Archive for July, 2008

This is the third in a three-part series on beating jet lag after a long flight to Australia. If you’re touching down in Sydney or Melbourne, read our tips for overcoming jet lag in Sydney or overcoming jet lag in Melbourne. This installment is all about beating jet lag after an arrival in Brisbane.

Beat jet lag on your next trip to Brisbane

You know the feeling. Sore, dry eyes, a dull headache, stiff joints and that disconcerting feeling that you might fall over at any stage. No, it’s not a hangover. It’s jet lag. No matter how much preparation you’ve done and how much water you guzzled on the flight, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid.

If you’re lucky enough to stagger off a long-haul flight in beautiful Brisbane, Australia, the last thing you want to do is waste time asleep in a hotel room while the sun shines on yet another glorious Queensland day.

In earlier posts about overcoming jet lag upon arrival in Australia’s two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, we’ve discussed some of the science of jet lag. In a nutshell, though, the remedies are simple: daylight, limited caffeine and alcohol and the right sort of food at the right time of day. Tick these boxes and you’ll beat the dreaded jet lag in no time.

Lucky you. Not only have you arrived in a great part of the world, you’ve also got plentiful access to all the things you need to get your lag licked.

First stop: breakfast. And protein is your friend, so maybe an Eggs Benedict with bacon at one of the many cafes along the busy Queen Street Mall in the centre of the city. Try to resist a coffee if you can. Grab a freshly squeezed juice instead.

Now comes the easy part. Sunlight. Whip that melatonin into line with a dose of vitamin D direct from the sun. Queensland isn’t known as the ‘Sunshine State’ for nothing: Brisbane boasts about 300 days of sunshine a year. The nicest place to soak up the rays is along the banks of the bendy Brisbane River. Whether it’s an easy stroll, an energetic jog (exercise is a great let lag buster) or a morning hopping on and off the regular – and cheap – City Cat ferries, it’s easy to get sun-kissed and see the sights at the same time. Combine river life with a meal on a daytime lunch cruise. And to get a bit closer to the sun, try climbing the Story Bridge for great views. Remember the sunscreen, though.

After a day on the town, you may want to get an early night. Don’t make it too early, but don’t stay out until dawn either. Wind up the day with some carbs – a great way to signal sleep time to your poor, tired, confused body. We love the noisy, relaxed nosh at Alto at the Brisbane Powerhouse in New Farm. Go for a tasty goat ragu, the seafood strozzapreti or something equally filling.

While alcohol does nothing to help jet lag (quite the opposite…), we’d understand if you indulge in a glass of wine over your meal. You’ll need to leave Brisbane’s surprisingly groovy James Street bar scene till tomorrow however. Jet lag and a hangover? Ergh.

-John Ryan

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s tours and things to do in Brisbane, from dinner cruises to the Brisbane Story Bridge Climb.

Sightseeing in Poland

Rumour has it that some years ago, deep under the cover of the EU night, I snuck (that’s right, snuck, not sneaked, snook or sneakered) across the border from Central Europe into the deep dark East. Poland to be precise. Like a secret double agent, only single and not so secret, I made straight for the nearest front of the old frontier between glorious communist past and triumphant capitalist future. Things are a little blurrier these days, and the Poland of old has also snuck under the charm of the consumer future, but little pockets of gold still sit in tidy deposits when you care to gaze dreamily beneath the surface.

Since coming under the curtain of the EU in 2003 its been a little easier to move between its eastern neighbor, Germany, and Poland. A mate with a business that had to drive between the Poland’s south over to Frankfurt for regular deliveries regaled me with tales of waiting in the car in a queue at the border checkpoints for up to 18 hours, slowly inching towards Germany with no chance to sleep or pause lest he lose his place in the wait to drive west. Now its as easy as driving straight through and should you be lucky enough to be a dinky-di Aussie like me, you can have your passport passed around the border guards as the laugh and point at the kangaroos on the cover. Ain’t life sweet.

If it’s not the slow rolling landscape that gets you it’ll be the language and its beautiful soft zzssshhhhs and washes of tongue against places in the mouth unknown to western palates. And if it’s not language that you fall in love with fellas, it’ll be the strongly spoken yet gentle on the eyes ladies that live in a country as friendly as it is foreign. There’s many ways to endear yourself to these lovely people and learning a few words of the local lingo will have them tripping over themselves to hear you say “dziekuje” (thank you - pronounced jin koy a) just once more.

Poland, like Australia with its kangaroos hopping down every street, is full of bison. These bison either work freelance or in huge factories manufacturing vodka (and sometimes beer) which is then exported to other countries or drunk on the spot. I don’t know this for sure or not, but judging from the signs I saw in most places in the cities, bison also run most of the banks and some of the local businesses. Although there are dangerous animals like bears, lynxes and beavers in Poland, the bison, while tame and often domesticated (having their own housing tenements and social services) will attack especially when they are drunk. So unless you have your official Crocodile Hunter certificate of “Braveness without Forethought” with you, it’s probably best to just to lay low any time you see a sign with a bison on it.

On the subject of vodka, Poland has been strong in embracing this delicious and refreshing drink, with or without the help of the bison. It’s said that if you share a bottle of vodka with a man then you are brothers, or friends of some sort. This being the case, its also been said that the entirety of Poland is like one big family as vodka has been shared been all and sundry much to the benefit of local relations.

