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Lonely Planet uses its worldwide writing network to bring you the best in travel blogging - buzzword events, breaking news, tough travel, odd corners and the world's craziest kitsch.

  • Have love, will travel
    Everyone knows the real international language is love. So it's hardly surprising that so many of us are willing to relocate to far-flung places in the name of romance. I did it once. It ended in tears after two years, and actually messed me up good and proper, but I wouldn't swap my experience for anything.br /Moving to the other side of the planet where you don't know a soul except your beloved puts you in a scary position. Your support circle is gone. You're dependent on your partner for your social life, emotional succour, everything.br /It's a start from scratch.br /But my experience is mild! At least I could speak the language and got a job relatively quickly - and it still took me about a year to feel settled. It must be a whole lot more daunting when you don't speak the language and you're not legally allowed to work, or where there's a significant culture-shock factor. Imagine what it must have been like for disco dolly Jemima Goldsmith when she married Imran Khan and moved to Pakistan!br /To cut a long story short, my relationship eventually imploded and I returned to Australia. But I don't regret those two years in Manchester one bit. I made some amazing friends, saw a lot of England, got my first publishing job - and did a lot of character-building.br /Have you ever relocated for love? Did it last, or did you live to regret it? Any advice for globetrotting romantics?br /br /em-Susi Watusi/em

  • Pity travel
    Who could have said in say, August, that we'd be leaning against a bar discussing a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/iceland/"Iceland/a? (Of course, you may well have been - given its white-nights party scene, its a href="http://www.iceland.is/history-and-culture/Arts/Literature/nr/84"noble literary history/a and its endearing penchant for a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelstories/podcast/iceland_0907"believing in elves/a, not to mention the genius of a href="http://www.sigurros.com/main/home/"Sigur Ros/a and a href="http://www.sigurros.com/main/home/"Mum/a.) The global financial sky-fall has brought the little island to a a href="http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/economicsunbound/archives/2008/10/iceland_goes_ba.html"sad state of affairs/a, and on a recent night a friend told me that she'd like to head over there with a case or two of rollmops and some hard currency and spread some cheer.br /br /The joke got me thinking. After the bombings in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/indonesia/bali/"Bali/a, many travellers on the hunt for a tropical paradise chose to go there as a way of helping to rebuild its devastated tourist industry. In the wake of the tsunami, various destinations were visited not only by relief workers, but (as they recovered) by sympathetic tourists looking to put their dollar where it would help the most.br /br /Pity travel. Is it a patronising, Lady Bountiful, pampered-first-worlders' indulgence, or genuinely compassionate?br /br /emCherry Washington/em

  • Backpacks - are they really necessary?
    On my first backpacking trip through a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/europe/"Europe/a at the age of 20, I met a girl in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/greece/ios/"Ios/a who travelled with a bright purple carry-along suitcase. She looked ridiculous, but I was secretly envious of the ease with which she travelled. Ever since I've wondered, is backpacking an activity that actually requires a backpack?br /br /Of course, if you're trekking to a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everest_Base_Camp"Everest Base Camp/a, it's an essential item. But for an a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelstories/article/bestofthegreekislands_0808/"island-hopping holiday/a through the a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/greece/cyclades-islands/"Cyclades/a or a journey from one urban environment to another? It could be more trouble than it's worth. (If you think you've experienced a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/france/paris/"Parisian/a wrath, try squeezing into a heaving metro carriage with a pack strapped to your back.)br /br /Despite these musings, I still dutifully pull out my backpack every time I travel. Why? I'm not quite sure. It's almost automatic: I'm going backpacking, I'll take my backpack. Next time though, I might take a moment to think about where I'm going and how much actual on-the-road travelling I'll be doing before I start packing. If I do, I might find the convenience of a suitcase on wheels wins out.br /br /What about you?br /br /em- Gab Nancarrow/em

