Viator Travel Blog

For those of you anxiously awaiting this next installment of wonder-inspiring, off-the-beaten-path places that don’t make it into traditional guidebooks. This week’s Atlas Obscura theme is self-built temples (in Italy), castles (in the U.S.) and cathedrals (in Spain)!

OK, it’s confession time. I know that tourist boards want to promote the positive and – honestly – I really do love all the good things. But sometimes I just feel in need of something a little…darker.

Fortunately, we’re in Edinburgh. Now this is a city which has (it seems) more than its fair share of rogues and gruesome tales. So Simon and I take a deep breath and head up to the Royal Mile for the start of the Ghost Hunter tour (“A 5-Star Scare Factor”).

Editor’s note: We originally posted this back in 2007, when BA first announced their surfboard ban. Since then the world’s surfing community has been boycotting BA over its policy. Just last week BA announced that from October 9, 2009, it will start carrying surfboards again – as long as they’re 6′ 3″ or less in [...]

Editor’s note: We were looking for some cheap airfares recently and came across the travel website CheapOair.com, which specializes in cheap airfares. We were intrigued, so we sent them some questions. Erin McBride, their Director of Social Marketing, was kind enough to reply. Q: In a nutshell, what is CheapOair? How is it different from [...]

It’s 6:05am in Sydney and I slowly open my eyes to see a bright orange glow around the window blinds. It’s eerie – like a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I open the blind and am greeted by a magical orange world. It’s like a Fanta fog has descended on the neighbourhood.

Summer and the movies used to be great together. Me and my mate Simon would buy a ticket to an 11am session, then spend the whole day sneaking from cinema to cinema (via the snack bar) watching movies all day. Good times. While it’s still possible to sneak into sessions through the day at Melbourne‘s big chain cinemas (not that I’m recommending it, of course), daytime is so much busier these days, what with work and babies and stuff.

Now, I’ve played plenny of board games – scrabble, draughts (or chequers if you will), a spot of chess as a young’un, and word has it maybe even a spot of Trouble, though not that I’d own up to that with less than a sixpack on the table.

London town had come a-calling, so seemed it was time for the ultimate bored game, why not a round of Monopoly? But mind you, given some of the prices you’d find in the ‘spensive parts of Ol’ Blighty, you’d have to be Rich Uncle Pennybags himself to afford a beer or five if you was to play the Monopoly drinking game. And given I’m not one to do as I’m told, drinking on queue could be added to that list, ‘specially if the mood and lighting ain’t quite right.

What, you’ve never heard of the Atlas Obscura? The founders – Dylan Thuras and Joshua Foer – have created a compendium of the world’s wonders, curiosities and esoterica. It’s all about the wonder-inspiring, off-the-beaten-path places that don’t make it into traditional guidebooks. This week’s installment: endless salt flats and deadly snakes that melt human flesh!

You may have read earlier about Viator.com being nominated for the TRAVELtech 2009 Website of The Year award (click here if you missed it). TRAVELtech honors the top travel websites in Australia. And yes, mate, Viator has Australian roots! Viator was founded and maintains a strong presence in Australia (along with our offices in San [...]

I’ll start off with a confession, I am becoming hopelessly addicted to Beatles Rock Band, I would play it eight days a week. My brother and I are big Beatles fans, so naturally we got the game, and despite genetic advantages, are still trying to get our high harmonies in sync.

Let’s just say I have new respect for the Beatles’ skills since they could score a double or triple fab every time, and we are still trying to get a couple per song consistently. Still my brother’s rock band guitar gently weeps.