Veronika Wild

The ascensor "Gloria" - just one of several ways to get around Lisbon's many hills When I booked our fares to Europe I was offered a  € 22 fare to Portugal. I’d always wanted to go to Portugal - I've had the guidebook since 2006, and it seemed like an offer too good to refuse. I didn’t know it didn’t include luggage, a return fare, insurance or sundry other costs which took it up to over $700. The low -cost airlines now have a new wrinkle. They even charge for the emails they send you to tell you that they have randomly changed all your travel arrangements. My German friends and relatives laughed out loud when I told them this. They have all been caught themselves. While it has long been a problem with the likes of EasyJet and Ryan Air, now even the flagship airlines are doing the same things. It cost granddaughter and I an extra $262, just to be able to sit together on the flight to Europe and almost another $200 to get off in Zurich instead of flying through to St...

Dear Friends, You must be wondering what is going on. Well it seems that my marriage of 24 years is about to end in divorce. This has made everything I was doing pretty meaningless - travel, writing, working overseas, doing up the house etc. and I have been miserable since June. It felt like someone had died. I think it was me. Now, after the coldest winter ever it is time to move on. For the last couple of weeks I have been in the nation's capital to see how the other half lives. On the surface Canberra is all public servants, anonymous high security apartments and tree -lined streets (the City of Masan in Korea is modelled on it), but every now and then you get a glimpse of what lies underneath. It's very international and restaurants of every persuasion outnumber every other kind of business at the rate of about twenty to one. I am not surprised that my son has been putting on weight. The rest seem to be delis and kitchen shops, although the clothes and bookshops are p...