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More shiny TripRider goodness

App Review: TripRider

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During my recent trip through Thailand and Cambodia, I found myself with precious little internet time. I could live without my Facebook status updates, my Tweets, and watching my favourite shows fresh off the US production line – but not having the time to sit down and write was certainly something I found frustrating.

To that end, I spent my travel downtime huddled over my iPad frantically tapping out notes on the trip so that I’d be able to write about our adventures through Phuket, the Kohs, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap when I did have some free time (and a more sizable keyboard).

My hastily typed travel notes on my iPad
My hastily typed travel notes on my iPad

There’s no shortage of apps out there claiming to make traveling a little easier on you. A decent number of them have made brief appearances on my iPad or iPhone (may it rest in peace) over the years, only to be deleted when I realized that they really weren’t much use to me.

Enter TripRider, which I was lucky enough to be given a free chance to try out. And charitable guy that I am, I’m also going to give five of my readers a chance to win themselves a free copy as well!

The Pros

What I liked about TripRider is that it looks polished. Too many travel notepad apps look like they’ve been put together by a kid using MS Paint, so TripRider justifies its price tag of $4.99 right out of the gate by looking like it’s actually worth your money.

TripRider looking shiny
Ooh! Shiny!

As you can see, the front page gives you the option to add a new trip, look at old trips, or update your latest trip. I took the chance to play around with TripRider during my long weekend visit to Shanghai – as you can see.

It all looks very pretty, but what does it do?

TripRider does a little bit of everything. It’s part travel journal for those of us who travel a lot and want to keep notes. It’s part itinerary organiser, part budget calculator, and part important documents holder. In short – it does a bunch of things that a guy like me should do when traveling – but often forgets to do.

You do pay a premium (in my mind, $4.99 is more than I like to pay for an app) but you’re getting a far more complete product for your buck. Most other travel notebook apps I’ve found don’t do half of what TripRider does.

More shiny TripRider goodness
More shiny TripRider goodness

Without question, my favourite feature of TripRider is the budget calculator (located underneath the US dollar). It’s simple to input your budget and then use the Expenses tab (underneath the receipt) to keep track of where your money is going.

All of this is available without an internet connection as well, so there’s no need to find a WiFi hotspot while you’re on the road. It’s quick and easy, and that’s how I like both my women and my apps.

The Cons

TripRider is not perfect, but there is certainly opportunity for it to be. Somewhere down the line I’d love for them to include things such as a currency converter (edit: this has been added in the new 6.0 update), access to Google maps, and most importantly: some kind of database to go with the ‘Must See’ and ‘Location List’ tabs. Right now, these are really just notepads into which you can type your own ideas.

I’ve seen other reviews bemoan the fact you have to manually create your own packing list – but this doesn’t really phase me. I’ve never created a packing list in my life.

TripRider has a good base to start from and will only improve with continued development. When everything is in place, you’ll be able to delete the 3 or 4 apps that add up to do the same job TripRider ultimately will. And in the short term, it’s still a very easy and convenient way to document your travels.

Want to know more? Visit the TripRider website or like TripRider on Facebook.

You can also download the free (Lite) TripRider or the full TripRider for $4.99

Win a Free Copy!

$4.99 can go a long way towards a meal in Thailand, a train ticket in China, or a large bottle of Soju in South Korea. So, save your money and win a free copy right here!

I’ve got five copies to give away and all you’ve got to do is comment below and tell me about your next trip! Easy peazy, lemon squeezie.

Canada, Travel Daydream
Photo from http://www.americapictures.net/beautiful-niagara-falls-ontario-canada.html

Travel Daydream: Canada

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In previous daydreams I’ve hung out on the beaches of Tenerife, had a debauched boys weekend in Las Vegas, explored the ancient wonders of Egypt, and escaped the hustle and bustle in the Lakes District.

This week I’m taking a slightly different path as I pay a mental mind-visit to the Great White North that is Canada. Despite having an abundance of friends from Canada (including Byron of Byron & His Backpacks fame) and having been perilously close to Canada during my visits to northern Idaho in 2009 and Seattle in 2012, I’ve yet to make the jump across the border to the US’s friendly northern neighbor.

