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

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument

by Erik Olsen on

With all the (mostly) nasty news coming out of Iraq these days, it must have been nice for the Bush folks to announce something as delightful as the creation of a new, massive marine park in the distant Hawaiian islands. (and see how happy the dolphins are in thiis photo?) Never mind that few people will ever get to go there because they’re so damn far away, but it is a delightful breathe of fresh air for those of us who love to see the National Park Service NOAA grow…and by grow, I mean with meaningful parks and additions, not pork barrel crap like <insert Senator’s Name Here> National Brick Museum or something.

Lots of folks are reporting this today, that the Prez announced the creation of the world’s largest marine protected area, called Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument (pronounced NOINAM), which will consist of some 140,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean. The new monument will surround a necklace of islands and atolls stretching from the main Hawaiian Islands to Midway Atoll and beyond. Whoopee, for divers and conservationists alike, as fishing will be phased out, and you will not be able to mine coral reefs (sometimes done for jewelry) or do other nasty things that hurt cute fishies and coral.

The Da Vinci, um, Dress Code

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s a story that many of us who have traveled a fair amount can relate to. The travelers dress code. Now, the one thing about this article that I don’t agree with is the tone that somehow Americans who go abroad are somehow worse dressers than people from other countries. I mean, have you ever seen the Israelis? A few years in the army with all that intense regimentation, and all the kids want to do is let loose and see the world in tattered sandals, ripped t-shirts and greasy dreadlocks.

But Americans, especially young ones, do commit their share of Dress Code Fouls. And the idea behind this article originally from the Chicago Trib is that, given where America’s image lies these days (i.e. somewhere behind Morocco and just ahead of Botswana) we ought to be doing a better job presenting ourselves when over seas. I couldn’t agree more. It aggravates me to no end to see Americans traveling abroad wearing old, crappy clothing and smelling like they’re homeless.

I’m not one to advocate any particular style of dress, but the piece here offers some suggestions. To wit: “Clean khakis or jeans, a nice shirt and Rockports will do for men. So will capris or slacks, a blouse and comfortable shoes for women.” Rockports? OK, nevermind that. But for the sake of our global image, folks, let’s start dressing up, if just a little.

Scrabble-Dabble Doo

by Erik Olsen on

When you’re on the road, it’s often cool to bring along a little board game to help pass time time. Chess has long been a favorite of mine. You’d be surprised how many people play chess, and how great of an ice-breaker it can be to make travel buddies. Another good one is Scrabble. Sure, it helps if you’re in an English-speaking country or that most of those you’re traveling with speak English, but it is still one of those games that most people know how to play, and it can be a great way to spend time in a hotel, hostel or aboard a train.

So why not on your next trip pack along one of these nifty little Scrabble cases? It’s very portable, quite nice looking, and my guess is that you will suddenly have lots of new friends once you break it out. 

New Troost: Getting Stoned with Savages

by Erik Olsen on

As a big fan of J. Maarten Troost’s first book, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, I was very pleased to see that he has a new book out. Called Getting Stoned with Savages : A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu, it promises to be a winner. I laughed out loud reading Sex Lives, and recommended it to several folks. Troost is witty and informative, the two best qualities in a travel writer, well, these things and that he writes damn well, too. The new books seems to cover familiar Troostian territory as he and his wife, Sylvia, move from Washington, D.C., to Vanuatu, a nation of 83 islands in the South Pacific. There, Troost goes in search of cannibals and endures daily life in a far and distant land. Hilarity no doubt ensues.

My review of Sex Lives can be fond here, should you have any interest. But I’ll be trying my damnedest to get my hands on a copy of the new book and will review it.

WorldHum Top 30 Travel Books

by Erik Olsen on


I’ve been wanting to do a top travel books post for a long time, but each time I start to compile a list, I am overcome with profound self-loathing over how few of the supposed “great” travel books I’ve actually read. Sure, sure, I’ve read most of the biggies, the Therouxs, the Chatwins, the Brysons, I even picked up and savored a St. Exupery recently. But taking a look at the list of Top 30 Travel Books over at Worldhum, I realized that my travel reading repertoire is pathetically anemic. Their number one pick, for example, is the book “Arabian Sands” by Wilfred Thesiger, which I have never read. No. 2 is “The Road to Oxiana” by Robert Byron. Ditto. Not until we get to Theroux’s Great Railway Bazaar at number three do we get to a book I’ve read. And thereafter there are a smattering of others I’ve read — Pico Iyer, Bryson, Mark Twain, Matthiessen — but still many others I have not. Oh well. Let’s just say that we can be thankful to folks like Worldhum to help us improve our libraries as we move swiftly into summer and the reading season.