Traveller

14/03/2025

An Italian practice Australians should embrace: passeggiata.
Derived from the Italian for “walk”, passeggiata is a daily, ritualised pre-dinner stroll, best performed on a Sunday.

The passeggiata usually takes place along an old town’s pedestrianised main street or a waterfront promenade. To insinuate yourself into the local vibe, be nicely dressed. Walk back and forth. Locals greet each other and catch up on gossip. You can slurp gelato, look in stylish shop windows and stickybeak on passersby.

Piazza Santa Croce in Florence and Corso Vannucci in Perugia are among the top passeggiata streets, but you can’t beat those in Sicily, the land of warm evenings, endless conversation and great cafes. In the capital, Palermo, hit pedestrian Via Maqueda, where locals stroll beneath baroque churches and palazzi and chatter in bars, or the sleek redeveloped La Cala harbour with its many restaurants. Other top spots are Via Etnea in Catania, Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Trapani, and Corso Ruggero in Cefalu, which leads towards the magnificent cathedral and down to seaside promenades.

13/03/2025

11/03/2025

The newest staff employed at two Melbourne hotels have four legs. The QT Melbourne has just welcomed a labrador retriever to its permanent staff.

Russell, named after the hotel’s Russell Street address, is a two-year-old. He received extensive training with Guide Dogs Victoria, but was a bit too social for the job of service pooch. Now, he’s found a home at QT Melbourne, where his playfulness and penchant for spreading love will be deployed to greet guests, lead morning walks, and other specialised tasks.

Russell’s arrival also heralds a suite of new dog-friendly options at the hotel such as “Pups & Poses” on the rooftop at QT, yoga sessions with Guide Dogs Victoria puppies-in-training; puppacinos in the lobby cafe and “PupYeah! Staycations”, a package of pet-friendly accommodation and a specialty in-room dining menu for dogs.

And Russell is not alone in Melbourne as a doggie hotel ambassador. A short walkies up Collins Street and down St Andrews Place, another golden lab, Charlie started work at the Park Hyatt Melbourne around the same time as Russell.

He’s also a former guide dog trainee, and replaces the legendary Mr Walker, who retired recently after nine years, and is currently enjoying life by the sea on the Mornington Peninsula.

10/03/2025

What is the world's ultimate comfort food? Is there anything more comforting, more filling, more umami-packed and deliciously spice-laden than a huge, steaming plate of Indonesian mie goreng? Maybe tagliatelle bolognese is in with a shout. Maybe biryani. But for now, let’s consider the greatness of Indonesia’s ubiquitous fried noodles.

The dish begins with yellow wheat noodles, medium thickness, which are stir-fried in a screeching hot wok with shallots, garlic shoots, eggs, bean sprouts and sometimes cabbage, plus proteins such as prawns, chicken or beef. This piping melange is seasoned with soy, kecap manis, sambal oelek, oyster sauce, and sometimes even tomato sauce. Fry it fast and hot, slap it on a plate and serve. You’re in foodie heaven.

It’s worth pointing out that there are actually two mie gorengs: mie goreng, and mee goreng. Same same but different? The first is from Indonesia, the second from Malaysia. And you can bet there’s absolutely no argument over whose was first. We’re not here to get involved with that though – all we’ll say is that both countries have leaned heavily on Chinese migration in the formation of their national noodle dishes, which are derived from the classic chow mein, with a few local twists. In Malaysia, the use of curry powder is a nod to Indian migration. In Indonesia, local additions include clams in Batam, thicker noodles and soupy sauce in Aceh, and chicken is popular in Java.

06/03/2025

The original "Kangaroo Route" from Australia to London, with seven stops taking in Darwin, Singapore, Kolkata, Colombo, Cairo, Toulouse and Rome will be recreated by tour company Captain's Choice.

A specially chartered Qantas Airbus A330 will be used for the two-week trip, taking off in February next year.

The trip will be close to the original flight path Qantas first wholly operated in 1947. At that time, the route from Sydney to London took four days to complete, with just 29 passengers aboard a Lockheed Constellation aircraft.

It includes special events to delight aviation aficionados such as dinner beneath the wings of the Concorde. There are also gallery visits, cooking classes and plenty more.

“It is unlike a commercial service, and no sector is really longer than four hours and 20 minutes, other than Colombo to Cairo which is eight," says Captain's Choice chief executive Bas Bosschieter.

Although business class quickly sold out, Bosschieter says an economy class seat isn’t a disadvantage and that many prefer the social aspects of the larger cabin.

“All catering and service is at business class international level,” he says, “and what happens is, the aircraft becomes the gathering place for everyone to catch up, have a drink, share some photos, share some tales about what they did in the last place.”

