Blog

Sep

The view from a neurodivergent traveller; world’s most crowded hotspots & duty-free shopping tips

Airports are one of the most stressful places we’ll find ourselves, and this week on The World Awaits travel podcast, we’re looking at travel from the viewpoint of a neurodivergent traveller.

Listen to the current episode of The World Awaits on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or via the website https://theworldawaits.au

Sarah Maree Cameron is a radio and TV presenter, writer and comedian. She presents the House of Wellness on Nine Radio, and in Melbourne, the Weekend Break with Grubby on 3AW and TravelOz on Channel 7.

With that job description, she’s constantly on the road, and we chat about how she manages her hectic schedule while juggling a number of dietary and health issues. Listen for her top tips on staying stress-free and healthy. Follow Sarah Maree on instagram for more wellness tips

Also, which are the most crowded tourist destinations in the world? A couple are particular favourites for Australian travellers, according to new analysis from Deluxe Holiday Homes.

And Kadi Luggage reveals how to get the best bang for your buck when shopping duty-free at airports.

Sarah Maree’s tips include:
Listening to sleep stories with the Calm app
Hotteeze heat pads

Sep

Travel in Asia: the hotspots and the sleeper hits

Hanoi’s hot, Phuket’s hotter and Tokyo is sizzling like a summer’s day in Hades. This week, I chatted to ABC Mornings Adelaide about the hottest places to travel in Asia, and where you can step off the beaten path to some alternate destinations in these countries.

It comes on the back of the news that a million – a million – Australians visited Japan in the past 12 months. We can’t get enough of it, and nor can the rest of the world. Which is fair enough; they’ve got fabulous culture, food, landscapes and history. What’s not to love.

I chatted with Rory McClaren about alternative destinations in Japan, away from the Lost in Translation moments in Tokyo, and why chasing geishas through Kyoto is a really, really bad look for travellers.

Also, my sleeper hit of Hue, in Vietnam, and why the Philippines is so often overlooked – and unjustifiably so.

Take a listen to the conversation – here’s a link on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHIjMRbAAfo

Aug

Best things to do in Cairo, how to guarantee a sunny holiday & things left in Ubers: The World Awaits podcast

You’ve booked a holiday to Egypt, but the Grand Egyptian Museum’s (GEM) opening has been postponed…again! “All is not lost!” I say!

Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-106-the-new-cairo-with-belle-jackson-avoiding/id1689931283?i=1000720943277
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sBUGYM7YLATaHjYawp5yq?si=b0a843ca0b4a4408
or via the website at https://theworldawaits.au

As podcast host of The World Awaits travel podcast and an Egypt aficionado, I’m the guest this episode, rounding up the best of new things to do in Cairo.

I share my top three things to do in Cairo, including the best Egyptian museums and neighbourhoods, essential experiences and answers the age-old question, is Cairo safe right now? For more of my travels, including some pretty great footage (if I do say so myself) see https://www.instagram.com/global_salsa

And we have a winner of our tropical Thai holiday giveaway of four nights at Avani+ Khao Lak! Thanks to Avani Hotels & Resorts, who generously offered this prize to our listeners to celebrate our 100th episode!

And finally, our tip this week is how to avoid the rainiest places in the world (unless you love a downpour!), and we cover off the craziest things people have left in Ubers.

Aug

Boat safety in Bali; media appearance on ABC TV News Channel

Bali has had four tragic boat disasters this year, most recently with a speedboat carrying 80 people between the popular tourist island Nusa Penida and Sanur, on Bali’s east coast.

I spoke with ABC TV’s News Channel about boat safety in Bali, and how travellers can travel safely in the region.

Click here to watch the full television report: https://youtu.be/JPJD0hqUABM?feature=shared

If you’re thinking about taking a boat ride in Bali – either to Nusa Penida or further afield to the Gili islands, don’t be afraid to ask even the most basic questions, such as :

is there one lifejacket for every person on board?
do the crew do a safety briefing?
is the crossing going to be rough?
and ask yourself… does it feel right, does it feel safe?

In the end, you have to trust your gut instinct. There are regulations in Bali, they are not enforced.

Take a listen and see what you think; and let me know in the comments.

Jul

Hotel Review: Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino, Greece, Dream by Luxury Escapes magazine

The dream assignment: go to Greece, stay at the new Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino, on the Peloponnese coast. Reader, I acquiesced.

The hotel is about 3.5 hours’ drive south of Athens – hello, hire car/wrong side of the road/wrong side of the car dramas! But I’d seen the photos of this luxury hotel, and I knew I could survive Athens’ traffic jams to get there.

It was worth it. The location, its history and its mythology pervade all aspects of the first Mandarin Oriental hotel in Greece, from its spa to the ultra-Hellenic breakfasts, even the hotel’s architecture. Despite being a global group, it’s as Greek as yiayia’s meatballs.

