Brian Thacker's Blog, page 3

The top 10 must do meals in Japan.

In Japan it’s almost impossible to have a bad meal. Food is so highly respected – revered even – by most Japanese people, that you can find great food everywhere. Even in convenience stores – we had some incredibly tasty and fresh chicken karaage from a Seven-Eleven. I’ve had lots of different and interesting meals in Japan, but I […]

Kooky Japan

Japan is kooky. And I love it. On my recent trip to Japan I took my daughter Jasmine for her first visit and took great joy introducing her to the wonderful oddities of one of my favourite countries in the world. Here are our Top Ten Kooky things we saw or experienced: Owl Cafe Animal cafes are […]

Getting whipped and other massages around the world.

I had a lovely relaxing massage this week and while I was lying there in contented bliss I thought about some of the not so relaxing massages that I’ve had in my travels. I do love a massage and in some countries where they are nice and cheap I’ve been known to have one every day. […]

Travel highlights of 2016.

Last year wasn’t a big travelling year for me compared to recent years, but I did have a good excuse – I created (with the help of my wife) a new little traveller. Rosalie left the departure lounge on the 25th January – although she didn’t get her passport until she was 10 weeks old. We still did manage to get […]

A grasshopper walks into a bar…

…and the bartender looks at him in surprise and says, ‘We have a drink named after you!’ The grasshopper looks even more surprised and says, ‘You have a drink named Kevin!’ On my recent trip to New Orleans I had a ‘Grasshopper’ cocktail at the bar that it was invented in. I was in Tujagues Bar in the […]

The Top 10 graveyards in the world.

I’m not a taphophile (someone with a love of funerals, graves and cemeteries), but I do like visiting a good cemetery or graveyard when I travel. I’ve just recently come back from a trip to the States where a spent a few days in New Orleans and while I was there I went to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. It’s the […]

The dead centre of the city.

I’m not a taphophile (someone with a love of funerals, graves and cemeteries), but I do like visiting a good cemetery or graveyard when I travel. I’ve just recently come back from a trip to the States where a spent a few days in New Orleans and while I was there I went to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. It’s the […]

The 10 most exotic places to get married.

This weekend I’m going to a wedding in a zoo in Wisconsin. That’s a sentence I’ll probably never say again. I love a ‘destination’ wedding and what’s not to like about celebrating nuptials with an African pygmy hedgehog and a striped skunk on the shores of Lake Michigan (oh, and it’s not the hedgehog and skunk getting married). I’ve had quite […]

Curling and other extreme après ski fun.

Last week I had an après ski drink at the Frying Pan Inn at Falls Creek. It brought back fond (and I have to admit – somewhat hazy) memories, because it was at the Frying Pan where I had my first ever après ski drink – after my first ever day on the slopes. It was so […]

War tourism.

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Somme. It was the biggest battle of World War I and 485,000 allied (mostly British and French) and 630,000 German troops were killed. It also makes it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. After four months of fighting the Allied forces penetrated a mere 10 kilometres into German-occupied territory. […]