Given I’ve just committed to another year in China, I’ve got two visits to Australia on the horizon, and I’m expected to play groomsman at my best friend’s wedding in England next May, I daresay Canada’s going to have to wait a bit longer before I can pay it a legit visit. So I guess I’ll have to make do with closing my eyes, channeling some of the cold outside, and taking myself on a mental visit to Canada.

A Bucket List Journey

My recent visit to Thailand and Cambodia allowed me to check eight items off of my bucket list, and Canada’s certainly a place where I could check off a few more. With that in mind, my list below is part daydream and part bucket check-list.

And no visit to Canada would be complete without visiting my many friends scattered across the country. While some are living in less visited places like Saskatoon and Prince Edward Island, many live in bigger centers like Vancouver or Toronto. I daresay I’d start with a Toronto tour package and then go where my heart (and free couches across the country) took me.

Let’s go!

See the northern lights in Churchill, Manitoba

Never heard of Churchill? I hadn’t either. But with seeing the northern lights (aurora borealis) high on my life’s to do list, I did a quick search and this came up as one of the best places to take in one of nature’s most stunning shows.

To see the northern lights in person... Oh, it'd be amazing! Photo from Wikipedia.
To see the northern lights in person… Oh, it’d be amazing! Photo from Wikipedia.

It’s also the polar bear capital of the world according to its website, so seeing one of the largest predators in the world is a very real possibility while visiting the quiet town on the shores of the Hudson Bay. Visiting in March would also let me attend the Aurora Winter Festival, which would be a good chance to have a romantic fair date and check off another item on my bucket list.

Canada’s part of America, right?

Learn to ski at Whistler

I’m sure there are better places to ski in Canada, but Whistler Blackcomb is as synonymous with skiing in Canada, as Bondi Beach is as synonymous with Australian beaches.

I didn’t see snow for the first time until I was 13, and in the sixteen years since I’ve not once seen snow deep enough to cover my ankles – let alone deep enough to prompt me to throw myself down a mountain at high speed. And so, the dream of learning to ski or snowboard has been on the back-burner.

But if I’m going to learn, what better place to do it than at one of the world’s most famous ski resorts?

Go dog-sledding in Alberta

Dog-sledding might raise a few eyebrows from the hippies out there, but I’ve always wanted to shout ‘mush’ and ride behind a small army of beautiful huskies. Companies like Snowy Owl Tours make the experience accessible even to novices such as myself, so there’s no need to train your own team up from scratch.

dog sledding
Dog-sledding may not be PETA approved, but damned if it doesn’t look like fun.

See Niagara Falls

You can’t really go to Canada without visiting Niagara Falls. I mean, you can, but I’m pretty sure that makes you a bad person. It’s like visiting the United States without seeing New York or visiting China and not going to the Great Wall of China.

Whether I just gaze at the wonder of one of the world’s most impressive waterfalls or get up close and personal with a cruise on the Maid of the Mist, taking in the sight would just leave me Iguazu Falls and Angel Falls to check off from my list.

Rough it camping in Nunavut

A big chunk of the ‘manly’ items on my bucket list revolve around roughing it in the wilderness – catching and cleaning my own meal, seeing animals in the wild, spending weeks away from my precious internet… Nunavut in Canada’s icy north might just be the best place in the world to don a flannel shirt and be the manliest ginger bearded man on the planet.

Eat poutine in Montreal

I’ve sampled poutine in Sydney, in South Korea, and even as recently as last week here in China – but I’ve yet to try the real thing. With French Canada possessing a culture all of its own; a visit to Quebec would also offer me a chance to see a totally different side of Canada. With a number of competitive Montreal packages, it’s not likely to be a trip that would break the bank either.

Asia, Japan
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/batardy_sebastien/

5 Different Things to do in Tokyo

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A Change on the Horizon

It’s been a busy few months for the Aussie on the Road. In addition to having a girlfriend and my usual work duties, there’s been smatterings of travel such as trips to Changzhou, Lianyungang, Shanghai, Hainan, and (most recently) Thailand and Cambodia.