  • Twelve-hour stopover: the ferret and the coconut
    Returning recently from a jaunt in Europe I was faced with a 12-hour stopover in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/thailand/bangkok/"Bangkok/a. Yes, it sounds like crap, and it was.br /br /Hopping off the KLM tumbrel cart I had been strapped to for 13 hours, I slid through customs like a ghost - my head felt like someone had lined it with newspaper and replaced my brain with a ferret.br /br /I had grand plans of hanging out at the airport. I figured that a href="http://www.bangkokairportonline.com/"Suvarnabhumi/a in all its shiny newness must have something to entertain a weary wanderer for half a day. How wrong I was. My dreams of showers and cinemas, libraries and lounges were as false as the eyelashes of the local a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathoey"emkathoey/em/aem./em My mother lives in rural New South Wales and a href="http://moruya.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/hot-times-at-moruya-airport/351601.aspx"Moruya airport/a has more to offer than Bangkok's; at least you can feed the bloody a href="http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/kookaburra.htm"kookaburra/a. There was nothing to do but drag my feet around, politely declining offers of luxury cabs. The place was a boring temple to international dullness.br /br /My aimlessness soon turned to the feverish rage of the overtired; the clock seemed frozen, the a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/"Bangkok Post/a was devoid of the usual lurid Thai crime stories, and the security guards were getting irritating. Broken, I realised that my only hope was to get the hell away. First I wolfed down a bowl of spicy soup and a fresh coconut, which improved my outlook no end, then I headed to the taxis.br /br /A smiling man from Issan was my saviour, and some 45 minutes later I was loafing about the marble floors of the a href="http://www.mbk-center.com/en/index.asp"MBK/a, one of the world's greatest small-business hives. Like a happy drone, I wandered about for hours, while around me the shopkeepers slurped soup. When the ferret in my head started to squeak I knew it was time to head back to the airport and check-in. Early.br /br /'12-hour stopover' joins 'we need to run more tests' and 'it's not you, it's me' as a phrase I never want to hear again.br /br /em- Larry O'Leary/em

  • Gutterboy flies to Swanksville
    When you're wedged in economy and the person in front of you has jacked their seat back so far you can smell their shampoo, all you can think is 'let me get reborn as a millionaire with a private jet and get me the hell outta here'. Those luxury-scented daydreams might not be as out of reach as you think - thanks to Geneva-based a href="http://www.lunajets.com/"LunaJets/a. Many swanky private jets are stone-cold empty on the return leg after depositing their cashed-up clients at their chosen point. LunaJets works with private jet operators throughout Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the USA to maintain a database of flights that you can get on for a fraction of the real cost. You can book a single seat or you can book a whole cabin - now there's travel worth frocking up for. br /br /emDee Dee Luxe/em

  • Vinyl destinations - the world's best record shops
    a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/uploaded_images/ww5-792028.jpg"img alt="" src="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/uploaded_images/ww5-792020.jpg" border="0" //abr /divOK, let's not even enter into the a href="http://classicrock.about.com/od/newreleases/a/vinyl_one_3.htm"record vs CD/a vs MP3 debate. Because believe me, amigos, that argument has only one winner - vinyl - and that's final! Besides, it's not really travel-related, so we'd have to take it outside anyway.br /br /But hey, record junkies travel too, and that's just the excuse I need to ask this burning question of you all: What's the best record shop you've ever come across on your travels?br /br /It's a subjective thing, for sure. While a fantastic, soul-stirring and diverse range of vinyl is the obvious pre-requisite, factors such as vibe and decor, staff and location are crucial too. There's nothing worse than a record-shop assistant who's too cool to help you, or a store that prices itself out of the market - much as I love 'em, I draw the line at paying €85 for a Who 7", as witnessed recently in a certain a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/france/paris/"Parisian/a establishment. Then there was this shop in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/brazil/sao-paulo/"São Paulo/a... I'd heard it was great, but gave up looking for it after another shopkeeper in the dark, dingy arcade where it was located tried to pull me into his store and close the door! Ah, the hazards of record-collecting.br /br /Luckily, no such misfortunes befell me the day I came across the record shop of my dreams in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/spain/barcelona/"Barcelona/a. It's called a href="http://www.wah-wahsupersonic.com/"Wah Wah Records/a, and with a name like that, you just know it's going to tick all the boxes. Located on the super-groovy Carrer Riera Baixa in el Raval (a street comprised almost entirely of vintage clothing boutiques), Wah Wah won me over with its heart-stopping selection of 60s garage, beat and psychedelic nuggets (oh, and its lurid green walls). But that's just the beginning - it's packed to the rafters with just about every musical genre you could imagine, except classical and mainstream Top 40. And it has its own record label, specialising in reissues of cool old sounds.br /br /The friendly staff really know their stuff, and there's even a resident cat (he's really old and his name is Marcel). I'd marry the place if I could.br /br /Anyone else care to share their favourite international vinyl haunts?br /br /em- Suzy Wah-Wah-Watusi/em/div

