Y Travel Blog

Despite being a stopping point for exploring other parts of Queensland, there are actually a lot of things to do in Brisbane, so don’t make it your jumping-off point. Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia and is a buzzing city with a vibrant, bohemian atmosphere. Brisbanites have a laid-back attitude and are incredibly friendly, making all who visit here want to unpack their bags for good. Brisbane Botanic Gardens, | credit: Tourism and Events Queensland Not to mention the

The fire crackles and pops beside me. Soon we will be cooking our evening meal over it and warming ourselves on an Autumn evening under the stars. The afternoon air is warm and invites me to sit under the canopy of a red gum tree. The breeze, although refreshing, is not enough to shoo the flies away. Bike riding through the River Red Gum Forests Their pestering is not enough to have me wishing I was anywhere else but here, sitting beside the Murrumbidgee River, Australia’s second-longest,

The town of towering timbers, otherwise known as Pemberton, is a small forest town in Western Australia that captured our hearts. Despite being a small town, there are some exciting things to do in Pemberton, and it proved to be a destination full of family fun and adventure. Driving through the Karri forest of Pemberton in Western Australia was like driving into a fairytale. It was completely unexpected to see such unrivalled natural beauty. But if you’re not sure what to do in Pem

When it comes to finding unspoiled and breathtaking nature in Tasmania, you won’t find anywhere more beautiful than Freycinet National Park. Despite being a national park, there are plenty of things to do in Freycinet National Park to keep you busy for a couple of days. Hazards Beach – a highlight of Freycinet National Park The Freycinet Peninsula is made of spectacular pink granite mountains surrounded by azure bays, pure white beaches, coastal dunes, and a dry eucalypt forest

Chaotic and intense are two words that seem to wind up in almost every description of India. And rightfully so; that’s the allure of India, and without that chaos and intensity, an adventure to this country simply wouldn’t be as life-changing as is normally the case. But after a while, it can get exhausting, so if you’re looking for somewhere more relaxed and off-the-beaten-path, consider visiting Bundi. Wandering Earl spent two and a half years traveling around the subc

If you’re looking to explore one of Sydney’s most vibrant neighborhoods, you’ll find there are many things to do in The Rocks, Sydney. My first recollection of being in The Rocks District in Sydney was when I was on a Year 4 excursion learning about the history of White Australia’s first settlement. Credit Destination NSW As I walked the cobblestoned streets and stepped into museums housed in old sandstone buildings, the stories of our unusual history enthralled me and m

Rome is the bustling capital of Italy and is one of the most historic and fascinating cities on Earth, meaning there are many things to do in Rome with kids that provide an enriching and educational experience. As well as lots of fun! It has a history that takes visitors back thousands of years of history, has a cuisine that melts in your mouth, has world-class museums and stunning parks to explore. We’ve visited Rome numerous times and were delighted by how much there was for our k

If you’re looking for a destination of historical importance in Tasmania, then a visit to the Port Arthur Historic Site is one of the top things to do. This historic town is located on the Tasman Peninsula and is known for being a 19th-century penal settlement, where the remains of the penitentiary are still there. Today, the small town is an open-air museum giving tourists a chance to see a glimpse into Australia’s darker past. I first visited Port Arthur on my Amazing Rac

You should always leave space in your travel itinerary for spontaneity. And that’s what happened to us when we landed in Kangaroo Valley NSW. A large focus of our Australian road trip was to ask for suggestions from our readers and social communities on things to do and see. We soon learned that there were plenty of things to do in Kangaroo Valley, and that it was worth a detour on our road trip to check it out. We’re so glad we did. You should really go to Kangaroo Valley too. Beautifu

I know Newcastle well. Or at least I thought I did. When we took our road trip around Australia and landed in Australia’s 7th biggest city, we realized there were so many things to do in Newcastle as a family that we hadn’t seen before. I soon discovered there was more to Newcastle beyond the riverfront walk, Nobby’s Beach, and a lot of pubs. Newie (as it’s called by the locals) was the place to go out when I was younger. It was a 90-minute train journey away from where I grew

