Posts from ‘Brian's Lists’
Travel highlights of 2011.
Friday, January 20th, 2012
I’m only just doing my travel highlights of 2011, because my travels from 2011 stretched into 2012 and I’ve just got home. It was another great year of travelling adventures – although there is always never enough travelling. Highlights included visiting the colourful (and tourist free) mountain markets of north-west Vietnam, getting hopelessly lost in the backroads of central Bali, seeing the delight in my daughter’s eyes as we walked into Main Street Disneyland and swimming with dolphins in the Caribbean. So, in no particular order, here are my Top Ten Travel Highlights from 2011… (read more)
Travel highlights of 2010.
Friday, December 31st, 2010
It wasn’t a big travelling year for me compared to last year, but the few overseas and local trips that I took were full of great highlights. From staying at five-star resorts (with our own private butler) to skiing untracked powder (in Australia no less) to dining with locals in the mountains of Vietnam (oh, except the smoked pig’s intestines part) to snorkelling with a dole of turtles (that’s the correct collective noun I believe!). So, without further ado here is my Top Ten Travel Highlights from 2010 (in no particular order)… (read more)
A Christmas tipple?
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
It’s that time of year when most people (well, most Australians at least) give the bottle a bit of a nudge. I gave it a good nudge at the ASTW (Australian Society of Travel Writers) Christmas party last week. Oh, my head. My self inflicted hangover was wine induced, but it could have been worse. Last month when I was in Vietnam I got quite tipsy on rice wine and I had stomach cramps to go along with my headache. My stomach cramps may have had something to do with the fact that we (about twenty of us) were all drinking the sickly sweet rice wine from a large wooden bucket. Out of shared straws… (read more)
Friday Brilliant Friday.
Sunday, December 5th, 2010
I saw U2 on Friday night and it was one of the best concerts that I have ever been to. My girlfriend Beth and I got there nine hours before the show started and I’m so glad we did. We ended up only fours rows from the front right below Bono – as in so close that I could see his nasal hairs. I’ve seen U2 four times now including, and this shows my age, way back in 1984. I even wore my 1984 U2 tour shirt to the concert (and I have to say that… (read more)
Carn the Pies!
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
Last weekend was the AFL (Australian Rules Football) Grand Final and my team (the mighty Collingwood Magpies) won. This was their second attempt at winning it because they drew with St Kilda Saints the week before and had to come back to do it all again a week later. I would have loved to have gone to either of the games (the first game had a crowd of over 100,000), but tickets are hard to come by. I have been to seven Grand Finals before, though, and not only is it a wonderful spectacle, but also a truly unique and great ‘Aussie’ game (unlike that silly rugby and cricket caper). I recommend any tourist visiting Australia to try and catch an AFL game… (read more)
Human limbs for dinner anyone?
Friday, July 16th, 2010
I’m involved in a project at the moment that’s all about weird restaurants around the world. It’s been a lot of fun (and a little scary) researching them and, if all goes well, it will be a lot of fun (and a little scary) going to them in person. And boy, there are some wacky folk out there not only opening these wacky restaurants but actually dining at them. My favourite so far is Hospitalis restaurant in Riga, Latvia where they serve hearty Latvian dishes and cake topped with realistic-looking body parts such as fingers, noses and tongues. The food is served (or hand fed if you’re in a straight jacket) by scantily clad nurses on gurneys and operating tables. The restaurant provides diners with cutlery such as syringes, tweezers and scalpels to devour their meals and guests are treated to disturbing dinner entertainment including… (read more)
Five ways to shit your pants.
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
On my recent blog about my loop-de-loop flight on a Tiger Moth biplane one of my readers (thanks Adrian) said that he would have shat his pants if he’d done it. He also suggested that I do a blog about the scariest encounters in my travels. I have been scared a few times in my travels (restaurant bills in Europe scare the hell out of me for a start), but thankfully nothing too bad has happened to me – oh, beside getting a gun put to me head and almost dying in West Africa. Anyway, here is my Top 5 Scariest Encounters (in no particularly scary order):
Gun to the head – Trans Mongolian train, Russia
The train was trundling along through the middle of Siberia when I was confronted by two scarily drunk Russians on my way back from the dining car. One asked a me a question in Russian and… (read more)
The Best Beaches in the World.
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
I’ve just got home from a lovely week in sunny Hervey Bay, Queensland where I did lots of swimming, eating, swimming, drinking and also some swimming. My favourite place was Pelican Beach, which was one of the most beautiful, untouched beaches that I’ve ever been to. In fact, it would easily make my top 10 beaches that I’ve been to. Which then means I should have a Top 10 list to put it in. There are so many other wonderful beaches in the world that I’m yet to go to, but… (read more)
Travel highlights of 2009.
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
Another year has flown by (they really do fly the older you get) and it’s been another great year of travelling for me. I feel so blessed to have these wonderful opportunities to travel like I do and there were many ‘highlights’ in my travels this year. And often the highlights are not necessarily about a place as such, but about the people you are with, the food you ate, discovering something so new or simply a beautiful moment. So, I thought I’d put together a list of my Top Ten Travel Highlights from 2009 (in no particular order)… (read more)
World’s Best Hotel (minus the stained sheets)
Monday, December 21st, 2009
A survey released this week by travel website Travel+Leisure ranked Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve in South Africa as the world’s best hotel in 2009. The survey ranks the tops 500 places to stay across the globe, and was compiled based on the opinions of the website’s ‘experts’ and thousands of readers. A night at Bushmans Kloof (about 3 hours away from Cape Town) will set you back US$715 (A$803). Second place went to the Oberoi Vanyavilas in Rajasthan… (read more)