  • Packing light
    My number one piece of advice to any traveller relates not to what they should take on a trip, but to what they should leave at home - basically as much as possible.br /br /It's a hard one to get your head around, though. Your backpack is open on your bed the night before you embark, your possessions gathered around you. This is your emstuff/em. You'll want to have it while you're away. You emneed/em it, right?br /br /Carrying your gear around from one place to another is perhaps the best way to realise how annoying emstuff/em can be. It weighs you down, and lets face it, those 90L backpacks you see abusing the spines of travellers and knocking into locals give us all a bad name.br /br /Aside from the freedom of movement you'll gain by shedding the weight of your belongings, you may find a different kind of freedom. A freedom from emstuff/em, and a realisation that two T-shirts and pair of jeans can easily be the sum total of a traveller's entire wardrobe.br /br /em- Jenni Kauppi/em

  • Slightly extreme sightseeing
    a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/uploaded_images/Volcano1-724279.jpg"img alt="" src="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/uploaded_images/Volcano1-724274.jpg" border="0" //abr /divVolcanoes are the most extreme of tourist attractions, if not the hottest. They explode and kill, and travellers seek them out regardless. Though I'm yet to melt a sandal in semi-molten rock or toast marshmallows on hot pumice, I have got close to the edge a few times:br /br /Aso-san in central Kyushu, a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/japan/"Japan/a: Getting here by car is easy - with a Japanese friend driving. We park just below the crater lip, but could have just as easily caught the cable car. There are plenty of black mushroom-shaped magma shelters to protect us in case lava starts a-flowing. To add a level of difficulty, we visit in the middle of a typhoon. Leaning into the gale, we get to the edge and see a vast cloud-filled hollow of nothingness.br /br /Mt Taranaki on a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/new-zealand/"New Zealand/a's North Island: Not an easy climb. We drive halfway up to the track to the ski run, cross the couloir, which in winter is an avalanche hazard, reach the huts at the base of the ski lift, and look up: the snow-covered cone is a long way away. We walk back to the car.br /br /Tofua, an island in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/tonga/"Tonga/a's Ha'apai group: The seaplane lands on the crater-lake, and put-puts to shore, and we start climbing. The scoria is loose and gravelly, and covered in weird fern-like creepers. The guide stops, says he's been up too often, and reminds us if a cloud of poisonous gas suddenly billows our way, we should run downhill. Also, we shouldn't go to the left of the crevice - if there's a tremor that half of the cone will fall away first. We get to the lip and look into a pit of poisonous steam, wind blows a cloud our way. We duck and scurry back down and eat sandwiches by the lake.br /br /Well maybe I've only got close-ish to the edge.br /br /emLionel Mash/em/div

  • In the flesh - art up close
    They're everywhere - in books and magazines, on postcards and tea towels, coffee mugs, fridge magnets and t-shirts - artistic masterpieces so familiar and endlessly reproduced they could be wallpaper for our collective consciousness. Warhol's a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Warhol-Campbell_Soup-1-screenprint-1968.jpg"soup cans/a, Monet's a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bridge_Over_a_Pond_of_Water_Lilies,_Claude_Monet_1899.jpg"waterlilies/a, Van Gogh's a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:VanGogh-starry_night.jpg"swirling skies/a, Munch's a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Scream.jpg"emThe Scream/em/a, Picasso's a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/T/T05/T05010_9.jpg"emWeeping Woman/em/a... our world would look a whole lot different without them.br /br /But nothing can compare to seeing these artworks in the flesh, exhibited in the great galleries of the world. To be taken by surprise by a painting's presence - overwhelmed by its power - can be an emotional experience that's hard to put into words.br /br /On a recent visit to Spain, I had the opportunity to see Picasso's masterpiece a href="http://arts.anu.edu.au/polsci/courses/pols1005/2007/Images/Picasso.Guernica2.jpg"Guernica /ain its current (contested) home, the a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/spain/madrid/sights/20915?list=true"Museo Reina Sofia/a in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/spain/madrid/"Madrid/a. Wandering this stunning gallery, I wondered what it'd be like to see this painting I'd studied and read so much about over the years... I should've known.br /br /I'm always amazed when I see Picasso's paintings in the flesh - the energy and life force they emit is intense. Guernica, painted as a protest against the Franco-sanctioned bombing of the Basque town Gernika by Hitler's troops in 1937, is no exception. This huge canvas explodes with the artist's fury; the effect on the viewer is devastating. Its black-and-white colour scheme is grimly powerful, and its myriad details - so much starker when hanging on a wall in front of you - are chilling. Seeing Guernica up so close in all its enormity is like being punched in the face.br /br /Not far away, at the a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/spain/madrid/sights/20148?list=true"Museo del Prado/a, it was Velazquez's luminous, painstaking portraits of 17th-century Spanish aristocracy and their servants that blew me away. There was something unexpectedly poignant about all these posturing royals, long gone and forgotten; while the artist's empathy for the clowns, freaks and lackeys common to the Spanish courts of the day could not be missed. a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Velazquez-Meninas.jpg"emLas Meninas/em/a brought tears to my eyes.br /br /Yet reproduced on the printed page, Velazquez's paintings are more striking for their historic interest and fine composition than for their overwhelming emotional impact.br /br /What work of art has most affected you on your travels? Where did you see it?br /br /em- Suzy Watusi/em

