These are the best Christmas markets in Europe for sipping warming glühwein and munching on kartoffelpuffers (potato cakes), for shopping for artisanal Christmas gifts – from old-fashioned, handcrafted, wooden children’s toys to hand-knit woollen scarfs, mittens and beanies – for buying homemade edible souvenirs, such as Christmas cakes, biscuits, honey, and preserves, and for gawking … Read more
Arriving back to a very sultry Southeast Asia after six days meandering around a warm Northern Thailand on the Eastern and Oriental Express train, has got me thinking about cooler climates and opportunities for hitting the slope at one of my favourite snowboard and ski escapes. We’ve spent almost a decade and a half in … Read more
Aimed at helping travellers staying in holiday rentals and settling into a place for a while, Price Check is a series of posts in which we reported every two weeks on the prices of groceries at each destination we stayed on our yearlong grand tour. This post is a comparison of our Price Check posts, … Read more
Having just spent our first full winter in Europe, we thought it was time for some reflections on the last four months of our grand tour. Having lived in Sydney for many years, it’s fair to say that winter was of little consequence in Australia. Sure it gets chilly, but you have to drive a few … Read more
When we mainly stayed in hotels when we travelled we rarely went to supermarkets. Perhaps just to pick up bottles of water and some cold beers, maybe some snacks. But hotels became increasingly strict about what you could take into rooms, many installing mini-bars with sensors so that the moment you shifted something to clear space … Read more