We’ve been to Los Angeles enough times now to have done the whole famous list. The Walk of Fame. Universal. The pier. All of it, more than once, and I’d send you to most of it happily. But there’s a point on your third or fourth trip where the famous version of a city stops being the interesting version and you start dreaming of other destinations. That’s when you’ve got to dig deeper and discover how the locals are doing it. Here’s how I’d define

Kalyra was 12 when she stood on the Hollywood Walk of Fame looking for one particular star, and I watched her face do the thing I’d been waiting years to see. She wanted to win an Oscar and standing on that stretch of pavement, surrounded by tourists and street performers and a lot of things I’d been quietly cynical about, she wasn’t being a tourist. She was doing reconnaissance. That’s the shift. A small child comes to Los Angeles and sees a big fun place. A kid on

When I surprised Savannah with tickets to see the Dallas Wings play in San Francisco, she screamed, dropped to the floor of our dining room, and rolled around in tears. I sat here eating my dinner a little baffled. We were going to a basketball game. Even more baffling was her request for a two-hour get ready time frame in our dodgy hotel room. Couldn’t we spend that afternoon finding a San Francisco bakery and a good flat white instead? No. This was the dream. The dream realized

We had to build game-time prep into our San Francisco trip, and I was a little baffled by it. We’re going to a basketball game. Couldn’t we spend that hour finding a good flat white and a slab of cake somewhere instead? No. This was Savannah’s dream. When I first surprised her with tickets, she screamed, dropped to the floor, and rolled around in tears at our dining room table. So I gave up the coffee idea, went back to our shabby little hotel room, and waited the bet

We were somewhere on the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, dropping 4,000 feet into a canyon that kept narrowing, the Kings River appearing below us like a turquoise thread, when 14 year old Savannah who had been looking out the window turned to me and said, “You know. I’m kinda glad my phone fell down the toilet because now I’m paying attention more.” Thank goodness for small phone slip miracles and stunning nature to prove her point. Her mesmerizing beauty trumps all pokes,

There’s a table on the edge of a hill in Gornje Cerovo in Slovenia where the vineyards fall away in front of you and keep going until they turn into Italy. On a clear evening you can follow them all the way to a thin silver line of the Adriatic. We sat at that table for hours. Amazing local restaurant in Goriška Brda The church of St Nicholas stands right beside it, and its bell rings every quarter hour. There’s a pattern to the tolls, something the farmers once read to know wh

There’s a stretch of Mount Triglav, maybe 50 meters below a small wooden hut, where I gripped a rock face with both hands and swore at it. I was scared in a way I don’t usually get scared. Angry too, which surprised me more. We’d been scrambling for what felt like a very long time across rock that fell away on both sides, and my body had quietly decided it was finished. One wrong foot and I’d slide, and the slide had somewhere bad to go. So I held on and gave my

I sat in a 10°C river for 10 minutes and came out grinning. That was the afternoon after a morning of jumping off canyon walls and rappelling down a 50-meter waterfall on a rope. By lunch I was floating in water the color of a tropical beach, cold to the bone, in the shadow of the Julian Alps, happier than I’d been in a long time. That’s the thing about Slovenia. You can throw yourself down a waterfall before breakfast and be lying in a hammock by dinner. It’s a smal

I lost a day in Ljubljana before I ever got there. Cancelled flight out of Raleigh, then a delayed one, then an overnight reroute through London that ate the extra day I’d deliberately built into the front of the trip. My airport shuttle broke down on the way in, and we sat waiting for a replacement. I finally reached the hotel mid-afternoon with two days of travel on me and one thought in my head, which was coffee. So, I walked. Two blocks down to the river. And I stood there thinki

We came out the far end of Vintgar Gorge feeling pleased with ourselves and then stood in the middle of the forest for a while trying to work out how to get back. It’s a beautiful walk. The boardwalks are pinned into the rock, the water underneath runs a green you’d assume had been edited, and the whole thing is over in about 45 minutes. What we hadn’t understood was that those 45 minutes were the easy half. When we asked, locals told us they know. People get caught by th