The best travel advice you need right now - Trip Notes

Tim Alpe, left, Peta Mathias, Jessica Nabongo and Aesha Scott shared their travel advice on Trip Notes this season. Images / Supplied, edited by NZ Herald

The current season of the Herald’s travel podcast, Trip Notes, is at an end, and to mark the end of the season, we are looking back at some of the best advice our guests shared over the past 12 weeks.

Lonely Planet’s Chris Zehir on the one state you should visit in Australia

“So you have everything from this crazy little bohemian capital in Adelaide with kind of a rich arts culture. You’ve got island experiences on places like Kangaroo Island. You’ve got incredible coastal scenery.

“Then you go further [and] you’ve got wine country galore. They’ve got 18 wine regions in South Australia, would you believe? As you go further north, then you’ve got these incredible outback experiences that are some of the best that Australia has to offer.

“So if you’re wanting to experience Australia in one state, I would absolutely say South Australia is the way to do it.”

Walking tracks, wildlife and striking rock formations are some of the attractions on Kangaroo Island nature reserve. Photo / Tourism Australia

Intrepid Travel’s Brett Mitchell on overtourism in Europe

“They’re overcrowded for a reason. They are amazing cities or towns, so I think you’re entitled to go.

“Certainly some of the trends that we are seeing in travel is that people are tending to try to pick the times as to when they go to these destinations, either more shoulder season, or if they do go and see some of these amazing historic towns, uh, you get up early and try and do it off some of the peak times.

“And also, spread the love a bit. Just move around the country, don’t necessarily spend all of your time in Barcelona, as an example.

“Go there for a couple of nights, but get out and really explore some other authentic towns and areas, and that’s certainly some of the trends.”

House of Travel’s Jo Coolen on why you should talk to a travel agent about the South Pacific

“Probably one of the biggest mistakes we see people make with the time zone for the Cook Islands, so people have got their flight arriving and they haven’t gotten anywhere to sleep. Or you might book an extra night at the other end not realising, so it is tricky.

“We know our places inside out and I think it’s about matching the right island to the right customer. We’re not gonna send somebody that’s looking for Gucci shopping, for example, to Samoa.

“You’ve just got to qualify your customers and understand what it is they’re really after. And sometimes they don’t know themselves ‘cause they dunno the options. They keep going back to the same place, because that’s what they know.”

The best local delicacy to try in the Cook Islands is ika mata, marinated fish in lemon juice and coconut cream. Photo / 123rf

Writer Peter Janssen on the magic of a Kiwi road trip

I do those overseas trips as well, and I just think there’s a surprising amount of that stuff that we can find out about our own country. It’s all very well going to a castle somewhere, but this is our country and it’s our history and we are related to the people and it’s peculiar to us – and it’s more peculiar to us, I think, than we think it is

“That’s what makes it appeal a lot to me. Just go down that road, go to that little tiny museum, meet someone who’s a, an odd collector of odd things.”

Kiwi 'Below Deck' star Aesha Scott.

Aesha Scott on the reality of working on super yachts - and why Kiwis are so popular

“We’ve got that no-nonsense kind of attitude and nothing phases us. So, you know, the manager might come up to a Kiwi and say, ‘Oh, unfortunately, we’re going to have to work another three hours till we get this done’, we’d all go, ‘sweet, what do we need to do?’ and roll up our sleeves. But not every nationality takes it that way.

“I remember I used to do three months straight without stepping off the boat. It’s just 16-hour shift, 16-hour shift. You drop off one guest group at 12pm, you’ve got to turn the boat around to get the next group on.

“So don’t do it if you think it’s just going to be a party holiday because you have to work your cute little tush off.”

Cruise Lines International Association’s Joel Katz on what’s new in cruising

“The cruise lines are investing heavily in the onboard products, whether it’s the entertainment or the food, or just the amenities that are available on board. They really are very focused on ensuring that their guests are having the best onboarding experience,” Katz said.

“There are some ships that are now specialising in gourmet dining [and] showcasing the food of the regions that they travel in. I’ve just been on a ship that has a test kitchen on board, and you can actually learn how to cook the food of the region.

“[And] some of the ships have invested heavily in the most beautiful spa experiences on board.”

Lylo’s Tim Alpe on where to find good budget travel

“Anywhere in Southeast Asia, there’s definitely a push in places like Thailand, places like Bali are really, really popular.

