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Justine Costigan

Justine Costigan

Contributor

Justine Costigan is a Melbourne writer.

Up on deck.

This Aussie ‘space-ship’ is the definition of smooth sailing

Solid, reliable, service-oriented and all-inclusive, the Scenic Pearl delivers.

  • Justine Costigan
The higher ground – Marksburg Castle, above the Rhine.

It looks like a Disney fairytale, but life in this castle was anything but

Living in a castle may be the Disney dream, but castle life was less like Sleeping Beauty and more like an extreme reality show.

  • Justine Costigan
Strasbourg’s canal wasn’t always so sparkling.

It may be pretty, but this European city has a dark past

Strasbourg may look like a postcard, but a walking tour through its centre brings its gritty history to life.

  • Justine Costigan
Blue beauty… the Moselle River.

On a river cruise, I couldn’t wait to switch from sailing to cycling

Scenic Pearl may be a river vessel, but it has all the gear you need for a two-wheeled jaunt along Europe’s most ravishing waterways and wine country trails.

  • Justine Costigan
Hong Kong’s city lights out the window at the YWCA’s Garden View Hotel.

In the world’s second-most expensive city, this hotel is a bargain

In a place filled with millionaires, finding an affordable, central hotel is hard. This one, for less than $120 a night, feels like hitting the jackpot.

  • Justine Costigan
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Shanghai’s Gucheng Park.

How a noisy, polluted city of 30 million cleaned up its act

In the heart of Shanghai there’s none of the noise, pollution and general intensity you’d expect in a city this size.

  • Justine Costigan
High-speed train at the platform of Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station.

Noisy and unsophisticated, but this Chinese bullet train beats flying

No one has their ear buds in, so there’s a cacophony of children’s video games, social media videos and loud conversation in the carriage.

  • Justine Costigan
Winter getaway in Bright.

You don’t have to ski to love winter in the Victorian alps

The simple joys of a winter getaway never get old.

  • Justine Costigan
Saorge is known as the French Tibet.

The beautiful village known as ‘French Tibet’ is more like Nimbin

It’s early and not much is open, but somewhere in this tiny medieval village, someone is getting high.

  • Justine Costigan
The Peace Hotel (with the green dome) on Shanghai’s Bund.

One of the world’s most beautiful art deco hotels is not where you’d expect

The “Paris of the East” might be a modern metropolis, but many of the buildings from its heyday 100 years ago are still standing.

  • Justine Costigan

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/by/justine-costigan-p537gt