Fun Facts About Australia According to Bill Bryson

Since "69 Fun Facts About Germany" generated so much excitement (although I speculate it is mainly because of that ab-licious photo of Michael Ballack) I've decided to create a similar post about Australia, which is one of my favourite countries. Having read and loved Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country (Also known as Down Under to Brits and Aussies, and Frühstück mit Kängurus to the Germans) I decided to base these fun facts from what Mr. Bryson shares with us in his delightful novel. While I did not entirely enjoy Bryson's earlier work Neither Here Nor There, I found him to be highly entertaining in this memoir, as he shares many exciting facts about the land Down Under. I highly recommend this book as it definitely does an amazing job of capturing the spirit of this sunny nation. Here are some of my favourite facts from this book:

• As many of you already know, the Brits sent their convicts to Australia in the late eighteenth century. While the voyage took 252 days they were lucky - upon landing, the Brits spotted two French ships in the horizon. Meaning, had they taken a day longer to arrive, Australia would have been a French colony (49).

• The Opera House was designed by the Danish architect, Joern Utzon. Utzon, surprisingly , never ended up seeing his prized creation, after leaving the project due to disputes about its rising costs, and returned to Denmark (55).

• Sir Eugene Goossens, the man who came up with the idea to build the Opera House, never saw the final creation either - while passing customs in Sydney, he was discovered carrying a large collection of porn and was asked to leave the country (55).

• Lachlan Macquarie, the Scottish governor of the colony in the beginning of the nineteenth century,  was nearly successful at attempting to name every object in the continent after himself. As a result, there is the Macquarie Harbour, Macquarie Island, Macquarie  Marsh, Macquarie River, Macquarie Fields, Macquarie Pass, Macquarie's Chair, Macquarie's Point and a Macquarie town. Macquarie is also a bank, university, the national dictionary, a shopping centre, an ice rink, and countless roads, streets and avenues. And that doesn't even include all the places named after his first name Lachlan... (66).

• A suggested name for the nation's capital Canberra was "Sydmeladperbrisho" (using the first syllables of the state capitals) (86). 

69 Fun Facts About Germany

In the midst of being overly excited about my move to Germany next year and trying to figure out this ancient looking application, I thought this post should be appropriate. Being inspired by a travel memoir I'm currently reading (look for a review to come out soon!) I've also added a "German word of the day" widget at the side of my blog. Why 69 fun facts? Because I didn't have enough facts to make it to 100, and there's nothing wrong with a bit of German lovin'. Enjoy!

1. Germans are the second largest beer consumers in the world, after the Irish (of course).
2. Beer is officially considered a food in Bavaria.
3. Michael Ballack does not like beer.
4. Germany is Europe’s largest economy.
5. The most popular German surname (Nachname) is Müller.
6. Chancellor Angela Merkel has a Barbie doll made after her. 
7. Historically, Germany was known as the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Weimar Republic.
8. 31% of the country has been kept with forests and woodlands, with Hesse having the most.
9. There are over 300 kinds of bread in Germany.  
10. There are also bread museums.
11. There are 35 dialects of the German language.
12. The Wittelsbachs ruled Bavaria for 738 years.
13. Munich is further north than any major US city (excluding Alaska). 
14. German is the official language of 5 countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. It is also spoken in Northern Italy and the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
15. Germany is the first country to adopt Daylight Saving Time (DST) in 1916.
16. 2% of Germans do not own cell phones.
17. Gummy bears were invented by a German.
18. The balcony of the hotel Michael Jackson dangled his son over is in Berlin.
19. While it is called Oktoberfest, it actually starts in Steptember.
20. The first Oktoberfest was a wedding celebration for Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.
21. 65% of the Autobahn (highway) has no speed limit.
22.  The Cologne Cathedral took 632 years to build. (Bill Bryson in Neither Here Nor There (p. 88) wrote: "It is absolutely immense, over 500 feet long and more than 200 feet wide...It can hold 40,000 people. You can understand why it took 700 years to build - and that was with German workers. In Britain they would still be digging the foundations.")
23. The first printed book was in German.
24. German is the third most commonly taught language worldwide.
25. When JFK visited Berlin, he infamously said “Ich bin ein Berliner,” which also translates to “I am a jelly donut.”
26. Hugo Boss designed the official uniforms for the Nazi Party and Hitler Youth. (I did an assignment on this for German class if anyone is interested in reading more about it)
27. To ask for a beer in a pub, you would use your thumb to indicate “one” rather than your index finger (watch Inglorious Basterds for improper examples of ordering beer)
28. Til Schweiger, sometimes known as the "German Brad Pitt,” is born one day after Pitt.
29. The longest word published in the German language is Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft (79 letters). Try saying that five times fast. 

