Category: Welcome

 

Hello, I’m Danae. Thanks for visiting my Trip Over travel blog, which features WHAT THE..?! Travel Reviews.

This blog isn’t one of those picture-perfect dream travel blogs

in the vast ocean of picture-perfect dream travel blogs.

Uh uh.

Mine is different. Funny different. Strange different.

And I hope it brightens your day.

Get ready for my dance to welcome you, followed by a magic carpet ride of posts about places you could visit,

great travel info, and the weird things we’ve experienced along the way…

By the way, this site uses Australian English spelling since I’m from the City of Bayside, Melbourne.

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Before the travel reviews begin…

Do you love to travel? Or do you lurve to travel?

Since you’re visiting a travel blog, you probably lurve to travel like me.

Lurve of travelling is a romantic sort of love, isn’t it? We get butterflies from the moment we ponder the possibility of getting away.The wings of desire flutter, the butterflies go crazy with the fantasy, and then we fall head over heels in lurve when we decide that YES, we’re going on a holiday! Whoo hoo!

Energy

Travelling fills us with energy, even while we’re just planning the trip, packing our clothes, and heading off for our next adventure.When we arrive at our destination we truly feel the powerful and uplifting effects of travel because it reawakens us to spontaneity, serendipity, and absorbing the present in a heightened state.

New stimuli

We’re out of our comfort zone and we stop acting on auto pilot (pardon the travel pun) because we need to process our new surroundings quickly and there is so much new stimuli. We even take a renewed interest in strangers and little details grab our attention.

Travelling allows us to live in a world parallel to our everyday one and learn how other people and societies approach life. You get paradigm shifts when you travel.

Builds character

Not only that, travelling builds our character and strengthens our spirit. We’re often faced with unfamiliar situations and must make out-of-the-ordinary decisions about what to do, where to go, and how to get the most out of our day.

 

Substance

Some people might feel that travelling isn’t worth the cost, effort, or risk, but after you travel you realise that the experience stays deep inside you, adds extra substance to your life’s story, and has helped you to grow.

You know the intrinsic value of new travel adventures and that’s why I’m excited to connect with you through our shared lurve of travel.

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By the way, a quick scarf recommendation for your trip or as a gift:

I bought these cool 100% merino wool Rotfuchs scarves made in Germany for our twin sons studying in London. (Rotfuchs means “Red Fox” in German, if you’re wondering ;-D)

Ordered them from Australia through Amazon UK, without postage fees and with quick delivery in time for Christmas 2019. So, for all your friends and family overseas, see if you can buy them gifts from their local Amazon because you’ll save time, money and effort (provided the product turns out to be great).

I mean, imagine buying 100% merino wool scarves made in Germany, from Australia, and then having to pay to post them to London in time for Christmas! (Sorry, Australia Post, but it costs a lot and takes time.)

When I visited our sons in London after Christmas, January 2020, I saw and felt first hand the excellent quality of these scarves  – very classy, soft and funky. They looked great on the boys. More importantly, our sons love the scarves and were wearing them…a lot! Yay! So very pleased with these purchases. 

Therefore, I can personally recommend these scarves to you if you’re heading somewhere wintry or as a gift. (You’ll find that the Amazon description for the Raschel scarf will say “red and yellow” for the blue one, but don’t worry, it arrives blue.)

 

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My Trip Over Travel Blog Goal for You:

To give you a unique, fresh travel blog that will WOW! you and make you smile, while delivering  great travel review information via:

• unusual and useful content including tips
• personal trip recommendations
• access to lots of great travel-related deals, and
• the WILD CARD called WHAT THE..?! Travel Reviews. 

These compelling travel reviews include the weird encounters and improbable incidents that my husband Jim and I have experienced by chance while on holidays. I like to call them WHAT THE..?!s .

You can let me know how strange you think they are by voting in the WHAT THE..?! blog polls. 

What sparked WHAT THE..?! Travel Reviews?

SPARK 1) The WHAT THE..?! TV segment on the Rove Live show about weird stuff that viewers sent in to him, such as strange community signs, ads, and a slice of bread that came out of the loaf with a very happy face.

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SPARK 2) The Marvel Comics WHAT THE..?! series which parodied  the Marvel Universe and was billed as “The Marvel mag of mirth and mayhem“.

Similarly, the WHAT THE..?! encounters that my husband Jim and I have experienced on our trips have parodied (what I consider to be) “normal” events, invoking mirth and mayhem.

