Travel & Lifestyle

The Ovolo Hotels brand is one that you’ve probably seen popping up quite a bit of late, with new openings in Australia (including this one in Brisbane). But the brand all started in Hong Kong about 18 years ago. It was a hotel placed in a slim building in the heart of Hong Kong (literally…

Over 3,200 of Australia’s best BYO restaurants are now being tracked by GPS thanks to a new smartphone App from wine retailer Cellarmasters. BYO Finder, which launches this week, is a free app created to assist wine and food lovers easily scope out which restaurants in their area allow for BYO, amongst other details including…

Tokyo is an insane city. It’s beautiful, busy, bustling. It’s an insane, gleaming spiders web of interlocking streets, humming with life. But like any other city, it’s noisy. It’s really noisy. Which might be why Sony flew me there to road-test their new WF-1000XM3 earbuds. What better was to test their noise-cancelling capabilities? I’d never…

Las Vegas is a complicated beast of a city if you aren’t properly organised. The often chaotic sea of neon lights and hedonism can become a blur between the whirlwind of bars, shows and high-end restaurants, but as long as you play your cards right, a weekend stomping around Vegas could very well be the…

Transiting from a domestic to an international flight at Toronto’s Pearson International, as we’ve talked about in the past, can prove to be a bit of a nightmare. But how does it compare when you’ve got to connect from international to domestic? You may not have to clear US customs post security, but you still…

Do you remember your first Walkman? I know I do. I recall feeling like I had a universe in my pocket. Well, not in my pocket. Clipped to the belt near my packet. Either way, I had a tiny, sleek box that would accept a cassette and click shut with a satisfying “schlick” noise. I’d…

Are you an Instagram influencer? If you answered yes to that question, then that’s probably a no. Not that it matters though, especially since for the next two months sun-kissed hotel QT Bondi are committed to treating all guests like VIP influencers, irrespective of how many followers they have on the ‘gram. It’s no secret…

As Sydney’s great expansion of top restaurants out west continues, a new 550-seat food precinct has started rolling out in Rooty Hill. Titled Eat Street – part of the ongoing West HQ development – the stacked eat street has bought with it an exciting line-up to join already established outlets Chur Burger and Eat St….

When I think of New York City, I think of a bright concrete jungle with the famous Central Park at its epicentre. But in recent years, the city has been pushing its hotspots out closer to its rivers – the Hudson River on its West between Manhattan and New Jersey, and the East River, between…

This month marks the one year anniversary of the debut of the Sydney to Hong Kong Route – the maiden flight of which we were very excited to be a part of. So how have Virgin’s flights to Hong Kong changed in that time? We started further south this time around, and flew Business Class…

While it is cooler in the southern parts of the country, Brisbane is boasting sunny skies and warmer weather, making it an attractive option for a weekend getaway. Though it’s not just the climate putting the city on our radar for a weekend trip this August. Now it’s for the city’s booming art scene and…

Travelling consciously and ethically is not really an option if you’re aware of what’s happening around the world; it’s a necessity. While ‘sustainable travel’ has been a word on the lips of everyone throughout the travel industry over the past two to three years, it would be a huge error to see such a notion…

Legendary Phuket resort Sri Panwa has operated in a league of its own since opening in 2005. Almost 15 years later, the property, which tops the jagged jungled-covered Cape Panwa along the island’s south-eastern tip, has welcomed celebrities and royal family members from all over the globe. Snoop Dogg (while going through his confusing Reggae-tinged…

Some of the UAE’s most prestigious hotels have jumped on board with Emirates in an exclusive partnership between the airline and juggernaut hotel groups such as Accor and Marriot. Aussie travellers are set to benefit greatly this summer, with Emirates flights to Dubai opening them up to substantially cheaper accommodation at partner hotels. Given saving…

Those discerning folk at Merivale have taken the celebrated wine retail experience at CBD hotspot Palings Lane and reimainged it as an online service simply dubbed The Bottle Shop. Pulling on the experience and curatorial knowhow of the group’s Master Sommeliers, this online shop will feature an exclusive range of wine, beer and spirits (with…

