Trekking through the Vietnam Hills for Charity

The ultimate holiday for adventurous spirits, wanting to experience new cultures first hand and even spend their vacation time doing something for the greater good, has to be the upcoming Variety Vietnam Hills Trek & Community Project.

The trip offers travellers a unique opportunity to see the real Vietnam – from the fascinating bustle of Hanoi to the seclusion of the Mai Chau highlands – as well as participating in a community project.

The packed 13 day itinerary gives a birds eye view of daily life, including working sugar cane, tapioca, rice paddies and peach plantations while staying in charming traditional long houses and meeting indigenous hill tribes including the H’mong, Thai and Muong as you trek through remote mountainous villages in parts of the country that receives very few visitors. The highlight will be a stay at the village of Bao La commune getting to know the minority White Thai people, while constructing a much needed classroom for the village’s children, which culminates in a handover ceremony. Read more

Stay at a Monastery: a unique, inspirational and cultural experience

Girls, have you ever thought of staying at a Monastery or a Convent Guest House?

When travelling in Italy a few years ago, I stumbled across a small Tuscan village called Orvieto and decided that I would like to stay there for a couple of days. I was pleasantly suprised to find cheap, secure and comfortable lodgings at a local convent tucked away in one of the tiny cobbled alley ways. I would recommend this kind of accommodation as being very suitable for women travelling alone or together. Monasteries and convent guest houses provide a gentle and warm environment and the stays are totally unique. Read more

Share Your Hassle Free Travel Tips

Australia’s first travel magazine written by its readers, Way2go, is offering readers practical travel advice to help prevent holiday hassles and avert potential personal disasters. Readers can also contribute their own travel tips, travel stories and photos and be rewarded by the magazine with travel prizes and cash.

Way2go Editor Sandy McPhie said readers’ travel tips were a valuable resource that should not be underestimated as they have the potential to save people time, money and stress.

“Some readers’ tips are simple and practical, while others, including passport validity requirements, are a real eye-opener,” Ms McPhie said. Read more

Plan Ahead for Your Next Holiday and Save

Solve your travel headaches by planning ahead for your next domestic or overseas holiday. Plus if you book online you can save money on flights, accommodation, travel insurance, sight seeing and car hire. Do your research online and you can pick up some fantastic deals on holiday packages for singles, couples, groups and families.

To get you started, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular and trusted travel websites in Australia and Overseas. And don’t forget to check out www.smartraveller.gov.au for important information about your travel destination.

PRIORITY PRIVILEGE TRAVEL DISCOUNT CARD
Save when you purchase a Priority Privilege Travel Discount Card. Save 10% on hotels and up to 50% on dining, and car rentals when you travel in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and throughout the Asia Pacific region. Click Here for more information Read more

The Curse of the Repatriated Mum

Parenting & Family Matters Columnist, Tania McCartney. There’s some serious stuff going down in the mind of this mother right now. That and an extraordinary, scrabbling, mind-bending balancing act that seems to be testing every ounce of my creative problem-solving ability. Put it this way: when the kids have trotted off to school, sometimes I just stand in the middle of my house and spin. Like, on the spot – wondering where on earth I’ll stop so I can launch into some task or other.

Will it be folding socks? Will it be cleaning poop out of the rabbit cage? Will it be breakfast, blogging or bouncing on the trampoline? Will it be digging in the freezer for some frozen-in-time artefact I can mould into dinner, or will it be hauling up the chutzpah to start on my next book? Read more

The World’s 70 Best New Hotels Unveiled

Virgin Atlantic have teamed up with Condé Nast Traveller to unveil the most stylish, innovative and luxurious hotels in the world – in their ‘Red Hot List 2009′.

With settings ranging from desert islands to capital cities, the list was chosen to cater for all tastes, and includes hotels from across the globe – and it appears it would take a little more than pool cabanas and Wi-Fi to impress in order to make the world’s top list. Read more

Beijing Bound

Australian author, editor and bloggist, Tania McCartney (pictured) spent four years living and working in Beijing. In her first piece for Australian Women Online, Tania recounts the story of a fascinating journey into the heart of modern China.

It was May 2005 when my husband and I swaddled our two little ones in kangaroo skins, hitched up our moleskins, slapped on our akubras and left Australia for Beijing. What an interesting journey that was… and that was only the plane trip.

After the intense stress of packing-up, the heavy immunization schedule (we were still pin-cushion sore) and my attempt to coordinate the upheaval of an entire family with only a small part of my brain functioning at full capacity, I was hit suddenly by the crashing reality that we had missed our flight. Read more

Adventurous Women in Egypt

After our 14 hour flight to Cairo we were all a little delirious, most of us having had very little sleep! We were all running on adrenalin and high on emotions, for every one of us had realised we were now living our dream – we’re actually in Egypt and it’s real, the dream is real!

Our group of girls are all different ages and from different backgrounds. The baby of the group is 43 year old Sarah, then the rest of the girls ages are upward from there, through to our eldest and no doubt the cheekiest, the lovely Mare, aged 68! We have amongst our group the married ladies – myself, Lorelle, Kaye B and Kaye N, then the singles – Catherine, Robyn, Sarah & Mare, followed by our girls with partners – Sei Moi and Barb – that makes up our group (pictured). Read more

Humanitarian Tourism: Make a positive change in Nepal

I decided after visiting Nepal last year that I would like to return, not as a trekker, but as a volunteer, to help promote a sustainable future for this enchanting mountain kingdom and its beautiful people.

After doing my research I found an NGO in Nepal called The Kathmandu Environmental Education Project (KEEP). This project aims to encourage eco-friendly trekking, minimise human impact and encourage the Nepalese people to work within their environment. There are so many ways we can volunteer through KEEP and help make a positive change in Nepal. Read more

Travel Solo But Not Necessarily Alone

Travelling alone can be daunting – in fact the very thought of perhaps not talking to anyone for a week or two can be scary!! Granted, some solitude can be beneficial, especially as you get the chance to do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it, without exception.

I took off on a solo trip to South East Asia last year for 2 months and I can honestly say that whilst I was excited, I was also concerned about being alone for extended periods and perhaps withdrawing socially. I eventually made up my mind that I would go alone, after trying to find a travelling companion or women’s travelling group of some sort and not succeeding. I was fortunate enough to have accumulated 3 months long service leave and I felt that it was time for me to take a break from every day life and feed my soul. So, it was either go it alone or not go at all – I took the plunge! Read more

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