“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

Cherry Blossoms and Oxycontin. Washington D.C

Posted on March 31, 2013 by The Travelling Assassin

Washington DC is one city I wouldn’t recommend a manic depressive hang out in for several reasons;

1. Washington is full of sites dedicated to those who’ve been enslaved, killed, or died in genocide; victims of racism; or leaders who were shot, tortured, murdered or killed.

2. The traffic is horrific enough to make you want to blow your head off with a semi automatic.

3. The people are obsessed with running and are über fit and just as passionate about things that make you dream about sitting in traffic with that semi automatic

4. If a site is not dedicated to slavery or mass killings, it’s dedicated to espionage or an actual murder site; you will see a van with a destroyed bloodied foetus with ‘murder’ written on it – a perfect backdrop for lunch next to the Hot Dog stand – everyone will have something to say, or the site is Congress where human liberties are aborted daily and no one is saying anything.

But if you love a bit of history, this hipster infused town is the place to be. Here are my top 6 recommendations to check out. I would recommend (depending on your level of historical/museum interest) 2-3 days in Washington D.C to be able to see most of the things you will have on your list.

The International Spy Museum – James Bond’s Aston Martin from Goldfinger was enough to peak my attention. Note the line on Saturday was a good 2 hour wait. Get there earlier or do this first on weekends. Entry is around $19.

Georgetown – This suburb is a shoppers delight with Banana Republic, Gap, Jonathan Adler, antiques and boutiques, salons and one of my favourites: Serendpity3. Shops in this historical section of Washington DC are spread across various streets in this historic neighbourhood and lead down to the water’s edge.

United States Botanical Garden – This garden is a tranquil and beautiful escape from the squares of concrete jungle that is Washington DC

Crime Museum – Forensic workshops, law enforcement, and history of crime.

The National Zoo – I add this one because most cities will charge you $25+ entrance fees but this zoo is free as part of the Smithsonian museum. All Smithsonian museums are free. (Take the free Green Trolley from The Hilton to get there, this trolley will take you to the National Cathedral as well)

The Mayflower Renaissance Hotel – an interesting stop either for lunch or if you are cashed up enough, to stay. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover used to lunch here daily at the Town & Country, Monica Lewinsky had her tryst with President Clinton, President Harry Truman stayed here while renovations happened in the Whitehouse, Hilary Clinton introduced Barack Obama here in 2008 to her Democratic Party and Eliot Spitzer was caught with prostitutes here which led to his resignation.

What NOT to do:

The traffic in Washington is pretty horrific. I do often use guided tours and did so in Washington DC. Rather than being convenient and informative, it was a complete waste of money ($45) The traffic was so bad (and the driver informed me it is always like this on a Saturday) I ended up spending my whole day waiting on buses and in traffic. I recommend to wait until you get there to decide to do this tour, these hop on hop off buses are busy and are not as well organised as they are in places like London. The Old Town Trolley past me far more often than the company I went with and they are from what I understand, the only hop on hop off in Washington with personalised commentary. The city has its own buses that are cheap. Perhaps use those and remember they need exact change. Just a warning!

University and a Funeral Home

Posted on February 14, 2013 by The Travelling Assassin

I just moved into an old funeral home; unbeknownst to me before signing the lease, my bedroom would be directly above a 20-year-old crematorium and embalming room. Nevertheless, I don’t have time to crack open a bottle of Tequila, grab a tape recorder and get all up in John Edward’s business as an extra curricular activity. I’m now an exchange student at an US College. As if living out a season of Six Feet Under by night wasn’t bad enough, by day I’m surrounded by bleached blonde, faked tanned, Victoria Secret candy pink velour track suit wearing, social media obsessed young adults.

American college is far from the American Pie movie I thought it would be; with guys running around in their hyper sexual but stoned state trying to finger bang everything that moves. The frat guys are less Ryan Gosling meets steroids, and more Zach Galifianakis looking for weed. American cinema has been lying to me for years it seems. The slither of hope are the mocha skinned athletes strutting around campus with a chemistry book under their left arm and Lil Wayne in their ears. Luckily, as part of the dietetics team training the campus athletes on performance strategies, my view on campus is never that bad.

