The Passionate Traveler

Wedding on a beach in Bali - photo by Marie What a romantic idea - a wedding in Bali! Idyllic tropical beaches and magical sunsets! What could be better? Well, it looks like a lot of people think that this is a good idea as weddings in Bali appears to be very popular. Many of the resort hotels along the coast offer wedding packages. Waiting for the bride on the beach- photo by Marie Room in hotel to get ready- photo by Marie Planning a wedding in South Africa can be a daunting thought. So, much more so planning a wedding overseas, one would think. But one would be wrong! Planning a wedding overseas is basically the same as planning a trip overseas. So, what are the steps in planning an overseas trip and including a wedding. If you have a trusted travel agent lik,e Jessica Cameron, from Travel counselors,  (e-mail address: jessica.cameron@travelcounsellors.co.za  ) planning an overseas trip is a piece of cake. Step 1, book flights. Step 2, get travel insurance. Nev

Rice fields in Bali Bali - Lake Batran Bali - our favorite travel destination, by far. There is just something magical about the place. Bali is one of the 17000 odd thousand islands which make up Indonesia. Yes 17000 islands! It is also the favorite destination of many, many Australian tourists and a growing number of young tourists from around the world. The flood of tourists have, over the years, changed the character of Bali somewhat and there are now areas which are just full of bars and night clubs specially catering to the hoards of young "party animals" who flock to Bali. There are, however, still many places in Bali where you can get away from the crowd and enjoy a really great holiday. In the grounds of the Bali Spirit Hotel Being an island, there is coastline everywhere. Many of the holiday destinations and night clubs for the younger generation are on the coast and some of the big resort hotels have lost some of their  "Bali charm" and are

Vegan food - just the starters - photo by Marie Bragg The joys of eating on a trip Photo by Marie One of the joys of travel is the amazing food. The very last thing any traveler should do when traveling is to look for places that sell the same old food that you can get at home. I am particularly thinking of the fast food chain stores that are all over the world. If you do not taste the local food, you are seriously depriving yourself of one of the most enjoyable experiences when traveling! Indonesia and more particularly Bali is one of my wife's (Marie) and my favorite travel destinations. I have traveled a bit more extensively in Indonesia than Marie but we both really love Bali and the food in Bali. When I travel for work, I am with local people and they really enjoy there food. I have had some wonderful experiences with them, eating the most exciting food. Very often, I am not really sure what I am eating, but it always has been fantastic. There will be a few m

Complex of Hatshepsut Leading up the ramp The mortuary complex of Hatshepsut is in Luxor on the way to the Valley of the Kings. She ruled Egypt as a Pharaoh and is actually buried in the Valley of the Kings, or at least she has a tomb in the Valley of the Kings.It is believed that her mummy was removed from her tomb and placed with that of her midwife. It was regarded as an unidentified mummy, but there is some good evidence that this is actually the mummy of Hatshepsut. When Marie and I visited Luxor some time ago, we just stopped at the gate to this amazing place and I always wanted to go in and explore the inside of this amazing structure. The guide that took Marie and I around suggested we talk about "Hot chicken soup" when trying to remember the name of Hatshepsut and that name has pretty much stuck with me. Hatshepsut was the 5th Pharaoh of the eighteen Dynasty of Egypt and she ruled, as a pharaoh from 1507 - 1458 BC. Her rise to power was remarkable and it

Luxor Temple at night The first time Marie and I visited Egypt, a long time ago, we were still taking photos on slide film. Must have been a really long time ago! Can anyone still remember slide film? We stayed overnight in Luxor in a really dodgy hotel - but that is another story. Apart from the dodgy hotel, we had a really nice stay in Luxor and we visited most of the sites. We visited Luxor temple during the day, which was very nice. We were walking around Luxor in the evening and noticed that the temple was lit up at night and we could still go in. It was really impressive and we tried to get a few slides. Some of them were quite good, but a little skew and as these were slides, could not be fixed with photoshop. I always wanted to go back to Luxor and retake these photos. So now, on my latest trip to Egypt, I had the opportunity to go back to Luxor. I could fly back to Cairo in the late afternoon and overnight in an airport hotel to get my flight back to Dubai, or I could st