Only 160 of the A330’s 269 economy seats will be sold to allow passengers more room to spread out.

A ticket on the trip starts from $49,950.

05/03/2025

The Australian outback town built by America.

Exmouth may be renowned as the springboard to the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef and epic swims with the Indian Ocean’s “Big Three” – whale sharks, humpback whales and manta rays – but it hasn’t always been famous for fins. Instead, the regional hub, 1128 kilometres north of Perth, once championed another identity: a slice of Americana.

In 1967, at the height of the Cold War, the Australian-United States alliance established Exmouth to strengthen strategic operations in the Indian Ocean. With the US military descending on the RAAF Base Learmonth, so too came traces of Uncle Sam: green money, bowling alleys, a baseball field, and American cars cruising Exmouth’s few streets.

The town was established to accommodate US Navy personnel working at the defence base. Exmouth soon became a “Little America”, with a unique blend of American culture in a pocket of outback Australia. Patriotic residents didn’t hold back on traditions either, with Fourth of July festivities prompting a blue, red and white takeover of the town oval.

Uncle Sam celebrations dwindled in 1992 when the US withdrew military personnel and assigned private contractors to manage the station’s infrastructure. While RAAF Base Learmonth supports land, air and sea operations in the region today, America’s departure prompted Exmouth to reinvent itself as a more playful place.

03/03/2025

Qantas' latest announcement is a godsend for domestic travellers.

Cabin baggage has become the bane of the domestic traveller. With so many passengers now opting to travel with no checked baggage, the scramble to find overhead space for your bag upon boarding has become a battle royale.

If you end up having to place your bag in an overhead bin far from your seat, it can be doubly annoying – not only is it difficult to access your bag during the flight, but after landing you may end up having to wait until everyone else is off the plane before you can retrieve it. And being forced to place it under your seat makes an already uncomfortable situation even less pleasant (particularly for the long-legged, such as myself).

That’s why the latest news from Qantas is a godsend for domestic travellers, particularly those business travellers who make regular short trips.

As part of the airline’s half-year results announced last week, the airline also revealed it would revamp the interiors of its workhorse Boeing 737s. This includes new economy and business class seats but, more importantly, overhead bins will be made 50 per cent bigger.

This should go some way to alleviating the stressful Tetris-game that takes place during flight boarding and hopefully mean there’s enough overhead space for everyone’s bags.

The bad news? The changes will be made to only 42 of the airline’s 75 Boeing 737s, and the first refurbished plane won’t enter service until 2027.

28/02/2025

Cunard’s newest Queen of the seas, Queen Anne, has arrived in Australia for the first time.

The ship arrived in Sydney Harbour on Friday morning as part of its inaugural 107-day world cruise. She’ll stay overnight before departing on Saturday evening for other Australian ports including Brisbane, the Whitsundays, Cairns and Darwin.

From there, she will continue her world voyage to Bitung (Indonesia), Manila (Philippines) and Hong Kong.

The 2996-passenger, 13-deck Queen Anne joins sisters Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria in service and is the 249th ship for Cunard, which recently marked 100 years of sailing to Australia with the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth in Sydney in October. It was the start of her record 125-day home-port season in the city.

Despite its long history and commitment to the grand tradition of cruising, Cunard has fitted out the Queen Anne with a fresh look aimed at attracting a younger crowd.

Dining is, of course, a big focus with 15 restaurants on board, including several new-to-Cunard choices. While the offering remains distinctly Cunard, it too has been skewed to appeal to Millennials and Gen Z – the line’s signature afternoon tea is a feature, but so too now are poke bowls and sushi.

The ship has classic Cunard style, balanced with colourful contemporary decor, and notably ups connections to the outdoors thanks to expansive decks, swimming pools, and al-fresco dining and bar choices.

To mark Queen Anne’s arrival, Cunard will throw a celebration for guests onboard. A British Garden Party will take place on deck on Saturday afternoon ahead of the ship’s departure that evening.

26/02/2025

Do airlines accurately characterise the country they purport to represent? Will a flight with Qantas give you a good idea of what Australia is like?

Qantas is many things to many people, an airline that stokes righteous rage and patriotic pride sometimes in the same people at the same time. But it’s a friendly airline (when you’re face to face with its staff), a safe airline, and one that’s largely dependable. It’s also, however, known for the disregard it showed its customers during, and in some instances after, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a sharp decline in public affection thereafter.