 

 

CUT OUT THE GLARE THIS TRIP AND LOOK COOL TOO…

These would suit Jim. Actually, all sunnies suit Jim. They just do… 

Ray-Ban THE GENERAL RB 3561 COPPER/GREEN SHADED men’s sunglasses

 

SPARK 3) Our little getaway to Hobart Tasmania in early January 2018, which was the catalyst for WHAT THE..?! Travel Reviews. The trip was rife with WHAT THE..?! moments.

Upon reflection, I realised that the tingling thread of WHAT THE..?! was also running through our past few trips to Darwin, Vanuatu, and Greece.

 

 

We’ve experienced strange situations, occurrences, human behaviour, and bits of info at relatively normal holiday travel destinations.

The WHAT THE..?!s have caught us completely by surprise and have left lasting impressions. Sometimes they’re blatant, sometimes more obscure, but they always appear out of nowhere.

I adore WHAT THE..?!s. That’s why this travel blog features WHAT THE..?! Travel Reviews. I’m compelled to share this weird stuff with you along with some great offbeat, handy travel info, genuine recommendations and top travel-related deals.

 

Vote in the WHAT THE..?! Travel Review Blog Polls

Have fun voting in the WHAT THE..?! Polls. I look forward to finding out whether you rate our WHAT THE..?!’s as Wow/Wonderful/Wacky/Worrying or a Whateva.

In fact, I’d like to know if you think it’s me who’s strange for classifying this stuff as weee-ird.

Is Danae the weird one?

Donning the MACq 01 Hotel robe.Old-style map of Hobart hinterland in the hood.

You can buy a robe for $130AUD.

They’re very large and heavy – great for Winter – and have a touch of Assassins Creed and Cobra about them.

 

Site Links

Oh, by the way. There are BOLD GREEN LINKS in this blog site which I guarantee will only take you to:

1. trustworthy information sites relating to this blog’s content OR
2. trustworthy advertising sites such as Jet Radar, Cruise Away, Aussie House Swap (domestic and international swaps), Travel Payouts, Amazon Australia, Hotellook, and booking.com, in the event that you like what you see and wish to explore/view information. Links lead to e.g. photos, prices, descriptions, and/or reviews.

We have happily used booking.com to arrange our accommodation in the following destinations:

INTERNATIONAL booking.com TRAVEL REVIEWS –

Minato, Tokyo, Japan 2017 – Clean, modern, very friendly staff. Language barrier not an issue.

Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan 2017 – Top location near the Ikebukuro Station. Comfortable, clean, roomy, and enjoyable.

Osaka, Japan 2017 – Small room, inexpensive, nothing amazing, but that’s what was we were looking for. Very good value.

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Preveza, Greece 2016 (far west, near Lefkada) – Can’t say enough good things about Dioni Boutique Hotel. It was perfect for us. My husband, Jim, kept congratulating me on my choice of accommodation. Amazing staff, gorgeous hotel, ATM within 10m, walking distance to the waterfront, taverns, shops, cafes, Satan’s Bazaar, and the foreshore further up. Buffet breakfasts on the rooftop with views.  My only quibble was the noise from the dogs that lived on a neighbouring property, but there are quieter rooms available on the other side.

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DOMESTIC booking.com TRAVEL REVIEWS – 

Bondi Junction, New South Wales, Australia 2015 – Classy, clean, luxurious, spacious apartment. Central location. So much on offer within a short walk. We loved it and had fun at the cook-your-own authentic Korean BBQ restaurant around the corner.

Daylesford, Victoria, Australia 2015 – The room was affordable, modest, clean, and comfortable. Lovely surrounding area and great location, just a block’s walk to the town’s main street.

Eden, New South Wales, Australia 2015 – We really enjoyed our stay as a family at this motel. The room was large, in great condition, and comfortable for everyone. We had a room upstairs with an ocean view from our window. Friendly, family environment. Top location within walking distance to main streets, incl. pubs, restaurants etc. If you’d like to see the actual room we stayed in, click here and find the room with the red door.

Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 2015 – Modern, clean, comfortable room. Central location. Enjoyable stay.

Therefore, I can personally recommend using booking.com.

For my feature travel reviews, visit the MENU up the top.

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Yes, more genuine travel recommendations, great travel info, and top travel deals coming your way!

Along with WHAT THE..?! Travel Reviews and WHAT THE..?! Polls.

 

BTW…      WHAT THE..?!