I wrote about the new hotel’s opening for Luxury Escapes magazine, take a look.

For more great travel inspo, head to https://luxuryescapes.com/inspiration/

Jul

New hotels, cruises and a Qantas tie-in: why you should holiday in Oman, Australian Financial Review

I first visited Oman way back at the beginning of my crush on the Middle East – at the time, the country was little known to Australians, and to beat an impending group of journalists visiting, two of us opted to go early. Which is how I came to be sitting in a desert, looking at the thermometer touch 50 on our Toyota 4WD.

My most recent visit was not in the height of summer – happily, it was in the relative cool of spring, and this time, I was high up in the mountains to watch the country’s brief and beautiful rose harvest.

You can read more about it in this story for the Australian Financial Review, where I get to rave about my love of desert fortresses, rose terraces and frankincense.

I’m heading off to the Middle East again shortly; everyone asks if it’s a good time. The problem with the ME is that when there’s trouble in one area, the whole region is tainted with the same brush. No-one ever avoided London if there was a crisis in Romania (or even, say, Paris). Oman is the standout in the region as stable, peaceful and neutral; I’m always calling it the Switzerland of the Middle East. If that’s not a reason to holiday in Oman…

Click the link below to read my latest story on Oman:

https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/travel/new-hotels-cruises-and-a-qantas-tie-in-why-you-should-holiday-in-oman-20250410-p5lqpq

And you can always search back through this blog to read more about this fragrant, happily overlooked jewel of the Middle East.

Jun

How can we protect Africa’s wildlife from poaching? Go on safari! The World Awaits podcast

How can we protect Africa’s wildlife from poaching? Go on safari! Australian author Tony Park is my guest on The World Awaits travel podcast this week, chatting about safaris in southern Africa, where he lives on the edge of Kruger National Park, and his whodunnits all have a strong conservation theme.

We’ve teamed up with Tony and publisher @macmillianaus to give away five copies of Tony’s latest novel, Die by the Sword, to be released on 29 July!

To win:
Follow @theworldawaitspodcast on Instagram or Facebook
Like this post https://www.instagram.com/p/DKlUKNIp654/?igsh=NHhkZHEwMGYzNTlw
Tell us in the comments below where you’d like to travel to next, and tag your favourite travel buddy!

“Southern Africa is very hard to describe; for many people, you get bitten by something, or you breathe something in, and you become hooked,” says Tony.

Speaking to us from his home just north of Kruger National Park in South Africa, Tony shares his vast experience about going on safari in southern and east Africa. From the Kruger to the Kalahari, we’re taking self-drive safaris on a budget, which regions are better for different wildlife and wildlife poaching.

“The best way to tackle poaching is to uplift the communities and the people, who feel that their only option is to turn to wildlife crime,” he says. “So the best thing for wildlife is to visit Africa.”

Tony has published 22 novels set in southern Africa; his 23rd, Die by the Sword, is out at the end of July, and like all his novels, it has a strong environmental and wildlife conservation angle. You can read more about his 23rd novel, with a synopsis and behind- the-scenes author notes at https://www.tonypark.net/sword.html

T&Cs: Australian addresses only. Winners announced on the podcast on 26/6/2025 and notified by email.

#theworldawaits #podcast #travel #travelpodcast #southafrica #wildlife #conservation #africa #africatravel

Jun

It’s a flower-powered Frida (Kahlo) fest in Bendigo. Canberra Times

“I’ve come to see Frida,” I overhear a woman telling another, as she admires a collection of perfume bottles. It sounds like she’s popping over to see a friend, not a woman who died more than 70 years ago, and who’d probably never, ever heard of Bendigo.

The speaker could be excused for her familiarity with Mexican artist Frida Kahlo; the latest exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery, Frida Kahlo: In her own image, is at times so intimate you’d think it was your bestie’s drawers you were rifling through.

My latest story for Explore Travel, in the Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald and regional Australian family of newspapers, goes to the Victorian town of Bendigo. Here, its excellent art gallery has hosted exclusive exhibitions on Elvis, straight from Graceland, and Grace Kelly’s style and fashion extravaganza from the Victoria & Albert Museum, so Bendigo’s got form, and does its current exhibition, an exclusive retrospective from Mexico, proud.

To read my feature, visit https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8968858/discover-frida-kahlos-life-at-bendigo-gallery/ or see CANBERRA TIME Frida Kahlo – Belinda Jackson

I will say: some visitors have said they were disappointed there weren’t more works of art by Frida Kahlo – I say they’re missing the point. Her art was everywhere – in her clothes and in her hair, in her house and even on the plaster casts that held her broken body together. An indomitable spirit in the face of genuine, heartbreaking adversity. Go see the exhibition, if you can!

