The Gold Coast Hinterland and Scenic Rim are one of the hidden secrets of . . . → Read More: 5 Unusual Things to Do on the Gold Coast]]> Australia’s Gold Coast is one of the favourite holiday sites. It gained popularity in the 1950s with the beginnings of Surfers Paradise as a seaside town. It is one of the top tourist centres around the world.

Explore the Hinterland

The Gold Coast Hinterland and Scenic Rim are one of the hidden secrets of South East Queensland. The striking mountain rainforest area of Tambourine Mountain and Lamington National Park are in the Border Ranges just west of the Gold Coast. The Lamington National Park offers family activities that include Rainforest Retreat, the Tree Top Walk, Canungra Valley Vineyards and Mountain Villas. In the Mt. Tamborine area, visitors will enjoy Thunderbird Park, the rope course, and the Gallery Walk of crafts stores and cafes.

Hot Air Ballooning

A Hot-Air Balloon Gold Coast Tour and Vineyard Champagne Breakfast let riders view the scene of the Gold Coast Hinterland and enjoy a breakfast. The attraction consists of transport from specific accommodations on the Gold Coast, the balloon ride over the Hinterlands, and the O’Reillys Vineyard Champagne breakfast. Balloon riders receive a flight certificate as a souvenir.

Rally Driving

Rally Driving with WRX, which an Australian motor sport facility, is offering off-road driving. Visitors can be the driver or passenger in a prize-winning Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car. These cars have equipment that match race specifications, for example, roll cages, five-point racing harnesses, and race seats. The cars race at 350 hp. with 420 nm of torque, and they reach zero to 100 in 4.5 seconds. The racetrack is a 1.2 km circuit that is purpose built out of gravel. The driver will experience four, six or fifteen laps of driving instruction, a debriefing, certificate signifying completion, and a trophy for a winner with 15 laps.

The Super Duck

Gold Coast Super Duck Tours provide both water and land tours. They leave from Oz on the Gold Coast. The tours have five vehicles that are air-conditioned and can handle up to 200 passengers. The Ducks traverse from the sand on the beach into the water to cruise the Gold Coast past the mansions, Sea World and the Versace Hotel. Boaters will find souvenirs on board. Kids can drive and ride for no cost.

Sky Diving

The Australian Sky Dive Company operates Jump the Beach Brisbane. The Sutton’s Bay Drop Zone is 30 miles north of the city of Brisbane. The zone is located between the Bribie and Moreton Islands in Moreton Bay and the Glass House Mountains. The ski divers will view these landmarks during the dive. The skydiving process begins with directions, fitting with a harness and practice of free fall techniques. Then divers move to the aircraft, where they will fly up to 14,000 feet while flying over Brisbane and the islands. The sky divers free fall with the tandem master for 60 seconds with speeds up to 200 kph. The trainers pull the ripcord of the parachutes, and the divers’ experience four to five minutes of falling while viewing the ocean. Possible sites are the whale watching during the months of June until November. The sky divers land on the beach.

Whatever you decide to do on you holiday, there are a number of Gold Coast packages available to suit everyone. The Gold Coast is an amazing tourist destination and it will keep you coming back for more!

“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater . . . → Read More: Hiking: Solo vs. Groups]]> Daniela Baker is a social media advocate at CreditDonkey, where travelers can compare airline credit card deals to prepare for next summer.  As someone who’s been bitten by the travel bug at an early age, she hopes this post will help other fellow travel enthusiasts and backpackers.

“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.  To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating.  I love to be alone.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

For many people, the idea of solitude is enough to make them entirely uneasy.  Not for nothing is solitary confinement considered a punishment.  Hiking in solitude must seem to these people the activity of the mentally unstable!  Hiking solo versus hiking in a group is no choice at all to so many people, however if approached in an intelligent manner, the choice can open up different worlds of hiking enjoyment.

I learned my hiking and enjoyment of the outdoors as a teenager.  Our parents might not always have been happy with the way I applied their lessons, however.  My friends, all between the ages of 15 and 18, decided early on that we didn’t have much place in the forming of younger scouts.  After one unfortunate incident involving matches, Coleman lighter fuel, and several sleeping bags, our parents agreed.  On campouts and hikes, we were allowed to do pretty much as we pleased.

