Top travel tips from Australia’s best known travellers
There’s a handy run of public holidays approaching that will deliver 10 days off for the price of three days’ annual leave — perfect for an Easter getaway. We hit up some travel experts for their tips on making the most of your time off.
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THERE’S a handy run of public holidays approaching that will deliver 10 days off for the price of three days’ annual leave — perfect for an Easter getaway. We hit up some travel experts for their tips on making the most of your time off.
DAVID REYNE
David Reyne is a veteran reporter on Nine’s long-running Getaway program, first appearing in its debut season 27 years ago. Since that time, he’s flown around three million kilometres, visited more than 60 countries and slept in more than 2000 hotel beds.
Favourite destination: Africa. Nobody should have to shuffle off this mortal coil without first having gone on an African safari.
To sit in the back of an open top Land Rover in the middle of a scorched African savanna, desperately trying to calm the bladder while a lion strolls forward, eyeballing you and licking its lips, is to use the word “awesome” the way it was intended.
Most overrated: If one more person tells me that Paris is the greatest city in the world because it’s the most romantic, I’m likely to cough up a vital organ.
Best long-haul tip: Get upgraded.
Most useful item you can pack: A credit card.
Least useful item you have packed: Speedos and swimming goggles. Hotel pools are not designed for lap swimming.
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Best travel story: I was 200kms inside the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland where it was utterly, entirely white. No distinction between the land and the sky.
From somewhere within this blanket of freezing nothingness appeared a howling pack of huskies dragging a sled, my transport to the Ice Hotel.
We scurried down the frozen Torne River until a hunk of sharp edges and curved corners lent a surface for whatever light could squeeze through, to refract from.
Vast hunks of ice sawn from the chilled Torne are formed into a freshly designed, sub zero hotel each year.
It might be minus seven degrees inside but this hotel possesses a rare beauty and remarkable appeal … in a very frosty kind of way.
Once spring sets in, the hotel melts back into the river. It’s best to have checked out by then.
Share your travel hack: Always know how to ask: “Where is the hospital?” in the language of the country you’re visiting.
Must visit destination of 2019: Morocco.
TYSON MAYR
Former Gold Coast real estate agent and I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! survivor Tyson Mayr is better known as The Naked Traveller. In 2009 Tyson threw off his corporate garb and took his first trip overseas. He’s been travelling ever since, documenting his adventures on social media, becoming a travel photography ambassador for Sony and hosting National Geographic’s Only in Oz program, launching later this month.
Favourite destination: South Africa! Safaris, great white shark diving, world-class wineries, beaches with penguins on them.
It’s a traveller’s paradise, rich in local culture and it is so cheap to travel.
Sri Lanka, Japan and Ecuador are also on this list for me.
In Australia, it’s Broome — 10m tides, teal blue water splashing over deep red beaches that fall right on the doorstep of the Kimberleys.
Best long-haul tip: The second you board a flight, set your watch and start living in the time zone you’re travelling to.
Most useful item you can pack: Noise-cancelling headphones, power adaptors (and a power board) and $100USD. USD is the most accepted currency in the world. Having a spare $50 or $100USD can get you out of a lot of sticky situations.
Least useful item you have packed: Just general overpacking. If you don’t wear it at home, don’t convince yourself you will wear it on your holiday.
Best travel story: I never know how to answer that question as I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot of rad things.
But the truth is, my favourite travel memories are always the ones that happen unexpectedly, usually when I am doing something unplanned with a close friend.
Hitchhiking up the coast of Brazil, getting picked up by police, then ending up on a yacht for several days. Those unexpected moments that only travel can give you.
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Worst travel story: Getting robbed at gunpoint in East Africa would definitely be up there.
I am hesitant in sharing this story as I don’t want anyone to be scared of travelling in Africa.
But four men kicked down my hotel room with guns, bats and rope, taking every belonging in the room.
It was a five-minute ordeal that felt like a lifetime.
Must visit destination of 2019: I’m doing a Stan’s motorbike trip with my cousin starting in Kazhakstan & finishing somewhere near Uzbekestan. Also, trekking with the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda.
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THE FRENS
The Fren family — dad Mark, mum Cathy, daughter Victoria and son Jonathon — run a German cafe in Newcastle but have become minor celebs thanks to Nine’s Travel Guides, where everyday Australians are transported to an array of exotic locales and asked to deliver their verdicts.
Favourite destination: Victoria: Israel. There is just something about the Middle East that I love — the food, the culture and the atmosphere is just something different.
Jono: Queenstown, NZ. Only three hours from Sydney and it’s a completely different world, somewhere I’ll keep going back to.
Mark: South Africa. Seeing the animals in their natural environment is amazing.
Most overrated: Victoria: India. It’s way too overpopulated. I don’t understand why people love going there.
Mark: Have to be Japan. We struggled with communication. I was surprised how many times no one could speak English.
Most useful item you can pack: Victoria: Pillow. You can sleep anywhere, anytime.
Jono: iPad or tablet. I always make sure I have some movies downloaded and it comes in very handy for information.
Mark: Portable handheld suitcase weighing device. Brilliant.
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Least useful item you have packed: Victoria: Extra shoes. You end up wearing the same pair all the time.
Jono: The thing I always pack but never use is gym wear. I love to get a workout on holidays but mostly don’t get the time — or spend too much of it at the buffet.
Best travel story: Jono: I only had two days in Washington DC but managed to squeeze in a grand tour, an NFL game, and NBA game and an NHL game.
Cathy: For me, definitely abseiling down Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. It was a real achievement.
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Worst travel story: Getting delayed in Colombo, Sri Lanka for seven hours then missing the connecting flight. After a night in Abu Dhabi, we eventually got on a flight to Sydney but an hour out, there was an emergency landing in Adelaide. After spending a whole day in Adelaide airport, we eventually got home three days later.