“South America is probably the most innovative place ever in terms of this new type of accommodation coming through. We get a lot of our ideas from South America. Hard to get there from here, but once you’re there, really affordable, and the quality of accommodation is really, really high.

" I’ve spoken to people who’ve done cruises around New Zealand on big cruise lines, or up and down the islands up here, and they pay a set fee and it’s really, really affordable.

“So I think that idea is becoming a lot more of a popular option, not only for families, but for individuals and couples as well. When dollars are tight, you know exactly what you can budget for. You know exactly what you can save for.”

Jessica Nabongo on a beach in Sao Tome and Principe, an African island nation close to the Equator.

Travel blogger Jessica Nabongo on what she learned from visiting every country on Earth by herself

“The biggest lesson that I have learned, and it is constantly affirmed for me, is that most people are good.

“I think we’re living in a very weird time right now where there’s a lot of division being sewn for a number of different reasons - and I caution people to get off the internet ‘cause that’s not the real world.

“But think about your everyday life. And the fact of the matter is, in your actual physical life, it’s so rare that you meet an a-hole, right? For me, I’m constantly coming across people that are extending kindness to me, and in particular when I travel.

“And so I’ve been to over 100 countries solo as a woman, as a black woman. And the only reason I’ve been able to achieve that is because of the kindness of strangers. I go into someone else’s country and they keep me safe, they tell me where to go, where not to go.

“The kindness of humanity is something that I will always argue. I don’t care about whatever we’re seeing on the internet, whatever the people in charge are doing and saying; at the end of the day, people care about people, and I will argue that to my grave.

Allianz’s David Wallace on why you need travel insurance in New Zealand and Australia

“People going to their favourite holiday park down in Taupō or catching a ferry across to the South Island, it may seem like it’s reasonably small outlay compared to a big European trip, but all of those costs are costs on a household.

“Not being able to take that trip due to cancelling it due to your own medical reasons, weather impacting the ferry sailings, or something else going wrong, would mean that you can at least get that, that money back through a claim and enjoy that trip sometime later.

“Whilst we’re not paying American-style medical bills in Australia, just the cost of a few hundred dollars out of pocket for an ambulance might be unplanned.

“Similarly, if you’ve got delays and cancellations due to weather, you want to know that you’re not losing that money if it’s something that the airline’s not going to refund you for.”

Air New Zealand’s Mike Williams on how AI can help you travel

“I went to Mangawhai recently, just north of Auckland and said, ‘look, I’m gonna be there for three days, I’m going with the kids and my wife, and we are kind of keen on doing some hiking or some slightly adventurous thing. What could we do?’

“And it gave a three-day itinerary. Basically morning, afternoon, evening, do this. I did it basically, exactly as it was said, and it was perfect.

" Every time we travel, especially overseas, there’s the amount of time that we spend planning, and then there’s the amount of time that we spend experiencing and enjoying, and I think we’ll decrease the amount of time that we need to put into the logistics."

Peta Mathias said she was interested in interacting with guests at her event.

Celebrity chef Peta Mathias on top culinary destinations

" The best food is in the home of a taxi driver who picks you up from the airport. So you get yourself really friendly with him, and he’ll usually say, my wife’s a really good cook, why don’t you come to our place for dinner?

“Say yes, even though she’ll probably curse him. Because A, you get into a family home, and B, you get real home cooking, which is great. It depends on the country, you know, like Morocco, home cooking is better than restaurant cooking, I would say. France, fabulous restaurants.”

Travel blogger Megan Singleton on the best places for multi-stop holidays

Singapore:

“These 24 or 48-hour bus tickets kind of serve as your Uber, because you can do the first loop just to get your bearings. And then the second time, or the next day even, you’d use it again and this time you hop off at the Gardens by the Bay or the Botanicals or wherever you want to stop and then jump on again when you’re done.”

Dubai: “On the way back, we had three nights and we chose a resort with pools ... and then there’s malls as well, and you’ve got the camel riding and the dune bashing and the Bedouin experiences if you want to go out.

“So it’s definitely worth talking to your travel agent if you are heading to Europe for any reason and looking at all your airline options, whether there is a deal on any of the airlines, particularly to stop over.”

Listen to the full episode for more

Trip Notes is an NZ Herald podcast hosted by Lorna Riley, a keen travel writer and enthusiast and host of Coast Days. New episodes are available every Tuesday.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.