What To Do, What To See???

IS there anything more exciting than getting your travel tickets?

Ok, so apart from winning the lottery, becoming a parent and your sporting team winning the championship. But other than that, what else gives you that rush you feel when you've actually got that ticket in your hot little hand (or inbox more often that not nowadays) that says you're not just planning, you're ACTUALLY GOING!!!

Ahem. Excuse me there won't you.

As you might tell, I'm a little bit excited right now. My flights across are locked in without having to use one of my lifelines; the Busabout e-ticket + itinerary smile upon me every time I have a rubbish day/night at work.

So I know when I'm over and now know roughly where I'm going. Big question now is: what do I do over there?!?

Hmmm.

A good place to start researching is everyone's old favourite, Lonely Planet. Their destination guides online have a wealth of material, not least in giving you some inspiration about what you can see/do around the place.

For a more personalised touch though, the Busabout website has some Guide's Top 10s hidden away. To get at them, Bring up the Busabout Explorer main page, look down the left-hand column below the two orange boxes to the "Where do you want to go?" box, pick out a destination, then find the little orange link that says "Click Here For Our Guide's Top Ten!". This link will take you to a Madrid Top Ten to get you started...

Google Maps is a pretty cool little tool as well. If you decide to get away from it all, typing the address in will help you know where you need to go. Believe you me, this is A Good Thing.

Finally though, be open to suggestions. When I travelled around the first time art was pretty low down on my list of things-to-do. Mind you though, the only two things I absolutely HAD to do/see were Lord's Cricket Ground and Berlin. Despite my cultural ignorance, I can definitely recommend Barcelona's Picasso Museum to everyone: and I only went because the guide told us about it.

In fact, I might even go there again. You know why?

I've got my tickets in my inbox and I'm not just planning, I'm GOING!!!

I'm On The Road Again...

YOU always remember when you start a great love affair.
Mine started in Paris in late May 2005. We were waiting on Paris' Boulevard de Rochechouart when we first exchanged glances. It was pretty much love at first sight: I, the young, slightly naive first-time European traveller; her, a 51-seater coach with "Busabout" written in bright orange down the side that we soon called "Big Blue".
Our love affair grew over the next two months as we travelled around Europe together, leaving France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Italy and Spain in our wake. When it was time to finally say goodbye back in Paris in July, I promised myself this wouldn't be the end.
As things turned out, it was only the end of the beginning. I've been lucky enough to spend the last four years working as an on-board guide with Busabout, and despite flirtations with other coaches, boats and ferries, it's always been Big Blue I've come back to.
Now though, it's time to finally say goodbye. While I'm not back as a guide, my role this year is probably the next best thing: alighting at each stop, blogging (written and video) about my experiences, and hopefully giving all you out there the motivation and/or inspiration to come on over and experience Europe for yourselves!
As such I'll be travelling all three Busabout Loops between May and July. To say I'm excited barely begins to hint at it: a chance to combine writing and travel, catching up with old friends around the continent, and showing at least one of my brothers around Berlin! In the lead-up I'll be blogging about my trip preparations before going a bit more frequently once on the road; I'll also try and take you guys a little behind the scenes and introduce some of our awesome guides and drivers, and maybe even explain just why we do certain things certain ways.
Either way it promises to be quite the adventure - hope you guys enjoy the ride!

Viva Bris Vegas

ASK your regular punter fresh off the plane to Australia where they wanted to go, they’d probably give you a standard range of responses.

Sydney, Melbourne , the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru would all be there; given the vast distances most people have to travel just to get there in the first place, a nice comfortable bed would probably feature pretty highly as well.

But while the country’s two largest cities are generally pretty high up on said lists, #3 on the Australian Largest Cities countdown generally doesn’t.

Queensland’s capital Brisbane has suffered from an image problem ever since its founding as a prison for the very worst of the New South Wales convicts. This endured through the 20^th century, with the typical photo from the city in the 1950’s and 1960’s not being one of the city skyline, but rather of rows of outhouses guarding the backyards of the typical Brisbane home. Floods in 1974 killed 16 people and caused nearly $1billion worth of damage, while Queensland ’s conservative government of the time meant that many looked upon Brisbane as an overgrown, backwards country town.

It wasn’t until the 1980s that Brisbane began to be seen in a more positive light. Brisbane hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games, with Matilda the winking kangaroo providing a highlight as the city proved it could host big events. Expo Oz the platypus was the next big animal to drag Brisbane onto the world stage with Expo 88, where Brisbane “showed the world” what it was capable of. In many respects Expo 88 proved a watershed in Brisbane ’s history, marking the boundary between the city’s old, conservative self with its new, flashier model.

