Oceania

Travel through Oceania by country:

Australia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

Travel through Oceania by popular city:

Auckland, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Wellington

Travel through Oceania by popular things to do:

Cook Islands, Sydney Opera House

Travel through Oceania with our writers:

In the Corner of the World, Work and Play in Queensland

Long-Distance Relationships

by Iva Skoch on

Long Distance Relationships, or as experienced romantics say “LDR”, are side effects of traveling which a lot of people find difficult to deal with. The romance, that seemed so perfect in Thailand, looks decidedly less reasonable in Oklahoma City. Is it worth it to keep it alive?

According to the earth-shattering resources online, it is quite easy. The number one tip is: visit each other frequently. Yeah. Thanks, that’s helpful. Number 2 says: Take pictures of everyday activities and send them to your mate. (Unless, of course, it is something that could make him/her jealous…which is–after weeks of not seeing each other–pretty much everything). Number 3: Send gifts. Here we come. Welcome to capitalism! Longdistancerelationships.com offers gifts for every LDR situation ranging from “Missing you keepsakes” to “Table top photo boxes”. The one thing I couldn’t locate on their website is the “Let’s just be friends” stationary set. I am sure it would be a hit.

Askmen.com says that there are three basic options when dealing with long distance relationships:

A) the couple can remain faithful to each other;

B) they can date other people and see what happens; or

C) they can call it quits and start dating other people right away.

That all makes sense. The unfortunate part is that agreeing on A, B or C is the hardest thing.

Travel Photo Tours

by Erik Olsen on

I switched to digital photography years ago, having purchased one of the old Nikon CoolPix cameras and I have since upgraded to one of the superb Nikon D70 XLRs. As happy as I am with this camera and its 6 megapixel images, the newest Nikons shoot in 10 megapixels and more. What can you do? Well, I suppose one thing you can do is improve your shooting overall. Even ten-plus megapixel images don’t do you any good if they suck. So why not consider a trip dedicated entirely to learning how to shoot.

I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do this. While I have shot my share of photos from all over the world, I know that there is plenty of room for improvement in my own travel photography skill repertoire. And so I was looking around for Photography Expeditions, trips where you go out and get the hands-on knowledge and skill from a bona-fide professional photographer. Turns out, there are LOTS of trips and packages available.

Travelimages.com for example, offers a selection of U.S. based and international tours in 2007 including destinations like the Galapagos, Scotland, the European Alps, New Zealand, Venice, Yellowstone and Vermont (where I am now!). Another possibility is Joe Englander’s Landscape and Travel Photography Workshops and Tours. With Englander, you’ll head to far-off places like Bhutan, Norway, Tibet and Burma. Along the way, professional photographers will take a look at your work and critique your composition and technique. It ain’t cheap, however. The trip runs $3,000, but would be the perfect way to kick your shutterbug skills up to professional levels. And who knows, if you take enough great shots, you might be able to sell them to magazines and cover your costs. .

(via Frommers)

iPod Listening When U Travel

by Erik Olsen on

Like a lot of people, I have fallen so in love with my ipod that, after my wallet, it’s the one thing I HAVE to carry with me when I leave the house. And before I go, I always make sure that it is loaded up with the most recent podcasts from NPR, as well as my Charlie Rose subscription on Audible.com AND many audio books from audible. I was happy to see Iva blog about audible’s content, especially about Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between, which I actually have in its atom-based, tree-pulp form and am enjoying immensely.

But for those who travel and are looking for walking tours and such to put on their ipods and other listening devices, here are a couple of ideas.

A company called AudioSteps offers audio walking tours of various cities around the country including New Orleans, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. For the internationally-inclined, especially those traveling to London, a company called BlueBrolly has a fine selection of audio walks for areas including Westminster, Soho, Chinatown, Greenwich, Covent Garden, St Paul’s and other spots around the English capital. Finally, PodGuides takes a step further and offers digital maps and small pictures, along with the audio tracks. A fine idea, and one I’m sure we’ll be seeing a LOT more of.

Friday Funny: Lifestyles of the Rich and Fascist

by Erik Olsen on

For today’s Friday Funny, we bring you an entertaining, tongue in cheek piece from Radar Magazine on how the rich and autocratic live.

From Libyan dictator Muammar al-Quaddafi, whose personal bodyguards are made up of an all-girl Amazonian unit alleged to be virgins to Myanmar’s repressive Senior General Than Shwe, who has been taking cooking classes with a leading French chef in Rangoon, to North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, whose escapades and eccentric tastes have been well documented, the list is a wonderful slice of egotistical life. There are ten dictators in all. Be sure to collect all ten! I have no idea how accurate this stuff is, but it IS funny in a sick kind of way.

InFlight Magazines

by Erik Olsen on

Sometimes when you fly, you forget to bring along reading material. And when this happens, which is quite unfortunate, you are forced to either endure the in flight movie (usually something horrendously awful) or you pick up the airline’s magazine stuffed there in the pocket in front of you. Is there a sniglet for this pocket? I’m not sure. Perhaps it is called the “flybrary”. But whatever, I always find it interesting to see how different airlines come up with stuff that they think flyers will like. Each airline is a bit different, and as you can see from this list of in-flight magazines, each has its own language, too.

I have to admit, I spent some time clicking around the list here and there some some interesting ones…even those NOT in English. Take a look, for example, at SkyEurope’s Magazine, which offers, obviously, lots of pieces on things to do in Europe. Or what about the magazine for Montenegro Airlines. Now, that’s rather interesting. The articles are downloadable as a Word document, just in case you feel the need to have it while you’re not connected. The list is extensive and it made me think that maybe these would be a good source of info for whatever trip I decide to take next.