Share your travel hack: Victoria: Learn how to speak in English using the accent of the country you are in. Works every time. The locals can always understand you.
Mark: When they announce the doors are closed on the plane, jump up and try to get a spare row of seats for yourself.
Must visit destination of 2019: Victoria: Israel. Don’t be frightened.
Mark: You can’t beat a European river cruise.
SPIDA & SHEREE EVERITT
Former AFL star Spida Everitt and his wife Sheree have been living their dream life travelling the nooks and crannies of Australia and New Zealand for their own long-running TV travel show The Great Australian Doorstep. Its 11th season is now airing on 7TWO.
Favourite destination: Spida: The ultimate in Australian holidays is the great Australian Outback, the red dust, the roaming animals and the local characters — it’s what Australia is all about.
Sheree: the Whitsundays. You can’t beat the crystal clear water, the amazing marine animals and the hospitality of tour operators. It’s heaven on earth.
Most overrated destination: Wave Rock in WA. It’s a natural rock formation shaped like a tall breaking ocean wave. It looks great in some glossy magazines, so we head off on the three hour drive out of Perth. It was a long drive, all day there and back and, boy, what a disappointment. If you’re already driving past then, by all means, drop in but don’t make it a day trip. The best part of Hyden, the town it’s closest to, are the pies in the local shop.
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Window or aisle/driver or passenger: Spida: Definitely a window seat in Exit Row and driver’s seat all the way there and home again. I don’t like being a passenger.
Sheree: Definitely a window seat so I can take pictures and the passenger seat with anyone but Spida. He’s the worst driver.
Most useful item you can pack: A good Thermos. Keeps your coffee warm in the morning and your water cool during the heat of the day. Oh, and wet wipes. You can never have enough of them.
Least useful item you’ve packed: Coat hangers. Clothes don’t need to be ironed when travelling. It’s the trend to look a little wrinkled.
Best travel story: Talking to a lady at a service station, in Alice Springs and she was upset as her husband’s boat trailer had snapped an axel.
He was on the side of the road, 650km one way from Alice, on an unsealed road.
She wasn’t looking forward to the drive all on her own.
It just so happened I was about to be driving that same road so I grabbed the axel from her and drove out to find him.
She said, “How will you know it’s him? There’s no reception out there!”
I said, “I’m tipping he’s the only guy sitting on the side of the road with a boat trailer jacked up.”
I got to him late that evening, had a beer with him and carried on another 130km to my destination. Everyone’s a winner!
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Worst travel story: The airconditioning going in the car in the middle of summer in Mt Isa.
I got quoted $3910 to fix it.
I said no, and suffered another 17 days travelled through the NT in 40-plus degrees heat with no aircon but got it fixed in Broome for $325.
Share your travel hack: Do your research. Constantly check for cheaper prices.
Most hire cars and hotels will let you book without paying, then every few days check to see if prices have dropped.
You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how prices fluctuate a lot.
Must visit destination for 2019: The Great Barrier Reef. You have to see our natural wonders while you can.
PHOEBE LEE
Travel writer and presenter Phoebe Lee and her partner Matt run Little Grey Box, an award-winning travel blog and YouTube channel, which has attracted more than 1.7 million views worldwide.
Favourite destination: We just got back from a trip to Carnarvon Gorge and it reminded us how beautiful Australia is and how important it is to take a step back once in a while and appreciate what’s right in front of you.
Our favourite overseas destination is Japan. It’s such a fun place to visit with a wealth of experiences.
Best long-haul tip: When I know I’m going to need to sleep, I bring a big pillow from home. I can hug it to my chest, rest my chin on it and sleep or nestle into the window if I nabbed a good seat.
The rest of the trip, I stuff the pillow in my suitcase and, best of all, I don’t have to rely on hotel pillows to get a good night’s sleep.
Most useful item you can pack: We always pack a power board.
Least useful item you have packed: Matt’s very savvy but I tend to overthink it. So many times I pack clothes I never wear at home, assuming I’ll magically start wanting to wear them just because I’m in another country.
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Best travel story: On a trip to Morocco, our guide Yousef stopped in the middle of nowhere and asked Matt and I if we wanted to ride on the roof.
Immediately I pictured my mum shaking her head saying, “No!” But how many times do you get the chance to ride on the roof of a Pajero in the middle of nowhere near the Algerian border?
We climbed on top of the pile of spare tyres on the car’s roof and held on tight. Our second guide, Sa’id took the wheel and floored it.
I had one of those moments you sometimes get when you travel, where you feel totally alive and completely free.
Nobody knew where I was or what I was doing.
It was reckless, irresponsible and so much fun. That moment always sticks with me.
Worst travel story: There’s the time I hit up a bad hotel buffet in Turkey and ended up hospitalised and the time a little boy used my leg as a urinal in Indonesia.
There’s the time a hotel in Los Angeles took our booking but didn’t have a room when we arrived so they put us up in Conference Room C for the night and the time in Greece when some locals tried to start a revolution on the overnight ferry.
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Share your travel hack: Be present. Connect with people, ask questions about the history and culture, learn and try new things.
Push yourself out of your comfort zone and experience something that awakens your soul.
If you don’t do that, then all the money-saving, packing hacks and travel tips in the world are useless.
We try to always look for the lesson in each adventure and find what we can take from it that can help make us better people for having visited.
Must visit destination of 2019: For an Australian adventure, we recommend visiting the Capricornia region in Central Queensland.
The whole region has so much to offer and the locals are just lovely.
For something further afield, we both fell in love with Hokkaido on our recent trip.
You can go snowshoeing in deep powder, enjoy traditional matcha green tea and heat up in natural hot springs.
It’s just a beautiful part of the world and the people are very special.
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