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Nine best things to do in Austria

February 29, 2012 in Austria

Are these the best things to do in Austria? We’ve spent quite some time there, and we certainly think so!

In 2007 and 2008, we spent about six months jumping in and out of Austria. It’s a small country, but one that we love to return to. We’ve travelled from the smallest of towns (like Sankt Anna am Aigen) to the famous boutique cities (Innsbruck and Salzburg spring to mind) and, of course, the capital, Vienna. This, then, is our pick of the best things to see and do.

1. Discover Vienna.

There’s always more to see in this tranquilly beautiful capital, from the architecture to the parks to the world-class museums in Museumsquartier. A Third Man tour is highly recommended.

A Vienna street -- busy and beautiful

Listen to our free Vienna audio guide here.

2. Ski or hike in Innsbruck.

Flying into Innsbruck is as much a treat for you as it is a challenge for the pilot, as the city is positioned between two rows of mountains — which are great for skiing in winter and hiking in summer.

Linda hiking in the mountains above Innsbruck

3. Get around by train.

The train network in Austria is excellent, and the carriages are clean, comfortable and usually equipped with power sockets. There are lots of discounts available on the rather pricy tickets, or use a Eurail pass.

The Westbahnhof will become familiar to frequent travellers

4. Eat at a heuriger.

These farm restaurants can only sell locally-produced food; usually a variety of cold-cut meats, cheeses and pickles. Accompany your meal with a glass of local wine, and you’ll be in heaven.

Typical heuriger fare -- best accompanied by a bottle of wine

5. Go wine-tasting.

You can visit the wineries themselves, or go to a local vinothek (wine-tasting room and shop). Many towns (including some very very small ones) have a vinothek, where you can try local wines and wines from further afield for a small fee.

The weinweg wine trail in St Anna am Aigen

6. Head to the countryside.

Austria’s cities are incredible, but the small towns nestled in valleys and on hillsides have a charm of their own.

Oh, and expect snow in the winter

7. Visit Melk.

Made famous by Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, Melk’s sumptuous monastery sits high and impressive, overlooking the Donau and a small but interesting town below.

Melk Cathedral -- amazing inside and out

8. Eat wiener schnitzel.

Preferably in Wien (otherwise known as Vienna). It’ll be served with fries or cold potato salad, and will quite likely be the size of a large plate. Make sure you’re hungry before you order one! Wash it down with beer or Almdudler: Austria’s local softdrink is hard to find outside of the country, and it’s really good.

Wiener schnitzel in Wien ... or Vienna in English

9. Go to a Christmas market and drink gluhwein.

Christmas markets pop up all over Europe in late November, but Vienna’s are a bit different. For one thing, there’s not just one market; several are scattered throughout the city –- and the setting is incredible. Warm yourself up with a glass of gluhwein (mulled wine) or a hot chocolate.

Cute display of gifts in a Christmas night market

Learn more about travel in Austria >>

But that’s only nine things to do in Austria! You must know some more — add your ideas or questions in the comments.

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by Craig Martin

Travel Safety Alerts

February 21, 2012 in Travel safety

We’ve been working on our latest book, Travel Safety: Safety Tips For Personal And Corporate Travellers for a few years now, and talking with security experts around the world has convinced me of one thing at least: there’s a lot more to travel safety alerts than meets the eye.

From hackers sending false press releases and security updates (some of which are reported as fact) to the use of government travel advisories to put economic or political pressure on tourism-driven economies, people looking at travel advisories have to be astute readers.

Most of us use public sources to investigate safety issues in our upcoming destinations: your government advisories, news stories, blog searches, Travel safety on Facebook (yes, that last one’s ours) are all go-to resources. Now, there’s a service that brings all this together.

Tripsentry automates security searches

This new website — still in beta — attempts to bring together results from public sources then group them into useful sections, like “safety and security” or “natural disaster and weather”. You can then sign up for email alerts when they update the data.

Co-founder Adam Sculthorpe told me, “We’re not in the business of creating the advice and we’re not fully automated, we look at every piece of new and amended advice, track it, summarize and prioritize it and make it searchable and accessible.” Once something is in the system, they keep a history of changes, so you can what changes the sources are making.

