Tag Archives: Sri Lanka

The Diary of a Slow Traveller – Do I need a car?

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Does Slow Travel require a car? The notion of Slow Travel by its very nature suggests not being in a hurry and being in control. A car gives you flexibility and allows control as to where you’ll go so it would seem a car goes hand-in-hand with Slow Travel.

So why wouldn’t you drive?

For some of us the challenge is that we drive on the left hand side of the road meaning that to drive in Europe, USA and many other destinations you need to unlearn everything you have been taught.

For all of us there is the challenge of reading signs in a foreign language and learning new road rules, or quickly becoming aware that road rules make little difference to the way the locals drive.

My driving exploits in foreign locations have been the source of many laughs. My four attempts to see the sign to the airport as I zipped around the roundabout on the outskirts of Palermo are regularly brought out by favourite person and daughter when we discuss driving in Europe.

Continue reading →

Diary of a Slow Traveller – We are in no hurry

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Sitting with a friend over a coffee discussing our recent trip to Italy I started to discuss how we got there

Sure the centre piece of our trip was spending three months in Italy but we had a strategy for getting there. We weren’t going to be hurried. We’d take our time. Fly only during the day and not any long haul.

This meant a stopover in Singapore. We were spoilt for choice for accommodation that fits any budget. We are fans of Tablet  a boutique hotel website. We found a nice little hotel reasonably priced and a short walk from the MRT that linked directly to the airport. For my favourite person there was a relaxing bath for me a gym.  It also provided us the opportunity for a relaxing evening, nice meal and a sleep in a comfortable bed something that being in a hurry to get there doesn’t allow.

The Bath!

The Bath!

 

After a relaxing sleep it was an early trip to the airport on the MRT and check-in, where we were surprised to have been given an upgrade for the short flight to Colombo. Silver service and more leg room!

Silver Service!

Silver Service!

When you are not in a hurry, why not enjoy the journey. Continue reading →

Singapore – nearly home

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Sitting in the Qantas Lounge in Singapore meant that our  “3 months in Italy” was all but over.

Singapore was the bookend to our travels. Just on three months ago we arrived in Singapore as a stopover with our “3 months in Italy” ahead of us. Now sitting in Changi Airport, Singapore we are just about home.

With a few thousand photos in the Cloud, many half written posts I realize how much we have seen and how much there is to reflect on. I plan to not let our time away be quickly forgotten, adopting the rule of thinking about at least one thing that we saw, did or felt each day for as long as I can after we get home. I’m sure that will mean many more posts.

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Singapore is pretty much everything Italy isn’t and provides a circuit breaker for our return to Australia.

Singapore is modern and moves at pace. Continue reading →

We saw elephants and much more 

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So after 3 days in Sri Lanka I definitely want to come back. It wasn’t even on our wishlist until it was suggested by the travel agent as a stopover.

Colombo is a bustling city. You take your life in your hands (many do!) walkng across the road. There are cars, tuk tuks, buses and bikes stretched across the road. It seems the road markings are only for decoration. It’s a form of organised chaos. This is definitely not a place to get your international drivers license out hire a car. You’d be taking you and others lives in your hands.

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We packed plenty into our short stay.

Friday afternoon Drinks at the historic nd recently renovated Galle Face Hotel and walk on the beach at Galle Face. On a bright hot sunny day this was pretty special and a far cry from drinks at our local (albeit very pleasant bar).
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We searched for a tuk tuk for the return trip to our hotel from Galle Face, looking for one with a metre as instructed by the hotel. One of the numerous security people directed us to a tuk tuk. No metre of course but the security guard told us the fee would be 200 LKR (I know, I could hear Chris De Burgh’s, “Don’t pay the ferryman, don’t even fix a price” in my head, as I was doing this!). No we weren’t interested in the one day gem sale that both the security guard and driver seemed keen for us not to miss. Just back to the hotel. As we stepped out of the tuk tuk I gave the driver what I understood to be the agreed fee 200LKR and he said no it was 300LKR. I said no and we walked off to cross the road (at the traffic lights).

One of the main reasons we were enthusiastic about taking up the suggestion of a stopover in Colombo was to see the elephants. Continue reading →

Planning – Italy 2015

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Mt Etna

Mt Etna

For the very few of you who have followed my blog since it early days (apart from thank you) you will know that as I focussed on “What’s next” I have wanted to spend 3 months in Italy. In Novemebr 2015 we will – well almost- Insurance and Visa rules mean it will be a few days short.

Agrigento - Sicily

Agrigento – Sicily

On insurance, my new post fulltime work cost saving regime means we will use our credit card policy which allows only 90 days for the trip. While on the cost cutting, yet again, I couldn’t face the cost of Business Class (just over double the cost of economy). We have decided however that we will only do daytime flights – we are not in a hurry.

To do this we enlisted the support of a travel agent something we haven’t done on recent trips given the resources available online. Our initial discussions weren’t that fruitful with agents suggesting that it really wasn’t feasible. Then we stumbled upon a very helpful travel agent who seemed to immediately grasp the idea. She understood that we are not we weren’t in a hurry so flying in a number of steps is not a problem to us. Infact the whole idea of this holiday is slow travel – apparently this brings the cost down? Using stop-overs in Singapore,Sri Lanka and Dubai we land in Milan having flown only during the day. Our return will be Rome, Dubai, Singapore, then home via Perth. To claim the Perth leg is a day flight is a stretch (lands at midnight) but it is only a short hop from Singapore – so I will claim it. We won’t have to attempt to sleep on the plane which is something I really struggle with. It also provides an opportunity to spend a few days in Sri Lanka, something that wasn’t on our agenda previously and for my favourite person it will be her first visit to Singapore. Continue reading →