An actual black swan event
Where I’m At: April 2022 – Melbourne, and best travel reads of the week.
Greetings from Melbourne, where I have been catching up with family and friends, and reacquainting myself with Australian birdlife. In the parks of Melbourne you can find black swans.
Here is my latest monthly update plus the best travel reads of the week.
Where I’m At: April 2022 – Melbourne
Where I’m At is my monthly travel and site update, and other random ramblings from the editor (me). More regular updates can be found at the weekly travel newsletter, which includes interesting travel reads from around the web.
Where I’ve been
This is an overview of where I’ve been over the last month. Detailed blog posts and trip reports usually follow a month or so later.
Thailand
March began in Udon Thani, where I had wrapped up a tour of the Isaan region. Udon Thani will be served by the Bangkok – Nong Khai high-speed railway, so I’m interested in seeing how provincial cities will change with better transport connections to Bangkok.
I ended up staying in Bangkok for most of the month while doing some other train-related side trips. I went to Rayong, which is candidate city for a future high-speed rail. Rayong City is not on many people’s travel radar, though there is a nice little old town area if you happen to be visiting.
I was at the end of my second month in a row in Thailand, and three months of the last four were spent in Thailand. With the prospect of not returning for a while, I snuck in one more beach trip to Hua Hin. I haven’t been there for years, and it has become a work-from-home hotspot during the pandemic. I was also here to have a look at the new train station and double-tracking project, so the next time I go it might be on a faster train. There was also talk of Hua Hin getting a high-speed railway, but this is unlikely to happen.
I will do full trip reports for Hua Hin and the rest of my Thailand travel later.
Australia
The last time I was in Australia was in October 2019. I usually make an annual visit to my homeland, but little did we know what was around the corner at the end of 2019. Previous to this, the only years I wasn’t able to visit Australia were 2000 (when I lived in London), and 2016 (when I put my back out and wasn’t travelling much). This is the first time I’ve missed two calendar years in a row (2020 and 2021), and it’s the longest I’ve been away (about 2 years and 5 months). I have some expat friends that haven’t been back to their homeland for 5-10 years, but I don’t plan to do that.
Being away for so long has made me more aware of changes that someone living here may not notice, so I will be blogging my notes on Melbourne once I have caught up with my Thailand travel posts.
Assorted travel reads
• World’s longest passenger flight plans to avoid Russian skies
• How Italy is bringing its rustic villages back to life
• Hiking in Cyprus: Our favorite hiking trails and travel itinerary
• Man embarks on epic challenge to see how far he can get by train in 24 hours
He live Tweeted this journey here…
• Thai Airways sells Airbus seats for B1m
• Solidarity on the slopes: Bosnian ski resort channels glory days
• 10 of the best train journeys in Europe, chosen by Lonely Planet
• Hotel with a past: Grand Hotel
• Japan's hardcore train fans accused of going off the rails
• Meet the retirees who live on cruise ships
• Sneak peak of Delta Air Lines’ new $1.9 billion LAX terminal
• Retired planes are being transformed into tourist attractions
• The funniest travel account on Instagram is run by the T.S.A. Seriously.
• Cherry blossom season blooms in Japan – in pictures
The Nomadic Notes Travel Newsletter is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads and interesting travel news from around the web, and random ramblings by the editor.
- James Clark
Love the cherry blossom pictures. If Japan had opened up that's where we were going to be right now...