Mr Romance 
Sometimes where you stay on holiday is just a place to lay your head. It’s a place to keep the valuables safe you don’t want to carry around with you all day… though I did have a belt stolen from my hotel room in Prague once. Anyway, here are some hotels you’d want to spend … Read more
Bored of staying in the same old generic hotel? Hate being just another pillow-flattener in a room identical to all the others in the corridor? How about this place for a step outside that box room into first class – Jumbo Stay Hotel, Sweden, where you sleep on a plane: Rates: from AU/US$72, £46 for … Read more
It’s Friday! That’s a relief, isn’t it? The weekend stretches before us like the far end of an Olympic swimming pool, threatening to drown us with its infinite possibilities. And so begins the first ordeal of our leisure time: where should we go for Friday drinks? Do you want comfy armchairs and a table? Is … Read more
Fed up with potato-based sauce-soakers for dinner? Chips, roast potatoes, baked spuds, mash… they can get a little bit dull; a bit run-of-the-mill. Well, here’s something that will change gears for you: polenta chips. Mrs Romance is very ‘meh’ when it comes to potato goods. I love the humble spud, so there’s always conflict here. … Read more
It was the classic damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t scenario. Shave; get neck spots. Don’t shave; grow a beard and Mrs Romance will never kiss me again. I used to dread shaving. I’d put it off until Mrs R lost her temper. But one day, Mrs Romance had a bring-a-friend invitation to her beauticians. Her real friend dropped out … Read more
The traffic, the markets, the street hawkers, the grime; the food carts, the temples, the madness, the crime… it’s what makes this iconic South-East Asian capital buzz. It’s what you think of when you hear the word ‘Bangkok’. But way above the steam and noise of Bangkok’s sprawling, festering street life, serenity can be found. … Read more
What is it about a rooftop bar? Perhaps it’s drinking champagne with the city at your feet. Maybe it’s the feeling of the stars above you with a cocktail in your hand. Or it could just be the glamour of fine wine with your fine wife. Of course, it could just be that being up … Read more
If you haven’t been to the Clock Hotel before, you are either under-age or you’re not interested in pubs. This one’s a belter and shouldn’t be missed. Obviously a classic Aussie pub at its heart, the Clock has undergone many incarnations. From the outside, it’s clear that it’s always been a pub, with its classic … Read more
You know those occasional meals you have that, even as you’re eating them, you know you’ll remember them forever? That’s what happened to us in Pearl Beach recently. Pearl Beach is a little waterside town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, population 400 – give or take. These lucky few have on their … Read more
Why is Australia so damn freaky?! We’ve travelled a fair bit around this amazing island continent and it has never failed to impress me with its weird-ass beauty. It’s the Cameron Diaz of countries: sometimes it looks like a class A model, other times it’s so strange, it just looks wrong. Early explorers didn’t have … Read more