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

Ten Destinations Under $1,000

by Erik Olsen on

I don’t know if we can call these “cash-strapped times”. I suppose it depends on your station in life and whether you are a CEO of a major corporation who just got a $250 million bonus even though your company’s stock is down. But for most of us, the idea of taking a trip and not having to take out a second mortgage is rather savory.

I have been doing some shopping around for plane tickets to Europe this summer and — whoa — it is hard to find ANYTHING for under $1,000. And that’s JUST FOR AIRFARE! So what are we middle-class folks to do? Well, you’ll have to get your own fact-checkers on board to look into the deals here, but its coming from good ol USA Today, so you can probably be sure the stuff is accurate.

Here in this article they offer a solid list of rather impressive adventures for under $1000. Per person that is. What kind of stuff do they suggest? A road trip to the next state? Nope. Better than that. There are trips here to Chile and the Torres del Paine (a favorite of mine), Utah (for biking), Belize (for diving) and Tuscany (for eating and shooting photos). Could you really imagine that you could get to for under a grand? Me neither. That’s why it’s important to note that many of these trips don’t include airfare. And more, many of them (like the excursion) are timed for winter, which right now seems way too far off, especially for those of us trying to make up our razadooks what to do this summer.

Drew Carey to the World Cup

by Erik Olsen on

Really, so much of making it in life is just establishing yourself as a celebrity. Then it’s all downhill. Once you get famous, everyone wants a part of you and you get paid, yes PAID to do cool stuff. Bill Murray gets paid to go all over the world to go golfing. Why? Because he was in Caddyshack for goodness sakes. And because he’s an excellent golfer. Brajolina have their trip to Africa paid for by aid groups because they look so pretty together. And now, here’s Drew Carey, who’s show really wasn’t even that funny, going to Europe to report on the World Cup for the Travel Channel. Well, good for him. I suppose if anyone can help Americans understand soccer and represent the US overseas, it’s a wise-cracking, doughy white guy. But seriously, I’ll have to check this out. Good for Drew.

Moleskines Expand

by Erik Olsen on

For many many years I’ve kept a journal. I must have literally 10,000 pages of stuff written about places I’ve been, people I’ve met, the changing colors of lint in my navel. In the early, Pre-Cambrian days, I wrote in a paper journal, a Letts of London or another, more famous kind. What kind you ask? A Moleskine.

But in those days the Molskine was just a regular old blank-paged journal. No more. Moleskine is entering the guidebook market, or something near to it. They are about to publish DIY guidebooks with a city guide that will contain a maps, metro guides, and 36 pages of neighborhood maps. Of course, in the other pages of the book there are blank pages for making notes, and jotting down your thoughtful scribbles.  The guides are only European cities to start, including Paris, Prague , Berlin and Rome. American cities are coming, though, including L.A. and Boston next year.

One for the Road: Places in Time: Reflections on a Journey

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s a book that looks promising for its breadth and depth of reflection. Maxine Rose Schur’s book, out in paper back, is called Places in Time: Reflections on a Journey, and chronicles her round-the-world honeymoon more than 30 years ago. The year and a half adventure starts in Berkeley in 1971. She and her new husband discover free spirits and the kind of raggedy weirdness that all travelers discover, both then and now. They hit the road, going full-bore through Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, eventually settling in New Zealand. There are exotic locales and banal ones, but her effort to look back really is what seems to make this a fine summer read, perhaps worth checking out.

World Cup Cuisine

by Erik Olsen on

Oh, hey, and while I’m posting about the World Cup, let me draw your attention to a nice entry over at Slashfood about food and eating at the World Cup.

The post calls out a piece in The Guardian wherein you will find a food guide to the 12 cities that will play host to the tournament. German cuisine is pretty good. Why, just this weekend I was in Brooklyn and had myself a very tasty schnitzel.

But we’re talking here about more diverse foods than that. For example, treat yourself while there to a little brezen, buttered pretzels filled with salami or cheese. Or the more gustatorily ambitious can sample a tasty saumagen, or pig’s stomach filled with potatoes. Yummy.