Andy Warhol Statue in Poland

A fact you may not know is Andy Warhol is from Poland. Born deep down in the most southeasterly corner, in a little place called Wetlina (not Pittsburgh, don’t believe everything you read on Wikipedia, if you did then they have you thinking that it doesn’t get down to -22 Celsius in winter sometimes, which it can). Wetlina is at the edge of the Polish, Slovak and Ukraine borders and if you are good at climbing mountains you could visit all three places in an afternoon. Australia’s tallest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko (prounced Kozsh oosh ko) is named after a Polish insurgent that did lots of stuff in Poland down these parts too…

Other natural stuff in Poland includes the mighty Wisla River (the little “l” there has a slopey line through it and is prounced as a double-u, while the W is pronounced as a V - got it?). The Wisla winds its way across and around Poland, starting from a stream in the Carpathian Mountains in the south and then making its windy way up through towns like Krakow, Sandomierz, Warchau and on to Gdansk. Sort of like a drunken tourist trying to take in as many towns as possible, except this is a river and full of water. More importantly it used to be one of the most important trade routes through the country until they invented and made available on a massive scale things like trucks and cars and boats too big to fit down little rivers, but I’ll tell you more about those machines another time.

Should you be traveling by canoe and find yourself in Krakow you will notice that like a river there are not very many right-angles going on there. It’s a bit of a mad-woman’s breakfast of acutely stationed buildings climaxing in roads best not taken at speed for the sake of their angular meanderings, Krakow has a vibrant underground scene boasting many great clubs, nice Polish beers plus more authentically friendly Polish people.

Wisla by Boat

If you had the cunning and the strength to paddle down the Wisla River from Krakow you’d be in for unscheduled appointments so many towns that time forgot. Like a throwback to an era passed-by, witness villages with chickens running the streets, old ladies with the traditional triangular scarf folded upon their stoic heads and old men in horse-drawn carts travelling across the river on ferries driven by little more than the flow of the river’s current. The wide green open spaces will have you believing that it’s not all internet, ipods and mobiles all over the world – that some small places have survived the mainstream flow of change for its own sake. Up a few rungs on the sophistication scale but no less old and well preserved, the town of Sandomierz, with its 1600 year old city walls and open town squares, makes it clear the hare and tortoise race is still played joyfully across the eastern Europe’s far-flung borders.

Way down deep in the south by the Tatras and Carpathians (mountains not football teams) lies more quiet little gems like Jelenia Gora and Mirsk. Marvel at Jelenia Gora’s wacky stilted architecture (like on stilts, not a building with a speech impediment) and as you’d expect from a Catholic nation, as you roll through the green to the smaller towns, you can always see the church spire peeking from a distance. Why not tarry a while at one of the top-notch cabins out by the forests in little villages of 40 houses, like in Gajowka. And in the winter months these quiet retreats are not more than an hour from the mountains for some skiing and snowball throwing if you’re not instantly addicted to the round-the-town fun of fifteen sleds with kids pulled round behind a van bringing wintry squeals to the chill night air. Nothing quite like being on a sled trailed by twenty kids as you whirl round snow-covered and frozen street corners – and the fun only starts there…

-Jack Brown

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s Poland tours and things to do in Poland, from tours in Krakow to Warsaw tours and activities.

It pays to walk in London. It may be tempting to jump on the Tube or hail a taxi to get from A to B, but the city gives up its secrets on foot. In a few paces, you can move from a 21st-century glass tower to an 11th-century church. This sequence of walks – if you do them all – takes you from the Tower of London to the London Eye. You cross the Thames river three times and walk a total distance of approximately 5 miles. The things you’ll see? There’s history, politics, art, theatre, food, journalism, law, architecture and the military.

London Eye - London Walk #5

How long the walks take is up to you. If you visit some of the sights, take photographs, stop for a snack and take any side routes that take your fancy, then 2 hours per walk is not unreasonable.

The individual walks themselves are approx. 1 mile each. (But then nobody comes to London for the hiking). They are generally easy, but London pavements can be hard on feet – comfortable shoes are best!

London Walk #1: Tower of London to Borough Market

The subtitle of this walk is “Prison, Taxes and Food”! The Tower of London has hosted visitors since the 11th Century. Nowadays, you get to leave at a time of your choosing. Assuming you don’t want to buy a Beefeater teddy bear in the shop, follow the Thames Path west along towards London Bridge.

The white building behind blue railings is the 19th-century Custom House. Taxes have been collected on this site since the 13th century. In London’s trading heyday, captains moored their ships in the river, took their paperwork ashore and queued to pay their duty.

The walkway opens out in front of Old Billingsgate. Look up and the fish-shaped gargoyles give the game away: this was once the headquarters of London fish sales. The building is now a top event location: from London Fashion Week to Pirates of the Caribbean movie premieres, life here is just one long party.

On London Bridge, the fish theme continues with the building opposite you: Fishmongers Hall, home to the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers. You get a good view from here: along the river you have Tower Bridge, the glass structure of City Hall and HMS Belfast. The ship is open to visitors, but you can find yourself tripping over parties of school children.

Cross to the western side of the bridge, carry on under the railway bridge and turn right into Borough Market (open Thurs-Sat). There has been a market in this area since Roman times, but the current boundaries were fixed by an Act of Parliament in 1756. Borough Market is now a London byword for fantastic food, but is not always kind on the wallet. Consider yourself warned!

