On my first visit to Asia, international smugglers tried to scam me
I almost got caught in an Indian jewellery smuggling ring. I was that close. It was real.
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Ben Groundwater
Traveller's globetrotting backpacker, Ben Groundwater, finds the good, the bad and the ugly in the world’s best destinations. Ben is a columnist, blogger, feature writer, and host of Traveller's podcast Flight of Fancy, who has visited more than 80 countries during his 12 years in the industry. Ben was named travel writer of the year by the Australian Society of Travel Writers in 2014 and 2015.
The hidden world inside Japan kept secret from tourists (until now)
Holy mountains and samurai strongholds are among the secret attractions of Tohoku.
Move over, Changi: Europe's top airport might be the world's best
There's a European airport that has its own brewery. A real brewery.
Don't go there: 12 destinations to avoid in 2020
When you're drawing up your 2020 travel plans, you can safely strike these destinations from your list.
Podcast: The best (and worst) destinations for solo travellers
Here's a tip: don't go to French Polynesia on your own.
Why does every Australian tradition need to involve alcohol?
All of our rituals seem to involve alcohol. All of them.
Airports suck, and this is the only way to make them better
Airports have duty-free, but they're also duty free. So go on, have a morning beverage. Indulge yourself.
'Welcome to Australia, police state': What our airports say about us
You can certainly tell a lot about a nation – or at the very least a city – from your arrival at one of its air hubs.
The surprising Basque capital overlooked by tourists
Not many tourists experience the hospitality of the Basque capital.
Podcast: The ultimate guide to surviving airports
It's stressful, it's chaotic, but it's something you can't avoid. Here's how to survive the drama that is the airport experience.
Why our moral outrage over another culture's eating norms is wrong
In certain societies, these actions of ours would be considered deeply immoral and ethically wrong.
The surprising way people are still travelling
Shouldn't we leave the drunken bust-ups and awkward airing of decades-old feuds for Christmas gatherings and birthdays?
The great thing about not speaking a foreign language
The guy selling dates speaks Arabic, plus some French he says, and maybe even a little English. Or at least I think that's what he says.
Ten basic skills every traveller needs
Travel should be easy. It should be fun. It shouldn't require specialist skills or any specific qualification. And for the most part that's true.
Ten nice cities to visit - but you wouldn't want to live there
It seems like every few months there's a new list of the world's most liveable cities. People love this stuff. Depending on which list you choose, the world's most liveable city right now could be Melbourne, it could be Vienna, it could be Munich or it could be Zurich. Wellington is usually up there. Copenhagen too.
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