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A to Z of Sophie’s World

Travel ABCs are going about the travel blogging circuit these days. Fun idea! Always interesting to know the personality behind a blog. Thanks for the tags,Jenna and Michael. Here’s my travel ABC: A: Age of first international trip: At 11, I went to New Orleans with my mum and brother to visit our aunt. It [...]

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Where in the World: Tonga

It’s time for another photo quiz, so without further ado – where in the world is this lovely bit of nature? This spectacular natural phenomenon occurs along a 5-kilometre-stretch of coastline in this little country. There you are, walking along the beach, when suddenly a series of jets rises before you. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Ocean [...]

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My 7 links

Katie at Tripbase has put together a fun, new blog challenge to unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavour to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again. And how to do this? Details are over at Tripbase [...]

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How to rent a home in New Zealand

After the Christchurch earthquake, the grassroots movement Blog4NZ was born, aiming to support New Zealand tourism after the earthquake. For 72 hours, travel bloggers from all over the world will tell stories about a country we love. Here’s one of mine: After I had my youngest daughter, I used the opportunity afforded by Norwegian family [...]

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Blog carnival: Your favourite place on earth

It’s my great pleasure to host the 10th Lonely Planet Blogsherpa Carnival. For this edition, I asked my fellow bloggers: Which is your favourite place on earth? Is it a country, a city, a village, a beach, a hut, a mountain, a hotel? Do you return all the time – or do you dream of [...]

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Friedensreich Hundertwasser and his Toilet

In Vienna, you may have seen the creative and colourful Hundertwasser House. You know, the one with no straight lines, where trees are incorporated into the house. Even the floors are wavy. As Hundertwasser said: “an uneven floor is a melody to the feet”. But did you know the famous, ahead-of-his-time eco-friendly Austrian architect lived [...]

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The most haunting place in the Pacific

According to legend, Norfolk Island is the most haunted place in the Pacific. A stroll between these gravestones reveals the history of what was once Britain’s worst convict colony. So bad was it, convicts sought execution as relief from suffering. One prisoner, Thomas Salsbury Wright, was found guilty of forgery and sent off to Norfolk [...]

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Tiny Tonga

Tonga, or Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga, is the only monarchy in the Pacific. A constitutional monarchy in theory, a bit more feudal in reality. Or at least the reality in 2003. The then king, Taufa’ahau Tupou IV was once famous for being the world’s heaviest monarch.

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