London Walk #2: Borough Market to Tate Modern

The theme here? From Shakespeare to Warhol. Southwark Cathedral is one of London’s hidden gems. It may not have the pull of the larger cathedrals, but it is an oasis of calm in the midst of the city. There is a monument to one William Shakespeare: a carved figure of the bard, beneath a stained-glass window displaying scenes from his plays.

Follow the signs for the riverside walk, and you’ll come upon the Clink Prison Museum. If tales of medieval incarceration are too gruesome, then the Golden Hinde at St Mary Overie dock may be more to your taste. This replica of Sir Francis Drake’s 16th-century world-navigating galleon is now open for guided tours, mainly aimed at children. In true English-sailor style, it is also next door to a pub, the Old Thameside Inn.

The path passes under Southwark Bridge and past the offices of the Financial Times. The big draw here is Shakespeare’s Globe. The theatre season runs April-Oct (it is open-air and this is London, after all), but guided tours of the theatre run throughout the year.

Tate Modern - London Walk #2

It’s a short hop past Bankside Pier to Tate Modern. Opened in 2000, this houses the national collection of post-1900 art. Even if Magritte, Miro, Picasso and Lichtenstein ain’t your cup of tea, the building itself – a former power station - is remarkable. A quick detour into the turbine hall will not disappoint. There is usually some form of display either outside the building or on the façade.

London Walk #3:
Tate Modern to Fleet Street

This is the ‘priests, criminals and journalists’ walk. Cross the Millennium Bridge to the north side of the river. An initial design flaw led to Londoners nicknaming this the Wobbly Bridge. (You’ll be pleased to know that it wobbles no more!).

On your way to St Paul’s Cathedral, you’ll notice the glass headquarters of the Salvation Army. Just over the road, to the left, is the College of Arms. If you want to research your family coat of arms, this is the place to begin.

Sir Christopher Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral is one of London’s most iconic sights and has been a feature of the London skyline since the 17th century. Admission charges apply but attendance at services is free.

Down Ludgate Hill, the Old Bailey (the Central Criminal Court) is on your right. The public galleries are open during court sessions and the golden statue on the top of the building is of Lady Justice.

At the bottom of the hill is Ludgate Circus and Blackfriars Bridge, deriving its name from the Dominican Friars who once lived here. Pass straight over and up into Fleet Street. This was once the home of the London press, and its legendary lunches and expense accounts. Few newspapers remain, but pubs such as Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, The Punch Tavern and Ye Olde Cock Tavern could probably tell a few tales.

London Walk #4: Fleet Street to Trafalgar Square

Interested in lawyers and actors? On weekdays, you’ll notice that many of Fleet Street’s current occupants are lawyers, striding between the Royal Courts of Justice and their chambers in the Inner or Middle Temple. This is a favourite lunchtime haunt of mine: pass through the archway opposite Chancery Lane and you emerge next to the church and flower beds of the Temple Gardens.

Whitehall - London Walk #5

Back on Fleet Street, you pass the Griffin and leave the City behind. The Royal Air Force church of St Clement Danes is in the centre of the road. It also claim to being the church in the old English nursery rhyme: “Oranges and Lemons says the bells of St Clements”.

To the left, you pass King’s College London (with a totally unexpected Roman Bath). Next door is Somerset House and the Courtauld Institute. The courtyard here stages ice-skating during the winter and water fountains in the summer.

One famous King’s alumni is WS Gilbert. The enduring comic operas that he created with Arthur Sullivan were first staged at the Savoy Theatre on the Strand. There are plenty more theatres along the Strand, enough to keep the local restaurants in business. Turn up any street on the right-hand side and you’ll reach Covent Garden.

At the end of the Strand is Charing Cross station, named after the cross erected by Edward I in memory of his wife, Eleanor of Castile. On a more modern note, Charing Cross is also relevant to London black cab drivers. Their intensive training – “The Knowledge” – is based on the streets within a 6-mile radius of here.

London Walk #5: Trafalgar Square to the London Eye

The “Corridor of Power” walk starts with the best view of Trafalgar Square, from the steps of the National Gallery. Follow Nelson’s gaze down Whitehall towards the Palace of Westminster. The entrance to Horse Guards Parade is guarded by troops of the Household Cavalry. Behind them, the parade ground leads to St James’ Park, with its famous resident pelicans.

Whitehall is then a succession of government departments, statues and memorials. The most important is the Cenotaph (“Empty Tomb”), the focus of Britain’s Remembrance Day services.

You can’t walk down Downing Street to take a picture of the policeman outside No 10 anymore, but you can look through the metal gate. You can visit the Cabinet War Rooms just round the corner, from where Churchill directed Britain’s war effort.

Parliament Square is another photo opportunity, with Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Houses of Parliament. When Parliament is sitting, visitors may attend debates in both Houses (Commons / Lords). Alternatively, you can join the peace protesters on the lawn.

Westminster Bridge provides more great views. The London Eye, also opened in 2000, is a shameless tourist attraction. Judging by the constant queues, it’s a successful one.

-Louise Heal

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s London tours and things to do in London, from the Tower of London to the London Eye to London walking and biking tours.

Las Vegas wedding - the classy version

Las Vegas is known for many things - gambling, neon, mega-resorts and, of course, the infamous “quickie wedding.”

Obviously not all weddings in Vegas are last-minute drunken and debauched events! In fact, almost 50% of weddings that are booked in Las Vegas are carefully planned in advance, right down to the last dance. However, that also means that the other 50% are booked within 48 hours of the ceremony date. Regardless of whether you’re a planner or a procrastinator, weddings in Vegas are just plain fun, and a great option if you want something a little different or memorable.