  • Family holidays
    What's the age limit for travelling with your parents? I'd say there isn't one. I've been travelling with mine for 26 years. We've visited more than 100 places in 24 countries and our experiences have been wide ranging: we've shopped in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/france/paris/"Paris/a, road tripped through 15 states of the a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/usa/"USA/a and volunteered for one month at a primary school in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/peru/cuzco/"Cusco/a with a href="http://www.peruschallenge.com/"Peru's Challenge/a - collectively our most incredible travelling experience. Next of the list: a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/china/hong-kong/"Hong Kong/a, quickly followed by a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/brazil/"Brazil/a.br /br /These trips have firmly planted the travel bug in us all, and my brother, two sisters and I travel as much independently as we do all together. But it's the a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelstories/interest/family/"family trips/a I like best.br /br /em- Gab Nancarrow/em

  • Water - who needs it?
    divLamenting the loss of the old slippery slide in the backyard, and pounding your pals with water bombs? Worry not, climate change may have heralded the end of the backyard splashfest, but there's still plenty of summer fun to be had... /divbr /divbr /Take a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/australia/alice-springs/"Alice Springs/a, Central Australia, one of the driest places in the country. Not an obvious spot for a boat race, there being no water and all, but that hasn't stopped the locals. This outback town is famous for its annual dry-river-bed boat race, the a href="http://www.henleyontodd.com.au/"Henley-on-Todd Regatta/a. /divbr /divbr /a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/uploaded_images/boating5-765549.jpg"img alt="" src="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/uploaded_images/boating5-765544.jpg" border="0" //abr /Every August, locals and tourists in the thousands throng to the Alice to construct bottomless boats, jump in, and carry them around a race circuit. It's completely insane and hugely entertaining to watch (with a cold beer in hand, of course). The nautical nuttiness doesn't stop at boat racing – there's a Bath Tub Derby (four people carry a fifth around in a bath tub), a Boogie Board event (a lucky crew member sitting on a board gets towed around the circuit), kayaking, rowing, and a whole of other run-around-in-the-sand-and-make-like-its-wavy fun. /divbr /divbr /And if boating isn't your thing, check out the sand skiiing. Or, further afield, sandboarding (not-snowboarding) on sand dunes in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/united-arab-emirates/dubai/"Dubai/a, a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/south-africa/cape-town/"Cape Town/a or a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/usa/california/"California/a. /divbr /divbr /We can do summer fun without water, we can.br //divbr /divem- Lou Clarke/em/div

  • Lights out for Astroland
    There's going to be a little less sparkle on legendary a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island"Coney Island/a as the lights go out on the landmark 'space-age' a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroland"Astroland/a amusement park A a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZr5YjZpEYF61DYDjYn7KMnJkilQD932AQH00"breakdown in negotiations/a between owner and developer, and the place that wrote the book on a href="http://www.indypendent.org/2005/06/15/gritty-and-trashy-thats-why-i-love-it/"gritty charm/a falls by the wayside.br /'This is a tragic loss for the City of New York and visitors around the world,' said Carol Alber, the co-owner and operator of a href="http://kineticcarnival.blogspot.com/"Astroland/a. It's pretty heart-breaking to see such irreplaceable heritage so easily trashed. Once it's gone, it's gone.br /br /Relive Coney Island glories through these a href="http://www.indiefilmpage.com/coney/index.htm"photo galleries/a. Or post a comment and share your memories of Astroland - your laughter, your tears, your hot-dog puke after a Top Spin.br /br /em- Dee Dee Luxe/em

