Brian Thacker's Blog, page 5
October 29, 2015
Adventures on and in the water.
A couple of weeks back I tried out stand up paddle boarding for the first time while I was up in Noosa in Queensland. My old college friend John just happens to be a stand up paddle board teacher, so I did get a free lesson, but it was mostly because I was on a ‘holiday’ […]
October 6, 2015
How to plan a trip overseas.
Last week a friend asked me how I planned my recent trip to Borneo. She asked me how I decided what to do, where to stay, how to get the cheapest flights, what tours to do, etc. On our Dad and Daughter Great Adventures I like to travel around and stay at different places, so we can explore and […]
September 22, 2015
The world’s best sporting events.
The AFL (Australian Rules Football) finals are in full swing here and we are only 10 days away from what I think is one of the greatest sporting events in the world – the AFL Grand Final (although my team didn’t make the finals, so not as grand as I’d like). And yes, I may […]
September 8, 2015
The best breakfast in the world.
I love a good breakfast, and whether it’s bread and cold cuts in Germany or baked cheese pancakes in Russia, each country does their first meal of the day quite differently. When I travel I will try them all. I’ve had everything from frog porridge in Malaysia to stuffed sheep’s stomach (aka haggis) in Scotland. On my recent […]
August 25, 2015
Travels in my Shoebox – Entrance Tickets
I recently went to the David Bowie exhibition at ACMI and the Melbourne Aquarium, and for both of them I bought my tickets online and got an e-Ticket on my phone. That meant I didn’t get actual paper tickets, which was a pity because I like tickets. I keep all my entrance tickets when I’m travelling and […]
August 13, 2015
How Pan Am inspired me to travel.
What first inspired you to travel? Was it exotic far-off lands you read about in a book or saw in a film? Or was it from watching Gilligan’s Island? For me it was a board game. The Game was called Pan American World Jet Flight Game, which had the tagline ‘Pilot a Jet Clipper to […]
August 6, 2015
My 30 year love affair.
It was 30 years ago this winter that I first clicked into a pair of skis, and from that very first incredibly scary green run at Falls Creek in Victoria, Australia I fell head over heels in love – although there was more head over heels than love in that first week. Since then I […]
July 30, 2015
Brian and Jasmine. Who will be the sole survivor?
Okay, I have to admit up front that I’m a fan of the American reality TV show Survivor. I haven’t watched all 29 seasons, but I have watched quite a few. So, when I discovered that you could actually stay on the island (off the coast of Borneo) from the first ever season of Survivor […]
July 22, 2015
Monkeys and scorpions and snakes. Oh my.
It’s Part Two of our Dad and Daughter Great adventure in Borneo and, after our first few days that were jam-packed with adventurous pursuits, we spent some time with a whole bunch of cute, weird and scary critters and creepy crawlies. We met them all in Sepilok, which is five hours by bus from Kota Kinabalu. […]
July 12, 2015
Thrills and spills in Borneo.
Borneo had always been on my hit list of places to visit – and mostly, I have to admit, because the name itself has an exotic ring to it. There are other places, too (such as Zanzibar and Timbuktu), that have been on my hit list simply because their names conjure up something mystical and […]
