Hello all. It has been AGES since I’ve update this blog? Why? Well, my priorities have shifted somewhat. I’m still in Australia, and loving the life here, but over the last few months I’ve had a number of big events in my life.

First off, I got married to my beautiful Aussie girl. We had a wonderful wedding week on the island of Kaua’i, where we had friends and family from both sides of the Pacific join us to celebrate our marriage.

When the ongoing project of planning the wedding finally subsided, we felt it was time for another. So as to continuously keep ourselves busy, we’re now building a custom home on the outskirts of Sydney. In an attempt to consolidate the many blogs I currently have running, you’ll be able to follow the build process here:

Megan and Stefan: Life, in progress.

See you there!

Australia is jealous of New Zealand’s brand strategy and has yet to “crack the marketing code”, according to Tourism Industry Association New Zealand chief executive Tim Cossar.

Travel Today reports Cossar noted the green-eyed monster rearing its head on a recent trip to Darwin for the ATEC Conference.

And speaking at the 10th anniversary of the “100% Pure” campaign, Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton said it would be retained no matter which ad agency works on the account.

From a preferred destination to a most-avoided holiday spot – the downslide in the Indo-Australian tourism sector has come rather fast in the wake of the alleged racist attacks on Indians there. Indian tourists are cancelling plans to travel Down Under after watching the plight of Indian students there.

“We’ve just stopped selling Australia as a destination to our clients. We are instead asking them to go to Singapore etc,” says chairman of STIC travels, Subhash Goyal.

In March 2009 alone, as many as 30, 500 Indians had travelled to Austarlia. But that has changed now.

“We used to send at least 200 tourists to Australia in one month. It’s now come down to 40 or so. People are very worried about their safety and security. If it doesn’t stop, it will affect long term plans,” says another travel agent Inderpreet Singh Sodhi.

And while and even Tourism Minister Kumar Selja has cancelled her trip to the Oz land, the Indian Tourism Ministry is trying hard to play down the panic.

“We are saying go to Australia. These are isolated incidents. After all how did we project ourselves after 26/11? Things are fine,” says Tourism Secretary, Sujit Banerjee.

After all, Australians have been among the top five foreign tourists coming in to India.

I’d venture to say that most people that read this blog travel extensively – or at least have an interest in travelling. It’s also quite likely that you plan out your trips, and do your research. If you’re like me, you’ll spend countless hours researching how best to do a certain activity, and how to do it the most economical way possible. But are there times when you should just loosen your belt, open your wallet, and pay for the experience?

I’ve got a motto I like to travel by: “If you’re going to do it, do it right.” While it may imply spending a bit more to get EXACTLY what you want, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve always got to travel in style. To me, it just means that if you’re spending the money to do something, spend the money to get the experience that YOU want, rather than skimping on an activity just because it was a little more than what you were expecting. Otherwise, you just might regret it.

I’m in the process of planning a 3 week honeymoon to Europe, and I’ve come across this dilemma a number of times already. For example, at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, there’s a restaurant called Le Jules Verne, located on the first level of this French icon. I don’t even have to look at the prices to KNOW that the bill will be inflated significantly, as this restaurant caters to tourists. But is it worth paying that much more for the experience, considering the meal might not be up to par? I’d have to say yes. At the end of the day, twenty years down the road, those are the kinds of experiences that you’ll remember. Especially for trips like your honeymoon, special events like dining ON the Eiffel Tower will be those that you cherish, and you’re not likely to remember how much the meal cost. (Well, my fiance might.)

In reading reviews of this restaurant, everyone says it’s expensive, yet everyone says they’d return. Why? The experience, the memories, and the locale made the meal. So if there’s activities, meals, or even an everyday purchase that you’re on the fence about, remember – “If you’re going to do it, do it right.”

An airport in England has started charging airline passengers to “kiss and drop” zone outside its main terminal.

All drivers, including taxis, will have to fork out STG1 ($A2.07) for spending up to 10 minutes in the drop-off zone at Luton Airport, north of London. It’s the first of it’s kind in England, but isn’t likely to be the last. This comes after the airport recently introduced other charges, ranging from baggage trollies to the ability to jump security queues and needing plastic bags for your liquids in your carry ons.