Australia the nation, I would argue, is roughly similar: a dependably safe place that is friendly on the surface, though not quite as knockabout and laid-back once you get to know its darker corners. - Ben Groundwater

25/02/2025

I hate my passport photo. It looks like a grim mug shot, taken in a line-up after I’d been arrested on a drunk and disorderly charge. My hair is awry, I look like I haven’t slept in days. I’m not wearing any makeup; my skin is sallow and blotchy. The lighting is absolutely brutal.

What was I thinking? Well, I was thinking that I’d paid enough in fees for a new passport – a tidy $412 in January – and that I’d avoid the extra charge for a photo if I used one taken for a visa last year.

I was thinking that the only people who would see it were behind immigration desks or hotel receptions. Coming directly off a flight, the physical me would look equally exhausted and shattered so I’d match the image anyway.

Now that I have my glitzy new passport, I realise my error. Open to the front page, and I’m confronted by my criminal face a total of three times. There’s a new laser-engraved “secure window” on the title page that wasn’t there on my previous passport. It’s the shape of a flower (nice touch) and encloses a smaller portrait. There’s no avoiding looking at myself. - Lee Tulloch

24/02/2025

Business class seats on flights are crazily expensive and premium economy can be hard to justify when you’re paying close to double the price of an economy seat for a seat with about a hand’s length of extra legroom, but there’s another class worth considering.

Several of the budget carriers operating international flights out of Australia have business class or premium cabins. While the seat, amenities and service are well short of the business class you expect aboard a full-service carrier, in quite a few cases they deliver a comparable level of comfort to a premium economy seat, and in the case of one airline, even a lie-flat bed.

A Qantas flight from Sydney to Bangkok, departing on May 1, 2025 and returning on May 23, starts at $2992 in premium economy. A Jetstar business class flight on the same dates costs $2783. This is a one-stop flight via Melbourne in both directions, and the flights between Sydney and Melbourne are in Jetstar’s economy class.

A return flight from Melbourne to Athens flying ScootPlus for the same dates starts at $3650. That’s a one-stop flight via Singapore in both directions with a layover of six hours going over, nine hours on the return. A return trip from Melbourne to Athens with Emirates, same dates, starts at $5375 in premium economy.

Find out more about budget business class vs premium economy. 👇

19/02/2025

Food trucks, craft beer: Worldwide, cities now all taste the same: The nature of the globalised world means food trends are adopted across continents and trans-hemispheres within weeks, if not days.

Japanese katsu sandos are sold at Australian shopping malls. Avo on toast is being slung at San Sebastian cafes. Banh mi are popular in Canada. You can get a croque monsieur pretty much everywhere, from Paris, Texas, to Paris, France.

It’s a little sad for travellers who love the thrill of the unfamiliar and the new. Global trends mean that wherever you go, you will find at least some of the same things to eat – the Zara of the food world.

That’s partly because of social media and partly due to other factors. Consider the influence of the World’s 50 Best, an institution that set itself up as the anti-Michelin – the awards list that would ignore the traditional trappings of fine-dining and instead seek out restaurants offering something different. The only problem with that is that as soon as other restaurants see what sort of “different” is loved and awarded by judges, they start doing the same thing.
- Ben Groundwater

18/02/2025

The club sandwich: the ultimate room-service dish. You’re jet-lagged, you’re tired, you’re hungry and you just want some food. What’s it going to be? The answer, for so many of us, is a club sandwich. This is a hotel menu staple across the world, a reliably solid, tasty choice on a list of potential pitfalls and stomach-unsettlers.

This dish is so familiar that it barely needs description. For those somehow out of the loop, though, a club sandwich is a toasted, three-layer monster laden with chicken (or turkey), bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. It’s often served with fries on the side and is almost always held together with little cocktail sticks. Jet lag, be gone.

Some say the club sanger originated at the Union Club in New York City in the late 19th century, though the recipe there only refers to two toasted pieces of bread with turkey or chicken. More likely it evolved at the Saratoga Club, a notorious casino in New York State, in about 1894. There’s also the classic story that an unnamed man arrived home late one night and put together a sandwich with the ingredients at hand, and the club was born.

13/02/2025

Ten Asian budget airlines you need to know about: Want to maximise your budget on regional travel in Asia? Jetstar Asia and AirAsia are well known, but there are other low-cost carriers to consider.

HK Express: Keep an eye on this Cathay Pacific subsidiary, which took to the skies in 2005. The route network is relatively small – China, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam from its Hong Kong base – but rapidly expanding. Destinations such as Bangkok, Beijing, Phuket and trendy Vietnam island Phu Quoc were added this year. Don’t expect frills or sharp service, but HK Express is safe, reliable, and ranks first among Asian low-cost carriers for on-time departures.