As a service, it shows promise – although preliminary searches do pop up some strange results. A search for Auckland gave me this strange duplicate:

The first result for Auckland, New Zealand seems completely unrelated:

Information from the Australian Government about… the UK, Europe and North Africa.

How reliable are public sources?

Tripsentry’s technology and the way it displays information have moved forward in leaps and bounds in the month I’ve been playing with it. Developer Brian Campbell told me, “All sources of information are publicly available. We are essentially curating this advice by geo-locating, applying severity and category information, cross referencing and aggregating the advice.”

As a way of curating information, it’s not too bad (despite the teething issues I’ve noted above — always an issue when a website is in public beta). But all that information is public, so the big question is can you trust the sources?

Are public sources up to date?

I know that governments can take ages to sign off on their security briefings. Private intelligence can sometimes be weeks ahead of the official word.

How non-partisan are they?

A government travel advisory can effect another government’s credit ratings, not to mention their tourism income. They can be a political weapon in addition to giving advice to citizens.

How ‘black’ do they go?

You can bet the bank that public sources won’t tell you if an anti-terrorist team are working in your destination. You won’t see it on CNN either, but you might see it on the news a day or two later. For really up-to-date briefings, you need the pros.

How good are the analysts?

Tripsentry are manually selecting the data they post, but once again — it’s from public sources. They can’t tell you if the source has been hacked or the intelligence is bad. For that, you need access to private intel sources, and professional analysts who spend all day every day making judgement calls on multiple data streams.

Travel Safety and your trip

At the end of the day, you want to be safe while you travel. There’s no question about that.

While I’m quite well-versed in the everyday practicalities of travel safety, I’m no intelligence expert. Tripsentry provides me with a good level of general knowledge, and access to their sources so I can keep digging. That’s enough for me in most of the places I go, and they are doing an ever-better job at providing this.

But if I felt threatened, or I was considering cancelling a trip based on safety issues, my concerns over their source material would leave me cold. I’d be paying for a unique safety advisory from the pros.

See:

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by Craig Martin

Auckland lantern festival in photos

February 8, 2012 in New Zealand

We’ve just entered the year of the dragon, and it marks the first full cycle of the Chinese new year for the Auckland lantern festival, held in Albert Park each year. This year’s lantern festival seemed twice as big and twice as busy for us… at least alongside the food stalls which showcase the best of Asia’s streetfood traditions.

Here’s some of our favourite shots from the evening — taken between polishing off dumplings, running into friends, and enjoying the live music.

Click any image to enlarge.

What now? Take a look at more Auckland travel ideas or get inspired to travel in Asia.

Rangitoto sunset The Interislander Leigh Get fudged! Museums in northland Finishing the coast to coast Christmas in the Park

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How to avoid pickpockets and bag-snatchers as you travel

January 9, 2012 in Travel safety

This is an excerpt from Travel Safety: Safety Tips For Personal And Corporate Travellers by Craig Bidois with Craig Martin.

Street crime and opportunists

If you are unlucky enough to have any problems with criminals during your travels, it’s likely to be with opportunists: pickpockets and petty thieves who are after an easy, non-violent way to separate you from your valuables. In five years of full-time travel in fifty countries, pickpocketing has been the most common criminal problem we’ve encountered. And in five years, it has only happened to us twice.

Pickpockets

This advice will help you stay clear of most pickpockets.

  • Always stick to well-lit and busy areas, but avoid public transport and stations during rush hour.
  • Don’t wander around with a map or guidebook in your hands: if you get lost, duck into a café to get your bearings.
  • If you’ve only got today’s cash in your wallet or pocket, you won’t lose much. Some people carry a dummy wallet in their back pocket, while their real one is zipped inside a jacket pocket or carried in their front pocket.
  • Don’t carry, or show, valuable things in poor areas. Leave jewellery and electronics locked in a safe, not on display.
  • If you use a moneybelt to store valuable documents and cash, keep it secret and keep it safe.
  • Be especially alert in markets and, if anyone bumps you, check for your wallet… they might be that good.
  • If you can handle the fashion faux-pas, consider buying trousers with zippable pockets: they make it that much tricker for pickpockets.
  • Always lock bags with a sturdy padlock, and carry backpacks or messenger bags in front of you in high-risk areas.

