Investigate your selected location

When planning to travel overseas, check a government advisory website to ensure the safety of the destination and investigate any requirements needed for visiting the region.

Australians should check Smartraveller the website set up by the Australian Department of  Foreign Affairs and Trade to provide up to date travel advice and consular assistance to Australians travelling abroad.

Smartraveller provides latest travel updates for countries where there may be political unrest or a natural disaster, for example.

You can also use the Travel Advice tab for detailed information about safety issues in individual countries.

The Travel Information tab provides travel tips, information about staying healthy when travelling, what to do if something goes wrong when overseas as well as advice for those travelling with families, going overseas for business and seniors travelling abroad.

If you are travelling overseas with prescription medicines you should check the section of the website dealing with that topic.

There is also a section of the website where you can register your travel plans so you can be contacted if there is an emergency in the area you are visiting.

Visiting the Smartraveller website should be a essential part when planning of a holiday online.

Plan how you want to travel

Decide what sort of holiday you want to have. Visiting family combined with some sight seeing may be one option. You might just want a relaxing holiday in one location. Exploring as many new locations as you can could be a reason for travel. Or you might just want to try new experiences.

Some people decide on the places they want to visit and then hire a car to travel to each location. Some travellers utilise the public transport systems, particularly rail travel or coaches to move from place to place. Air travel between counties may be a preferred option. Travel companies provide tours throughout different parts of the world. Coach tours are available in most areas while in parts of outback Australia tours in 4 wheel drive vehicles are offered. Increasingly cruises are a popular way to travel and visit new places. River cruises are popular, especially with the 'baby boomers'.

When planning a holiday searching and comparing the websites of tour companies is a good way to see what is available. APT is an Australian company offering tours in many parts of the world. The website allows you to search for tour destinations or travel styles and brochures about tours can be downloaded. Tours can be booked on the website.

APT offers a variety of river cruises in Europe, the most popular being a two week cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. A number of other companies also offer European river cruises including Scenic Tours, Viking River Cruises and Avalon Waterways.

There are also websites that provide general information about cruises, including reviews, and provide comparisons between the cruising tours on offer including Cruise Away and Cruise Critic.

APT also offer Coach and Rail tours in different countries, including Australia.

Other companies offering tours in Australia include Heritage Tours and Adventure Tours. Intrepid Travel offer tours in many countries including Australia.

If you want to explore Europe by train have a look at the Eurail website for information about Eurail passes, countries you can visit by train, information about trains in Europe plus a guide to planning a trip through Europe by train.

 

There are many options available to explore the world and many companies offering tour possibilities for your holiday. Exploring the websites of companies offering tours and transport options is part of planning a holiday online.

Planning a holiday - guidebooks

Guidebooks have always been a good place to start when planning a holiday. The Lonely Planet Guidebooks are one of the first places that people go to find out information about travelling in countries throughout the world. Other useful series are Fodor's Travel Guides  and DK Eyewitness Travel Guides.

Many of the Lonely Planet Guidebooks are now available as ebooks and can be purchased online and downloaded onto your electronic device. Some Lonely Planet titles may be available to borrow as ebooks from the library. Lonely Planet also produce Travel Apps for Apple devices.  DK Eyewitness Travel Guides also publish some of their guides as ebooks and have produced Travel Apps which can be used to provide information when visiting a selection of cities.

Both Lonely Planet and Fodor's Travel provide online information which may be useful when planning a holiday.

You can explore the different sections as shown on the home page of the website or use the search box at the top of the screen to search for a country or city.

Highlights, Places, Things To Do, Hotels, Need to Know, Tips and Articles and Image Gallery are the main sections that can be investigated for the selected location.

The Need to Know section includes information about Health & Safety, Money & Costs, Visas, Getting Around, Getting There & Away, When To Go & Weather,  Work and History.

If using Fodor's Travel website make a selection from the Destinations menu or use the search box at the top of the screen to search for a country or city.

Currency - exchange rates

One website providing information about currency and exchange rates is XE

The website provides live exchange rates.

There is also a currency converter.