This new-found faster-paced life has meant considerably less time for navel gazing, TV show marathons, and – most frustratingly – working on Aussie on the Road.

And while I’ve got a bevvy of experiences from as far back as last summer’s United States tour to write about, sometimes it’s more exciting to look forward than look back.

Japan has long been a country that has fascinated me, but in spite of that, I’ve spent no more time there than a handful of days in Fukuoka doing a visa run from South Korea in 2009. Even that brief glimpse whet my appetite, and if I can’t get excited to write about adventures gone by – I figured I’d write about adventures to come instead.

What follows is a short list of five different, unusual, or odd things to do in Tokyo. Much like my previous lists on different places to visit in China, different things to do in London, different things to do in Egypt, and different things to do in the United Kingdom – it’s all research. If you’ve got suggestions or ideas of your own, I’d love to hear them!

Enough waffling on from me, here’s my (hastily researched) list of different things to do in Tokyo, Japan.

Different Things to do in Tokyo

There’s no shortage of things to see in Tokyo. After all, it’s one of the biggest and most energetic city’s in the world. A dizzying fusion of traditional Japanese values being rapidly overrun by modernization and Japan’s vibrant consumer culture – Tokyo is also no stranger to some of the ‘weirdness’ that so many foreigners find endearing about Japan.

You can check into a fancy hotel, brave one of the claustrophobia inducing capsule hotels, or play it safe as many are doing by renting short-term apartments in Tokyo.

What follows is not a list of must see sights or photo opportunities. It’s simply a list of five unusual things to do in Tokyo. Who knows? They could very well be the highlight of the trip!

5. Indulge in arcade gaming (and batting cages)

Much like Korea, Japan really does come alive at night. While locals and foreigners alike cram into hostess bars and karaoke bars to drink the night away, they aren’t the only options for late night revelry.

Japan does arcades in a way that nobody else can
Japan does arcades in a way that nobody else can. Photo property of Rob Sheridan.

One of my fondest memories from my time in Gwangju (Korea) was a night of drinking that culminated with a late night visit to batting cage/arcade for some drunken swinging (and missing), Tetris, and feats of strength.

It didn’t take long for me to find a similar venue in Tokyo – with Oslo Batting Center seeming to be the most popular venue. One particular blogger goes so far as to recommend the entire Shinjuku area for late night silliness on (or off) a budget. You can read his Shinjuku After Dark thoughts over on his blog.

4. People Watch

So few people indulge in the ancient and only slightly creepy art of people watching, but it truly is one of my favourite ways to pass a bit of time when my girlfriend is looking at crafts and my Kindle is not close by. Whether it’s the quaint mall in rural Armidale, the insanity of Fremont Street in Vegas, or an underground station in China – there are few better ways to get an insight into a culture than by simply observing it.

And as proof that there are no original ideas left, I’ve actually found a post specific to the best places to people watch in Tokyo. I just saved you a visit to Google.

3. Visit the Parasite Museum

One of the (only) highlights from my recent visit to Bangkok was an afternoon spent indulging my inner psychopath at the Forensic Museum.

Ian Ord’s very cool entry on visiting the Forensic Pathology Museum tipped us off, and we had a blast ogling fetuses in jars, half destroyed skulls, and mummified corpses.

To that end, the Meguro Parasite Museum sounds like my cup of tea. A collection of over 45,000 parasites (including one freakishly long tapeworm) await those braving this particular Tokyo attraction. Creepy!

Not your cup of tea? There are also museums from everything ranging from the conventional (history, art, and science) to the intriguing (swords, baseball, and music) to the downright odd (gas appliances, leprosy, and the Tokyo waterworks).

2. Participate in (or watch, you pussy!) some cosplay

If you’re a pervert like me, perhaps the first image that comes into your head when you hear the word ‘cosplay’ is squealing schoolgirls and gross tentacle monsters, but I’m certain every one of you pictures something off the wall and zany.

Zombie cosplay at the 2011 Brisbane Zombie Walk
Somehow still strangely hot. Japanese girls in zombie nurse attire at the 2011 Brisbane Zombie Walk.

