So after I recovered from the shock of jumping out of the plane, I hit that annoying (for everyone else) stage where I could not stop talking about it. “I just jumped out of a plane! I can’t believe I just jumped out of a plane. Wow, that really just happened…” on and on it went. I did eventually get the hint, I promise, but not for a bit. You stop being aware of other people’s reactions to a thing like that after awhile…
I met up with the Fraser Island …

After my days on the Hammer, it was onto the bus for a 13-hour drive down Australia’s East Coast. After watching The Green Mile on the bus television, I did my best to get my dream on, but it’s not the easiest in a cramped upright seat. Oh well. Arriving at about 6 in the morning in Hervey Bay, I got picked up by the Palace Adventures hostel van and taken to check in. Two hours later I was sitting in the lounge room listening to the most painful government …

Okay, it sounds gross. Five days, no shower, no soap. Definitely no sugar coating on this one – I was…dirty. Why, you ask, did I go five days without washing? One day, okay sure, two days starts to get a little if-fy. Five?
Let me explain. In those less-than-clean days, I went sailing on a professional racing yacht, traveled hundreds of miles on an overnight bus, jumped out of a plane, and slept on an island covered in dingos. Not much time for showering.
After landing at Proserpine Airport, I grabbed my …

If you’ve ever hesitated about the long flight to Australia, don’t. The great land down under is worth every bit of the long journey and the memories I’ll never forget.
After almost five months in Australia, having sneakily avoided winter, I’m settling back into London life. When I think about my most recent travel adventure, I suppose I was able to see quite a lot of Australia, but really, I didn’t see half of it. This is one big country. I passed through five of Australia’s eight states and territories, saw …

One of the great things about traveling is the opportunity to find places as different as possible from your home. I’ve lived in and around cities my whole life, from London to New York to Washington DC, so for me, living in the middle of nowhere is about as different as it gets. In 2008, I lived in Tha Wang Pha, Thailand – a small village in the northern Nan Province surrounded by nothing but fields and mountains. Life was simple. I bought my food from the same woman at …

After many trips to exotic and not-so-exotic places I have come to find that there needs to be a balance between sightseeing and resting. In Australia, another key component comes up that should be included and that is activities! Australia is a great place to be doing something. Be it snorkeling, hiking, sky diving, or anything else you can think of. It is definitely a top destination inline with the likes of New Zealand and Interlaken, Switzerland. Starting in Sydney, I of course took in all the major sites but was …

Big news for Go Girl.
Marianne will be representing our writers at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in Australia!

The festival will be taking place on April 1-5, 2010 and will feature top artists such as Jack Johnson, The Fray, Gipsy Kings, Jeff Beck and others.
Stay tuned for some great news about how it goes– and maybe an interview or two while we’re at it, too!

Now that I have celebrated Australia Day for the first time, I have a confession to make. I had absolutely no idea what I was celebrating. I knew it was a big day – I don’t think I know anyone in Australia that didn’t spend Tuesday in the vicinity of a barbecue, and most likely some beers, Aussie banners and some body of water if you were lucky (or a kiddie pool in my case). I know I had a good day, listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100 songs of …

By Marianne
I’ve gone through the New Year traditions in a lot of different places. I’ve seen the fireworks in London, Spain and New York. In Annapolis, Baltimore, Washington DC and Los Angeles. And most recently, in Thailand and Sydney, Australia.
I don’t remember too much about my London New Years, I imagine mostly because the last time I was in the UK for January 1, I was ten years old and I don’t think I ever did anything particularly noteworthy. Hopefully for January 1, 2011, I’ll be back there again …