Select the required currency for conversion and then click the arrow.

Click the Rates tab to view the latest exchange rates for the selected currency.

World Weather Online

When planning a holiday it is often useful to know what the weather is likely to be like where you plan to visit. World Weather Online provides such information.

First select the Country you want to investigate from the alphabetical list of countries.

As we are travelling to France I selected the link for that country.

I then clicked the link for Lyon - one of the sites we are visiting. It is also possible to search by region. A detailed weather forecast for the next week is provided . There is also a summary of what the weather is like at different times of the year.

Our visit to France begins in Nice so I checked the weather for that city too.

Launceston - Westbury Road

In the mornings we usually went for a walk along Westbury Road, Prospect, both for exercise and  also to explore the area near the motel. The street is on a hill and many new homes have been built, or will shortly be built on either side of the road, each vying for a view of the valley below. The Olde Tudor Shopping Complex contains a variety of shops including an IGA. There is also a smaller group of shops further down the hill. Dunn Stone Industries, stonemasons,  process and sell granite, stone and marble products. Across the road is located the Mt Pleasant Laboratories.

From Westbury Road there are many opportunities to enjoy the view looking towards the river and the city of Launceston.

 

 At 143 Westbury Road, next to the Mt Pleasant Laboratories, we discovered this derelict house. The front door is open to the elements and you can see inside from the step. The house appears to have built in the design of many houses around the 1890s with two or three rooms on either side of a central hall.

Out the back is a small brick building. Like the back of the house, walls of the building have been destroyed.

An impressive white fence is in front of the house. In front of the fence are rows of stones, closed at the section near the road but open near the fence.

I am sure that the house has a story to tell. It is also but one example of the many older buildings that can be discovered in Launceston. Fortunately most of the older buildings we saw in Launceston appear to be cared for and preserved. It is unlikely, however, that this building in Westbury Road will be around for much longer as it appears to have been left to fall down.

Exploring Launceston

Wednesday 26 February 2014 - Most members of the touring party spent Wednesday at the Launceston Cup but a small group of us decided to explore parts of Launceston instead.

The bus driver made a detour to drop us off near the start of Cascade Gorge before driving the rest of the Victorians to the race track.

Cataract Gorge is only a short work from the centre of Launceston.

Wednesday was a public holiday due to the running of the Launceston Cup so groups of school students were swimming in one section of the Gorge.

Looking towards the suspension bridge

We had a pleasant stroll to the gardens and restaurant where we sat outside for about an hour, relaxing, having a drink, talking and being entertained by numerous peacocks and their young who were wandering between the tables and on the nearby lawn. Four of us decided to continue the walk across the suspension bridge to the other side of the Gorge.

The path for the next stage of the walk was closed so we walked past the park and swimming pool to the carpark where we organised a taxi back to Launceston.

Launceston was very quiet because of the public holiday and most of the shops were closed, however the absence of people in the streets made them easier to explore. After lunch we walked several blocks through the main shopping area to City Park as one of the group had been there earlier in the week as she wanted to show us the monkeys.

Macaque monkeys from Japan live in the park entertaining the many people who stop to view them. The monkeys were a gift from the people of Ikelda in Japan - a sister city of Launceston. A number of wallabies were sent to Japan as part of the exchange.

Near the monkey enclosure is the John Hart Conservatory with a colourful selection of plants. The conservatory was built with money from the John Hart Bequest in 1932 and was refurbished in 2010.

After leaving the park we passed the vertical retort house built in 1932 as part of the former gas works now partly used as a Hogs Breath Cafe.

 Around the corner we found additional buildings belonging to the site including what would have been the administrative offices for Launceston Gas Company which started producing gas from coal around 1860. The vertical retort house and the gas tank can be seen in the background.

 Further along the street we passed the Customs House, a most impressive looking building built in 1885 and demonstrating the importance of Launceston as a port at that time.

We followed along the banks of the North Esk River and then across a park until we reached the Tamar River.

The building in the distance is the silos which are clearly visible from many vantage points over the city.

We then returned back to the motel via taxi.