Viator Travel Blog

You think Sydney, you think the beach. And you’d be right. There are about 150 beaches in the Sydney metropolitan area! The city’s spread along a long coastline fronting the Pacific Ocean, full of coves and rivers, ocean pools and surf, cliffs and treacherous waves. It’s spectacular and awesome and chilled out, all at the same time. And as winter starts to release its grip in Australia and we head into summer (remember summer in Australia starts in December!) I’ve created a Sydney beach guide to get you in the mood for the next Australian summer.

It’s been a busy time for the giant pandas at San Diego‘s world renowned zoo this past week!

First up, two birthdays were celebrated this week. Su Lin (meaning ‘a little bit of something very cute’ in Chinese) celebrated her fourth birthday on Monday with a massive two-tiered “cake” made of ice, carrots, bamboo and apples. The other big news to come out of San Diego Zoo this week is that momma panda Bai Yun (meaning ‘white cloud’) gave birth to her fifth panda cub!

Haven’t heard of Viva la Summer? This week’s featured destination is Paris (see below for some of our favorite things to do in Paris). As always our first order of business: we’re pleased to honor our Viva la Summer traveler of the week. This week it’s Keith N. from Ireland. He submitted a lovely photo of himself and the family taken on a Paris city tour, Seine River cruise, and Eiffel Tower tour. Really, doesn’t this photo make you want to take the whole family on a vacation to Paris?

The first time I went to the newly re-opened California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco I didn’t feel like I got the most out of my experience. On the plus side, I skipped the line outside with my pre-bought ticket and I saw the aquarium and the living roof, but I didn’t go in the rain forest and I didn’t see the show at the planetarium. And the reason I didn’t do those things is that the line inside for them, while well managed, was long, like an hour long.

Swimming in a lake for hours on end. Cooking pulled-pork on a barbecue grill in 90-degree heat. Water skiing. Tubing. Wake boarding. Sitting on a porch with four generations of the same family. Coolers overflowing with cans of ice-cold beer. The blaring of cicadas at dusk, outboard motors at dawn, air-conditioning pumps all night long.

The US State Department has not yet updated its Mexico travel advisory (as of May 7), but we’re seeing news reports and hearing from travelers on the ground that arrivals in Mexico are up. We’re also hearing that Mexico’s tourism authorities are (belatedly) getting the news out that, as of today, there are still no confirmed swine flu cases in the beach resort areas of Cancun, Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta. Plus it’s a safe bet that airfares to Mexico are cheaper than they’ve been in a long time.

Disneyland is many things to many people. It’s memories past and future. It’s magic. It’s expensive. It’s a good walk spoiled. Wait, that last one is golf, but still, there’s a lot of walking. Disneyland used to be one man’s dream – the original magic kingdom, but it has since morphed into something much bigger, and though purists may disagree, perhaps better. Remember that when you’re standing in line behind crying kids and screaming parents. It’s the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down, and quite frankly, it’s pretty magical.

I’ve just spent a couple of months in Melbourne catching up with family and friends. And I have to admit I’d forgotten what a fab town it is. I was born and raised there, and sometimes it’s hard to really see your hometown, but a few years away gave me fresh eyes. So here’s my Top 10 of things I did this Downunder Summer in Melbourne.

If you find yourself in Sydney next week (March 7 – 15), you’re very luck indeed. The city is celebrating its annual Harbour Week Festival, with more than 350 events in, on, around, over and even under Sydney’s iconic harbour.

The big events are the Sydney Harbour Regatta (March 7 – 9), when more than 350 yachts compete and thousands of spectators gather harbour-side to watch (the event is free to watch).

Do you have kids? I have one. His name is Emmett. He’s nearly three years old. He loves penguins. And fish. And butterflies. And snakes. And jellyfish. And alligators. Most of the time we only get to experience these things in books. Which is why I was super-duper excited to check out the newly reopened California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco‘s Golden Gate Park.