  • The kindness of strangers
    The Kindness of Strangersbr /br /One of the best things about travel is experiencing random acts of generosity from strangers. It reminds me that for all the scams and troubles travel can present, kindness usually prevails.br /br /I've been reading a href="http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primary/Product/Gift_Ideas/Travel_Literature/PRD_PRD_3214/The+Kindness+of+Strangers.jsp?bmUID=1220413173275"The Kindness of Strangers/a, an anthology of short stories. It led me to reminisce about the many times I've been in a pickle, and have been levered out of the jar by strangers who expect nothing in return.br /br /Don George introduces the stories with these wise words:br /br /'I have learned two things: the first is that when you travel, at some point, you will find yourself in a dire predicament... The second is that someone will miraculously emerge to take care of you – to lend you money, feed you, put you up for the night, lead you where you want to go. Whatever the situation, dramatic or mundane, some stranger will save you.'br /br /Indeed, I have found myself in most of those situations – both dramatic and mundane – and have been saved countless times. br /br /My first, mundane, yet to this day most memorable experience of this kind was in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/finland/helsinki/"Helsinki/a. In an act of teenage foolishness, I arrived in the city with no cash when the banks were closed and the snow heavy. I had a whole day before I was to meet my Helsinki contact.br /br /As I wandered around town with an empty stomach and a heavy backpack, a little old lady approached me at the traffic lights. She wanted to know if I was from New Zealand, and, quite reasonably, what I was doing wandering around in the snow. When I explained my stupidity she took me to a Scouts stall and bought me a big bowl of hot soup. She then took me to the a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/finland/helsinki/sights/35891?list=true"art gallery/a - she was a retired art teacher - and spent hours leading me around explaining Finnish art movements. When we left the warmth of the gallery, she took me for tea at a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/finland/helsinki/where-to-eat/1000352145?list=true"Café Engel/a. In one of Helsinki's oldest buildings we whiled away hours chatting about nothing in particular before she took me to the station to meet my contact.br /br /When we parted ways we exchanged only names; there was no expectation of any recompense, not even a postcard.br /br /I'll never know what she had planned to do with her day, but I will always be grateful she chose to spend it saving me from my own stupidity. She was the first, now one of many, and undoubtedly not the last.br /br /em- Louise Clarke/em

  • Confessions of a travel dummy
    Working at Lonely Planet, you'd think I would have picked up a few hints by now on being a better, more independent and well-adjusted traveller. Ha! That's a good one. I am the ultimate travel dummy, and while some of my colleagues don't think twice about a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/2008/06/go-hard-or-go-home.html"going hard or going home/a, I'm lucky to make it on to a plane without incident.br /br /And so, following my experiences on a recent European trip, I'd like to share my tried-and-tested survival tips for the, ahem, less practically inclined traveller. Because I simply refuse to believe I'm the only one...br /br /1) emIf you're transiting at Singapore's Changi International Airport, be careful what duty-free purchases you make at your airport of departure./embr /I'm talking alcohol, specifically. When I saw Grey Goose vodka selling for $10 less than its usual hefty retail price at Melbourne Airport, I did what anyone in their right mind would do: I bought a bottle and popped it in my hand luggage. Ooh baby, I thought, that'll go down nice and smooth once we get to Madrid.br /Imagine my horror when I was hauled aside by a customs officer at Changi as I queued to board my connecting flight, and asked to open my bag. 'But it's duty free!' I squawked once I realised he was about to confiscate my precious bottle. 'You should have bought it here and got it specially sealed,' he told me brusquely, before dumping it in a rubbish bin. Further protests on my part got me nowhere, and eventually his scowl shut me up altogether.br /br /2) emUpon landing in your destination after a sleepless long-haul flight, it's not wise to hit the town immediately for an all-night bender./embr /Take it from me - my friend and I made this fatal mistake when we got to a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/spain/madrid/"Madrid/a, setting out on a bar-crawl through a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/spain/madrid/entertainment/1000199951?list=true"Malasana/a the evening of our arrival. Many beers, wines, and inordinately strong vodka-and-sodas later, we staggered back to our hotel at about 5.30am (we only know this because we've got the photos to prove it), to spend the entire next day holed up in our room with life-threatening hangovers, seriously considering calling an ambulance. What a criminal waste of precious holiday time! So much for shopping, sight-seeing and soaking up the Spanish sunshine.br /br /3) emAlways pack at least one change of clothes and necessary toiletries in your hand luggage in case the airline loses your suitcase./embr /Guess what? I didn't, and paid the price when a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?messageID=13707468amp;#13707468"Iberia /amanaged to lose my case on the half-hour flight from Madrid to a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/spain/san-sebastian/"San Sebastian/a. It soon became evident that a bunch of vinyl records, some presents, loads of unsent postcards and a bottle of vodka (yes, the contents of my hand luggage) were simply not enough to see me through this kind of experience. Luckily, the friend I was travelling with wears the same size clothing as me, and had brought a bathroom's worth of toiletries with her, or I would've been up the proverbial creek without a paddle.br /Two hotels, countless phone calls, zero apologies and 36 hours down the track, I was finally reunited with my stuff. Travel dummies - don't let this happen to you!br /br /4) emWhen travelling by train between countries, don't dawdle when you disembark./embr /Goes without saying, right? Sure - unless you're a travel dummy. We travelled from a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/france/paris/"Paris/a to a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/netherlands/rotterdam/"Rotterdam/a by train, but when it came time to battle our way down the crowded aisle, retrieve our bags and get off, we just didn't make the two-minute cut-off point. Our hearts sank as the train started pulling out of the station; no matter how hard and desperately we pushed the button, the door refused to open. "Oh god, oh f**k!" my friend wailed repeatedly - before yanking on the emergency stop lever. Still nothing happened. So she yanked it again. Bingo! Not only did the train grind to a shuddering halt, but a posse of train attendants burst into the carriage to see what was going on. And once they figured it out, they made their displeasure very clear. One threatened to fine us 300 euros, while the others couldn't get us off the train quickly enough. Yeah great, welcome to Rotterdam...br /br /Anyone else out there who's game to share their own dumb holiday hints? Please, spill the beans - we travel dummies need all the help we can get!br /br /em- Suzy Watusi/em