8 Types of Travellers You'll Meet on the Road

Similar to the unfortunate abundance of self-obsessed hipsters readily found in art schools, to the socially awkward and perpetually single accountants at any given corporate firm, you are likely to meet travellers who also fall into very distinct categories when backpacking. While most travellers tend to be fun individuals, there are also the ones that you try to avoid at all costs. Here is my list of some of the most common types of travellers on the road.

How many have you met?

Mr. Aspiring Underwear Model
This is the guy who happens to be blessed with good genetics but unfortunately flaunts it off whenever possible by walking around the hostel sans shirt. They seem to have a great hatred toward shirts in general as they have a never-ending list of excuses to take it off whenever possible. These might include the hot weather, being too drunk, or that all their clothes are in the laundry. Their shirtlessness is obviously to make other male travelers feel self-conscious of the state of their own abs, and for them to sleep with as many girls as possible. Verdict: avoid whenever possible; Very bad specimen.
_______________________________________________________________________________

The Stoner/Hippie/Bob Marley Fan
Usually Canadian, Swiss, or South African, these guys are often seen wearing a bandana, or sport dreadlocks. Although they may smell a bit funky, they are really laid-back and enjoy spending all their nights getting high on the patio of the hostel, listening to Bob Marley, or playing music on their guitar. They have a deep disdain for anything corporate and would like to think of their travels as a journey for spiritual or self enlightenment.

25 Inspiring Travel Quotes

I'm a huge sucker for inspirational quotes. Similar to a good book or movie, they always make me want to go mountain climbing, or jet skiing, or any other extreme sport that highly motivated people enjoy doing during their spare time. While I have yet to do either (soon, I promise!), here are 25 of my most favourite quotes on traveling to inspire and motivate. After all, life is too short to sit around (unless you are reading my blog of course).

“Adventure is worthwhile.”

- Amelia Earhart

______________________________________________________________

"I am not one but several.

I am like Europe, I am all of that!"

- L’Auberge Espagnole

______________________________________________________________

"She was already thinking of herself

as a kind of expatriate...not

smothered by what she believed to

be America's puritanical and

materialistic culture, which she

had little patience for.

She saw herself more a European

soul, in tune with the thinkers and

artists she felt expressed her

tragic, romantic, freethinking view

of life."

- Vicky Christina Barcelona

______________________________________________________________

"Man cannot discover new oceans 

unless he has the courage to lose sights of the shore."

- Andre Gide

______________________________________________________________

“I never travel without my diary. 

One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” 

- Oscar Wilde

For the Love of Travel Writing: A Blog Contest

Hey guys!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've been super busy and things were getting quite hectic the past few days! I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day, and were able to give and received some love. I know some of you were expecting a big exciting post yesterday, and while that didn't happen...well, I'm about to make it up to everyone with an awesome blog contest! 

First of all, the PRIZES!

 A Moleskine travel journal with my self designed "Make Love, Not War" hippie girl print as the cover (see left)   

AND

 A commissioned 8.5"x 11" black & white portrait sketch 

CONTEST DETAILS!

Simply post your responses below to the question:

"What is your favourite travel inspired book?"

Please make sure you...

- include your name and contact method

- either follow or subscribe to my blog

CONTEST ENDS:

February 28th, 2011 at midnight

The winner will be chosen at random through a number generator, and announced on my blog on the day after the deadline. 