Vietjet Air: This Hanoi-based airline, launched in 2011, celebrated its 200-millionth passenger this year. Along with subsidiary Vietjet Thailand, it flies to many Asian cities and to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and aims to expand into Europe. It has a big domestic network across Vietnam and Thailand. Economy fares are a great deal, Sky Boss premium fares not so much, since you get the same narrow, uncomfortable seats with just a few perks.

Peach: Japan hasn’t fared well in the low-cost game, with start-ups often being bought out by major airlines. Those that survive aren’t rock-bottom cheap even during promotional sales but, given the sharp rise in the price of train tickets, worth considering for domestic travel. The largest low-cost airline Peach started in 2011 and is based in Osaka. On top of its 17 domestic destinations, it flies to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei.

Cebu Pacific: The Philippines’ largest airline by passenger number was an early starter on Asia’s low-cost scene, launching in 1988. It flies to Melbourne and Sydney and across eastern and Southeast Asia plus Dubai, and has a large domestic network. Its jaunty yellow livery is matched by the jaunty energy of its crew – you might even expect an on-board game and prize giveaways – although service isn’t as good on the ground. Domestic flights can be plagued by delays.

12/02/2025

Picture this. I’m flying from London to Sydney on a Qantas flight and to my great delight, my points upgrade comes through. Hooray.

I’ve requested a business class upgrade, but I have also indicated I’d accept premium economy if it were available.

I don’t get a business seat in the end, but I do find myself in the premium economy cabin. And that’s fine. Anything is better than economy on the long haul. Right?

I’d carefully chosen my economy aisle seat before the flight. But when I claim my upgraded premium seat, it’s not a spacious aisle seat. It’s in the middle.

That means I will have to clamber over sleeping people whenever I need to go to the loo or want to stretch my legs. And I share my personal space with two others, jostling elbows on both sides. This is a scenario I’ve painstakingly avoided when booking my cattle-class seat earlier.

Help! I’d rather be in economy.

Not all premium economy seats are equal - sometimes you might be better off in the cheap seats.

- Lee Tulloch

11/02/2025

Are there double-standards when it comes to airline dress codes? US low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines has recently updated its Conditions of Carriage to ban passengers from flights if they are “barefoot or inadequately clothed (i.e. see-through clothing; not adequately covered; exposed breasts, buttocks or other private parts), or whose clothing or article, including body art, is lewd, obscene or offensive in nature”. Also, if the passenger “has an offensive odour unless caused by a qualified disability”.

The Spirit move appears to have been sparked by an incident that took place late in 2024 when two women were removed from a Spirit flight from Los Angeles bound for New Orleans for wearing crop tops.

When they boarded both were wearing jumpers over their crop tops but they took them off when the air conditioning wasn’t cooling the cabin. A male flight attendant told the two friends to cover up, they protested but despite offering to put on their jumpers, the attendant said it was too late and they were booted off the flight, with no refund.

When it’s the beholder who decides what’s offensive, the judgement that follows might be narrow-minded, especially when it’s a male judging a female.

I’m all for dress codes. Dressing to fit the occasion signals to the world that you know what’s appropriate, and how to behave. Clubs and bars often have dress codes. But kicking women off a flight for wearing a crop top? How about not looking?

- Michael Gebicki

05/02/2025

What if you were told that in six months’ time, your frequent flyer points will be worth 20 per cent less? Why? Just because.

That’s essentially what happened a couple of weeks ago to Qantas frequent flyers. Australia’s flagship carrier released a slew of good news about its frequent flyer program, including increased numbers of rewards seats, and increased points earned on domestic flights. It also, however, slipped in that the cost of its reward seats and upgrades would be increasing, in many cases by 15 to 20 per cent.

It raises the question: are frequent flyer points even worth it? Is Qantas’ frequent flyer program worth it? Is your loyalty to one airline paying off?

The answer is multifaceted, though I would say that ultimately, yes, Qantas’ frequent flyer program is still worth it. It just became about 15 to 20 per cent less attractive.

To begin with, consider the positives. This year, Qantas will release 1 million additional rewards seats, a large jump on the 5 million already available. These seats won’t be available on Qantas flights, but rather with partner airlines such as Finnair, Air France, KLM, and now Hawaiian Airlines.

Qantas frequent flyer members will also start earning more points on domestic flights, up to 25 per cent. And reward seats on Jetstar flights are becoming cheaper, so if you’re happy to slum it a little, you can get around Australia for very few points.

This is good news. The bad news – the increase in points required for rewards seats and upgrades – does mean an effective devaluation of your current balance, though given there have been no changes from Qantas to its required frequent flyer points since 2019, some sort of increase should be expected.

Read more 👇

- Ben Groundwater