Brian Thacker's Blog, page 4

Top 10 religious monuments.

I’m not a religious man, but oh my gosh do those religious folks make some damn fine monuments. And not only are these often spectacular monuments to a higher being a must-see part of many an itinerary, I have even gone totally out of my way to visit them – from Bagan in Burma to Borobudur in Indonesia. Here are my […]

Fence putter-upperer and other jobs overseas.

Have you ever run out of money while travelling and had to find work (as in any work) so that you can keep travelling – or simply just to feed yourself? When I returned to London after travelling around Europe on my first Big Trip Overseas I desperately needed cash (I had around $50 in my pocket) and scraped around […]

Are we born to travel?

I always wonder if I hadn’t been unceremoniously dumped by my then girlfriend many moons ago would I have still done the Big Trip Overseas (or more like the Big Escape Overseas)? If we had stayed together there was a chance that I would have settled down and maybe not travelled at all. Although my girlfriend had very […]

The 10 best markets in the world

When I visit a new city or town one of the first places I hunt down is the local market. And it’s not because I’m on a hunt for great bargains, but because they are often a great insight into the people and culture of the place. Some markets are major tourist attractions like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul […]

8 hints for a better flight.

Over my years of travelling I’ve figured out a few little ways to make long-haul flights more enjoyable – from the check-in to being airborne to getting out of the airport at the other end. There are a couple in my list that aren’t quite kosher, but mostly these are some simple ways to get the most (or least) out […]

The 10 best desserts in the world.

I love desserts – and after pigging out this recent holiday season on cheesecake and pavlova and a gingerbread house made entirely of chocolate, so does my waistline. But it’s not just in the holiday season that my sweet tooth has its way. I have savoured and salivated over countless desserts in my travels and have even gone […]

Travel highlights of 2015.

It wasn’t a big travelling year for me, but I really shouldn’t complain. I still got in a few overseas and local trips that were full of great highlights, including hanging out with some wacky monkeys, jumping off a cliff to celebrate 30 years of skiing, discovering a deserted beach in Borneo with my daughter and snorkelling with […]

Christmas with George Michael.

A few years back I spent Christmas day with George Michael. Really, I did. Well, with George Micheal and a couple of thousand other skiers on the Les Diablerets glacier in Switzerland. Coming from balmy Australia I wanted my first ever Christmas away from home to be a white Christmas, so I had booked a ski chalet […]

A bad night’s sleep.

On my recent trip to Queensland I stayed for a night at my brother’s house in Hervey Bay. I was up there for his birthday party and, although it was a fun party, I had a terrible night’s sleep. That’s because the other interstate visitors had arrived earlier than me and got first dibs on the spare beds leaving me […]

The 11 best galleries in the world.

I’m excited because I’ve just booked my tickets to the upcoming Andy Warhol exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. I love his work – so much so that I have a large collection of framed Warhol prints (not originals, though, sadly) scattered around my home. The prints are gallery posters that I have collected in my […]