Jun

Strauss has Vienna in a spin, again; 200 years of the waltz in Vienna Austria: Australian Financial Review

Erotic, rebellious, scandalous. A dance to induce ecstasy, an exuberant resistance to state oppression. Yes, it’s that saucy dance with the devil, the waltz.

A staple in today’s reality TV dance competitions, the waltz was a simple peasant dance until the cosmopolitan Viennese gave it an urbane makeover in the early 1800s. Women fainted, welded-together couples scandalised – the ‘wicked’ waltz of Vienna’s 1800s was a fast and furious dance.

This year, Vienna celebrates 200 years since the birth of its ‘Waltz King’, Johann Strauss II, best known for Vienna’s unofficial anthem, The Blue Danube.

I spent a few weeks exploring Vienna, the grandest little European city, which is once again in Strauss’ grip, and wrote about it for the Australian Financial Review newspaper. To read my story in the Australian Financial Review, visit https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/travel/how-the-dance-of-the-devil-s-violinist-came-to-define-this-city-20250417-p5lsny or see AFR Austria, Strauss

For a quick recap: Strauss was born and died in Vienna, and this year the city celebrates his bicentenary. Even if you weren’t a mad classical music fan, his life story is so full of drama (fought with his jealous dad, jealous brother burnt his original manuscripts, wives with seven children of dubious parentage, rewrite of his history by Nazi Party etc) and the digital exhibitions so good, you’ll be hooked on waltz as a political statement against authoritarianism. There are several new galleries and exhibitions in Vienna, including the interactive New Dimension exhibition, I also visited the nearly new House of Strauss, took in a dinner & rather cheesy, but fun show at the Prater. There are 65 productions and 3 exhibitions at 71 different locations throughout the city in 2025. https://www.johannstrauss2025.at/en/

For more Strauss events, visit-
Johann Strauss Museum – New Dimensions: The shiny new permanent city centre exhibition, which opened last November, is a fascinating multimedia deep dive into Strauss’s private life and loves. He once wrote 150 love letters to Olga, who he dumped after his mother disapproved. He had three wives, Jetty, Lily and Adele, and no children. Brothers Josef and Eduard were involved in the business but in a tragic twist Eduard burnt hundreds of Strauss manuscripts. Don GPS-enabled audio headphones and compose your own waltz with technology https://www.johannstraussmuseum.at

The House of Strauss – a museum and also a concert space, where the Strauss family used to perform. The museum tour is narrated by Thomas Strauss, the great-great-great-grandson of Johann Strauss II; https://www.houseofstrauss.at

Johann Strauss Exhibition: This vibrant exhibition which opened in December at the Theatermuseum Vienna showcases the glamour of the Strauss era. Original objects from performances are on display and include the score from Die Fledermaus. Until June 23. theatermuseum.at

Wien Museum: Reopened in 2023, it has a chronological tour of the city including Strauss connections, free. wienmuseum.at

May

A river cruise through Laos & travel inspo from the movies: The World Awaits podcast

“The best way to see the Mekong is slowly,” says travel journalist Michael Turtle, speaking to me on this week’s episode of The World Awaits travel podcast.

He takes us on a cruise down the Mekong river in Laos on board the beautiful new boat Boheme. With only 13 cabins, it runs between the royal city of Luang Prabang and the capital, Vientiane, connecting you to the lifeblood of the country, all while exploring Laos’ cuisine and visiting its villages.

To listen to the podcast, visit its website https://theworldawaits.au or listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or most other listening apps.

Please check your feed, the data was entered incorrectly.“Watch longtail boats, see temples… on a river cruise, you see the river at all times of the day, while people are fishing or swimming,” says Michael of the six-day sailing journeys.

For more about the Boheme, visit mekongkingdoms.com and add a stay at the Avani+ Luang Prabang, avanihotels.com And to follow Michael, see timetravelturtle.com

Also, what’s the world’s most beautiful airstrip? This list of ravishing runways will have you fighting for the window seat. https://www.allcleartravel.co.uk/blog/the-worlds-most-beautiful-airport-landings/

And finally, tap into the set-jetting trend and get your travel inspiration from movies and TV series. We’re talking Thailand, Malta and the UK – tune in to see what’s filmed where.

This mini-series is brought to you by Avani Hotels & Resorts. With more than 40 properties across five continents, Avani offers city hotels, tropical resorts and retreats in nature. For more, visit avanihotels.com

READING RECOMMENDATIONS

If you’d like to read my story on the young woman shaking up PNG’s traditional drumming scene, published in Paradise, the inflight magazine of Air Niugini, visit airniuginiparadise.com

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