Cosplay (or costume play, for the thick) is huge in Japan. Hell, it’s not without its fans in Korea and China from my experience.

While you may wish to play it safe and just indulge in a little people watching, I like to think I’d go balls deep and pick myself up a costume to really enjoy the experience. It’s all about immersion, right?

Tokyo’s Harajuku district is the place to be if you like to dress up and get down, and there’s also the twice yearly Comiket convention for those wanting a more in depth look at the Japanese subculture.

Akihabara is home to a number of cosplay restaurants if you’d rather be served by a woman in costume than dress up yourself. The notorious ‘maid cafes’ take things to a nearly inappropriate levels as you’re addressed as ‘master’, hand fed your food, and even spanked by the staff in their French maid outfits.

Sounds like my kind of place!

Which leads us nicely into…

1. Visit a theme restaurant

The Japanese sure do know how to make eating a meal exciting. Theme restaurants abound across Japan, but Tokyo has to have some of the strangest you could find.

Want to dine as if you’re a patient in a mental hospital? Alcatraz has you covered.

Do you yearn for the days when you ate lunch in a cafeteria? Kyushukutoban School Cafeteria restaurant is your ticket back to the social awkwardness you have been repressing for years!

Ninjas? Vampires? Disney’s Aladdin? Tokyo has your back!

Or did you like the sound of those French maids hand feeding you? OK Bukujo might be right up your alley.

Prisons and Churches, kittens and Alice in Wonderland… there’s something for every taste, no matter how weird. And damned if I wouldn’t have it any other way.

How’d I Do?

As I said at the outset, this all comes from research, so I’m far from an expert. Have you been to Tokyo and visited one of these weird and wonderful places?

Or maybe you’re stunned by the absence of your own personal favourite. What are your favourite strange or different things to do in Tokyo? Sharing is caring, folks!

 

Activity Review, Asia, Thailand

Getting Romantic: A Valentine’s Cooking Class in Chiang Mai

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After three weeks in Thailand and a week in Cambodia, I finally find myself back in China – land of (occasional) work, inhospitable cold, and reliable internet. Heather and I managed to pack a whole hell of a lot into our four weeks of travel, so the entries could be coming thick and fast over the next few weeks.

Rather than go in sequence, I thought I’d share a little about our Valentine’s Day in Chiang Mai as well as a cool little romantic infographic I found. But I’ll get to that one a little later. For now, here’s how I romanced my girl on Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day in Thailand

Valentine’s Day 2013 found Heather and I on our second to last day in Thailand’s beautiful northern city of Chiang Mai. Renowned by bloggers and travelers alike for its laid back vibe, amazing food, and wealth of outdoor adventures to be had – Chiang Mai was probably the stop on our three week Thailand tour that I was most excited for.

Still, the idea of trying to romance my girl in a country I wasn’t exactly ‘at home’ in was not one I relished. I have my flower place in Nanjing. I have my bakery and my supermarket and my cheesy little gift shops. I know the nice restaurants (such as they are) and have the facilities to put together a home cooked meal and a romantic night in.

These were things I’d be a little more hard pressed to do living out of the lovely Opium Hotel, but thankfully, I had a little help. It was no Cherub who suggested our romantic cooking class in Chiang Mai – it was my girlfriend, the Nomadic American. Under normal circumstances I might have blustered about cooking being boring, but I know enough to shut up when romance is concerned.

An hour later, we were piling into the back of a tuk-tuk to head off to the Smart Cook Thai Cookery School.

A Thai Cooking Class in Chiang Mai

The romance behind cooking with your partner isn’t something I wasn’t already aware of. If Will Smith’s bloated face in Hitch hadn’t already made me aware of the appeal, there have been episodes of everything from Dexter to How I Met Your Mother to inform a naive country bumpkin like myself of the romantic (and sexual) appeal of getting a little hot and sweaty in the kitchen with some good food and your significant other.

The group setting at Smart Cook doesn’t exactly play to the sexual, but the choice to do a bit of cooking together was still one abundant in romance. Hell, we weren’t even the only couple in our class.