Bag cutting

A sign like this is a dead giveaway!

When pickpockets can’t find their way into your bags through the normal methods of sliding open zips, they might take the risk of slicing open the bottom of your bag with a knife. This is often done by small groups, with many hands making quick work of all your possessions as they fall to the ground.

To deter this type of theft, use a bag with hefty material, rather than lightweight nylon or silk bags. Carry the bag in front of you, rather than on your back. Don’t be seen to be putting valuable things into the bag and, if you are carrying laptops or electronics, put them into suspended pockets within the bag, rather than in the main compartment. Additionally, putting something bulky like a jacket in the bottom of the bag might stop things from falling out if it is cut open.

Some companies, such as PacSafe, produce bags with “slash-proof” features but you pay for this security with a significantly weightier bag.

Snatch and run

Snatch-and-run crimes are more aggressive, but normally non-violent. In these cases, the criminals will cut a strap, pull sharply to break a strap, or simply make a grab at a loose item such as a purse, smartphone or camera — then run. They might have partners to distract you or to slow down a chase, or they might use a motorcycle or scooter to race up behind someone and get away almost before you know what is happening.

At particular risk for these crimes are electronics hanging from neck straps, like DSLR cameras or MP3 players and cellphones on a lanyard. A quick-fingered person running a knife near the back of your neck is never a good thing, and the weight of these electronics mean they drop swiftly into their hand. Messenger bags looped from one shoulder are also at high risk, especially when carried behind you. You’ll notice it going, but might not be able to do much about it.

Motorbike snatch-and-ride

Perhaps the most dangerous snatch-and-run technique is when criminals use a motorcycle or scooter. One person will drive, while the snatcher rides pillion behind them. They will drive up onto the pavement or target a person walking near the roadside and grab at a loose-hanging bag or handheld purse, relying on the speed of the bike to break any straps. However, occasionally the straps don’t break, and the victim will be dragged along the roadside, unable to disentangle themselves.

It’s very unlikely the criminals will let go of their prize: the tighter you hold, the more value they will assume they have found. Our advice in this case is to keep yourself as unharmed as possible: let go, get out of the straps, do whatever you must to avoid being dragged behind the vehicle.

Travel Safety advice

This is an excerpt from the book, Travel Safety. Get a free preview of that here:

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by Craig Martin

Travel Safety book is here

January 8, 2012 in Travel safety

We’re excited to be releasing our first book of 2012 – Travel Safety: Safety Tips For Personal And Corporate Travellers.

It’s available from our new Travel Safety Book website as well as from the Indie Travel Podcast travel books page. And we’re giving away three copies in the next week. You can enter here. The competition is now closed.

Craig Bidois and Craig Martin - co-authors of Travel Safety

Craig Bidois and Craig Martin - co-authors of Travel Safety

This book is part of year-long collaboration between Craig Bidois from Fearfree and me. We’ve previously done podcasts on lessons from the Chilean earthquake, surviving a natural disaster, travel safety and security. You can read more about the Travel Safety book authors here.

We talk about a whole load of topics in the book, from the mundane airport and border security issues, pickpockets and con artists to the unusual — terrorist attacks, finding landmines, kidnap and sexual assault. Combining Bidois’s experiences in United Nations and private security training with my everyday travel stories, we’ve created a comprehensive travel safety book.

Why don’t you take a look at it, and try to win yourself a copy. The competition is now closed. You can get a free preview here though:

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On the end of 2011, and the start of 2012

December 28, 2011 in Travel

There’s something about summer that makes me think of camping on the beach. Whether its actually in a tent, out of the back of a van, or in a caravan… that doesn’t matter so much. Waking up with salt and sand in your hair, then heading back down to the sea is the trick.

