15 ways you know you're missing the snow

1. You keep yelling out "heads" every time you sit down and reach for the non-existent ski lift bar

2. You wonder why you can still feel your toes and fingers at the end of the day

3. You feel nude going out in less than five layers of clothing

4. Walking and running seem incredibly slow and boring

5. Everything seems way too flat - where are the mountains?

6. You miss your nose constantly running

7. You hate the fact that you now get change when you buy a can of coke with a $5 note

8. Days seem way too long now the sun gets up before 7.30am and sunset is after 5pm

9. You wonder if your street would be classed a beginner, intermediate or difficult piste

10. When someone cuts you off in traffic you instinctively mutter: "bloody snowboarders!"

11. Towards the end of the day you ask passers-by: "when do the lifts close around here?"

12. You try to swipe you ski lift pass every time you go through a door or gate

13. There's no après ski vibe on the train home

14. The first thing you do in the morning is pull back the curtains and wonder if there was any snow overnight

15. You constantly feel as though you've forgotten something when you leave the house.  Where's my helmet, goggles, gloves, glove liners, hand warmers, neck warmers and piste map?

A spreadsheet for happy travels

This week I completed a workplace exercise to gauge my behavioural habits.

Apart from having little trust in others, it also became apparent that I am very much a detail person.

In fact one of the questions to expose this was: "When going on holidays I tend to have detailed travel plans: Always, Most of the Time, Occasionally, or Never?"

Naturally I picked "Always".

While I haven't embraced an Excel worksheet, I do use Word documents with tables outlining the date, location, and key accommodation, transport, transfer and activity details.  This is supported by another folder of hotel receipts, timetables, maps and anything else I might need.

Planning doesn't mean everything is set in stone

A good old fashioned spreadsheet or table may sound like an immediate fun crusher, but I'd like to mount a compelling argument in defence of myself and everyone else out there who loves planning in detail a good holiday.


1.  Planning helps you enjoy the holiday before you've even left home

Planning: gives you a taste of what's to come

I usually start thinking about a holiday nine months before departure.   I start with a broad plan and then fill in the details as the holiday approaches.

I will take my time to research destinations, hotels and transport options, and find this hugely rewarding.   Using Google Earth, Trip Advisor, blogs and a host of other online tools, I can literally see where I'm going and and can get excited by these virtual tantalising tastings.   Sometimes it feels like I'm already there, as if my mind has departed on holidays before my body.  After all, why confine your holiday to just a few weeks when you can spread it out over months?


2.  Planning maximises the "fun on the ground"

Planning: more time to enjoy the good stuff

When I arrive somewhere, I know where the hotel I've booked is and the quickest way to get there. This means I can spend less time on the logistics (transport and accommodation) and more time enjoying the new destination.

I'm not going to spend my precious holiday time in a fabulous location lined up in the local tourist office trying to find a bed for the night (only to end up having to take the hotel that has vacancies for a very good reason!).

I also take it to the next level and know what I want to see at the destination, so I don't waste time wondering what the destination has to offer when I'm already there.


3.  Planning gets you into places

Planning: better access to the things you want

Most people who visit Amsterdam want to visit Anne Frank's House, but because of its size it can only take a limited number of people at a time.   For those who like planning, you can pre-book and pay for your entry online for a specific day and time.   So while all the non-planners stand in queue for literally hours in the hope they'll make it in, you just rock up a few minutes before your entry time and skip the queue.  

The same applies for other major attractions, like Granada's Alhambra.   You can buy your ticket online beforehand, or line up at the crack of dawn in the hope of snaring any left over tickets.   It's really a no-brainer don't you think?


4.  Planning means you can easily adapt to changes

Planning: finding the easier way is easier

The train you were going to catch is late or cancelled?   No big deal, you've got the train timetable so you will just take another one you know is coming soon, but departing from a different platform.   You're running late to pick up the key to your rental property?  No worries, you've got all the contact details of the agent and can easily arrange another option.

Rather than make your holiday rigid, planning actually does the opposite by ensuring you've got the information and tools you need to quickly adapt to the inevitable changes, alterations and delays on your holiday.