Las Vegas Weddings: The 08/08/08 factor

This year there’s even more of a reason to get married in Las Vegas: the popular date is almost upon us, August 8, 2008. Or more to the point: 08/08/08.

Why are triple digit wedding dates so popular?

The most obvious reason is so that the groom (never the bride, let’s be honest - it’s never the bride) has an easier time remembering anniversaries. I know my husband would be in deep trouble if he forgot an anniversary date like 08/08/08, it’s just too easy to remember.

Another reason is that so-called “triple digit” wedding dates hold special significance. Last year’s triple digit date - 07/07/07 - was a no-brainer for Vegas, with over 300 eager couples testing their luck on marriage (and probably at the tables and slots too). Similarly, this year’s number has special meaning in Chinese culture, with the number 8 thought to bring ‘prosperity’ and ‘wealth’, and 88 signifying ‘double joy’. (Perhaps 888 means ‘triple the fun’?)

And when you add in the times of the ceremonies, 8:00am or 8:00pm, you have the potential for piling even more prosperity in the pot! (A word to the wise: If you want to get that crazy with your 8s, you’ll need to plan ahead—this is one day of the year chapels are actually open 24 hours, just to try and fit the estimated 250-350 couples who plan to wed at each chapel.)

Las Vegas weddings gone wrong & gone right

If you’re a Vegas local, there are plenty of famous (and infamous) wedding stories. Of course there are the celebrities who get married in Vegas, including Bette Midler, Britney Spears, Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere, and Clayton Moore (better known as “The Lone Ranger”) who actually yelled “Hi ho silver!” as he left the chapel.

But the best stories aren’t always about the rich and famous. There is the one where the bride & groom switched outfits. And the one where the groom tried to run out of the door to escape impending wedded bliss, except the doors were locked and didn’t open as he thought they would, so he knocked himself out! The couple came back twice to try to get married, but never managed to actually say “I do!”

On a happier note, there is the wedding of the high-school sweethearts that married other partners, met up again after both partners died, and married at the ripe age of 88 and 85. But before actually saying ‘I Do’, the groom asked his bride if she really wanted to go through with the ceremony, because marriage is “for life”.

And one of the best parts about weddings in Vegas is that the possibilities are endless. While classic weddings are definitely on the menu, it’s the quirky and unique ones that get talked about. You want an Elvis wedding to get you and your guests all shook up? Sure.

Drive-through wedding? No problem. In fact, the sky’s the limit—and so is the Canyon floor—with everything from helicopter weddings to ceremonies in the bottom of the Grand Canyon! No matter what your style, from classic to cheesy, Las Vegas offers a wedding to suit every budget! (And if you’re ready to say “I Do”, we’re is ready to help you do it.)

Las Vegas wedding - the Grand Canyon helicopter version

-Jenny C & Jessica K

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s Las Vegas tours & things to do. If you want to get married in Las Vegas, too, so much the better.

There are times in London when the sun shines and - because it’s been pouring with rain and blowing with wind for what seems like an eternity - the quality of that sun shining is, well, it just makes you head for a park. Just drop everything you had planned, phone in sick, shut down the computer, pocket a good book and head out.

London when the sun shines… head for a park

There are big parks all over London – famous ones like Hampstead Heath and Regents Park. But Hyde Park just does it for me. It has a sort of majesty. I don’t live near it but I will always walk to it – about a mile and a half. And as I stroll along the warm pavements it feels like a lovely buxom motherly woman is beckoning me.

Hyde Park: Who says conflict is always bad?

I usually enter at the north-eastern corner, which is technically called Kensington Park Gardens, but there is no sort of boundary with Hyde Park. So as far as I’m concerned it’s all Hyde Park. At this entrance is a rotund little ice-cream-seller of a man from somewhere in the Mediterranean. A friend of mine (who doesn’t like to be told what to do) once chained his bicycle to the railings next to the rotund man’s patch, only to be told that he was cramping his style.

A full-on row ensued, culminating with my friend’s deepest of insults: “You are disgusting! You don’t even wash your T-shirt!” Which was accurate, as it was always stained and worn. Last week I noted that the T-shirt was spotless and brand new. Who says conflict is always bad.

Anyway this tiny entrance unfolds many details – the first on the right is not so exciting, a formal dog-doing bit which has some beautifully pruned trees, smallish ones that make a shaded area for your dog to relieve itself. Then the part that I have a problem with – it’s an emotional problem – the children’s crazy fantasy playground in memory of the incredible mind-blowing important person in the history of mankind on planet earth – Princess Diana.

And then there’s Kensington Palace

The playground itself looks pretty cool: a pirate ship, trees with faces carved in them, and little American Indian Tepees (pop psychology question: why do park’s focus on creating all these horrific scenarios for kids?). And what about Princess Diana? Well this was her patch. Dominating this particular corner of the park is a modern - fairly ugly - building called Kensington Palace. Flash luxury-looking helicopters seem to land and take off from in front of it at fairly regular intervals. Royalty in them. Maybe. Or perhaps foreign delegates as a road of really impressive Embassy buildings runs along this side of the park. You can see the back of some of them and their gardens with the required gazebos.

They speak of an age long gone and house the most impressive houses I have ever seen in central London – at the bottom end of the road the security gets obsessive as you get near the Israeli embassy – so don’t wear any kind of heavy thick jacket when walking in this area or you might get shot in the head. The British police are notoriously paranoid. Oh and of course – no photography. Your flash might trigger a shoot out.