A lot of people will be up to similar things right now: at home, on caravan holidays, or enjoying the family bach. A holiday, a chance to refresh yourself, and maybe a chance to refocus for the coming year. We travel all the time, but we very seldom holiday. It’s something we don’t do enough.

I wanted this year to be a year of big things. Not just travelling from place to place, but going to some big-name destinations and some big events. We’ve managed it, I think.

We’ve seen the Iguacu Falls; been to Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Auckland; tasted wine in Matakana, fresh fish in Brazil, barbecue in Argentina; we’ve been to UNESCO heritage sites, done my first scuba dive, and done a bridge climb, along with a million other things. 2011 has been an amazing year.

It’s also been a huge year for us with the Indie Travel Podcast Community. There’s now hundreds of people who have got a Community account, thousands who chat with us on Twitter and Facebook, and we’ve managed to publish more podcasts, new ebooks and hundreds of thousands of free words to help you travel well.

As any year rolls to an end, there’s always a chance to look back. To be honest, I wouldn’t change a thing about 2011. Not everything’s gone 100% to plan, but it never does. Life, however, is good.

What am I looking forward to in the coming year? It seems like 2012 will be a slow year: we’re in Auckland until February, walking the Camino de Santiago will take a month, we’ll set up in Spain for the northern summer, then probably head away to the southern hemisphere again to escape the oncoming winter. The goal isn’t to flit all over the place, but to try a more immersive travel experience.

walking the camino de santiago

There’s a lot of fun new things coming up for us this year, and a lot of trips coming for the Indie Travel Podcast Community too. We’re looking forward to doing it all with you.

A slow year is the perfect time to find cute hotels or holiday lodges on the beach, to wake up all sandy-headed then wander down to the beach again. I really hope we have the chance to do that along with the work, travel, and meet-ups. Who knows… this might finally be the year I learn to surf.

It’s summer here right now. The sun is shining, friends are on holiday. I’m putting down the laptop and heading out to find a beach. You’ve got to start the year right, whenever you can.

Keep an eye out for our end-of-year photo collection, coming soon.

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Going tramping — planning your summer hikes

December 23, 2011 in New Zealand

We’re in New Zealand for summer, and after a wet start, it looks like the weather is drying up and getting warm… So we’ve started to plan some hikes before we go. But for those unfamiliar with the New Zealand bush, here’s a primer for short hikes in the land of the long white cloud.

Planning

New Zealand forest, or “the bush” as it’s known, is dense and often combined with steep hills or mountainous country. There are few people passing through, and many areas are geographically remote as well. If you’re underprepared — and especially if you’re unfamiliar with the area — you can find yourself in trouble.

There are many trails maintained by the Department of Conservation or local city councils. Some of these are wide paths, well marked, and well-trodden. But if you’re hiking overnight, you’re likely to be on narrow tracks with multiple forks. Signage may be weather-damaged, vandalised, or simply not exist — you need a good guidebook or track description. There are excellent “topos”, topographical maps aimed at hikers available from many bookstores and regional outdoor stores. You can play with them online at Topomap New Zealand but unless you are very sure of your electronic equipment, do take in a physical copy.

Trail descriptions and community notes are available from New Zealand tramper.

Panorama of west coast beaches (click to enlarge)

Clothing

Good outdoor clothing is obviously preferable, and seasonal and regional needs vary widely.

Auckland is notorious for its four-seasons-in-one-day approach to weather, so carrying a light waterproof layer is worthwhile, even when starting out in fine weather. The Waitakere and Hunua ranges are also great at holding clouds and rain.

It’s not unusual for true tent-drenching downpours to kick in, leaving you scrambling to waterproof whatever you can. A breathable jacket and waterproof trousers can be a lifesaver, or do the typical Kiwi trick and wear a pair of shorts rather than trousers. It can be cold, but you don’t get that uncomfortable clingy feeling wet trousers leaves you with.

If hiking in winter, be prepared to hike through hail, frosty conditions, and snow in many parts of the country. Excellent boots are an essential requirement; you also need the correct clothing to keep yourself warm during extreme temperatures.