Although all my grades are 100% (somehow) I’m sure they’ll slip by 92% once I do my exams and I’ll be unceremoniously kicking myself all the way to Washington D.C and Baltimore next month.

The Relationship Agreement

Posted on February 14, 2013 by The Travelling Assassin

Whatever your relationship agreement states, I hope it provides you with a reason to smile and laugh, love and be loved. I hope it’s the reason you get out of bed and look forward to the rest of your days, weeks, months and years.

Life is too short if doesn’t.

Happy Valentines Day!

As Your Ghost Takes Flight: Selinsgrove, PA

Posted on January 25, 2013 by The Travelling Assassin

What is there to do in the rural Pennsylvanian town of Selinsgrove? According to the Chamber of Commerce’s website, “spend time in the local post office.” Er, no thanks. Or perhaps “walk along the river to launch a boat.” Trying to find exciting things to do in Selinsgrove is enough to make you want to launch yourself into the river. I assume explaining your way out of an accidental suicidal attempt while hyperventilating is not an appropriate suggestion for something to do.

While Selinsgrove may lack excitement or a long list of tourist attractions, you will quickly find it’s a quintessential small American town. So American in fact, as I drove into town I either had a small stroke from my McChicken or I heard a faint Bruce Springsteen riff in my head. Only a short few minutes after arriving, I found myself walking some guys dog, talking with little kids on the side-walk and already visiting two-thirds of the entire town. I visited Selinsgrove only recently – in the middle of winter, but I have a sneaking suspicion the town is quite beautiful in the fall.

In my hotel room I eagerly googled things to do. A website popped up with only one suggestion: see a movie at the local cinema. Even though watching a delicious looking Ryan Gosling firing a gun in snug pants is a pretty good afternoon, I couldn’t get to the Cinema – Selinsgrove has no cab service or in town bus routes. You can catch a bus to Manhattan but you can’t get 3 miles up the road. Hours later when I called Paul’s Cab Service from nearby Sunbury, I spent the entire journey trying to work out what a “crick” was and why the driver kept recommending it. Confused, I spent a good 20 minutes in Wal-Mart trying to find one. (It’s a central PA dialect thing – it’s a creek, apparently. Alas, for those who think Wal-Mart sells everything – they don’t sell cricks).

Watching the kids walk home from school I can almost sense their boredom while immediately worrying about them in high school; there’s not much to do other than have a house party, get drunk, go on a dates and try to inconspicuously shag everything that moves without the entire town finding out. It’s an assumption; this is the same town with multiple Lutheran and Methodist churches, is surrounded by hymenoplasty surgeons and is the proud owner of one central masonic lodge. Although there are just under 5500 people in Selinsgrove there is an excessive 9 churches and 6 cemeteries.* (That’s one hyper organised afterlife, it’s a shame they couldn’t be that organised about the 3 lots of separate shopping centres. Why aren’t Monroe Marketplace and the Susquehanna Valley Mall one?)

Selingrove has enabled me to understand certain people I know a lot better. Selinsgrove is a small town with a strong sense of community and morals, whereas I grew up in a city more than 127 times the size (literally) and was far less sheltered and grounded. I’ve never spent any significant time in a small town, and I now I have visited Selinsgrove I can see I’m quite brash and unpredictable.

After a brief tour of Wal-Mart, a lunch at Emma’s Food For Life, a drink at BJ’s Steak and Ribs, a walk through downtown and eating half a cow for dinner at A Taste of Philly, I walked along the freezing crick and then headed back to the hotel to lay in a hot bath for almost an hour. Not only was I going to university the next day in a foreign country, I have to redesign this site, my friends site, a new site, I have to sit 16 exams in the next 3 months, as well as my university course work, graduate in May and work out my visa situation all by then as well. I also realised that despite doing everything humanly possible to show someone I care about them, they don’t care about me at all. To me, there isn’t much more a person can do beyond travel thousands of miles just to see someone, and to care unconditionally but sometimes it’s not enough. In those moments a shadow of darkness fills the air when you realise, what I have done is enough – more than enough actually.