  • Where's the world's best pizza?
    I have never been more in love with food than the night I tasted my first slice of pizza from a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7D8123FF936A15750C0A967958260amp;scp=1amp;sq=ray" st="'cse"Ray's/a in Prince St, a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/usa/new-york-city/"New York City/a. It was 3am and the simple, greasy creation - folded in half in true New York style - was poetry. The crust was thin, crunchy and charred to perfection; the mounds of cheese oozed oil. It didn't take long for my passion to become an obsession and soon I was eating it cold for breakfast.br /br /Since pizza is so personal, there will always be debate around which cities or countries produce the best. The battle continues to rage between a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelstories/article/piefight_0107/interest/eatdrink/"Chicago and New York/a, while a href="http://gridskipper.com/65259/fancy-shmancy-pizza-in-la"LA/a and a href="http://gridskipper.com/61774/pizza-in-berlin"Berlin/a are also staking their claim. But for many the a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/italy/"home of pizza/a cannot be beat. So what makes great pizza great?br /br /em- Gab Nancarrow/em

  • The land of luxury nod
    pWhen you've been on the long trek, scamming couches and slumming it in hostels, the very idea of drifting off to sleep with cashmere blankets and a wave of aromatherapy wafting your eyelids shut can seem like the ultimate pipe dream.br /br /You may not be able to afford the full night's rest at the Plaza, but for US$12-14, you can get in a luxurious power nap at a href="http://www.yelonyc.com/"Yelo/a, falling asleep as you count the 500-thread count on the sheets.br /br /In transit and want to blow your last bit of foreign currency on some soft and pillowy shut-eye? Grab one of a href="http://www.yotel.com/"Yotel's pod-like rooms/a for a few hours or treat yourself to a a href="http://www.nemorelax.com/"Nemorelax pod/a, where you can recline in a sound-insulated cocoon and snore wildly, freely, like you've never seen a bunk bed in your life. /ppem- Dee Dee Luxe/em/p