Equipment

Camping in tents in NZ

Campsite on the Queen Charlotte Track

Open fires are illegal in DOC reserves and many other public areas in New Zealand. In order to cook or prepare hot drinks, a small gas burner or stove is needed, along with a lightweight pot and utensils.

Running water may be carrying giardia or other bugs. Make sure to carry purification tablets, or a filter system — even if you don’t plan to drink from rivers, you might get caught out for an extra day because of injury or weather conditions.

There are many camping huts throughout New Zealand, which can be booked in advance for your hikes. This cuts down on the amount of camping equipment you need to carry on many routes, as you can leave tents and non-emergency lighting behind. Check the hut notes or with DOC to see what facilities are available.

Carry everything in a lightweight backpack which transfers the weight down to your hips. We love the Aarn backpacks, created by a Cantabrian (i.e. a guy from Christchurch), for ultra light-weight performance packs.

Take care of your rubbish and pack out whatever you pack in. The burn, bash and bury technique doesn’t work with the growing number of people using these natural resources.

Safety

Don't disturb traps and poison baits.

There are very few poisonous creatures in New Zealand, but mosquitos and sandflies are irritating. Taking insect repellent with you is certainly good practice.

Wild boar and other large mammals can be aggressive if they feel threatened. It’s always best to leave them to their own business and get on with yours.

Sun, or more correctly UV radiation, is fierce in New Zealand so you’re likely to get sunburn very quickly. Take, and regularly use, a hat and SPF30 sunscreen or higher. Some people choose to hike in long sleeves during summer to minimise the risk of burns and skin cancer.

If you’re heading into the bush, always leave your plans with a friend and check in with them when you’re safely back. If no-one knows your route and expected return time, it’s possible that search and rescue teams will be deployed too late or too widely if you are injured or lost in the bush.

Our upcoming hikes

We’ve only got two months left in New Zealand, but we’ve got plenty of hiking planned. We hope to attempt:

  • Day hikes in the Waitakere and Hunua ranges
  • The Hillary Trail
  • The Tongariro Crossing
  • The Cape Brett Trail
  • And, although it’s a lot of uphill, I’d like to sneak the Pinnacles in if possible.

Got any hiking advice, or places you’d love to walk? Tell us in the comments!

Museums in northland #blog4nz lunch Get fudged! Rangitoto sunset Canterbury plains towards Arthurs Pass Finishing the coast to coast Leigh

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Young monks on a bridge, Laos [photo]

December 16, 2011 in Laos

For me, this photo captured the sometimes kooky, otherworldly feeling of travel in Laos. These two young monks crossing a bridge by foot in Nong Khiaw; the tropical forest and high, hazy mountains.

Young monks cross the bridge at Nong Khiaw, Laos

We were travelling around Laos with the Stray backpacker bus in Laos and found it a good compromise between a tour and using the slow and unreliable local transport.

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Trinidad – Jesuit ruins in Paraguay [Photos]

December 9, 2011 in Paraguay

There are dozens of well-preserved Jesuit ruins throughout Paraguay, but the UNESCO-listed jewel in the crown are the large grounds at Trinidad, thought to have housed over 350 families, both native indians and missionaries.

Today you can easily visit Trinidad, the quarry that supplied building materials and the nearby Jesus de Tavarangue ruins by bus or tour from Encarnacion, a city in the south-east of Paraguay. If you’re interested in finding out more, take a look at our Paraguay travel podcast.

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Roomorama review – our first apartment rental

December 8, 2011 in Preparing to Travel

We’d been thinking about short-term apartment rentals for a while, but always expected they’d be too expensive: a combination of couchsurfing and hosteling has always worked to keep our prices down. But when Roomorama offered us a credit to review their service, we found what works — and what doesn’t — when you rent someone’s apartment through an online marketplace.

The search

We were heading to Argentina’s capital, and we knew there was plenty of good cheap accommodation in Buenos Aires — five nights in a nice private room at Kaixo hostel, for example, would set us back around US$250. Amazingly, we found a studio apartment for rent at US$225 for the same time period … so there were definitely bargains to be found.

