The Art Of Travel | Viator Travel Blog

Lost in Transit

19. June 2009

You’ve probably been getting the idea lately that I’ve been all over the place like some kind of bad euro-rash – y’know: everywhere at once and no matter what you do you can’t seem to get rid of it. I’ve had more than my share of disorder and, dare I say it in a public arena, distress in my days in the Northern Territory. And to tell you the truth I’m not even sure what I’m doing in Europe anyway.

Rome Photo Tour: Advice from Pro Photographers

17. June 2009

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Rome Photo Tour: Advice from Pro Photographers

If you are at all like me you have a pretty cool camera and you just love taking pictures. But none of them look like they would make it into National Geographic, and you really can't put your finger on exactly why. It's not that you don't go to interesting places, or take enough shots, or try hard enough. There's just something missing. That's how I feel most of the time when I look at my travel photos. Lately I've been feeling better though, and it's because I took one of our photography walking tours in Rome.

Project Easter Island: Seattle

16. June 2009

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I had three homes in Seattle recently. Number one: a performance studio in heart of Capitol Hill called Studio-Current. Two: just down the block, a new restaurant/café called Oddfellows. Three: A fabulous old home in the Madison Park neighborhood. I'd driven up from Portland for a brief artist residency and performance/art gathering for the Easter Island Project's Participation Tour.

What’s Happn.in!

1. June 2009

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We’ve been keeping an eye on new Twitter travel tools, and here’s one we really like. It’s a new site called happn.in. The idea here is simple: the site creates ‘local’ trend watchers for top cities around the world (Amsterdam to San Francisco, Sydney to London, a few dozen more so far) and displays the [...]

Cruising through Germany on the Danube & Rhine

19. May 2009

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Cruising through Germany on the Danube & Rhine

The small town of Regensburg in southern Germany was a revelation. We docked there at sunset, next to a butcher selling the region's famous wurst, then strolled through the winding narrow streets to the magnificent cathedral, which is apparently the prime example of Gothic architecture in southern Germany. We could only admire the exterior, as we stopped for a late-afternoon ice cream across the square, and watched as the last visitors straggled out and the door slammed shut.

Travel by Eurovision

15. May 2009

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It’s that time of year again, my favourite time: the Eurovision Song Contest. This year from Moscow, in Russia. And the flavour of the year: string instruments, women in white, men in suits. And love songs, but I think that's true of every year. As always, I will take this year's 2009 national offerings as my travel guide for where to go and who to avoid. And I also want to award a few prizes of my own – in advance on Saturday's final.

Iceland: Music Festival at the End of the World

1. May 2009

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Iceland: Music Festival at the End of the World

Glastonbury. Isle of Wight. Ísafjörður…? Okay, so maybe you’ve never heard of that last one. But as far as festival towns go, Ísafjörður, the capital of Iceland’s Westfjörds, is up there with the best of them. Each Easter weekend since 2005 the tiny fishing town (population of approximately 3,000 people) - has been attracting music lovers from all over Iceland and the rest of the world, keen to hear the latest musical offerings from the land that produced the likes of the Sugarcubes, Björk, and Sigur Rós.

Travel for the Love of Film, Music, Books

20. April 2009

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Travel for the Love of Film, Music, Books

There are some films that make you just want to be there, even though you know rationally that it was only a movie, not real life (and even if it was real life, by the time the film comes out the original event is long-gone). There is something exciting about standing on a street corner that you have visited in film-inspired dreams. Films immortalise locations even as they mess with local geography; they give us a glimpse into an incredible range of places and possibilities.

New Dimensions in Travel

1. April 2009

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The Lucerne Space-Time Research Institute today announced the release of their DIY Wormhole ‘Travel-Lite’™, an exciting new development in the travel market, promising to revolutionise long-haul travel and radically alter long-distance flights. Released in partnership with the Planck Facility for the Advancement of Hyper-dimensional Travel, the ‘Travel-Lite’™ will allow domestic users to create their own wormhole [...]

What to Do in Brussels

31. March 2009

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You may have suffered from the stereotypical mis-perception that Belgium is not the most interesting of places, and that Brussels has nothing much going on beyond the European Parliament and museums filled with Old Flemish masters. Well, like me, you'd be wrong. (I'm tempted not to tell you any of this, as Brussels is the best-kept secret I know.)