As you can imagine, these new fees haven’t been all that popular, but the airport has defended the fees as something it needs to do to keep the airport running smoothly and within its budget constraints. Not everyone needs to pay these fees though. While the charge to “kiss and drop” isn’t excessive, it can be avoided altogether – the free carpark is only a two minute bus ride away. With that in mind, is this fee really a money making scheme, or just another luxury that a passenger can pay for?

After all, we don’t all need to fly first class. Do we?

I’m a pretty big movie buff, and a hardcore trekkie (nerd alert!) to boot. Last night, at the Sydney Opera House, J.J. Abrams and the cast of the new Star Trek movie had their world debut. The red carpet was rolled out, reporters were everywhere, but sadly, I was unable to attend.
Today, Hugh Jackman and the cast of the new X Men Origins movie are premering the movie at the famous Cockatoo Island, in the middle of the harbour – one of set locations for the movie.

So why Sydney? Is it because each film features a prominent Australian actor (Star Trek has Eric Bana, while Xmen has Hugh Jackman)? Is it because of the favourable exchange rate between the American and Australian dollar? Or is it because Sydney is truly a destination city, and people (actors and directors included) want to find an excuse to travel here?

Whatever it may be, Sydney seems to have been getting a lot of press lately. It’s a good thing too, the Australian economy needs all the help it can get, and showcasing two big movie world premieres in some of the most scenic parts of Sydney is likely to do some good. As for the movies, I’m excited to see both, but Star Trek – that’s the one I’ll be in line for on opening night. Yes, I’m a trekkie. And proud of it.

My long haitus on the site has been the result of a 2 week holiday back to the States. Back to visit family, to visit my 2 week old neice, and to further plan for my upcoming wedding in September. It was a good trip; no a great trip, but it was a whirlwind of a trip nonetheless. Two weeks of nonstop activities has me longing for a holiday from my holiday. It’s good to be home though. It’s very good to be home. While I miss my friends and family, and always will, I’ve realised that Australia fits me. It’s a really good fit actually. Fifteen minutes into my drive from the Los Angeles airport, I remembered why I was always frustrated on Southern California highways. Fifteen minutes into a shopping experience at a local mall in San Diego, I remembered why an economy of scale has its positives and negatives. Fifteen minutes after I left, I remembered that I’m 7,000 miles away from my closest friends and family.

Living overseas has always been an adventure, but after returning home for the first time since leaving 18 months ago, I’ve been able to refresh my thoughts and truly understand and remember why I was so excited and jazzed about moving to another country. More specifically, Australia.

The majority of my trip was spent in San Diego, however between my partner and I, we had trips to Los Angeles (Disneyland), San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Each of these locales, although all quite different from each other, had traits that very similiar; traits that I wouldn’t have otherwise noticed had I not been out of the country for the past 18 months.

1.) Excess - That’s right, excess. America is all about excess. I love food, a lot, but I found myself rarely being able to finish the meal that was given to me. The portions were absolutely huge. People say that I’ve lost weight since moving to Australia. I was never THAT big to begin with, but I suppose I can see why. Unlimited refills on drinks (not a common occurance in Australia), towering mountains of french fries and more salad dressing that I know what to do with sat before me at almost every meal I had. I must say though, the unlimited refills on coffee struck a very pleasing chord.
Especially in Las Vegas, where excess is the norm, everything (and I mean everything/everyone) was in excess. Drinking, gambling, food ($9 Prime Ribs) were abundant. You couldn’t help but be surrounding by an uneccesarily large amount of everything, everywhere you went.

2.) Traffic - Traffic, and the way people drive. Large suburbans driven by soccer moms who, according to them, are the single most important person on the freeway, made only worse by the fact that they’re tailgating you in the slow lane because your 75mph just isn’t fast enough for them. Perhaps I’m stereotyping, perhaps not. Either way, drivers in Souther California as a whole, don’t use their blinkers, don’t let you in when merging, don’t understand where the fast lane is, and seem to think that driving 90mph while talking on their cellphone, weaving in and out of traffic in their SUV to get to their destination 2 minutes earlier, is the most important issue of the day.

