Archive for 2011
I’m off to prison.
Monday, December 12th, 2011
Well, that’s what it looks like from my new passport photo (although the tribal tattoo on my forehead came out nicely). What am I talking about – it’s looks as if I’m getting a police mug shot for every passport that I’ve ever had. And it’s the same for most people (although my girlfriend Beth manages to look cute and not on her way to prison in her passport photo). I just got a new passport because I ran out of space in my old one even though I had another six years left on it (which I really can’t complain about because it just means I’ve done quite a bit of travel – and to countries that love huge stamps that take up an entire page). Here are my other passport photos… (read more)
My travelling year on Instagram.
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Earlier this year I discovered Instagram. It’s a FREE iPhone app that adds filters to your happy phone snaps and turns them into professional-looking photos that a hack like me would have no idea how to take. It’s also a caring, sharing App that you can share with your Instagram friends and, if you want the world to see your genius, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr. The photos are also tagged, so you can brag about where you are in the world. I took a few shots with Instagram on my trips this year and these are my favourites… (read more)
The call of Dave Gorman and Chinese underpants.
Monday, November 28th, 2011
I have been a little slack on the reading front this year, but I did manage to get through a handful of travel books, including yarns about right-wing apocalyptic Christians, the origin of the word butthead, the exciting game of Kubb and Chinese underpants. Here’s my list of travel books for 2011: (read more)
And the winner is…
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
Well, there’s two actually, and after a random pick of some great photos the winners are…. …. drum roll please…
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Crazy shorts and gumboots.
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
There’s only one week to go to WIN one of TWO signed copies of Tell Them to Get Lost. All you have to do is to ‘Like’ the Brian Thacker Travel Writer Facebook page and post a pic of yourself on your first ever trip overseas. I’ll pick out two random winners on November 21st, sign a book for you then pop it in the post. It’s that easy. And just to embarrass myself a little further I’m posting a few more photos from my first big trip OS. Although the pic on the right was taken almost three years after I left Australia (it took me that long to get home so it’s technically still my first trip… (read more)
WIN a signed copy of Tell Them to Get Lost!
Monday, November 7th, 2011
I’m giving away TWO signed copies of Tell Them to Get Lost. All you have to do is like me. Oh, and show me a potentially embarrasing photo of yourself. Just ‘Like’ the Brian Thacker Travel Writer Facebook page (you’ll find the Facebook link on my blog page) and post a pic of yourself on your first ever trip overseas (all the photos I’ve seen of those hippies in 1974 with their bell-bottom pants inspired me). That’s me on the left back in 1987 on my first trip overseas at Madam Tussauds in London. I’m not quite sure why I’m dancing with the Pope, but I do have very nice high pants… (read more)
Getting lost with Brian Thacker.
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
I’m just back from the Singapore Writer’s Festival, which was a blast. My sessions went well, I drank quite a few Tiger beers, ate the best dumplings I’ve ever eaten, hung out with a great bunch of writers and editors, caught up with a friend living in Singapore and checked out a shop called Naughty Sex Toys on Orchard Road. The crowds were great and at one of my panels they even had to close the doors 10 minute before because it was a full house. Mind you, at another event of mine they… (read more)
I’m off to the sunny smile isle.
Friday, October 21st, 2011
I’m just about to jump on a plane to Singapore for the weekend. I’m doing three sessions/panels/talks at the Singapore Writer’s Festival where I’ll be waffling on about travel writing and my new book Tell Them to Get Lost. I’ve got a, what could be interesting/wacky session talking about travel and philosophy with Julian Baggini, plus a panel with a couple of local travel writers including Wee Cheng, who makes me look like a travel novice. He has been to 206 countries and territories over the last two decades and is is listed in the 2008 Book of Singapore Records as the most well-travelled Singaporean. And I finish off with a very 1974 slide show about my travels for Tell Them to Get Lost. It was in Singapore… (read more)
Magical Ubud.
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
The last two weeks have been tough. I just got back yesterday from the fabulous Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali and before that I was staying with my brother in Queensland for a week (who just happens to have a holiday house on Fraser Island). I love the Ubud Writer’s Festival. It really is one of the best writer’s festivals in the world (okay Janet, it IS the best!). There was the usual abundance of great authors and speakers accompanied by large and appreciative crowds all taking place in one of the most beautiful settings in the world. And of course I do have quite the soft spot for Ubud and the writer’s festival because… (read more)
Grasshopper, Abigail and other 1974 TV hits.
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
When Tony and Maureen Wheeler set off at the beginning of 1974 for a year to research South East Asia on a Shoestring (which was the inspiration for my book Tell Them to Get Lost) they would have missed watching such classic TV shows as The Ernie Sigley Show, The Box, Happy Days and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Then again, leaving the country wasn’t a bad idea after all. 1974 saw the premier of quite a few long-standing TV shows including Happy Days (1974–1984), Little House on the Prairie and Molly Meldrum’s Countdown (1974–1987). 1974 also saw the end of… (read more)