Want to know how to travel in style, just like the pros? We check in with frequent fliers to find out how often they fly, their favorite destinations and what they never leave home without.
Name: Anthony the Travel Tart
Occupation: Travel Blogger
Hometown: Cairns, Australia
Residence: Brisbane, Australia
Website: The Travel Tart – Offbeat Tales From A Travel Addict
Twitter: @thetraveltart
Facebook: /TheTravelTartBlog
Pinterest: /thetraveltart
Instagram: instagram.com/thetraveltart/
LinkedIn: au.linkedin.com/in/thetraveltart
YouTube: /thetraveltart
Short Bio: I’m a self-proclaimed travel addict who will find any feeble excuse to go travelling. I discovered I really enjoyed traveling the world when I was sent to a former war zone for work – Kosovo – as my first venture outside of Australia and New Zealand. This created a habit of visiting places that most package tourists avoid like the plague. While travelling, I like risking my life by utilizing barely road-worthy forms of transport such as African mini-buses, suicidal Cairo cabs, and flatulent camels.
As you can gather, I like writing about the funny, offbeat and downright weird aspects of world travel today.
How often do you fly: Around 10-15 times per year.
How many countries have you been to: over 50, which is clearly not enough!
How many continents have you been to: Six. I just need to make it to Antarctica to make it seven!
Favorite American city: New York City.
Favorite international city: Istanbul Turkey.
Least favorite country: None. Yet! I’ve enjoyed every place I’ve been to because there is always something different on offer.
Favorite World Heritage Site: Lord Howe Island, which is off the east coast of Australia.
Favorite airline: Toss-up between Qantas and Emirates
Favorite aircraft type: Airbus A380. This is followed closely by the Yakovlev 40, an old Soviet era bucket of bolts that probably should be a museum piece instead of still being in active service!
Aisle or window: Window on short haul flights, aisle for long haul because I’m tall and don’t like travelling with my knees around my ears! But really, I just want to be in either business or first class instead of cattle class!
Favorite airport lounge: Emirates lounge in Dubai
Favorite U.S. airport: Anything but LAX!
Favorite international airport: Changi Airport, Singapore
Favorite hotel: The lodges at Phinda Game Reserve, South Africa
Do you unpack into the dresser/closet? Or live out of your suitcase? Definitely a live out of the backpack man!
Favorite cruise line: I haven’t been on a cruise yet, so I can’t comment!
Favorite island: Savai’i, which is part of Samoa.
Favorite fancy restaurant: Manly Pavilion, Sydney
Favorite hole in the wall: Any kebab stand at 3 am in the morning after a big night out drinking beer.
Favorite fruit: Mango
Favorite food: Anything Italian
Least favorite food: Marinated sea cucumber guts in lime juice
Drink of choice (In the air and on the ground): Hmmmm, Beer!
Favorite travel movie(s): Team America World Police, Into The Wild, The Motorcycle Diaries
Favorite travel show(s): Gerhard Reinke’s Wanderlust, Pilot Guides
Favorite travel book(s): The Wrong Way Home by Peter Moore
Right now I am reading: The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillibeau
Top 3 favorite travel newsletters/magazines/blogs: This one is harder to pick than a broken nose – there are just way too many to mention!
Favorite travel website(s) – besides JohnnyJet.com, of course!: theplanetd.com, ytravelblog.com, positiveworldtravel.com
Five things you bring on a plane: Passport, laptop, SLR camera, wallet, myself!
What do you always seem to forget: my sanity
What do you want your loved one to buy you from an airport duty free store? A fine bottle of scotch!
Favorite travel app(s): I’m still in the stone ages and don’t have a smart phone yet! I still have a dodgy looking Nokia phone that I spent $15 on in Indonesia 4 years ago and it’s still going. At least no-one is going to steal it!
Most embarrassing travel moment: Probably when I asked for penis instead of chicken, because those words are similar in Spanish!
Worst travel moment: When a hustler in Tangier, Morocco said to me ‘I hope that my god makes your bus crash and you’re the only one who dies’ because I refused to pay him for useless advice I didn’t ask for, want, or need!
What’s your dream destination: Antarctica
Favorite travel charity: Qantas ‘Change for Good’, where people can offload their unwanted shrapnel on the way home.
Best travel tip: Always learn 5 words in a new language – that is, Hello, Goodbye, Please Thank you, and Beer (and combinations of these!).
