Welcome to Lis's Travel Tips Blog. This website is fairly new to the Internet - but over 30 years in the making! Yup I've been travelling regularly on my own since the 1980's and before that with my family. Over the years I've learned a trick or two, and now with the Internet I can share them with you, without having to find a publisher first!
Why did I start this blog? Simple - I was annoyed at the quality of information out there for would-be travellers. Which is not say there aren't several billion websites out there telling you how and where to travel, but most of them seem to be sponsored by a company with an interest in painting a very shiny picture of the destination you are considering going to.
This blog is different, the stories are real. Travel isn't always perfect, every day is not like a tourist brochure. Sometimes it rains, sometimes you get sick, sometime the bus doesn't come. But even on a good day - travel is better than most other activities in life - like work! I tell it like it is, you may disagree, but no one can accuse me of being bland or without an opinion.
Green Pool, Denmark, Western Australia
I've been traveling since I was seven. My mother was ill and I was packed off to a holiday in Ireland - from our home in Scotland at the time - I don't remember the holiday - but I do remember the excitement of catching my first flight - unaccompanied! I must admit over the years the romance and excitement of planes has worn off a bit but I still get excited showing up at the airport at the start of a new adventure.
I've been to every continent except Antarctica - and that's on the list. I've traveled solo and with friends. I've traveled with a partner. I've stayed in flea-pit hostels and luxury hotels. I've used travel agents and booked my own trips. I have bought almost every major travel guide on the planet and used most of them.
Travel is my passion - but it has never been my career. Though I became a geologist at least partly because I was hoping to get a trip to the Antarctica research station my School had access to - didn't quite work out though (couldn't be bothered with the PhD). Geology took me to some remote corners of Papua New Guinea and Australia - and yes there is a very good reason that some places are "off the beaten track" - not all of which are good. Retraining I deliberately chose a field which was in high demand so a) I would earn good money to fund my travel habit and b) would be easily enough be able to get another job if an employer didn't understand my requirement for 2-month holidays. Computing did fulfill its side of the bargain but in the end the boredom of doing something that I grew to hate was too much.
Read more about my travels here
These days I work in the back bedroom, in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, with easy access to the airport and the world. I work in my pajamas when I feel like it. I'm a writer, developer and promoter of websites about various topics - you can read more about my making money online travels at my Self Publishing site