We started our search on an iPhone in a café in Salta. It was a bit difficult to sign up and start looking, although we got an idea of prices and what to look for.

Some of the properties have compulsory charges — like cleaning bills — that get tagged onto the end of the bill; others had huge security deposits that needed to be paid in cash. And there’s no way I’m handing over US$800 in cash as a security deposit. Those properties all went in the virtual bin.

Things to check before your enquiry

Later that day, back on a laptop, we were able to do much better searches and found half a dozen properties that we liked, in the areas we wanted to stay. Since we had recently spent three weeks in San Telmo, we wanted to be on the other side of the central city: in Recoleta or Palermo.

Roomorama connects the traveller with accommodation owners, so the next stage was sending emails to those properties we were interested in to confirm pricing and availability. The system made it easy to bulk-email the places we liked the look of — no copying and pasting the same information over again.

The booking

Unfortunately we received more rejections than we expected … admittedly we were searching just five days out from our arrival date, but those places had booked up fast. Luckily, on Saturday morning as we were about to board our bus from Salta to Buenos Aires, we managed to confirm a place!

The owner emailed, and flicked a virtual switch that meant the property was available and able to be booked. The total cost was $421, including a fee that goes to Roomorama. We were stoked, and completed the booking before jumping on the bus… it was 20 hours before we arrived, and then we had a few hours to wait before we could check in. No worries there.

Everything was rushed, and — of course — we managed to miscommunicate. The apartment rental was only available for the first four nights of our stay, but we had paid for five. Luckily the apartment owner came to the rescue: they had another property they could move us into for the last night. We negotiated a little and managed to score a late checkout, which was an excellent compromise.

The stay

That wasn’t the only excellent thing. We were also able to check in three hours early! We had disembarked at 7am, found ourselves a nice café and ensconced ourselves for a few hours before heading up to the Ateneo Grand Splendid on Callao (and just a block away from the apartment). While we were there we got that wonderful phonecall: the apartment has been cleaned — you can check in now.

Recoleta cemetery Buenos Aires

Recoleta cemetery, ten minutes' walk from our first apartment (pictured above)

We were greeted by a bubbly host who took us up to the apartment, walked us around the place, and provided a dozen local recommendations for non-touristy places to eat, drink and shop: an excellent value-add for us as we had never stayed in Recoleta before. The apartment was spacious, light and clean; there was wifi and a cable internet connection; a TV to watch Tom Hanks in Big — dubbed into Spanish of course; and the bathroom and kitchen were fully stocked with everything you’d expect. There was even a pool on the roof!

The real advantage was being able to spread out, make some mess, make some noise. All things you have to be careful of when you’re in a hostel — no-one wants the contents of your bag spilling across the floor. Well, to be honest, Linda isn’t that keen on it either but I enjoyed the space.

The move

Eventually we had to make a move. It was a bit of a pain to do so on our second-to-last day in the city, but we were mollified by the late checkout: we were flying out at 2am! It took less than an hour to pack up, get down to the subte (see Buenos Aires transport) and across town from Recoleta to Palermo Hollywood.

New apartment

The system was the same: arrive, get keys, sign a contract, get orientated. The new apartment was smaller than the last, but the pool was a bit bigger. We took the opportunity to explore this side of town, and the amazing murals at the Antiques Market are worth a visit just by themselves.

New street art! A Pum-Pum mural right next door

Roomorama review: the conclusion

So, short-term apartment rentals? Here’s our thoughts:

Pro: Your own space, and own apartment — without a hotel feeling.

Con: Lacking the social support of a hostel or couchsurfing.

Pro: A kitchen of your own, so you can cook better meals than in a hostel.

Con: Booking fee can be prohibitive for stays of one or two nights.

Pro: Prices vary, but are generally cheaper than a hotel, similar to a private double in a hostel.

Pro: If you are in a group (3+ people), you’ll save a lot.

Be aware: Of additional costs, like compulsory cleaning or high security bonds.

To check availability where you’re heading next:

Get a free account at Roomorama

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