Just in time for the European summer, Emirates have launched their highly anticipated four time weekly service to the Portuguese city of Porto, opening Australians up to an increasingly popular destination. This marks the airline’s second destination in Portugal, operating non-stop to and from their Dubai hub. Australians are able to benefit greatly from the…

When you think of a pair of slick and stylish sunglasses, it’d be pretty understandable of the words ‘fishing net’ never came to mind. Although they should now. VisionDirect’s Arise Collective brand and WWF have teamed to offer an inventive take on sustainable fashion with a new range of “ReefCycle” sunglasses, upcycled from a retired…

Gorgeous Georgian sandstone warehouses located in Hobart’s historic Salamanca Place have now been transformed into a new 41-room boutique hotel. With the simple title of Moss, the newest property from Behrakis Group is seeking to bring a bit of Tasmania’s wild natural landscape into these buildings with design that makes full use of vertical internal…

Over the weekend, I flew on Air Canada‘s long haul service from Hong Kong to Vancouver on the Boeing 777. On the flight, I enjoyed an upgrade to the airline’s “Preferred Seating”, which is essentially any seat in economy with extra leg room, which will normally set you back an extra C$130 or so. Those…

July 20th marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Moon landing in 1969 – a feat which would be as remarkable today as it was back then. Many of the sites around the world which played a part in this achievement of human engineering, against the backdrop of the Cold War, are celebrating the anniversary…

Sydney travellers will soon have direct access to Santiago on LATAM as the airline introduce a non-stop service between the two cities. Commencing operation from 27th October 2019, with tickets on sale now, the Oneworld airline plan to make this a substantial change to their existing daily Sydney to Santiago service, which currently has a…

Looking for a way to beat back those winter blues and bring some warmth back to your soul, in the way only a piping-hot, brothy bowl of goodness can? From now until July 20th, Wednesday through Saturday, the discerning team at Japanese izakaya Osaka Trading Co. are performing a little takeover of Sydney’s historic Tramsheds,…

The Waterfront Blues Festival, now in its 33rd year, was held from July 4th to the 7th in Portland, Oregon. The venue was Tom McCall Park, a narrow green strip on the western edge of the Willamette River in the city centre. With four stages and dozens of performers, this is the largest festival of…

As part of the “Secret Menu” function on the KFC Smartphone app, the fast food giant has introduced what is being described as the biggest (non-customised) burger it has ever had. As always, Australia gets to be guinea pigs for this monstrous creation, which has now rolled out nationally. Dubbed The Triple Stacker, its a…

If you’ve ever tried to fly one way to North America from Australia, chances are you’ve noticed that a flight one way is often more expensive than a return flight. There are a number of reasons for this we won’t get into here – but what if you do need a one way flight? Here’s…

Built into an unassuming front, situated in the heart of Hobart and boasting water views from many of its rooms, the Mantra Collins Hotel delivers everything one may want from a visit to Tasmania’s capital. The rooms themselves boast a contemporary design with a touch of luxury, and a taste of the practical, with a…

Name any city around the world and you’re bound to find a cluster of its best hotels lying around the central business district or the bucketlist landmarks. Very few tend to play outside of these invisible borders, and when they do, they’re often of the “you get what you pay for” compromise. For visitors, this…

Jordan is a suburb you’ll find in Hong Kong’s Yau Tsim Mong District, and a lot like the rest of the city, it’s densely populated, with tens of thousands living in an area roughly one square kilometer in size. But it also is among the most diverse areas you’ll find in the entire country. With the…

Back in 2017, I flew from Australia to the US with Hawaiian Airlines. At the time, they were the only airline offering a complimentary meal on a domestic US services. But this trip coincided with a couple of airlines bringing meal services back to certain routes – in particular the trans-continental route from California to…

If you haven’t heard about the new addition to California’s Disneyland, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, by now, it’s likely you have been living under a space rock. The level of hype about the new attraction – which as we pointed out when it opened was just one single ride – has been the highest I’ve…