So I packed up and said goodbye to the little slice of America and moved a hundred miles up the road to somewhere just as rural, but brutally colder to test out my ability to live in the same spot for four months. Maybe I will return to see Selinsgrove in the fall.

Have you been to Selinsgrove? What did you think?

* According to Wikipedia

Serendipity and New York City.

Posted on January 22, 2013 by The Travelling Assassin

After flying 9 hours from Sydney to Honolulu and then another 9 hours from Honolulu to New York City, I am finally relaxing in Chelsea, Manhattan. (The flights were torturous but I saved almost $800 by flying with two airlines with a stopover) From a sweltering Australian summer evening to a freezing New York morning, I am popping antibiotics like no ones business.*

After dropping off my suitcase in my Chelsea rental apartment, I walked to Broadway – very slowly, diverting past “Carrie’s” house from SATC and the “House of Death” before a blissful peppermint mocha and cannoli from Rocco’s. After shopping in H&M for an hour and chatting up a very cute guy at Converse on Broadway, I strolled (OK, hiked it was a bloody long way) through the luminous and chaotic Times Square, zigzagging between Eighth, Seventh and Sixth Avenues. I then walked across to Sixtieth Street between Second and Third Avenue and fell in love once more with Serendipity3.

Serendpity3 (above) is a tiny restaurant Andy Warhol once proclaimed was his favourite sweet shop. The restaurant, named after the art of finding the pleasantly unexpected by chance or fate, is like walking into a small and exclusive fantasy in the same vein of Alice in Wonderland. The wait time for a lunch table was 1.5 hours; luckily (serendipitously?) I walked in and was seated immediately. Ordering the french toast with fruit followed by the infamous frozen hot chocolate (to go) while enjoying the visual eclectic design, all of my senses were on cloud nine. The only complaint is that the place is always so full and busy, you wish it would chill out. Popular with celebrities and even more popular with locals, it was featured in the movie Serendipity. (I’m a sucker, it’s one of my favourite movies ever) If I was to ever elope, I might think about removing the chairs and tables and doing it here. Divine.

After Serendipity3, I stopped in at Dylan’s Candy Bar on the corner of 60th and 3rd – owned by Ralph Lauren’s daughter, and then on to Central Park to sit and relax, watch people walk by hand in hand, others learn to ice skate, some to break dance, others to read and one girl who sat with a sign that said, “Need to talk, I may not have the answers but I will listen.” A quick stroll through Strawberries Fields and listening to John Lennon on my iPod, the day was perfect.

Walking home in the chilly NYC winter back through Times Square, and on to Whole Foods for some hot split pea soup, I realised how lucky I am to visit this place and what a marvelous place it would be to live in. I have always loved New York, but it doesn’t have the black noir feel LA has. There is something slightly dirtier or more seedy about LA and the history it was built on, but NYC is always the hipsters haven and dare I say, I was in heaven.

Have you been to Serendipity3? What’s your favourite place in NYC?

*Not true, I have been through one round, do not take antibiotics unless you have too. Your body can become immune to them quite quickly.

Five Iconic Sydney Beaches

Posted on January 22, 2013 by The Travelling Assassin

Summer has well and truly arrived in Australia with temperatures reaching a record breaking 50 degrees (126!). As the temperature rises, girls walk around with bikini’s so small side boob becomes a terrible fashionable accessory, and the men wear short shorts, some of which are so high I could quite easily perform a visual testicular health screening. One Saturday sitting just shy of 36, I thought a visit to Sydney’s most famous beaches was in order after a long long Scottish winter, so with guest writer David, here is the low down of the most iconic beaches in Sydney.

