Tuesday Travel Rant: I’ve been to more countries than you

My dad could beat up your dad and that’s the end of it. “So, how many countries have you been to?” This one-upmanship exists in every backpacking corner of the globe and it truly, truly baffles me. In order to grasp if...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Grading your language

I’m Irish and my first language is English, I studied French throughout high school and most of university but it’s pretty weak. I’ve lived in Thailand on and off during my travels and my Thai is ok, but not fluent at a...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Barefoot backpackers

So you see a few poor people running around with no shoes on, any rational person would feel sympathy but what do my favourite backpackers do? Mimic then. In the seemingly endless quest to be a ‘real’ traveller, these hard cor...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Just getting drunk EVERWHERE

I love to party, love it. In fact, I’ve been accused of loving it a little to much, but that’s ok. We’re only young once, so we gotta enjoy ourselves as much as possible, right? Right. But we have to draw a line somewhe...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: People wearing backpacks on their front

This seems to be a growing trait and one which needs to be nipped in the bud. I guess it goes hand-in-hand with a new breed of travelers, walking the battered tourist trail through South East Asia and Australia but if I see one more person...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Buying Sunscreen in Asia

I admit it, I’m a pasty Irishman. A natural bronzed Adonis I am not however I don’t think I’m asking too much by wanting to have a choice of sunscreens I can buy within a whole bloody continent. The thing about the majo...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: People arguing over $0.20 with poor locals

Cheap travel is awesome no doubt, it allows us to travel for further and for longer, that’s pretty cool. Asking a hotel for a discount, or seeing if the bus company will sell you 3 tickets for the price of 2 is fine, haggling with a...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Renewing a (British) Passport

As if it costs more than $300 for a small little book, yet that’s how much I got charged this month to get my new passport – thanks a lot British embassy. A*sholes. We all need passports, they look cool, collecting stamps is a...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Losing Money in Currency Exchanges

Financial institutions are b*stards, simple as that. I own my money, it’s mine, I earned it and all I want is access to it, how simple is that? Not simple at all apparently. “You’ll be charged 100 ‘insert generic...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Walking escalator things

I’m not sure about the name of these things, but you know what I mean right? The conveyer belt things you find in airports and malls, where you walk on them and they move in the same direction thereby taking you to your destin...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Ordering Food

I don’t speak your language, and for that I’m sorry, and I do appreciate that you’re trying to speak to me in English. The menu looks good, I’m absolutely starving, I’m going to order exactly what I...

Tuesday’s Travel Rant: Tuk Tuk Drivers

Getting from A to B shouldn’t be so difficult, nor should it cost double the real fare. Furthermore, if I want a tuk-tuk (which is unlikely), I’ll search for one. There are few things more infuriating in the world than getting...