  • Kumari - living goddess
    I've been feeling sorry for a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2545387/Beijing-Olympics-Faking-scandal-over-girl-who-sang-in-opening-ceremony.html"Yang Peiyi/a, the crooked-toothed seven-year-old singer who wasn't allowed to be seen (though her voice was still used) at the Olympic opening ceremony because she wasn't suitably 'flawless in image'.br /But if you think that description's hard to live up to, try these:br /br / -A neck like a conch shellbr / -Eyelashes like a cowbr / -Thighs like a deerbr / -Chest like a lionbr / -Voice soft and clear as a duck'sbr /br /They're just a few of the '32 perfections' a prepubescent Nepali girl needs to possess in order to be recognised as a a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari"Kumari/a, a living goddess who's worshipped until she menstruates - after which she becomes mortal again.br /br /But even goddesses have to go to school, apparently. Nepal's Supreme Court has ruled that the current Kumari, Preeti Shakya, has a right to an a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/21/nepal.religion"education/a instead of being cooped up in a palace. She's going to retire at the end of the year, and Nepal's new secular, Maoist rulers may well decide to scrap the whole system.br /br /I bet the intrigues of her strange temple life are nothing compared to the social dramas and hierarchies she's sure to encounter among ten-year-old schoolgirls.br /br /em- Kate James/em

  • Travel spell
    There's something about being on the road that casts a certain spell. Rules change with location - before you know it you're on the side of the road with one thumb extended.br /br /Next you're stark naked and being beaten with a birch branch by a perfect stranger in a a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/kazakhstan/almaty/sights/1000612293"embanya/em/a in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/kazakhstan/"Kazakhstan/a.br /br /Soon, squatting next to a babouska in a communal toilet in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/uzbekistan/"Uzbekistan/a doesn't seem so confronting after all. Or the butt of a soldier's M16 against your knee as you travel by bus through a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/israel/jerusalem/"Jerusalem/a becomes par for the course. br /br /Isn't it funny how we roll with the punches on the road? And then we come home.br /br /em- Jenni Kauppi/em

  • Packing list - nail it.
    Whenever I'm putting together a packing list (and what an art that is - just ask Thorn Tree stalwart a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=8460"Packing List Geoff/a), just about the first thing on my list is nail scissors, a legacy of my first backpacking trip. I'd just never thought to pack them, I was too cheap to buy them, and my toenails were getting to Chinese Mandarin levels. I'll never forget the ecstasy when, having been lent some clippers by a sympathetic traveller at an open-air restaurant in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/italy/venice/"Venice/a, I scuttled to the bathrooms and set about turning my feet from eagle back to human.br /br /So: rose cream, silk travel sheet, down booties - a href="http://www.goodorient.com/product.php?productid=21447"nail clippers/a. They're the stars in my firmament.br /br /em-Cherry Washington/em

  • Michael Learns to Rock
    I don't take music with me when I travel. You see a lot of white ear buds in dorms and buses these days, but it's not a look I go for. I'm trying to think why... Yes, it's shutting you off from the world, but so is having your head in a book. Everyone's entitled to escape from the world sometimes. No, I think what irks me about it is that it's so not austere: why don't you bring your Wii console and hairdryer while you're at it? (Oh, you have...)br /br /That said, every great journey needs a soundtrack: it's just, having never brought my own, mine have been supplied by chance or inspiration.br /br /On a starry night in a yacht in a harbour of Flores, with the tackle rhythmically clanging against the mast, my British companions and I improvised 'Karma Police', right down to the piano part. On such a still night, our voices would have travelled for miles. I wonder what the Indonesian crew made of it. Probably just an annoyance.br / br /In Vietnam, the tinny canto-pop blaring hour after hour from the bus speakers was about to do my head in. Then a voice-over announced, menacingly, 'Smell li' Teen Spirit!' Waves of relief, followed by puzzlement. Then I had to laugh, because the 'daa-da-dum...chicka-chicka...dum-dum' that I was listening to couldn't have been less like Cobain's lick if it had been played on a plastic ukulele. It kind of summed up Vietnam's take on the West, I thought: either pirated, made safe for public consumption, or both. br /br /If you rely on your hosts to supply the soundtrack, it may well be the last thing you'd ever bring with you. (Case in point: Michael Learns to Rock, Danish soft rock band, China 1997.) But isn't it the more memorable for that?

