A Trip News

Kees Elfring, the chef and owner of this lovely, cozy restaurant in the northwestern corner of Amsterdam , spent a few years in the ’80s as a cook at Chez Panisse, Alice Waters’s groundbreaking restaurant in Northern California. The two establishments share more than just commonly sourced names (both are inspired by characters in Marcel Pagnol’s film trilogy); they also share a dedication to simple dishes cooked with creativity and an emphasis on fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Marius (more…)

A 36-year-old woman imprisoned in Thailand for the “prank” theft of a bar mat has compared her experience to that of convicted drug runner Schapelle Corby.
Montrose mother-of-four Annice Smoel, who was reunited with her family today at Melbourne Airport, says she had endured the worst experience of her life and would never return to Thailand.
“Being locked up in that cell for two days on a concrete slab … and worrying … so many times it went through my head this is just like Schapelle (more…)

Foreign countries and regions need to relax visa regulations for mainland tourists if they want to use the burst of potential outbound travelers from the mainland to their advantage, said a tourism book released Wednesday.
    Many countries and regions now eye China as an important market for tourism that has stood strong in the face of the global economic slowdown, wrote Zhang Guangrui, director of the tourism research center with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, (more…)

Louise Southerden swims with dolphins, snorkels with seals and watches whales in eco-friendly Kaikoura.
New Zealand is the kind of place that could turn anyone into an environmentalist. Despite its small population and minimal impact on global climate change (just 0.2 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide), this is a country committed to preserving its natural assets. So it makes sense that it’s also where you’d find a place such as Kaikoura, a little town with big, environmentally responsible (more…)

THE BASICS
Maui has plenty of luxury beach hotels where you can lounge poolside in a plush bathrobe, surrounded by hovering attendants, and never leave. The Paia Inn Hotel is not one of them. Opened last June, the five-room boutique hotel is designed for fashionable, if not flush, travelers seeking a cool and unfussy spot on the beach. Situated in the hippie town of Paia (pronounced pie-EE-ah), far from the high-end resorts in Wailea and Lahaina, the inn has hotel-style amenities, but keeps things (more…)

Passengers arriving at and departing from Melbourne and Avalon airports this morning are facing lengthy delays as a thick blanket of fog shrouds the city.
Domestic and international flights have been diverted and delayed at Tullamarine, some up to three hours after their scheduled arrival and departure times, as fog decreased visibility to 100 metres.
A number of arrivals and departures have also been cancelled.
A Melbourne Airport media spokeswoman said at 7.50am the fog had affected international (more…)

Orient-Express has announced the start of its summer season aboard the Eastern & Oriental Express (E&OE). With 28 journeys planned over the remainder of the year, the E&OE will travel on routes between Singapore and Bangkok, and up to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. T
The green and cream E&OE can accommodate 132 passengers in 66 air-conditioned cabins, all furnished with luxurious fabrics and fine linens and soft towels, and serviced with by friendly staff 24 hours a day.

(more…)

THE Australian mother Annice Smoel has been released from detention in Thailand for stealing a bar towel, according to reports in Phuket.
The Phuket Wan website said last night Ms Smoel, who faced five years in jail, was given a six-month suspended jail term and a 1000 baht ($38) fine for theft. The ruling was made yesterday at a provincial court in Phuket City.
The website said her passport had been returned and she would be allowed to return to Australia.
The Melbourne mother of four pleaded (more…)

By Amanda Baltazar

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Extreme violence and misogyny are the last things you’d expect to find on a holiday in France, but that’s what you get a dose of in the (more…)

Eiffel’s Tower
By Jill Jonnes
Viking, 354 pages. $27.95 hardcover.
In 1940, when Hitler wanted to announce that his armies had crushed the French, his handlers posed him against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower. The Nazis intuited that even in a nation crowded with landmarks, no other photo op would as effectively convey their duplicitous message. Yes, the Führer was now Europe ’s unopposable conqueror, but he was also like everyone else, just another tourist enchanted by the (more…)