It’s a travel writing cliche to say that a hotel or a resort was so wonderful that you didn’t want to leave to see anything else. “I just didn’t want to leave!” I’ve written it myself, though I suspect half the time this is travel writer hyperbole and that the writer really did want to check…
Category: Travel
Beyond Disneyland: My Let’s Travel Mag ‘Anaheim For Adults’ Special
“Anaheim for adults” was the pitch from my editor at Let’s Travel magazine and I was up for the challenge. Yes, everyone knows this is the home of Disneyland, but what else is there to do if you’ve booked a family holiday in Anaheim, California? In my case, I’m an adult who unashamedly still loves…
Sleeping In A Smurf House! Exploring Solscape In Raglan, Waikato
I always loved the Smurfs. I was even such a Smurf-geek as a kid that I’d set my weekday alarm early enough to watch the 6:30am episodes on TV2 before getting ready for school. The pre-pubescent version of myself often thought how cool it would be to have my own human-sized Smurf house. Well, fast-forward 25…
Waikato’s Slice Of Jurassic Park
A couple of weeks ago my wife and I took up an invitation to return to a guesthouse that sits on the edge of a forest some people say is the healthiest in all of New Zealand. Maungatautari is the name of a mountain in Waikato that most North Islanders would’ve driven past without probably…
Why To Make Penang Your Next Tropical Island Holiday – My NZ Herald Article + Top 60 Photos
Last month the New Zealand Herald published my article about why Penang in Malaysia should be on your radar if you’re after a holiday on tropical island that’s a little different from all the rest. There are plenty of warm weather islands in the world with beautiful scenery and nice resorts to de-stress yourself, but there…
Commodores Bassist Ronald LaPread On Marching With Martin Luther King – My NZ Herald Article
Last week the New Zealand Herald published my article about the 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Junior. Click here to link to the piece that details my 2016 visit to the site of King’s assassination, the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. If you’re planning a trip to the States and Memphis is somehow missing…
A Honeymoon In The Jungles Of Malaysian Borneo – My Top 40 Photos From Sabah’s Famed Kinabatangan Region
The precious jungles of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo are the stuff of legend for good reason. Regarded by some scientists as the single most biodiverse place on the planet, one 10-square kilometre chunk of rainforest in Sabah has more flora and fauna than all of Europe and North America combined. Mind blowing. In looking for…
Why We Chose The Hotel Grand Windsor For Our Wedding Night & Photos – My Concrete Playground Review
I’ve always been drawn to historic hotels, even if their glory days are behind them. Whether it’s a crumbling palace in India or a slightly faded ski lodge in the States, old hotels have so many stories to tell. But what about a historic building that originally wasn’t a hotel? Not only that, but when it…
Road Tripping Through South India Part 3: Kerala Backwaters To Trivandrum Top 60 Photos
The third and final chapter in my trilogy of Let’s Travel magazine articles about road-tripping (and boating and training) through the south of India is now out and in the current issue. I travelled with World Journeys and here’s a little taster of the article: It felt like Jurassic Park. Or probably more specifically, Jurassic…
Remember The Tired Old Copthorne In Downtown Auckland? It’s Now The Very Funky, Staycation-Worthy M Social
For years I’d walk past the Copthorne Hotel on the waterfront in downtown Auckland and think, “they either need to knock that down or spend millions doing it up”. It was a stunning location and for too long a tired, drab hotel in what seemed an unimaginative piece of 1970s architecture. Then one day I…
E-Biking The Waikato River Trails – My NZ Herald Article + Top 20 Photos
A couple of weeks ago the New Zealand Herald published my article about e-biking the new Waikato River Trails. Click here to link to the article to find out why riding these trails was so much fun and why I think Waikato is one of the most underrated regions in New Zealand. Also read about a…
Where To Stay In Kuala Lumpur? Why The Majestic Hotel Is Such An Authentic Step Back In Time
A few months ago a friend of mine asked which hotel I’d recommend for her to stay at while in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Given this is the city of my childhood and a place that still somehow keeps pulling me back every couple of years, I was an obvious person to ask. And yet I…
