Travels on Planet Earth - A blog
I have decided to merge Roaming Tales with my personal blog. You will notice a new category called The Niltiac Files that contains all my imported personal blog posts dating back to 2004. I’m still sorting out the sub-categories and tags to assist with navigation through the archive and over time I will also work [...]
Earlier today I passed a small but passionate protest in Sydney’s Martin Place. There were a few men in the group but most of the protesters were women, wearing the modest garb and head coverings that marked them out as Muslim. Waving the Syrian flag, their voices rang loud and clear and their accents were [...]
In two weeks’ time I will be flying from the United States to Australia – we’re moving home. If I get asked to go through the full-body scanner – whether it’s the millimetre-wave machine or the back-scatter machine – I will be opting out. I won’t be doing this as a form of protest. I [...]
Call me suspicious, but I think the TSA has just made a rather brilliant PR move. Today is the day before Thanksgiving in the United States. It was also the day nominated for “National Opt-Out Day” when travellers across America would protest the TSA’s new security measures and opt for an enhanced pat-down rather than [...]
How a crackdown on illegal immigrants would affect all foreigners and could hurt the state’s biggest industry. What the hell is Florida thinking? Seriously! Tourism is Florida’s biggest industry, injecting $65 billion into the state’s economy every year. Sixty-five BILLION dollars. And over a MILLION jobs. Yet the state could be about to jeopardise all [...]
This is a guest post from Ariana Svenson, a mate of mine from university back in Australia. Originally from Western Australia, Ari travelled extensively over five continents before ending up in Peru. She is a director of sustainable travel agency Apus Peru Adventure Travel Specialists and also a director of Peruvian NGO Threads of Peru. [...]
Violence and political instability made weddings in Baghdad virtually impossible in the years following the Iraq War. In July 2008 I joined one family who crossed the border to celebrate. Hind Al-Rubawawi twirls on the dance floor with her groom. Dressed in white, including the obligatory hijab, the 22-year-old university student from Baghdad beams as [...]
Dear Airlines, You are in the business of transporting humans through the air. Humans come in all shapes and sizes. Deal with it. There are tall humans and short humans, fat humans and skinny humans, humans in wheelchairs, humans on crutches, humans who max out their carry-on luggage, humans with small children and solo humans [...]
I enjoyed this piece by Matt on Abstract Gourmet about rediscovering fettuccine carbonara years after boarding school nearly put him off for life. He writes: “The list of things that boarding school food turned me off was actually fairly extensive. Among them, steak diane, ham steaks with pineapple, lasagne, meat pies, hot dogs, and pretty [...]
Orkney, Scotland, UK; June 2009 The series on stone-age Orkney was one of my favourite things I did on the blog last year. But the day or two I spent playing tourist came after several days working on a story that is very much rooted in the modern era. The real reason I went to [...]
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