mark wyld 
Willow, our daughter, bounded into the lounge room one evening announcing that when she finished high school she wanted to move overseas and be an aupair. Bec and I looked at each other, thinking this was just another idea Willow had devised. It started with Italy being her preferred destination, but 12 months later we … Read more
The traveller vs. tourist debate is always raised on social media. This so-called debate only ever appears on Facebook and Instagram, where viral travel quotes and graphics constantly compare the two types of travel against each other. These posts typically portray travellers as adventurous people getting off the beaten track and immersing themselves in culture. … Read more
Every Monday night, I sit in my shed in Maffra, Australia, and have a chat with my friend who’s in his apartment in Munich, Germany – 16,268 kilometers away. An old friend of mine, Anders Jensen from Munich, reached out and asked me if I would be interested in starting a podcast with him. I … Read more
In 2023, airlines collected over 181 billion dollars in extra fees from all us flyers. A large part of those fees came from having to pay for seat selection. These extra fees have pushed some families to take the change and not book seats to sit together. The online war about giving up your allocated … Read more
The initial impression is what can separate your choice of a hotel or an Airbnb straight away. You arrive at your accommodation after a long day of travel. At a hotel, there’s a smiling concierge, a well-lit lobby and someone handing you a key card. At an Airbnb, you can be standing in a dark … Read more
By my last count, we’ve flown with over 36 different airlines on 100-plus flights over the years. As I write this, I’m sitting aboard a Xiamen Air 787 Dreamliner somewhere between Melbourne and Xiamen, China. Travelling by aeroplane still amazes me. The idea that you can board a plane on one side of the world … Read more
We recently flew from Australia to China and returned with two different airlines — Xiamen Airlines one way and Air China the other. Xiamen Airlines tickets are typically cheaper than Air China by up to 30%, so the question was whether Air China’s service was worth the extra cost. Here’s what we found. Xiamen Airlines … Read more
Beijing is a city of 25 million people. A population that size comes with traffic and lots of it. If you’ve ever been stuck in Bali traffic, it has a similar feel to it. Getting around Beijing as a tourist is genuinely one of the harder parts of visiting — and when Bec and I … Read more
If you’re heading to China you need to sort out a VPN before you leave home. Not when you get there. Before you leave. Because once you land, the Great Firewall of China blocks pretty much everything you rely on — Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp. All of it. Gone. We’d been to China before … Read more
For as long as i can remember, travel has made me nervous and excited in equal amounts. There is something to be said about the comfort of familiarity — knowing your surroundings, knowing what to expect from your day, knowing where everything is. Travel takes all of that away and replaces it with the unknown. … Read more