So, Kensington palace – big building, houses some kind of stuff to visit – open to visitors, I’ve never been in and quite frankly have never been tempted. Go for lovely tea and cakes in the Orangerie instead – especially if you are feeling romantic – it’s behind Kensington Palace. When the time of year comes round when Princess Diana died, the gates are plastered with flowers and a huge collection of Grief fanatics assemble to pay homage. I find it deeply disturbing and just more evidence of collective insanity – mourning someone you never knew – maybe it’s the start of a new religion? I don’t know.

So let’s put her to rest otherwise it will just ruin my communicating to you the true magic of this park.

Head deep into the luscious grass of Hyde Park

(No I just can’t let it go: When she had her crash the place went mad – and some still are – there is a café in her memory on the Bayswater Road – full of pictures of Princess Diana, dotted around the park are lumps of cast metal with little arrows trying to make you walk in a certain direction in memory of her, presumably there is a map somewhere that you could correlate to these fashionable lumps of cast iron, and finally there is a weird fountain, with a fence in case you abuse it, in her memory down on the southerly area of the park. It is a sort of circle, pretty dull and full of people paddling in it, often overcrowded - it sparked a huge debate when it first appeared because somebody slipped or maybe ‘might have been able to slip and hurt themselves’ – so guards were placed to protect the fountain and visitors from hurting themselves and oh no – enough – you get the picture – health and safety – they should go to India where I was once going around the battlements of a fortified palace to find myself about to step into a hundred foot drop where the battlements had ceased to exist – no warning – barrier etc.)

So lovely day – wandering into the park – buxom lady beckoning – the ice cream seller has a clean shirt on – head into the long luscious grass – deep into the park – you can disappear into it, they don’t cut it. Couples cunnoodle all around. Sunbathers roll over at intervals. The beautiful serpentine spills from fountains (Marlborough gate fountains – lovely) wide into a little lake where Saudi Arabian families (five wives often, I’m being serious) picnic and couples bump around on light-blue pedalos.

But the real beauty is the sun shining through the big trees and the long wild grass. English trees and grass are very special when it’s hot, very cooling – lie in it if the weathers good and forget the sights – it’s free and energising and sometimes one of those damned helicopters will hover nearby but they always move on. The peace always returns and then head to the Orangerie for a cup of English tea and sandwiches or cakes.

-Laurence Belgrave

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s London tours & things to do, including Kensington Palace tickets.

When you see something interesting happen once, you think, well that’s interesting. Twice, its a coincidence. More than that, well, that’s a trend. Recently we’ve begun to notice a delightful trend on Viator - a fair number of people are proposing to their partners while on a Viator excursion.

Since we’ve added traveler photos to the website, we now get to see a picture of the happy event!

Todd hopped a helicopter to the Grand Canyon:

Which is grander, Todd’s proposal or the Grand Canyon?

Tam proposed while on a scenic helicopter flight over Los Angeles.

Bringing new meaning to “Love is in the Air” Tam proposed flying over LA

Congratulations to both the happy couples so far this month!

We’re nothing but thrilled that these travelers trust us to share in their special day, and we hope that we’ll be there when they take their honeymoons, second honeymoons, and the many more trips they’ll have ahead together.

If you’re thinking about popping the question, check out some of the romantic ideas on Viator.com. A private gondola ride in Venice, a night flight over the Las Vegas Strip, or a creative romance package in Paris, while no guarantees of a “yes”, certainly can’t hurt your chances. We’ll do our best to help you pop the question, have an amazing honeymoon, and maybe someday, keep the kids entertained with family friendly activities.

– Kelly G

If you’re shopping for any of these couples’ wedding presents, Viator gift certificates make a wonderful and unique wedding gift.

Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut. No, don’t panic. We are not writing this entire post in German. Though here at Viator HQ we’re very pleased to announce the birth (in beta) of Viator’s German-language website. Head on over to Viatorcom.de and have a look.

The tag line is “Touren, Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten” which is another way of saying, to our German-speaking travel friends, that it covers many of the same top-rated tours, activities and things to do as offered on the Viator.com website. But in German, treuer Kollege.

The site is in beta, which means we’re still working on it. But it’s definitely ready for a look, so tell all of your German friends to check out:

• Las Vegas Touren & Freizeittipps, Grand Canyon Hubschrauberrundflüge
• New York City Touren, Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten
• Barcelona Touren, Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten
• Rom Touren, Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten
• Sydney Touren, Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten

Happy travels, no matter what language you speak!

-The Viator Team

Editor’s Note: Lara was recently in Rome on assignment, taking Viator’s After-Hours Tour to the Vatican. If you’re planning a trip to Rome, there are four dates left if your want to book this private after-hours Vatican tour: August 2, August 23, September 5, September 22.

Let’s face it, the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel – holding one of the world’s richest collections of art – is one of the unmissable sights in Rome. That you must visit it is without question. How you do it is another issue, depending on time and resources.

As we stroll the 15-minute walk from St Peter’s Square, or Piazza St Pietro, along Viale Vaticano, around the colossal block that’s home to the St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, to the museum entrance, we can’t help but think how incredibly lucky we are.

