What would you do with a day in Amsterdam? The first time I found myself in the Netherlands, I was visiting my then girlfriend’s (now my wife) family to the north. As usual, we had a packed itinerary and only…
Parthenon Pinball Wizard
When you think of Athens, there is a fair chance that your mind will wander, fairly directly, to pictures of great architecture beneath stark blue skies. You might picture a buzzing square and a crowded café. You’d be remiss not…
Wars and Walls in Berlin, also a cauliflower.
Berlin has always been a source of curiosity for me. As a student, I studied the city as a centre of conflict and turmoil across two global conflicts and into the Cold War, so naturally, I was eager to spend…
Wandering around Amsterdam
I have not spent a great deal of time in Europe. In fact, I have been to the region exactly once since I was two years old, when my dear mother was kind enough to drag me across the world…
Last on Hill
RED LEADER: Our first red run The sun had fallen behind the mountain and the golden hue that hung like a shimmering halo above the peak had shifted to the icy blue of impending dusk. Apart from the brief racket…
A New Year home away from home
I’ve spent the Christmas and New Year period in a number of interesting places. While I love our family’s (very loose) tradition of gathering to eat charred animal and sup from a 40 litre bowl of spiked punch to escape…
Sacré Cœur – poor service, fond memories.
I spent two busy days in Paris, experiencing as many of the sights as possible. Forgetting, for a moment, that we could have extended that time from days to weeks and conceivably still not seen everything, it may come as…
Oxford evening wanderings
On any journey, time can become your enemy. Regardless of the length of time I have abroad, there are things that have to be cut from our list of things to see. In France, the list was long indeed and…
Cardiff and the Doctor (why I went, and why I’d stay)
We started planning our trip (my first) to Europe over a year before we queued up at the departure gate. Two things remained constant over the year between the decision to go and actually making the flight. The trip was…
A few days in Berlin
When we travel, Linh and I usually like to spend a great deal of time immersing ourselves in one or two countries rather than flitting between a few well-visited, high-profile attractions. Most of our journeys involve some overland travel and…
An image of the Eiffel Tower
The change in gravity told me that the elevator had started to descend. There was no other way to know – besides perhaps the shift in the mass of bodies that surrounded me – that we were on our way…
Barber Shop Photos 26 – An evening in Oxford
These shots are all the result of an evening walk through Oxford. We had no time to set up the tripod (which is tiny) so it was an exercise in breathing as much as shooting.
How travelling to Europe is different – Normandy, France.
When we take a trip, I’m used to spending a good two to four weeks in a couple of carefully selected countries. Coming from Perth, one of the most isolated cities on the planet, it’s a massive undertaking – both…
Barber Shop Photos 24 – A winter’s Night in Berlin
This shot comes from an evening in Berlin. The weather was cool (around 2 degrees) and we had arrived in Berlin the day before after a week of snow. The snow had turned to ice and the mix of black…
My first real encounter with the language barrier
Whenever I travel, people ask me how I deal with the language barrier as if it is some kind of physically oppressive wall that stops them from travelling themselves. Of course I tell them that language is only a part…
A few rules for visiting London at Christmas
For some, Christmas is a time to share their faith with loved ones. For others, it is an opportunity to bring the family together. For me, Christmas means crowds, maddening jingles, and the disgruntled mood that comes with them. We…
Extra cut! Snowboarding in Austria
I usually try to organise posts close to my weekly schedule, however part of the reason I started blogging was to share awesome experiences. Our latest trip included a week on the slopes of Mayrhofen, Austria and I could not…
Travelling in search of culture
When we travel, one of our goals is always to find a slice of whichever country we’re touring that has been saved the ravages of tourism. As contradictory as it may be, we travel to seek the very thing our…