Bondi

Bondi, pronounced Bond-eye, is quite easily one of Australia’s most famous beaches – it’s absurdly crowded. On the bright side, it’s a great beach to get swept out in a rip, pick up a backpacker, buy over priced cafe food, swim unwillingly with a shark or fry the top few layers of your skin in the Australian sun (aka a tan). If I haven’t talked you out of it, Bondi is located in the Eastern Suburbs about 8 km from the Sydney CBD. It’s the location of Bondi Rescue, a crap Australian documentary style TV programme centred around young sweaty buff things saving tourists who fail epically at swimming in strong currents.

Bondi is in one of the most affluent areas of Sydney earning the beach a reputation of being slightly pretentious. People go to Bondi to be seen and parade around half naked (after cramming in 500 sit-ups and posing for the obligatory bathroom selfies and updating their FB status to “Bondi babes look out for the gun show cuming ur way lmao!!”) but the beach is so busy you become invisible, unless you become an object of some perv’s desires.

Bondi is a good beach to go to if you are in Australia and want some action. It’s tourist central, it’s in a gorgeous area and still despite everything I have said (the truth) it still has a good reputation for being a great beach to hang out and is well guarded by life savers. Tip: If you visit in October/ early September, the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition sees the coastal walk from Bondi to Tamarama littered with sculptures of all shapes and sizes.

Coogee

Coogee Beach is renowned for being a good swimming beach, and the suburb of Coogee itself is particularly popular for tourists living in Sydney, especially backpackers. The beach gets extremely busy on Christmas, Boxing and New Years Day with an informal gathering of backpackers celebrating time away from home. Coogee is easily accessible by city buses, and is the start of a coastal walk that winds all the way up to Bondi, passing by Clovelly, Bronte and Tamarama along the way. The walk is 6 kilometres in distance, so setting aside two hours is suggested. Take a bottle of water, a camera, sunscreen and an iPod just in case the 6km with your friend of family is just too much. (It usually is, right? After 2km you try to “accidentally” lose them)

Manly

Located to the north of Sydney, a trip to Manly is well worth it for the ferry ride alone. The Manly Ferry takes about half an hour from Circular Quay and is effectively a cheap harbour cruise, passing by the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House before crossing Sydney Heads, the entrance to Sydney Harbour.

A pedestrian walkway – known as The Corso – links Manly Wharf to Manly Beach (about 500 metres) and provides shopping and cafes by day. At night The Corso doesn’t have a great reputation, known for alcohol-fuelled fights and violence. The introduction of a lockout by pubs and clubs a few years ago has gone some way to improving this image though.

Maroubra

Also based in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs to the south of Bondi and Coogee, Maroubra Beach is roughly 1km long. A number of Australia’s surfers are from Maroubra, as the hometown of the Bra Boys whose documentary of the same name looks at the true-life struggle of local surfers Sunny, Koby, Jai and Dakota Abberton. From a broader perspective, the documentary explores the “international reputation for hard partying and rough justice” held by the Bra Boys, a Maroubra Beach gang founded to protect local youth from other gangs. It’s slightly rougher than some of the other beaches mentioned and the surfing crowd can be notoriously possessive. The thing to watch though are the waves are more dangerous in this area than Bondi.

Balmoral

To the north of the Harbour Bridge, Balmoral is a sheltered beach with fine white sand. A wide esplanade runs along the length of the beach with old Moreton Bay figs planted along one side and the beach the other side. The Balmoral Baths provide a netted area for swimming. Watch for the notorious parking inspectors who are known to be ruthless. Notable events held at Balmoral Beach include Bard on the Beach, an outdoor performance of Shakespeare, and the Balmoral Burn, a fun run up the super-steep Awaba Street held by the Humpty Dumpty Foundation.

What’s your favourite Sydney beach?