Our after-hours tour of the Vatican & Sistine Chapel

Long Lines? Unbearable Queues? Not for us

Just a few hours ago, the pavement-wide line of perspiring tourists stretched over a thousand metres along this very route. Some tourists had come prepared, wearing sun hats or shading themselves under umbrellas, continually splashing on the sunscreen to protect themselves from the scorching summer sun. Others were guzzling down tepid aqua frizzante from their water bottles and munching into sandwiches they’d made from the hotel breakfast buffet earlier that morning, too scared to leave for a second to run to a caffé for a cold drink or fresh panini for fear of losing their place. While others – poor things – obviously hadn’t known about the hours of waiting in the slow-moving queue to get inside, and were wilting, no, frying, in Rome’s sweltering heat.

Around 25,000 people visit the Vatican Museums each day. Yes, that’s right – that’s not a typo – 25,000 E-V-E-R-Y day! But thankfully, for cash-rich time-poor travellers and lovers of art and architecture who want to enjoy the museums without the long sweaty wait in line, and then the constant drone of tour guides barking at their groups once they get inside, there is another alternative. And this is exactly what we’ve come to test out – Viator’s After-Hours Tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel.

When we arrive at the entrance, the heavy wooden doors are closed and the small square out front is deserted, as if everyone has gone home. Have our watches stopped? Are we late, we wonder? There are two couples waiting nearby who we discover are the rest of our ‘group’. We’re not fond of big tour groups and we were assured this one would be small, exclusive, intimate. It is, and we’re relieved.

The Vatican welcomes our little group

A few minutes later our guide, Maria Ludovic, arrives and like clockwork the guards open the big doors and we’re invited in. We already feel privileged. Special. Yet we feel positively blessed once Maria leads us inside and through the enormous ticket area, which I remember from my first visit years ago, would ordinarily be heaving with a sea of sticky sunburnt bodies. Instead, we’re still feeling refreshed from our post-flight showers and we can actually feel the cool breeze of the air-conditioning, which is impossible to detect during the day. Tonight the ordinarily crowded area is empty. We can hear our heels click on the floor and the echo of our guide’s voice bouncing off the marble.

First, Maria leads us to the vast Vatican courtyard with its perimeter posted with large explanatory signs used by tour guides to describe to their groups the highlights they should look out for as they make the way through the museum. Whether they’re able to actually see these or not once inside is another thing. There are usually masses of people shuffling through and the discomfort of the experience (definitely not recommended for claustrophobics) is a distraction in itself. But if you’re small like me and you get sandwiched between a group of tall Northern Europeans, you have no hope of noticing anything until you get to the Sistine Chapel where the numbers of visitors entering are controlled.

Tonight, however, we have none of these problems. As Maria leads us through the splendid marble-floored corridors, their ceilings dripping with candelabra and extravagantly decorated with vivid frescoes, everything gilded in gold, there’s nothing to get between us and the exquisite art on the walls and the splendid sculptures that line the halls – the Galleria dei Candelabri, the Galleria degli Arazzi (tapestries), the Galleria delle Carte Geografiche (maps) – my favourite.

Maria is well-versed on the collections and as she guides us through the museum she stops at important pieces, telling us the stories depicted in the paintings and those behind their creation, as well as sharing with us the widely-held interpretations and her own decoding of their meanings. We spend some time in the Raphael Rooms (among others), once the private apartments of Pope Julius II, where Maria admits demonstrates a knowledge of the paintings that’s astonishing. She’s a PhD holder who spent several years researching her thesis here in the Vatican libraries, and it shows. She is so engaging that we agree we’d probably do any tour if she was leading it.

The Sistine Chapel, just to ourselves

From the Raphael Rooms we finally make our way to the splendid Sistine Chapel, the one everyone has been holding their breath for. And we can hear them exhale as we enter.

Our small group in the Sistine Chapel - magical

The experience would have been overwhelming without Maria to take us through each painting and explain its significance. And actually, I did find it so on my first (guide-less) visit years ago, but that was also because of the crowds, and the lack of time. While numbers entering the Chapel are paced (unlike the rest of the Museum), there were still too many people in there for my liking and the time allowed was too short to appreciate the art properly. It was also surprisingly noisy. While speaking is meant to be forbidden, all I remember was the hum of guides talking in hushed voices to their groups.

This time, we’re alone in this dazzling space – just Terry and I, our little group, our guide, and our two guards. No throngs of noisy people to disturb us. And despite visiting before, for the first time I’m truly able to appreciate the splendour of the room and the sublime art painted on every surface of this exquisite place of worship. It’s simply breathtaking.

But what makes it so is that we’re alone. We can walk back and forth across the room, returning time and again to a particular piece of work (a Boticelli or Pinturicchio, a Perugino or Ghirlandaio) for a closer look if we want – something impossible to do during the day. We could lie on the floor on our backs and gaze up at Michelangelo’s marvellous ceiling frescoes. We could even waltz around the marble floors if we wanted to. (Well, maybe not – you better check that with Viator before taking your dancing shoes.) We also have all the time in the world. Well, not quite. But it feels that way, so that when it is time to go, we’re satisfied.

Just as we’re about to leave, we notice that Maria has tears in her eyes. Wiping her eyes, she confides: “I’m sorry, I get very emotional… telling these stories here in the Sistine Chapel. I’m very passionate about this place… this art…”

I look around at the group, and everyone seemed moved. And it wasn’t just the jet lag. The others had arrived just hours before from Australia.

“Was it worth it?” I ask them.

“Absolutely!”

“Definitely! This is a once-in-a-lifetime-experience.”

“Art is beauty is passion”.