3.) Outlook - This may seem a bit weird, but American’s need to lighten up, myself included. Things are too serious. Watching newcasters on TV, seeing people interact in a business environment, daily life seems to be a bit to rigid. Now I’m not saying that Americans don’t know how to have a good time, but c’mon, life is funny. Laugh at yourself, slow down, smell the roses. It’s not all about rushing from one place to another and checking things off your list. I know everyone has that kind of day every once in awhile, but have a chat with the barista at the coffee shop, talk to your coworkers, understand what’s going on around you. People tend to shut themselves off in Southern California. Windows on their cars are up with the A/C full blast, people walking around with iPods on, they order their coffee whilst on the phone, barely giving the person working the time of day; this is the kind of stuff that is a stark difference for me, between Australia and America.

While life would be different in any country, and each have their positives and negatives, this past trip has shown me that my decision to live in Australia was a good one. It’s one that has more positives than negatives associated with it, and although it has put me 7000 miles away from a great number of people that are important to me, I know that the ones that are truly great friends and great family members we’ll see on a pretty regular basis. To be honest, between Skype, Vonage VOIP, and email, I talk to my parents on almost a daily basis, and my closest friends almost every other day. The world is getting smaller. Maybe that’s a good thing? Fifteen years ago, Australia would have felt a lot further away, more isolated.

Either way, I love it here.

Are you just as tired of those hidden hotel charges as I? On a recent trip overseas, we found ourselves nickel and dimed to death. So I had a read around the net, and found that Andrea Bennett had the same issues as I, and put together a lengthy article on how to avoid these charges in the future.

(Travel + Leisure) — Shortly after its opening in 2006, I decided to visit the Lodge at Woodloch, a destination spa deep in the Poconos. Upon my arrival from New York, I discovered the property had no cellular service, so I made several calls home from my room phone, expecting to fork over little more than a dollar. Imagine my surprise when my hotel bill revealed a $7.38 charge for each time I picked up the receiver, despite having never actually reached anyone.

Read the rest of the entry here. It’ll be worth your time, I promise.

Clean up after yourself. In fact, why not clean up after everyone else also? It’s a sad fact that people have no respect for the environment in which they live, but alas, some people just don’t care.

Today is Clean up Australia Day. In 1989 an ‘average Australian bloke’ had a simple idea to make a difference in his own backyard – Sydney Harbour. This simple idea has turned into an annual tradition in which ‘average Australians’ clean up their beautiful country. But why must it be just one day out of the year, in which we clean up around us? Wouldn’t it just be easier to keep it clean all year round? Probably, but unfortunately most people don’t think that way.

So what can you do?

Today, all across Australia, thousands of people are volunteering their time to clean up the land around them, but it doesn’t stop there. You can become involved in organisations that continue to do this year round and help keep this country beautiful. “Living Green” is a lifestyle that is becoming more and more common within Australia, as many Aussies realise that our carbon footprint continues to grow and continues to impact the world around us. Many have become actively involved in organisations, while others simply become more conscious of things like the amount of water we use, the amount of electricity we use, or what is thrown away or recycled. Even the smallest, environmental decision will help Australia become more environmentally friendly.

After all, it started with an ‘average Australian bloke’, Ian Kiernan. Once setting up the “Clean up Australia” campaign, he approached the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP), with an idea to take his Clean Up concept global. Clean Up the World is an international campaign that encourages communities to clean up, fix up and conserve their environment through the Clean Up the World Membership program.

Who says one man can’t make a difference? So get out and do your part. Australia appreciates it.

I can’t necessarily vouch for what their flight service is like, but if it’s anything like their customer service, I’d think twice before booking. Here’s why:

V Australia was scheduled to start flying daily from Sydney to Los Angeles in January 2009. Due to Boeing strikes and other shortcomings, this had to be pushed back to late February. No worries, we were travelling back to the States in early March. So, with that said, we booked a return airfare from Sydney to Los Angeles on V Australia, hoping that everything we’ve heard about Virgin, V Australia’s parent company, was in fact true. Even with fares that were a bit more expensive than Qantas and United (I will never fly United again, after flying Air New Zealand and other competitors), we felt good about our decision, and looked forward to the smooth flight across the Pacific on their new Boeing 777 airplane.