I think this contest will be a great way to promote travel writing, especially since the prize can be used toward writing and recording all your future trips. For the guys, this can make for a great gift for that special someone. Most of all, I highly encourage travelers to keep a journal on the road...it's definitely something great to have and read back on later in life. I work occasionally as a freelance illustrator, so I thought this would be an interesting way of also bringing my art on to this blog. (My portfolio can be viewed here and here).

Good luck everyone!!!

Getting crafty on the road

One of the best things about hostel life is that there are always things to do come evening and night time - pub crawls, party buses, theme parties, the list goes on. If you’re looking for entertainment that doesn’t involve drinking copious amounts of alcohol however, you’re sort of out of luck. Of course we all enjoy the craziness that ensues after a few bottles of wine, but after a few months of traveling, even the biggest party animals need some well deserved R & R. 

There’s always movie nights, but how many times can you watch L’auberge Espagnole before it takes away your sanity? And no traveler wants to spend a day in front of their laptop using overpriced hostel wifi out of sheer boredom. Out of my past experiences in finding something creative to do on a quiet night in, here are some of my favourites.

Make funky bracelets

Materials needed:

- ball of hemp

- scissors

- shells

When I was in a hostel in Airlie Beach, I met this Italian girl who had this really cool idea of collecting some shells and dead corals during her time sailing through the Whitsunday Islands, and strung them together with coloured string to make necklaces. 

Inspired by this, I bought some hemp, collected some shells, and on a spare evening a week later, set out to make my own bracelets and anklets to send my friends back home.

During this time, there happened to be a French guy in my dorm room who was deeply in love with me (I assumed this because he held his book upside-down in front of him and glanced at me every few minutes from his bed across the room). He ended up joining me and turned out to be quite the bracelet braider. He also taught me how to make those hopping paper frogs. In an interesting twist of events, everyone else in the room found the paper frogs really cool and we ended up with a pretty sweet new drinking game for the next few nights...

The Great Wall of China

In honour of the Chinese New Year, I decided to dedicate this post to one of the greatest world wonders, The Great Wall of China.

I traveled to Beijing two summers ago. I remember the flight there really well because it was during the peak of the swine flu outbreak (not even global epidemics can stop me from traveling). Before we were let off the plane, government officials came in with these thermometer like guns which they scanned over our foreheads. If you were under a certain temperature, they would let you go.

The unfortunate ones were led off by strict looking officials into a private room for further questioning. Or at least, that's what they told us...

There's a bus that takes you directly to The Great Wall which is great, but make sure you do some research, as some tour companies are scams. It was weird arriving at The Great Wall for the first time because on one hand, you're starring at this massive work of ancient civilization...and then you look behind you, and oh look, there's the highway. For some reason, I had always envisioned The Great Wall to be a long continuous pathway, where walking across would feel like strolling through a park or something. Ha ha ha. Let's just say that calling the Great Wall a breezy flat path is like stating that Hitler had no interest in world domination.

The Coolest (Fictional) Flight Attendants of All Time

After my four-hour second interview yesterday with xx Airlines, I am (*fingers crossed* hopefully) one step closer to achieving my dreams of becoming a flight attendant!

While it will be a few weeks before any celebratory bottles of champagne can be popped (or possibly even none at all) I've decided to compile this list in honour of all the cool ladies (and occasionally men!) who play such a big role in the beginning of our travels.

The Coolest (Fictional) Flight Attendants of All Time

(image from leavemethewhite.com)

Anita Miller (Almost Famous)

I am a huge fan of Cameron Crowe and Almost Famous was the movie that introduced me to his world of 1970's subculture, set to an amazing soundtrack. This was also the movie that pretty much redefined my suburban high school life. I must have watched this movie a million times with my friends while we spent our weekends going to see local bands and indulging in some wild musician fantasies. While everyone fell in love with Penny Lane, I thought Will's sister Anita (played by Zooey Deschanel) was the coolest girl ever. I mean, anyone can hook up with a musician, but running away from home to become a stewardess is pretty badass.