Mixed Emotions in the City of Gold Coast
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable… But that’s okay.” – Anthony Bourdain.
Gold Coast is more similar to Sydney than Hobart. It’s a big city with a lot of people and options. You can do it cheaply or lavishly. The city is both challenging and pleasant for my cousin and me. Read More
3 Year Blog Anniversary
“You are now the proud owner of trevallog.com!” said WordPress to me when I decided to push the button.
I’ve kind of lost count how many years I’ve been blogging. But I always remember that I started this blog in the summer, many years ago. Then, I decided to look through my old posts and realized that I’ve been blogging for THREE years! Oh, my. Those years surely passed by so quickly!
Today marks three years trevallog.com is around on the Internet. I’ve never written about the blog’s first and second anniversary because my traffic wasn’t that good and I didn’t feel I made any impact on anyone’s life. My own life wasn’t hugely impacted as well. But this year, I feel that I have so many compelling reasons to celebrate the anniversary. So I decided to write this reflective post. Read More
Three Slow Days in Hobart, Tasmania
After spending close to two weeks in Sydney, a big city where convenience is everywhere, my cousin and I took an early morning flight from Sydney to Hobart with Jetstar. Hobart is like a world away from Sydney. As we landed, we could feel the real winter. It was cooler than Sydney, for sure.
As budget travellers, we tried to ask the information counter whether there are any public buses that connect the airport and city. Unfortunately, there wasn’t. Thus, we decided to take the airport shuttle and paid 25 bucks for the return trip (one-way trip cost 15 bucks). The airport shuttle is a 24-seater minivan. The driver dropped us right in front of our hostel. Yay, no need to drag our luggage. Read More
The Day I Decided to Stop Buying Souvenirs
“Take only memories and pictures. Leave only footprints.”
“Don’t forget my souvenirs,” said my friends and families to me everytime I told them that I’m travelling to certain countries. This sentence is so common among Indonesians that everyone says it regardless whether they mean it or not.
The act of buying souvenirs for friends and families has influenced the way I travelled in my teens and twenties. On the last day of my trip, I always visit a souvenir market and spend half or a whole day looking for souvenirs.
It doesn’t matter whether the souvenirs are useful or not. What matters is that the name of the city or country is boldly emblazoned. It doesn’t matter how much the souvenirs cost, what matter is each of my closest family members and best friends receive something when I come back because that’s the proof of how much they meant to me. Read More
Canberra in a Day
Not even 12 hours after we alighted from the bus that brought us back to Sydney from Snowy Mountains, we jumped into a minivan at 7.15 am, eager to start our journey from Sydney to Canberra, the capital of Australia.
Thanks to the lucky stars for letting us sit right behind the driver, we had an unobstructed view along the journey. I captured hundreds of photos that I really love. I mean, these views are rare in my country, I didn’t care if I was acting like a lunatic from a small village, snapping every few seconds like there’s no next time. In this post, let me show you Canberra in thirty or so photos. Read More
Best Prepaid SIM Card in Singapore for Travellers
Who can live and travel without data SIM card? I CAN’T. SIM card is my second priority when I arrive in a new country, after local currency. Having a local SIM card with data gives me confidence and assurance that I can survive in a new country even if I don’t speak the language. So, I always include tips about buying local SIM card in all of my airport guides.
When my family and friends visit me in Singapore, they’re always asking me to help them buy SIM cards. Choosing the best SIM card in Singapore is both easy and hard! Easy because there are only 3 major phone operators in Singapore, namely Singtel, M1 and StarHub. It’s hard because every operator offers so many different SIM cards with different features and validity, it’s so hard to choose what’s the most suitable card for you.
I’ve been there, I’ve had my share of headache when choosing a SIM card. In this post, I’ll do comparison and breakdown of each SIM card, then provide you with my recommendations! Let’s dive in! Read More
Seeing Snow for the First Time in Snowy Mountains
For 23 years, I have always wondered how snow looks and feels like. As a girl living in the tropical paradise, snow and winter were foreign concepts for me.
When I finally got the chance to visit Australia in the winter, I knew I had to see snow. I thought I would see snow in Sydney, but nope. It was a wishful thinking in 2011. Luckily, my cousin and I shared the same vision. Read More
Nan Tien Temple in Wollongong
When my cousin who stays in Australia recommended that we visit Wollongong, we were stunned for a moment.
We hadn’t heard about Wollongong before, had no idea how to spell it and were contemplating if it was worth visiting a city whose name we do not know how to pronounce correctly. But we decided to go for it anyway. Afterall, we didn’t know when we would return to Sydney again. Read More
Exploring the Chilly Sydney in Photos
Once upon a time, I was young and naive. I wanted to quit my job and travel the world. I bought an air ticket to India, followed by Australia. It was a life-changing milestone in my life. I spent 1 month in each country. I fell in love with both countries.
I wrote long essays about my trip to India (if you’re keen to read about it, here’s the start of the India series). However, I have never written about my trip to Australia at all. It’s been 7 years since my first visit to Australia, and I figured it’s about time I write about it. Else, it’ll slip away from my memory for good.
Since I took literally thousands of photos, a photo essay is the best way for me to present my travel stories, isn’t it? So, brace yourself for lots and lots of photos from the land down under, ok? I’ll start it off with photos from Sydney, the city where I spent almost 2 weeks in. Read More
Don’t Repeat These 5 Mistakes We Made When Visiting Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Cameron Highlands has been on our radar for a few years. However, we kept putting it off because of its inaccessibility from Singapore.
The bus from Singapore to Cameron Highlands takes about 9 hours. By flight, one needs to fly to Ipoh or Kuala Lumpur first, then take a bus to Cameron Highlands.
A few months ago, we decided to go for a week-long trip to various Malaysia cities, including Cameron Highlands, Ipoh and Penang. Since we wanted to visit multiple cities in a short frame of time, we dedicated one night in Cameron Highlands.
What supposed to be a dream trip turned into one that we regret the most. We didn’t do a diligent trip planning because it was an impromptu trip. So, we ended up making these 5 mistakes that ruined our trip to Cameron Highlands. Read More