That’s not to say the old traditions have been forgotten. Drinking in Brisbane still revolves around some old-time favourites: the Victory has Brisbane ’s only CBD beer garden; the Caxton, the Paddington, and the Normanby are all just outside the city; while Toowong is blessed with the Regatta and the RE (Royal Exchange). All bar the RE and the Victory (rebuilding after a 2008 fire notwithstanding) have been done up in the last 10 years and offer restaurant-style eating. Tip for the unwary though: most of these pubs have dress codes later at night – don’t be surprised if you’re asked to leave just for wearing a pair of shorts.

For those that want to dance the night away, it’s away from the CBD and into “The Valley” – Fortitude Valley to be precise. Named after the ship that brought the area’s first immigrants in, The Valley is absolutely rammed with entertainment options. Try Family, the GPO, the Alhambra , and the new Cloudland for starters; once again though watch out for quirky local customs. After complaints about alcohol-fuelled violence each weekend, some nightclubs are starting to scan ID’s and take fingerprints in an attempt to keep known trouble-makers out.

Brisbane’s main sights are few and far between. In the CBD, check out the Baroque sandstone of the Treasury Casino before spending a pleasant day in the Botanic Gardens. Nature lovers have many different options: native fauna at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary including Tasmanian devils, wombats, echidnas and aforementioned koalas; while Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo is about a 90 minute drive out from the CBD. For native flora, check out the Brisbane Botanic Gardens near Mount Coot-tha before heading up the hill for that postcard view of the city itself.

To get into some old-school Queensland culture, Milton ’s a good place to head. Queenslanders take their XXXX very seriously, with the iconic brewery featuring on XXXX logo. Check out the brewery and sample some of the nectar with a tour before heading next-door to Suncorp Stadium (formerly Lang Park ). Home to the Brisbane Broncos, the Queensland Reds and Brisbane Roar, the stadium really made its name as the home ground for the Queensland State of Origin side. While tickets for State of Origin are few and far between (tip for the newbie: don’t wear blue), the Broncos, Reds and Roar play virtually all year round. There’s also a stadium tour on Wednesdays for those that can’t get to a match.

Getting around Brisbane can be harder than necessary. The city has a brand-new integrated ticketing system that means the one ticket covers buses, trains and ferries; the new Go-Cards make it even easier - and cheaper - again. Most trains only go every 30 minutes outside of peak times and don’t seem to have network maps as standard; the extensive bus system makes full use of new busways, but finding where your bus leaves from in the CBD can be tricky. On the plus side, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts and their various attractions all use the same ticketing system, so that one Go-Card can save some serious cash.

Brisbane’s major star though is the river that runs lazily through the centre; the best way to see this is to jump onboard a CityCat ferry. Fast ferries cruising from the University of Queensland, up to the CBD and Southbank Parklands (redeveloped home of Expo 88), under the Story Bridge and up past the old wool sheds of New Farm and Teneriffe to Bulimba, the CityCats mirror Brisbane itself: moving fast while staying laid-back.

It’s a tough trick to perform, but one that Brisbane does well enough to entice thousands of Australians to move there; if word gets out Australia ’s #3 city might just move up on the tourist wish-list as well.

And so it begins...

ON FRIDAY I fly out to Perth.
This is, of course, quite the step up from the first time I travelled there. Back in 1998 Virgin Blue was an innocent smurf, and with Qantas and Ansett having the country pretty much to themselves, they reckoned it was cheaper to go around the world than it was to go return to Perth. As such, I spent around $700 to spend 54 hours on a Greyhound bus in a trip that took me through every Australian capital other than Hobart and Darwin.
Naturally, the day I left I found a flight special for exactly the same price.
This trip though marks the start of what could well be my last season touring, before the inevitable need to settle down before the dreaded 30 hits at the end of next year.
The route so far sees me head from Brisbane to Perth, then over to South Africa for a couple of weeks bumming around there. After that it's off to London for a very fleeting visit, training for Eastern Europe and the Croatia Islands, off around northern Europe for a week or so before headig to Greece for a tour down there.
Throughout the year I'll try and update this daily, although lack of internet, time and my own sheer laziness this could well bum off like just about every other thing I do.
Needless to say, I'll try make this as entertaining as possible.
Could be interesting...