The Token Traveller

You MAY know this structure

The Eiffel Tower. You may have seen it before? Probably on a teenager’s doona cover, in any American rom-com, and on anything to do with anything remotely French. We struggled through many barricaded areas and fenced-off walkways as the city readied itself for the next day’s Fete de la Musique, and took the obligatory snaps….

In Search of Amelie…

We arrived at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport exhausted. Cam had researched the transport situation and we wanted 4 x weekly Navigo cards so we could ride the Metro as much as we could all week. Of the ten ticketing machines at the airport, for people who are arriving in France and will likely need…

The Jewel of Singapore

Singapore’s Changi Airport is astounding. An adventure in itself. After a very early morning and the 8-hour flight from Sydney, we were happy to have an overnight stop before continuing on to Paris. I love the mini-quests that go along with travel. Getting off the plane and navigating the 4-terminal, multi-story, Skytrain-linked maze of Singapore…

“Le cheval mange une orange”

“The horse is eating an orange”. I have turned to Duo Lingo these past 2 weeks, cramming in as much French as I can before our next trip to Europa. Looks like comms are set to be a breeze, especially when we spark up conversations around equine or citrus content! It’s been 3.5 years since…

Back to Reality

Well we’ve been back in Australia for just over a month now, hearing two of my most disliked phrases “back to reality” and “looked like the trip of a lifetime” over and over again. For me, travelling is a natural part of our lives, not a “ONCE in a lifetime” experience. And what IS reality?…

“My house in…”

“…Budapest. My hidden treasure chest.” I wonder if George Ezra knew his song would be a smash when he wrote it on a back packing tour of Europe in 2013. The ironic thing was that he never even made it to Budapest after getting drunk at a Eurovision after party and missing a train from…

The Caramello Koala Apartment Rating System

5 weeks. 6 countries. 8 apartments. We booked and paid for these places months ago without knowing anything about most of the cities we were visiting. You scan the pics on Booking.com, check there is a washing machine and that it’s in a part of town close to transport and a supermarket. But did we…

Take it or Leave it

Granted, we were only in Bratislava for a couple of days, but when the area around your house looks like this… …it’s easy to get a negative vibe about a place. This vibe intensifies when your husband is harassed by a rashy drunken dude in the car park who scampered off when he didn’t understand…

Beam Me Up!

“Now. This is going to be an expensive meal girls. Just drink water. And elbows off the table.” These were our sage, tight-arse words of advice before ordering my birthday meal at UFO watch. taste. groove, which is said to be one of the best restaurants in Slovakia. Fair call on the water when mains…

Countries, currencies, castle, deer.

In what was perhaps the most emotionally charged day of our trip, we travelled through 5 countries, fumbled through a purse filled with 3 different currencies, visited what may well be the final castle of our trip, and hit a deer on a foggy pot-holed road. We woke up in Croatia, had a goodbye coffee…

The City of Angels. Not that one. Or the other one.

No, we haven’t jetted over to the States to visit L.A., or headed closer to home to the other “City of Angels” Krung Thep (Bangkok). We’re in Varazdin Croatia, VERY loosely referred to as the “City of Angels” mostly because an artist who has painted angels for 30 years, Zelijko Prstec, decided to open a…

The teeny tiny town

Hum. Hummmmmm. It’s such a cute little name! Perfect for the town that’s allegedly been named by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the world’s smallest. However have a poke around the Guinness website, and you’ll find no such record. Perhaps the townsfolk decided on its smallness themselves? It’s also difficult to ascertain…

Mummies

It’s estimated that approximately 44,000 people visit Disneyland in California each day. You’d probably say it’s one of the biggest attractions in the world. So when we rolled up to Vodnjan in the south of Istria and saw this sign out the front of the Church of St.Blaise… …we thought we’d have to fight off…

The Slovenian Robin Hood

In Australia it takes 41 hours to drive from one side of the country to the other. So it was a strange novelty for us to be able to pop into Slovenia on our drive from Italy to Croatia. Once again, Slovenia didn’t fail to impress. This country just nails it every time. Predjama Castle…

Marostica, Aquileia, Trieste.

We popped into three Northern Italian towns we’d never visited before. Here are some mini snapshots… Marostica Where is all the second hand stuff? I was convinced I’d find so many little relics and dust-collecting nic-nacs to add to my “old stuff” collection at home. Most “old stuff” in Australia I’ve found at op shops…

Buona Befana!

In Italy’s North (Veneto and Friuli) Christmas and New Year festivities are “all wrapped up” (to quote a much-used advertising slogan at this time of year) on January 6, The Epiphany. This is when the 3 Wise Men (the magi) were said to have travelled to Bethlehem to bring gifts to baby Jesus. So, to…