Opinion
Top 10s
Stop whingeing: The 10 most complained about things in travel
The naysayers have plenty to naysay about the awfulness of certain aspects of travel, but it’s time to stop whingeing and put things in perspective.
- by Brian Johnston
Traveller Letters: A slice of cake is not a meal, Qantas
“My wife and I have recently flown on two lunchtime economy class flights. Neither flight offered a meal.”
The world’s 17 greatest views (and five famous ones you can skip)
You can get great views from many different perspectives: street and water level, atop mountains, monuments and skyscrapers, or from ships and planes.
- by Brian Johnston
★★★★
Airline reviews
Airline review: Budget carrier charges for everything, except good service
A flight with EasyJet shows that going with a budget airline doesn’t have to be a miserable experience.
- by David Whitley
‘I can’t get a free flight’: Inside the world of pilots, drivers and captains
Airline pilots, ship’s captains and coach drivers reveal what it’s really like to be at the pointy end of travel.
- by Sue Williams
Mind the baby, Boomer: How more grandparents are ending up on the childcare frontline
Who’s looking after the kids? Increasingly, it’s Gran and Gramps.
- by Jenna Price
★★★★½
Review
Who would have thought a cost of living crisis play could be so funny?
Our reviewers give their verdict on acts all over town from the No Pay, No Way, Carmen, Chris Isaak and Grease.
- by John Shand, Peter McCallum, Harriet Cunningham, Chantal Nguyen and Shamim Razavi
This is the most famous hotel in Australia (if you’re British)
The Australian hotel seen by millions of British TV viewers every night isn’t quite as it appears on the small screen.
- by David Whitley
Can I fly domestic with a bottle of champagne in my hand luggage?
Airlines insist you don’t pack anything with the potential to explode, but can you bring bubble-wrapped bubbly onboard?
- by Huon Hooke
The land of happiness that few tourists ever visit
Want to lose the crowds on your next holiday? Tourists are still something of a novelty in Bhutan, the country that invented Gross National Happiness.
- by Trudi Jenkins
Opinion
Australia
Where the bloody hell are all our international tourists?
Traveller’s writers have come up with seven new slogans Tourism Australia could use to get our visitor numbers back on track.
- by Anthony Dennis
These 14 destinations are our definition of ‘Heaven on Earth’
Where on Earth is the place you’d nominate for such an ethereal title? We asked some of our well-travelled writers for their nominations.
What foreign visitors love (and don’t love) about Australia revealed
We asked six experienced overseas travel agents for their intel on the top experiences Australia has to offer and the things we could do better.
- by Julietta Jameson
Ban bucket lists: What the experts want from travel in 2024
Our writers reveal where they are heading in 2024 and predict what we can expect while on the road in the year ahead.
Expect to win? Maybe not, but five years on Arnold has chance to do it his way
Five years is enough to fundamentally change a coach. Interestingly, this Asian Cup is more representative of a coach having fundamentally changed a Socceroos team.
- by Emma Kemp
Traveller Letters: My extra legroom seats were given to someone else
“My pre-booked and paid-for extra legroom seats were reassigned without notice due to an aircraft change.”
The 19 most overrated (and 22 underrated) things about travel
The everyday things you come across in travel can be astoundingly helpful or extremely irritating.
Alan Joyce keeps dodging Sydney Theatre Company crisis
The company faces backlash over its handling of a pro-Palestinian protest. So where is chairman Alan Joyce during all this?
- by Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
Traveller Letters: If I’ve paid for business class, I want the seat I chose
“I had selected my seat five months earlier and had confirmed it only days previously.”
Eight epic film locations that should be on your bucket list
From Lawrence of Arabia to the new Napoleon biopic, there’s something magical about witnessing first-hand locations we’ve admired on a big screen.
- by Sue Williams