After meeting up with our teacher, Pear, we were given a brief tour around a typical Chiang Mai market while being introduced to many of the common ingredients in Thai food.

Thai vegetable market
A typical Thai market. Photo courtesy of Heather Flemion.

I’m an unabashed lover of Thai food – from the delicious sweetness of coconut cream in a Green or Red Curry, to the zest of lemongrass in Pad Thai, to the fusion of tastes that come when combining lime and peanuts and Thai ginger in a flavor-packed serving of Tom Ka Gai.

My previous cooking attempts here in China have met with disaster, so the opportunity to expand upon my limited repertoire (currently limited to chicken with mushroom and Parmesan cheese, a healthy black bean & lentil burrito filling, and pasta) with a few dishes I might actually want to eat.

The effervescent 'Pear' was a fantastic and entertaining teacher.
The effervescent ‘Pear’ was a fantastic and entertaining teacher. Photo courtesy of Heather Flemion.

Pear had a fantastic sense of humour. When she wasn’t ably steering us through the sometimes confusing world of Thai cooking, she was cracking bad jokes that would make a seasoned father wince.

“What is the difference between red curry and green curry?”

“One is spicier!” I shouted helpfully.

“No,” she corrected me, “They are a different colour”.

But bad jokes aside, Pear was a fantastic teacher as she taught us how to cook Tom Ka Gai and my personal Thai favourite, Pad Thai Kai (chicken).

Almost too comfortable with a knife in hand
Almost too comfortable with a knife in hand. Photo courtesy of Heather Flemion.

Standing over a hot stove-top on a similar hot Thai day certainly took some doing, but the delicious food we got to craft with our own hands was a fitting reward. Break #1 saw us chowing down on food I couldn’t believe I’d had any role in creating. I’m all fingers and thumbs in the kitchen, so to be able to savour something good that I’d made was a bit mind blowing and a real testament to the effortless way in which Smart Cook steered us through the process.

Green Curry, Spring Rolls, and the similarity between sex and making curry paste

We’d tackled two relatively easily Thai food staples in part one of our Thai cooking class, but Pear’s sister was on hand to kick things up a notch with a few more challenging items – a curry and spring rolls.

Step #1 would be creating our own curry paste from scratch, but while five of us opted to make the sweeter green curry – Heather dared to be different and tackled the red all on her lonesome.

“When using the mortar and pestle,” we were informed, “You can tell which women are good to their men and which are lazy”. She paused for a moment to let that sink in as she slowly made the motion that serve the dual purpose of reducing ingredients to a fine paste and reducing men to a quivering heap.

Making green curry paste
Heather’s a diligent soldier as she pounds ingredients into submission. Good form, love!

I’m ashamed to say I was worryingly proficient with mortar and pestle. Heather didn’t do too badly either, mind.

An hour (and several painful oil spit related injuries later) we were settling down for round #2 – a sweet and spicy curry and a mixture of traditional vegetarian spring rolls and sweet banana spring rolls. While my aptitude at rolling spring rolls can most definitely be questioned, I reckon I did a more than fine job on making my second favourite Thai dish. My green curry was the bomb-diggity.

Banana spring roll ingredients
Banana spring rolls in their embryonic stages. Photo courtesy of Heather Flemion.

Worth It?

Our lesson – including pick up & drop off, all ingredients, four delicious dishes, the market tour, and a cook book of twenty or so mouth-watering Thai dishes came to 700 baht (around $25) apiece. Not a bad price to pay for 3-4 fun hours, a good meal, and a few life lessons.

The class of six at work
Our class hard at ‘work’. Photo courtesy of Heather Flemion.

The team at Smart Cook made what might have otherwise overwhelmed a kitchen dunce like me into a surprisingly easy task. I now understand why so many people were recommending a Thai cooking class in Chiang Mai as a must do on my visit. Who knew?

I’m sure everybody has their preferred Thai cooking school in Chiang Mai, but I can’t imagine being more satisfied than we were. Bellies full, wallets not too much lighter, and brains burdened by new knowledge – we left thoroughly pleased with our (Heather’s) decision.