-Lara Dunston

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s Rome tours including top-rated Vatican tours where you can skip the lines altogether.

Things to do in Japan: #10, visit a temple in Kyoto

Editor’s Note: We asked Cheryn for her top things to do in Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto and beyond for travelers planning a trip to Japan. This is her reply.

#1 Sleep on the floor

Things to do in Japan: #1, sleep in a ‘ryokan’

Forgo the usual western hotel for a Japanese inn called a ryokan. While ryokans are often more expensive than hotels, and usually come with a few rules (a curfew, for example), they give you an intimate glimpse into Japanese customs: communal baths, peaceful gardens, the ability to wear a robe (yukata) in public any time of the day.

They also offer kaiseki (elaborate and highly traditional) meals and simple rooms with sliding rice-paper doors, shrines, tatami-matted floors, and futons (which are laid out on the floor each night). If sleeping on the floor doesn’t sound comfortable, have no fears: most ryokans provide padded quilting and cushions to soften the experience.

#2 Eat fish for breakfast

Things to do in Japan: #2, eat a traditional breakfast

Food is the most elemental expression of a culture, so while in Japan be sure to try a traditional Japanese breakfast (if you’re staying at a ryokan, it’s often included).

A traditional breakfast is served at a low table with cushioned seating on the floor and includes an assortment of small lacquer-ware bowls filled with grilled fish, a ‘rolled omelet’ called tamagoyaki, salad, rice, miso soup, fermented soy beans called natto, dried seaweed, and tea. Mmmm.

#3 Take a communal bath

Put fears of public nudity aside and dip into a steaming-hot pool at a communal bath. These are known as sento or onsen – the latter uses water from hot springs. Japanese traditionally bathe in the evening, but communal baths are open for several hours in the morning as well.

Things to do in Japan: #3, take a communal bath

Don’t worry about soap and shampoo – these items are always provided, along with moisturizing lotion, cotton swabs, and hair dryers. Just be sure to first wash yourself at a shower surrounding the bath, rinsing all the soap off your body before getting in.

Soaking in steaming hot water is relaxing, meditative, and a great way to immerse yourself in Japanese culture. Communal bathing is a tradition that goes all the way back to AD 700.

#4 Sit on the toilet (go ahead, the seats are warm)

My mother taught me to never sit on a public toilet seat, but in Japan, it’s hard to resist: The seats are warm. And the comforting feeling a warm toilet seat provides is hard to express… all I can offer is that the experience is a lasting and fond memory of my travels in Japan. Being on the cutting edge of technology and electronics as it is, Japan’s toilets plug into the wall, and often offer more services than just a warm seat. Many have something akin to an armrest with buttons that operate bidet-like features and fake flushing sounds for the shy.

#5 Ride a bullet train

Things to do in Japan: #5, ride a bullet train

With 12,400 miles of track, high-speed bullet trains called Shinkansen can take you pretty much anywhere you want in Japan at speeds close to 186 mph (300 km/h). The trip between Kyoto and Tokyo takes a mere 2 hours.

The trains are operated by the Japan Railways Group, who offers 7-day, 14-day, and 21-day rail passes for unlimited travel on all JR lines throughout Japan. It’s a great value if your itinerary includes a lot of destinations.

A pass is also convenient, and does away with the hassle of figuring out how to purchase tickets. Simply show your pass to the station attendant and you’re good to go. This is especially handy as the passes work for JR’s city metro lines as well. The only hitch is you must purchase a rail pass before arriving in Japan, so plan accordingly. Also note that you can organize a Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo by bullet train over on the Viator site, including the popular Mt Fuji & Hakone from Tokyo (return by Bullet Train) trip.

#6 People watch in shopping districts

Things to do in Japan: #6, people watch

No matter what city you happen to be, there will be shopping districts. And that always makes for good people watching, especially in Japan where teenage fashion is so varied and extreme. Find a coffee shop or restaurant with a good view to while away a few hours. This is especially fun on a weekend in Tokyo’s Harajuku district, or any day of the week above Shibuya’s famous Hachiko crossing.

There’s a Starbucks with a great view of the crossing, with hundreds of pedestrians weaving in all directions at once in a mesmerizing stop-go-stop dance timed to the traffic lights. This type of crosswalk is called ‘scramble crossing’ and while there are about 300 in Japan, this one is the busiest, as it’s located right in front of the busiest train station in the world, Shibuya Station.

#7 Shop for toys

Even if your days of throwing tantrums in the toy store are long over, indulge your inner child and spend some time browsing the dense shelves of 6-floor toy stores. They sell everything from Miyazaki movie paraphernalia to scary Goth dolls, radio-controlled cars, and plastic figurines of just about any fictional character ever drawn or imagined. If the shops get too crowded, head over to an arcade and get yourself a cuddly stuffed creature from one of the many ‘claw’ game machines. And keep your eye out for vending machines that sell capsule toys–there’s one outside the Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto that dispenses Hello Kitty lunch bags for a couple of bucks.

#8 Check in to a ‘love hotel’

Things to do in Japan: #8, check into a love hotel

Take a ‘rest’ in a love hotel — so named for the activities of lovers that transpire within. Although some look ordinary and unassuming, they’re usually easy to spot.

Look for discreet windowless buildings or tacky structures with bright colors (think Vegas); neon signs that advertise amenities like themed rooms, costume play, and ‘rental goods’; and a backlit picture menu in the lobby.