Fast forward to this past week. We received a message on our answering machine from a representative asking us to call back and reference our booking number. That’s never a good sign. Finally, after sitting on hold for a good 1/2 hour, we’re told that our flight has been changed to a day earlier. Yep, not good. When asked why, the representative said they hadn’t received the number of planes needed from Boeing to make daily flights from Sydney to Los Angeles possible. Ok, so while this was out of their hands, the way they dealt with the problem was not. They knew this was going to be a problem, all the way back in December, yet failed to contact us until now. Why? Because we booked at a higher fare than what was currently being offered.

We were told by the customer service representative that because it was just a time change, we’d unlikely be able to apply for a refund. Now I can understand changing the departure time by a few hours, but an entire day? That causes issues with work, getting the dog to the kennel, and otherwise arranging trasportation to the airport. Sorry, not good enough. We were then referred to a ‘customer service’ number, where they could ‘theoretically’ authorise a refund. So we called. No answer. We were asked to leave a message and they’d return our phone call within 24 hours. OK, not ideal, but good enough.

Three days later, we received a phone call, after spending a total of 3 hours on hold. After explaining the situation, and how it had become such an inconvenience, we were offered a full refund. While no apology was made, nor any form of compensation or compramise from V Australia, we were at least able to rebook on another airline. You’d think they’d make more of an effort to keep customers, especially with Delta entering the LA to Sydney market later this year. But on top of all the other hardship that we were put through, our refund will take 21 days. Why should we wait, when the mistake was not our fault?

Ultimately, it all worked out for the best. We were able to find seats on a Qantas flight for the appropriate days, and even managed to save $600 over the previously booked fare. While that’s all well and good, it has convinced me to steer clear of V Australia. Based on my experiences, I believe you should too. Just try to have a look around to see what else is out there first, if you’re thinking of V Australia.

It’s not Hamilton Island, and you’re not getting paid to stay there, but at least they’re not charging you. National parks throughout NSW will waive entry fees on January 26 to celebrate Australia Day.

Premier Nathan Rees said Australia Day was a perfect time to appreciate the nation’s natural beauty.

“Our native bush is an important symbol of what it means to be Australian,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Our parks are home to stunning scenery, relaxing picnic areas and an amazing array of wildlife and cultural heritage found nowhere else in the world.”

He said he hoped free entry would encourage people to go bush on Australia Day, with many parks holding special activities.

“Most people in Sydney could travel less than a half hour from home and find themselves surrounded by the Australian bush in a national park,” Mr Rees said.

“There is no better way for all of us to understand how important our natural environment is than by getting out there and experiencing the bush first hand.”

Here’s your chance to get out and explore the country around you. Whether you love your bushwalks, or have a love of photography, get out there and see the surrounding countryside before it’s gone!

Lance is back!
Lance Armstrong, now 37, has spent a better part of the last four years away from the sport that made him a household name. Dominating the ever-famous Tour de France, Lance is making his return to professional cycling in the upcoming “Tour down Under”, which kicks off in Adelaide on January 18 and runs through to the 25th. Much of the world’s attention will be on this up and coming race, with Lance amongst the competitors.

I, for one, am excited to see Lance back on his bike. With his return to cycling, he once again brings with him his fight against cancer. Armstrong will ride a bike decorated with the numbers 1,274 and 27.5. The 1,274 represents the number of days since he last raced professionally in the 2005 Tour de France. The 27.5 stands for the approximately 27.5 million people who have died from cancer worldwide during that span.
“Sometimes this disease does not need money, it needs attention and exposure and awareness,” Armstrong said. “It needs people to step back and look at that bike, and go, ‘Jeez.’ They see two simple numbers, and they think: ‘Why haven’t I heard? Why am I not thinking about this? Why haven’t I stood up and demanded change because of this?’ ”
I’m excited to watch this. While I wish I could watch Lance compete in person, it looks as if much of the Tour will be covered, for Australians on Channel 10. You can watch it live on Fox Sports Channel 1 should you have Foxtel. Those outside the country however, won’t fare as well. It looks as if you’ll have to catch bits and pieces of it on your local news, if at all.