*Guest Writer was David Wright. David is a Sydney local and works for Travel Insurance Cover

2013: Inspired

Posted on December 31, 2012 by The Travelling Assassin

In 2012, I fell in love with Rome after visiting the Colosseum, Pantheon, and the Vatican; soaked up the Ouzo infused coffee and hazelnut chocolate Italians adore. I moved to a remote Scottish Island I didn’t know existed and explored an ancient castle. I moved to London, and rekindled my love of everything British by lining the streets for the Para-Olympic games, then touring the places I didn’t have time to last visit; St Paul’s Cathedral, the British Museum, Postman’s Park and Westminster. I soaked up as much of Glasgow as I could on two long weekends, and smaller Scottish sea-side towns. I travelled across Scotland, England, the US and Italy via train. I spent a month touring some of my favourite places in the US starting in Honolulu, then New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Mackinac Island, Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. I did a quick return trip to Australia, and I am on my way to the East Coast once again to live.

My goals this year are bigger than ever. I know what I want and I have more direction. In one word 2013 will be inspired. The biggest goal on my list is to find a home; as a metaphor, a person or a literal interpretation – something that will ground me for a while and bring me back to earth after spending years in the sky.

I hope 2013 is inspiring for you as well!

What is your biggest goal for 2013?

My tricks to save $$ on plane tickets – Pt 2: Search Engines (Domestic)

Posted on December 28, 2012 by The Travelling Assassin

Here’s a list of things I do to find the cheapest flights domestically. I never wonder if I have found the cheapest fare, I am always confident I found an airfare so cheap I can’t believe my luck, or I did so much research I know I got a damn good price. Being a Type A control freak has its advantages but it also helps to be flexible, book around 2 months in advance (more for international flights) and use low fare calendars and airline’s email subscriptions. Supposedly, Wednesday is the cheapest day of the week to fly, if you’re über flexible.

When I worked in the travel industry, I’d ask customers, “Where would you like to go?” and half of them had no idea, vaguely muttering, “somewhere tropical, please.” After a two-hour conversation to narrow it down to the northern or southern hemisphere, I’d find out Mr X hates sand and Mrs X hives tend to breakout in the humidity. They’d end up on a skiing trip to New Zealand. You don’t need to know everything about your trip but at least have some idea about your destination, your dates and flexibility, and the price you feel comfortable with per person.

Australia: One of the most expensive and time-consuming long haul flights in the world

1. Step One

Go to a flight search engine you trust and search for your specified route. Write down the details of the top two or three flights that suit your needs – price, airline, date, time and stop overs.

I’ll be using the route Denver to Chicago and the flight search engine onetravel. A “special” was advertised at $79, and Spirit Airlines had a flight being advertised for $94.80.

2. Step Two:

Go directly to the airlines featured on the search engine you liked. In this case, I went to Spirit Air and found the same $94 flight for only $78. At Frontier Airlines, I found the above $134 flight for $62.90. If you are flexible, make sure you check out the ‘low fares’ calendar most airlines make available. I like Southwest’s as it’s simple – the lowest priced flight everyday for the month is readily available and you could save $70 just by going one day later.

3. Step Three (This is usually my first step but I was a travel agent!)

Look at the airlines who use your destination as a hub. (Read my blog entry on airline hubs) My route is Denver to Chicago, so I would try American Airlines and Southwest. Southwest was the cheapest of the two at $64. The cheapest direct flights so far from Denver to Chicago are from Frontier Airlines at $62.90 followed by Southwest at $64.

4. Step Four

People have their preferences; some airlines have better service, wider seats, frequent flyer miles, they would like to redeem. This is the last step I use to make sure my favourite airlines are not cheaper if I haven’t seen them in the process above. I normally do a quick search of one or two more airlines just to make sure before I book. I tried Alaska $360, American $286, and Delta $165, so I know I am on to a good deal with Southwest and Frontier at the $65 mark. The Frontier Airlines flight is the cheapest by few dollars but I’m not going to buy it.