Renting a room for a ‘rest’ will get you a few hours, whereas renting a room for a ‘stay’ is usually overnight, and only available in the late evening.

While the whole idea may sound kinky, a romp in a Love Hotel is apparently quite normal to the Japanese, who often have little privacy at home.

#9 Gaze upon Tokyo from the 52nd floor

If you’ve seen the film Lost in Translation, you’ll know the view from the “New York Bar” in the Park Hyatt Hotel. It’s spectacular, and well worth shelling out the 20-odd dollars for a cocktail. From 750 feet in the sky, the immensity of Tokyo is a sight to behold, especially when the city is lit up a night, full of red blinking lights that make it seem as if the city was breathing. And from here, you can actually see the curvature of the Earth.

Things to do in Japan: #9, check out the view over Tokyo

If you’re only interested in the view, it’s best to get here in the late afternoon/early evening to avoid the nightly $20 cover charge for live music (the cover charge starts at 8 pm). The bar also offers a casual dining menu, and includes a $60 hamburger.

#10 Zen out

A visit to Japan is not complete without visiting a temple. Kyoto alone has several thousand of them. Built with wood and simple in design, Japanese temples are quietly beautiful, usually set in the peaceful grounds of a garden. Kyoto is the place to go.

Spared destruction during WWII for its historical importance, today the city is home to countless temples and shrines considered national treasures. The nearby temple-laden city of Nara makes a great day trip from Kyoto, if only to visit the famous Todaiji Temple, the world’s largest wooden building.

–Cheryn Flanagan

Planning a trip? Research tours & things to do in Japan over on the Viator site, not to mention Tokyo tours, Mt Fuji day trips, and things to see & do in Kyoto. Also check out the complete set of photos from Cheryn’s trip to Japan.

Editor’s Note: If you miss Mr Squiggle as much as Jack clearly does, sign the petition to bring Mr Squiggle back!

For those of you born without eyes and ears and a television in Australia, or you just don’t know, Mr Squiggle was one of the longest-running children’s television programs on national (non-commercial) television in The Great Wide Brown Land.

He had a pencil for a nose and would use this to turn children’s “squiggles” (abstract doodles or drawings of nothing much really) into pictures that were often “upside down” (as the Black Board was fond of saying). The children’s squiggles were always on pink pieces of paper and the paper was always about A3. This would infer that adults may have been involved, but this is what is known in the business as a Red Herring. To get up to speed on the real facts watch this:

Travel the Mr Squiggle Way

How could any of this possibly be relevant to a travel blog? Well, Mr Squiggle was indeed a frequent flyer – he lived on the Moon, travelled by Rocket and was often taking “space walks”, especially in the middle of an episode, requiring him to always ask Miss Jane (his companion/co-host for the show) to “take my hand, Miss Jane, I’m going for a spacewalk”.

This would helpfully bring things back to Earth, avoiding the travel diversions that a spacewalk may bring, both for him and the show. We won’t go into the talking Steam-Shovel or the grumpy snail with a television on its back who also enjoyed creative freedom on this much loved children’s classic. Quite simply, Mr Squiggle rocked!

We could all learn quite a lot from Mr Squiggle – from holiday planning manoeuvres and trip ideas to places to go and things to be. Squiggles are probably best left for the notepad by the phone in the office or on that map on the wall and there are documented problems with noses and pencils (though probably like Mr Squiggle these are just stories). But for the discerning traveller there are no end of superlative destinations should you fancy a real space walk.

Moon on Earth: Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy, in South Australia, is the destination par excellence for the tripper on the go. It’s a squigglers delight with scarcely a straight line, person or road to be seen in this rambling desert oasis. Formerly home to 90% of the world’s opals (well they all got dug up and sold so it’s not their home anymore), Coober Pedy, like the Moon, can lay claim to an amazing diversity of people and wacky landscapes. There are over 50 nationalities that make up the population of 3,000 pillars of society and partly unstable people -some unbelievable percentage of them live in underground dugouts and the town is 700 kilometres from the next nearest nowhere. And one of the star ships from Star Wars is parked on the main street – fantastic you say!

A space ship from ‘Star Wars’ in Coober Pedy. No joke.

If you want real facts about this place then read a book, but I can truthfully tell you that the this area used to be part of the old inland sea in southern Australia – the amazing Breakaways are testament to that: hills of coloured stone mystically arranged out in the middle of a great flat expanse. The road out to Oodnadatta is regarded as travelling through a “Moon Plain”, which for you terrestrial folk is a gibber desert (tiny rocks, no monkeys).

Moon on Earth: Queenstown

Queenstown, in Tasmania, was once the site of way too much forestry and general digging-up-of-stuffness, and it’s now also regarded as a moonscape. My favourite. The people there are also a little odd, as you would expect: the fella at the petrol station told me about someone driving off with the nozzle of the petrol bowser still sticking out of his car – nice little fountain of fuel that was.

With or without a petrochemical disaster there has been talk of planting trees back up in the hills and making it look more like the rest of the planet. The local authorities said “No, it attracts the tourists the way it is”. So be attracted, find a talking snail and head down to Tasmania now! While you’re down on the island’s west coast you’ll see and hear enough things to make you think you are on another planet to make your trip more than worthwhile. Don’t swim there, it’s bloody cold.

Moon on Earth: Winton

I have mentioned Winton before so won’t carry on about it again. It’s great. It’s searing hot in summer. It’s easy to find a car-park all year round, which you can’t say about the Moon. And Nick Cave wrote a movie about it (