  • Taste sensation
    There are plenty of nasty culinary experiences to be had. Stories abound with variations on the themes of Moctezuma's revenge and a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/bluelist/index.cfm?fa=main.viewListlist_id=5305"bizarre local specialties/a. Then there are the times a taste will take you into a whole new territory, far removed from your normal points of reference. It happened to me when I first tried a href="http://rollybrook.com/ar-huitlacoche.htm"huitlacoche/a - a mushroom-like delicacy known in English as Mexican truffle, corn fungus, or the even more intriguing corn smut. br / br /A couple of Mexican friends were devouring innocent-looking quesadillas with gusto. I was urged to take a bite, then noticed a black substance oozing from the sides. With my limited Spanish I could only catch the phrases 'found in corn', 'a kind of pest'. Images of corn-dwelling critters stuck around for a while, even after reassurances I was eating a vegetable, but the taste just blew me away. br / br /These infected corn kernels turn to silky, inky-black bubbles when cooked. On the tongue, they release the complex, earthy flavour that enraptures the a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?messageID=14449880"initiated/a. br /br /I'll keep waiting for my next taste sensation. br /br /em- Dolores Welt/em

  • Say cheese
    I'm one of those travellers who always has a camera in hand. I document every journey with a thousand pictures and, while some people argue the travel experience is richer a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/community/entry/to_snap_or_not_to"without a camera in tow/a, I wholeheartedly disagree.br /br /a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=55"I'm not alone./abr /br /I wouldn't consider myself a great photographer, but I'm pretty proud of some of the shots I've taken during my travels. Opportunities for photographic genius abound around the world; the secret is to find a place where it is especially difficult to take a bad photo.br /br /a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/uploaded_images/old_friends_cuba-758327.jpg"img src="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/uploaded_images/old_friends_cuba-758321.jpg" border="0" alt="" //abr /This is one of my favourite pics, three old friends resting against a backdrop of colourful colonial buildings in a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/cuba/trinidad/"Trinidad/a, Cuba.br /br /Check out some of our a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/community/entry/s"Thorn Tree photo competitions/a for more inspiration.br /br /em- Gab Nancarrow/emstrong/strong

  • Can-can the jet lag
    You hobble off a long-haul flight, you've got a few hours to kill before the next cramped-leg of the journey and you're hostage in an airport, feeling sluggish and stale, itching for fresh air, fresh food and an energising stretch. So kudos to Paris airports Roissy Charles de Gaulle and Orly for instituting complimentary a href="http://www.webinfrance.com/summer-france-learn-dance-before-you-fly-804.html"dance lessons at the international terminals/a to stretch your legs and lighten you up. In fact, the French seem to be banishing all the unsavoury aspects of travel by also providing a href="http://www.springwise.com/tourism_travel/light_therapy_for_weary_travel/"free light therapy/a, which mimics sunlight and helps ward off jet lag.br /br /Talk about tripping the light fantastic. Thank you! br /br /em- Dee Dee Luxe/em

  • Great firewall of China
    When I'm sending messages home from an internet cafe in an unfamiliar part of the world, I like to check out what the locals are doing there. In a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/china/"China/a, I saw a lot of people playing complicated multi-user games; they all seemed to be shooting each other. Posters on the walls showed fantasy characters with huge swords and angular haircuts.br /br /But among the gamers, there were a few lonely bloggers. And now it turns out they weren't so lonely after all.br /br /There are, in fact, more than 47 million of them. In spite of the Great Firewall of China, the famous censorship system that prevents people from reading and dispersing information, the Chinese have become the word's most prolific bloggers.br /br /With the world watching a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/china/beijing/"Beijing/a this month, Chinese bloggers are using all kinds of methods to bypass the firewall and get heard - including hosting their sites on foreign servers. br /br /One of the most high-profile Chinese bloggers is Isaac Mao: in a a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/05/blogging.digitalmedia"fascinating interview/a he talks about the whole phenomena, and why he's proud to have 'blogger' on his business card.br /br /em- Kate James/em

  • Road reading
    Long, solitary hours while travelling can make a book your best friend. You get a better understanding of your destination by a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/bluelist/index.cfm?fa=main.viewListlist_id=4435"matching up your location with literature/a.br /br /If you've ever been a struggling artist in Paris, Hemmingway understands. Battled with bureaucracy in the Czech Republic? You can always turn to Kafka for empathy. For all the magic realism you'll ever need on your Latin American journey, Gabriel Garcia Marquez takes you down a different path.br /br /Go for long walks with Paul Auster on the streets of New York. Tap in to a kooky side of modern Japan with Haruki Murakami. And be sure to catch up with JM Coetzee before you head to Africa.br /br /And if you're feeling up-beat and perky before your jaunt to the USSR, take a large dose of Dostoevsky or Gogol before bed.br /br /a href="http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primary/Product/General_Travel/Travel_Literature.jsp?bmUID=1218094581442"Pack that travel mood in your pocket./abr /br /em- Jenni Kauppi/em

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