This independent spirit followed me to college and beyond.  If I felt the need to go hiking and there was no one available to accompany me, I simply grabbed my boots and went by myself.  Conversely, if there were a group forming for a trek up one of the mountains that are nearby to almost everywhere on the East Coast, I joined that, too.  As time went on and the miles added up, I began to prefer solo hiking in most cases.  I found I came more and more to embrace Thoreau’s sentiments.

Hiking alone carries one overriding challenge: the fact that you are alone.  This is often seen as solo hiking’s greatest drawback, but it can also be solo hiking’s greatest benefit.  Nature can be very rewarding as an escape from everyday life.  The rewards can be somewhat muted if you’re sharing them with several people, some of whose enjoyment of nature takes on a different pace, a different noise level, and a different speed than your own.

Granted, if you get lost, there is no one to help you find your way.  If you get injured, there is no one to help rescue you.  Unless you take precautions to counter these types of potential problems, you’re putting yourself, as well as the people who may have to come and get you, at risk.  Be honest with yourself: “it will never happen to me” is almost the surest way to ensure that fate will strike you down at the first opportunity.

I’m doubtful whether anyone who has seriously considered hiking alone wouldn’t have already considered these points, and wouldn’t have a modicum of experience to mitigate them.  It goes without saying (although I’ll say it anyway) that any solo hiking trip requires both experience and planning.

There is a trade-off here: safety in numbers, as it were, versus being your own boss.  Hopefully, you will find a happy medium, or at the very least hiking companions who share both your views and your pace.  There is a place for hiking solo and for hiking in a group, as I’ve said before.  Embrace the situation, use common sense, and hopefully the times you find yourself weary and dissipated (with apologies to Thoreau) will be few.

As you all know, I’ve been totally swamped with work since I moved to Philadelphia; yours truly is now not only a PhD student, but a blogger, in the midst of writing my first book, AND running my nonprofit. It’s enough to make anyone wish for a nice long vacation!

So, my blogger . . . → Read More: Holiday Vacation – Where should I go?]]> Hey Everyone!

As you all know, I’ve been totally swamped with work since I moved to Philadelphia; yours truly is now not only a PhD student, but a blogger, in the midst of writing my first book, AND running my nonprofit. It’s enough to make anyone wish for a nice long vacation!

So, my blogger friends: where should I go? Part of me wants to just stay in Philadelphia (overwintering, if you please)…but something tells me that I’ll be over the snow about thirty seconds into the first winter storm. No, the more I think about it, the more I want to get out of my cave (aka my office) and discover something new, preferably in a place where sweaters are not a required piece of clothing. Any thoughts? Better yet, do you guys know of any place I can find cheap holiday deals?

Let me know! For now I’ll just keep reading other people’s travel blogs in envy

Cheers!

Kim

As you all know, I’m a proud German, having been born there and raised in the German culture. Being German, and not living in Germany, is a funny thing; everybody wants to tell you about their long-lost fifth removed cousin (“you must know who he/she/it is!”) or their favorite beer that they drank . . . → Read More: Hannover, Germany: Home of the other Oktoberfest!]]> Hey Everyone!

As you all know, I’m a proud German, having been born there and raised in the German culture. Being German, and not living in Germany, is a funny thing; everybody wants to tell you about their long-lost fifth removed cousin (“you must know who he/she/it is!”) or their favorite beer that they drank once, five years ago (“it’s kinda dark and tastes good…you know which one I’m talking about?”). Even more frequently, I get asked things like: what is your favorite thing to do in Germany? Where do you like to go? Where can I drink beer and not go broke?

So, in the spirit of sharing more of my home culture AND in appeasing those of you who have long been asking for my top pick…here it is:

The Other Oktoberfest: You thought Oktoberfest just happened in Munich, no? Wrong! Oktoberfest, and other festivals like it, are celebrated throughout Germany and you can experience it for a fraction of the cost and in a more authentic setting if you go to the  Hannover version of the affair. That’s right, Hannover hosts the second largest Oktoberfest in Germany, and I gaurantee you’ll see much more German people (and less American, Australian, British, and French) for so much less money. I know, I know: you’re probably worrying that nothing could measure up to the infamous Munich affair…but if you like the sound of 160 rides, two tents holding over a thousand people each, and over one million people to drink with, you’ll be sure  to like Hannover’s version.

Sold on the idea of visiting? How not check out flights to Hannover and start planning your trip!