Your Say

Ever taken a cooking class and lived to tell the tale?

Or, if cooking ‘ain’t your bag, what do you think of the infographic? Does it hit the mark or is it as far off as my opinions on red v green curry?

Budget Travel, Guest Post
fruit picking Australia

Guest Post: Why Backpackers Love the Jobs You Hate

 8 Comments

Why backpackers love the jobs you hate

bartender
Is there a more iconic backpacking job than that of the humble bartender?

Each year more than 115,000 young people set off on a working holiday to Australia, and spend a year or two soaking up the sunshine while earning a bit of cash at the same time. The single biggest nationality to take advantage of Australia’s working holiday visa programme are the Brits, who flock down under in their masses each and every year, while Irish and German travellers also head to Australia in big numbers. And if you are one of those lucky enough to be aged 30 or younger and fancy sampling a different way of life while you’re still fit and active then you too can jet off to the land of Oz. Yet while this opportunity may sound like a great adventure – just what is the reality of life working down under? After all, many on working holiday visas have to get by undertaking tough, manual labour or low-paid menial jobs with little recompense. So why do so many do it? Well it turns out that these are exactly the kind of jobs backpackers thrive on, and here’s why.

Most backpackers who make their way to Australia are there for the experience, for fun, and, generally, most do not want to get too committed to a stressful, demanding job. While menial labour may not seem too glamorous, it perfectly fits the lifestyle that most backpackers want to maintain – short bursts of intense work, and then more leisure time to have fun and explore the continent.

fruit picking Australia
Fruit picking season in Australia is a Godsend for many backpackers.

Jobs like picking fruit, pouring coffee, waiting, manning the shop floor, cleaning dishes in restaurants can all be picked up quickly and then, when it is time to move on, can be left behind with no hard feelings. Nor do these jobs necessarily need any kind of expertise or years of back-breaking experience – you just turn up, receive your basic training and get to work. And with such a high variety of jobs available in all four corners of Australia (five if you include Tasmania!), sticking to this kind of work and building up your experience means you can go wherever you like and pick up wages quickly. Suddenly the appeal of herding camels in the outback, washing boats in Cairns, pulling cups of espresso in Sydney, pouring pints of beer in Brisbane and mopping up the floors of shopping malls in Melbourne seems obvious. It also helps that, with so many now coming to Australia in search of temporary work, it is easy to meet new people doing seasonal work, with many in the same boat as you.

And let’s not forget, many backpackers do not see these jobs as future careers, more as seasonal or short-term work that lets them save up enough money to move on to the next place on their itinerary – whether that be Alice Springs, Ayer’s Rock, the fashionable suburbs of Melbourne, or the golden sands of Surfer’s Paradise on the coast of Queensland.

Yet a working holiday in Australia can have some surprising financial incentives, as well, particularly in the form of claiming back your taxes. Non-residents may claim back their superannuated pension contributions once they have finished their working holiday and returned home. Superannuation contributions are paid by employers on behalf of employees, and amount to 9% of a worker’s wage, therefore, anyone returning home after completing their working holiday is entitled to a further 9% of their earnings, less a deduction of 30% that is withheld by the Australian government. So if you have been working down under for a year, you can look forward to a significant tax return shortly after leaving!

What’s more, backpackers can also claim tax deductions on any expenses related to their Australian job – for instance, a fruit picker will be able to claim deductions for a pair of sturdy shoes, tough gloves or transport getting to and from the farm. And don’t forget that, as you leave Australia for the last time at the end of your working holiday, you can even claim a refund on GST, or Sales Tax, for any significant amount of goods taken out of the country. This should be claimed at Customs at your departure airport, and all receipts and invoices must be presented to ensure you receive your refund.

So it is clear that all these elements add up to make working holidays a superb option for those who want to enjoy themselves in another country whilst also earning enough money to live on. And if that weren’t enough, you even get a bonus when you leave.

About the Author

Sarah Kelly, Experienced Backpacker and feature travel writer for Taxback.com. Sharing experiences and tips with the avid traveller, including working holiday tax refunds to the benefits of travelling on a budget.