An Australian in Greece (and everywhere else) — travel stories with too much ouzo and not enough planning…
Back in Greece after three whirlwind weeks — Yineka-mou and I have barely had a moment to sit down, let alone write. But the stories have been piling up, and the nightmares (mostly involving ferries and taverna closing times) are very much worth telling.
Read MoreNeither had I — not until Yineka-mou came home buzzing about a Panchakarma wellness retreat in Bali. I’d just finished booking our birthday trip to Nusa Lembongan. Suddenly the itinerary looked very different.
Read MoreAfter the birthday party madness with the Mad Brothers, a quiet day on Koufonisia was the plan. Of course it didn’t stay quiet — a walk, a swim, and then the Fish Trap had other ideas.
Read MoreWhat a coincidence — we happen to be on Koufonisia at the exact same time as Mad Petros, who’s there to celebrate his brother Stratos’ 60th birthday. The Mad Brothers are reunited, and things are about to get very Greek.
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Oman Air cancelling our original flight turned out to be an unexpected favour — arriving a day early meant swapping Athens for the islands straight away. Sometimes the best travel stories start with a stuffed-up booking.
Read MoreWell, we made it, and what’s more, so did our luggage! Our delayed Malaysian Airways flight from Perth got us into KL with less than 45 minutes to spare in which to get our connecting Oman Air flight to Muscat. Thankfully, the pilot of MH126 decided to stick to the flight plan this time, and […]
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I’m beginning to recall that old adage “too good to be true” ever since making a booking for flights to Greece with Oman Air a couple of months ago. Yineka Mou had come across an ad on her Instagram feed, (always a reliable source) which promised a business class trip to Athens and return for […]
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I’m really in need of a ‘Fix’ after making it back in one piece, after that awesome trek along the side of the mountain, and the terrace at Pauvlo’s Taverna is the perfect spot to have it ….. icey cold and goes down a treat….. not even touching the sides…… just as well that not […]
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Ever heard of Loutro? No, I didn’t think so. It’s a very small, some would say tiny, laid back village on the south coast of Crete. The only way to get here is by boat — unless you are very adventurous, or very stupid — when you will arrive here on foot by walking about […]
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Breaking News. Aussie Blogger Arrested in Crete. By Xania Xpress reporter, Vasilis Katsikisaki Well known and widely followed Australian Blogger, TomTwice, was arrested and detained two days ago whilst at Chania Airport in Crete and charged with one count of trying to enter the country illegally and four counts of smuggling prohibited articles. According […]
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If you fail to prepare …. prepare to fail !!! I’m told that it was the famous swimmer Mark Spitz who said that, but what would he really know about failure. It would be more believable if the saying was attributed to say, Ross Lyons, the coach of the Fremantle Dockers AFL team…… now theres a […]
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Καλός Ορίσετε στην Ελλάδα ……..or Welcome to Greece. It’s been just over a week now, since Yineka-mou and I arrived in Greece, and probably about time to start this years first blog update. Last year, when we flew to Athens, we used Etihad Airlines for the first time, and although cheaper than either Qatar or […]
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Oh, the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men, He marched them up to the top of the hill, And he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up, And when they were down they were down, And when they were only half way up, They were neither […]
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Well it’s now been over two weeks since Yineka-Mou and I arrived in Crete, and I haven’t written a word since…. just too busy! Doing what I hear you ask, and to tell you the truth I’m not really sure. A couple of days a week I go to language school, and YM has joined […]
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Yes, it’s true, Tom Tom Takes Off ….. and apologies to those readers who may have misread it as TomTom takes it off…sorry! It’s that time of year again which I consider to be the ideal time to take off to Greece. If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you’ll remember that […]
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Actually, it’s not not Jakarta we are at, but Bali…. and technically not even Bali, but a small island 15 kms off Bali named Nusa Lembongan. Maybe it should be called Paradise! Eight of us, five Aussies and three Kanucks, caught the Garuda Airlines flight 727 from Perth, which took off at 8am,and after an […]
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Originally posted on Tapas Talk:
Located in a sort of cave under the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, El Mesón de la Guitarra may just be the perfect little bar to have some sangria, some tapas and listen to some authentic live guitar playing that is not for show, or only for tourists but for ambience,…
“Freedom or death” were the words uttered by the Bishop of Patras on March 25, 1821, as he raised the flag of revolution over the Monastery of Agia Lavra in the Peloponnese, and these words became the motto of the War of Greek Independance against the almost 400 year rule by the Ottoman Turks. Today […]
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In Greece it’s called ‘Apokries’ and it’s the 3 week period before Lent, with many different customary events taking place. It culminates in a carnival of street parades on the Sunday before ‘Clean Monday’, the start of Lent. We have heard that the best Carnival in Crete will be in the old Venetian port town […]
Read MoreWoken up this morning, after the first night at our Xania house, by the church bells ringing….. What the….! it’s only 7am and as dark as the inside of a black cow in our bedroom. I then realise that YM had closed all the shutters on the windows and doors the night before, and so […]
Read MoreIs it Chania, Hania or Xania? Lets start with the Italians, or to be more precise, the Venetians….but before they got here in 1252 , the place was ruled by the Minoans, (this was in 3000 BC!!!!) then much later by the Arabs, then the Byzantines…..then the Welsh …… Anyway, right up until 1645 or […]
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I took a bit of of a punt on my choice of hotel to stay at during our two night stopover in Athens. I’d never stayed there before, nor even heard of it…… It’s location on the edge of edgy Exharcia could have been a problem, and it’s name ‘Athens Way’, well, I’d hope that […]
Read MoreEureka…. that’s a Greek word that you maybe didn’t know was Greek, made famous by Archimedes while in his girlfriends bath. But what’s that got to do with our arrival in Athens? Well for me, as our Qatar Airlines flight was coming in to land at Elefterios Venezelos International Airport, it was snowing like hell…( […]
Read MoreFrom the five-star luxury of Jodhpur’s Raas Hotel to the sublime chaos of Jaisalmer in the Rajasthan desert — and yes, a camel ride was involved. Tom gets the hump, in more ways than one.
Read MoreJodphur, Thursday 23rd October. We arrived in Jodphur yesterday afternoon after a long drive from Udaiphur ( with a stopover for a quick look-see at a famous marble Jain Temple in Ranakpur…. Memsahib had a priest say a prayer for her there…. which she had to pay for….but I declined the offer…. ‘Bloody Athiest’ I […]
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Travels with a TomTom 