5. Step Five

Before you book, just make sure there are no hidden costs. This is the reason I would book Southwest over Frontier and it will save me $40+. The reason I am not buying the Frontier ticket is because I’ll be charged for checked in baggage, in-flight entertainment, food/drink on board and to choose my seat. That’s almost an extra $40 in fees without food or drink.

The $62.90 flight just increased to $102.90. The Southwest flight because I get complimentary 2 pieces of checked luggage and a carry on, and they offer complimentary snacks and non alcoholic beverages. Bottom line: The $64 Southwest flight will stay $64 when I go to buy the ticket.

How much did I save?

The most expensive flight on the search engine was $371, the cheapest one I found on my own was $64, saving a potential $307. Spirit Air was $94.80 on onetravel and $78 direct on the airlines webpage, saving $16.80 on this ticket

Frontier Airlines was $134 on onetravel and $62.90 directly on Frontier’s webpage, saving $71.10 on this ticket

At the most I saved $307, at the lower end I saved around $38 – the difference between the Frontier flight and Southwest.

Here are some cool flight search engines:

Fare Geek, Webjet, Hipmunk, Skyscanner, iFly, Jetabroad, Adioso, Dohop, One Travel, Best Flights, Cheap Flights, Zuji, eDreams, Airfares Flights

How do you search for your flights to make sure you get the best deal?

My tricks to save $$ on plane tickets – Pt 1: Hubs.

Posted on December 28, 2012 by The Travelling Assassin

No airline’s motto is ‘it’s our job to piss you off on the ground and in the air’ but they give it a good go. In order to find the best deals, it helps to understand the basics behind airline operations.

PART 1: AIRLINE HUBS

A bird’s eye view: The scene from my plane seat

All airlines have a main hub(s). A hub is basically an airport an airline uses to transfer passengers to another plane to reach their destination. Usually, passengers are flown to a hub because the airline does not offer a direct flight from your desired Point A to Point B.

Knowing main hub(s) can decide which airline will be the fastest and most direct, saving you money on overnight accommodation and lengthy stop overs.

An example

You want to travel from Los Angeles to Sydney – you’ve never been so you don’t know much about your options. You’ve heard of Qantas but there are sales available on Hawaiian Airlines which are $100 cheaper.

If you know some basic info about Hawaiian Airlines, you’d know their main hub is Honolulu International Airport. Hawaiian Airlines doesn’t offer direct flights from LA to Sydney either. If you acted on impulse and brought the Hawaiian Airline ticket based solely on it being $100 cheaper you’d end up paying more – in more ways than one. This ticket would fly you from LA to Honolulu – where you would stay overnight most times due to connection times – then Honolulu to Sydney the next day. The return leg would be Sydney to Honolulu for a stop over and then on to LA.

If you have a basic understanding of airlines and hubs, you would consider Virgin Australia or Qantas instead. Why? Both Virgin and Qantas have their main hub in Sydney and fly this route direct. This would save you the overnight accommodation fee on the Hawaiian Airline flight, return airport transfers in Honolulu and the loss of 24 hours. The $100 you ‘saved’ on the ticket ended up costing you a lot more.

Waiting in Tokyo…

How a similar hub situation can also save you money if you have time on your hands

I flew from Chicago to Sydney with Japan Airlines whose main hub is Tokyo. So, I was flown from Chicago to Tokyo. I then enjoyed a delightfully quick 7 hour layer over until I boarded a plane to Sydney. I flew half way around the world but for my patience and lack of anything better to do, I saved almost $400 compared to the nearest flight I could find. If you think 17 hours on 2 planes and a 7 hour stop over is worth saving $400 (one way) then re-routing in hubs may just be for you.

2 x One Ways

Look online at the ticket you are thinking of buying. If the airline is going to fly you to a hub to transfer you on to another plane and its a pretty hefty lay over, try this;

Find out who uses the transfer hub as a main hub and compare the difference in switching airlines altogether in 2 separate one way tickets. The disadvantage is having to check in again and possibly a baggage fees/and different luggage limits depending on which airline you want to fly. Sometimes, a change of plane at a hub even if you fly with the same airline as a connection requires you to collect baggage and check in again anyway so always check. If you do this option make sure you give yourself enough time to get off the plane and check in for the next plane.

