Wai-O-Tapu.

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After the geyser, head back to the main entrance to continue your tour. There are three routes around the park, a short, middle and long, depending on how much time you have. The long route takes about 1-1 ½ and I highly recommend doing this one. Honestly speaking, I can’t think of any of the sites you would want to miss by taking a shorter trek. Not to worry, all three routes are easy walking and self-guided, so you can go at your own pace. You’ll find the place well marked and the routes easy to follow with a handy map, which you can find in several languages.

The thing we kept asking ourselves was “How on earth did this many geothermals end up in one relatively small area?” It’s amazing.

Highlights of the walk include the Sinter Terrace Formations, Champagne Pool, Crater Lakes, Hydrothermal areas, and an amazing range of colorful pools and volcanic areas. You’ll need to remember your camera for sure.

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Nearby the park itself is another famous site, the Mud Pools, which was entertaining enough to make us stop and stare through more time than we noticed.

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The geyser, park and mud pools all combined to give us a fantastic morning adventure that you will absolutely not want to miss. I promise this place is definitely worth the visit.

Tips:
Wai-O-Tapu opens at 8:30am and closes at 5:00pm, with the last admission at 3:45. If you arrive early in the morning, make sure you time it so you can leave to see Lady Knox erupt at 10:15am.

Get to the geyser area early as the viewing area fills up. If you’re planning to take photos or video, you may want to check which way the wind in traveling before choosing your seat as mist from the geyser can wet your equipment pretty thoroughly.

There is a lovely cafe if you need refreshment as well as a visitor center on site.

The staff is extremely friendly and they will go out of their way to answer any questions for you and help you find your way around.

Make sure you follow the guide map closely so you don’t miss any of the hotspots. They are each numbered, so they are easy to follow, but some of the turns can confuse you if you’re not checking the map closely.

For more information, visit the Wai-O-Tapu website here.