5.  Planning gives you options

Planning: more options to choose from

Planners know the opening days and times of the "must-see" museum or attraction they desperately want to visit.  Non-planners turn up only to realise it's closed that day or is closed for renovation until 2016.  Planning means you can schedule your time better and have a range of options at your fingertips, rather than be left with just one option or none.


6.  Planning saves you money

Planning: saves you money to spend on other things

Apart from the fact that airfares, train tickets and accommodation are often cheaper when booked well in advance, planning also saves you money in lots of other ways.  Planners have done their research and know about the cheap city tourist pass that gives free public transport and free admission to key attractions.  Non-planners find out about the pass after they've already spent three times that amount of money on seeing and doing half as much.

Sounds like a holiday

Travel and tunes.  For me they've gone hand-in-hand ever since I was a child and I would listen to Mel and Kim on my Walkman in the back of the family car as we journeyed from Warwick to the Gold Coast for our annual summer holiday.

There's some destinations I will instantly recall when a particular song comes on the radio.   These are songs that might not necessarily have an obvious association to the place, but was somehow being played when I was there.

Take Bath in England.  A beautiful and historic city that I always remember when I hear the Spice Girls' Holler, as this was what was playing on the bus in the year 2000 when I visited there for the first time.

Hey, I didn't say the travel and tune association was always perfect.

As I load up my iPod for another holiday, I'm busting out my top 10 travel tunes.

Yes, I do have a "Travel" playlist and these are just some of the gems the feature.  They're trotted out when I'm about to head on holidays, when I'm thinking of holidays or when I'm on the plane itself.

Some are obvious, some are relaxing and some are silly/tragic, but whenever they come on I can get that holiday feeling.

10.  Life by Des'ree
Sure there's some weird lyrics in there, but I too don't want to see a ghost, it's the sight that I fear most and I would rather eat a piece of toast and watch the evening news.

9.  I'm Like A Bird by Nelly Furtado
Well, some do say I run like a gazelle or was that an emu?   Anyway, you get the whole freedom connotation here and a strong desire to stick our your arms like wings when this one comes on.

8.  On the Beach by Chris Rea
Actually I'm rarely on the beach as I'm not a huge fan of the sun, but this laid back song seems to evoke a long hot summer no matter where you hear it.

7.  Breathe by Kylie
This is a popular track when I'm approaching a holiday - there's something about the lines "breathe, it won't be long now, breathe" that seems like very sage advice from the Princess of Pop.

6.  Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy
It's like an audio massage that makes you want to run through a foreign field at sunset.

5.  Whoops Now by Janet Jackson
Possibly not on everyone's list but Janet's little ditty about being held back at work by her boss while everyone else is at play is a compelling story.  Thankfully by the end of the song the tables have turned and she too is saying "Whoops Now", but for all the right reasons.

4.  Come Away With Me by Norah Jones
Surely one of the most chilled and relaxing escape songs of all time.  I feel like I'm in the car with her on that hot summer's day driving down a desert highway to somewhere else.

3.  Touch of Paradise by John Farnham
The video clip had John chillaxing on a inflatable pool bed and when this song comes on you'll be wanting to do the same... possibly while you watch flamingos "walk and swaying in peace".

2.  One Day I'll Fly Away by Randy Crawford
This song seems to sum up the yearning to escape perfectly.  Depending on your mood, it can make you sad, hopeful and/or happy.

1.  Holiday by Madonna
Come on.  You know this one was coming.   If you haven't played this while heading home after your last day of work you're dead inside!  Dead I tell you!

What's on your "Travel" playlist?

Ode to Nagano Snow

An escape to the snow; the ultimate chill out.  

For someone coming from a hot Australian climate, there's something about the cold and the white which clears the mind and re-energises the body.

Transforming landscapes with every fall, snow can be both brutal and beautiful.

After 10 days recently spent skiing in Nagano, Japan, at Hakuba and Myoko Kogen resorts, here's some of my favourite scenes of snow.

Music:  Everloving Arms by Kristina Train