TIP: One way flights are 85% of the price of a return trip. If you can afford it and know you will use it (You can change the return date for a fee most of the time) you can often get a return flight for the same price as a one way.

Flying over Sydney

Try to fly the airline that frequents your desired route directly.

International example:

If I wanted to fly from NYC to Belfast, my first stop would be Aerlingus. They are pretty cheap if you book in advance, and are based in Ireland. I asked a friend who which airline they would start with – she said British Airways. (BA fly everywhere and they are a UK based company, she said) So, I searched for NYC to Belfast for Jan 16, 2013 for both BA/ American and Aerlingus.

BA: Your itinerary would be New York to London to Belfast and would take anywhere from 10 to 21 hours to complete including layover. The price is roughly $1700 for a one way.

Aerlingus: This flight would be direct to Dublin from NYC for $489 one way and for almost 9 hours. You can then get a bus from Dublin airport to downtown Belfast for 10 euros ($17) or a train for $52 and it takes only an hour. This in total will cost about $517 (bus and taxes included)

The difference is over $1100. You just gotta know where to look and don’t buy the first “decent” looking flight you see. Researching can save you hundreds. This means going to airlines websites directly as well as using flight search engines.

Domestic US example:

If you want to fly NYC to Denver, your first point of call is Frontier Airlines or United to compare prices – both airlines’ main hub is Denver. This means they will more than likely fly directly into Denver from NYC. To put this to the test I searched for a flight from NYC to Denver for January 16, 2013 (Wednesday). I compared Jet Blue (a non Denver hub) to United (a Denver hub). JetBlue’s cheapest flight is $185. United was $118.

Save money in the USA: Check out Southwest directly first as they do not advertise on flight search engines so you could be missing a deal.

While Southwest is known for kicking up a storm for overweight people taking up two seats (but doing nothing about a skinny screaming child damaging your hearing long-term) they are pretty cheap and only advertise on their own website. I tested the above NYC to Denver flight route for the same day and it was….$88!

From my experience working your hubs can save your hundreds but not everyone has the time or patience to do a tonne of research or switch flights. Search engines can offer good deals as airlines try to sell their seats cheap to fill the plane, but don’t forget these search engines aren’t working for free so be careful and always double check a cheap search engine flight with the airline’s website directly to see you savings!

Do you consider airport hubs when you book online and trying to get the best price/quickest route?

An Engaging Christmas..

Posted on December 25, 2012 by The Travelling Assassin

In 100 degree weather with prawns, fresh salads, mangoes, cherries, peaches, fresh ham, pork and Pavlova spread out on table by the lake or ocean; flies buzzing around, every one drinking a cold beer, the air smelling like BBQ smoke and coconut oil wrapped in a cool ocean sea salt breeze – It has to be Christmas time!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas no matter where in the world you are. This is the time of year I start to contemplate the year that has passed and what I would like to happen in the new year.

In 2012, most of my friends became engaged, continued on in long-term relationships, contributed to the world’s population or bought a house. I, however, continued to travel the world and did none of the above. I don’t know if it’s just me, but marriage seems easy to most people, and I suspect, a natural thing. It never has been for me. So, I was surprised when a friend’s boyfriend called me for advice about proposing to my friend. Awkward much.

I told him what I believe: There is only one thing a person can do beyond love you, and that’s to share their one and only life here on earth with you – every day, all day, year in, year out. If a person makes you laugh, makes the hard things seem simple, makes you happy, is the reason you get up in the morning and go home every night and is your best friend, I can’t think of a better person to share your life with. If you marry your best friend you can hang out forever.

To everyone who reads this little website, I hope you had an amazing christmas, whether you were with your best friend, trying to find one or are happy on your own.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

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“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien