TANKS Travel Tales - a travelogue.......

Optimising the costs of travelling....... Travelling can be an expensive experience. For most of us, the main bulk of the cost of travelling is usually transport, accommodation and dining. Transport expense includes air tickets, train tickets and also money needed for those trips around a city. Out of these transport expenses, air tickets are more often than not the main big ticket item in our travel transport expense. I usually save on air tickets by subscribing to email newsletters from the major airlines I travel with. This way, I keep myself updated on any promotions these airlines may run from time to time. Keeping my eyes peeled for promotions and purchasing air tickets at the discounted rates have help me save much cash for my trips. And in this age and day, there are a whole lot of promotions with air ticket prices going at prices for as low as half of their standard prices. The best part is, these promotions usually include all classes of air tickers; from Economy and Pre...

The perks of traveling include not just the opportunity to visit new lands, experience something new, taste cuisines from a different culture and make new friends. Traveling also provide opportunities for us to observe and interact with other travellers; including both foreign tourists in the land or place of visit as well as the local travellers. And what better way to do that then to capture that photo moment of our fellow travellers capturing that photo moment of their own! The following photograph was taken at the famous Kinkaku-ji Temple (a.k.a. Temple of the Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto. Photo moment of that photo moment, Kyoto, Japan (2010)

Being someone who enjoys my overseas trips in a style that is slow, carefree and easy going, I always love sitting at a nice cafe for that sip of coffee along with a delicious piece of cake to go along with my cuppa. Nothing enhances the taste of my cup of latte better than a piece of delicious cake, Seoul, South Korea (2011) And Seoul is one city which offer an overwhelming choice of cafes for one to linger, enjoy your coffee or tea and share a chat with a friend. Cafes in Seoul are plentiful and probably because of the competition, many cafe owners have conjured up interesting new concepts to stay unique in order to attract customers. These range from interior decorations to make the cafe look like a library or reading room complete with books and book shelves to those with a laid-back bohemian feel. While visiting Seoul, I am always spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting my favourite cafe to rest those tired legs as well as to indulge in my caffeine cravings. An...

Caesarea is a small town in central Israel. It is located along Israel's Mediterranean coastline and is situated 45km north of Tel Aviv and a similar distance south of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa. Caesarea was built sometime between 25 to 13 BC by Herod the Great (a.k.a. Herod I). In the Bible, Herod I was described as the ruler who ordered the "Massacre of the Innocents" based on a prophecy at the time of the birth of Jesus.  Today, Caesarea is a small town with a population of less than  5000. I visited the town when I was in Israel and had the chance to walk around and explore the remains of some ancient artefacts which purportedly date back to the town's ancient past. While these ruins that remain from the time of the Roman Empire are not of the scale of some of the world's more famous ancient sites, they nonetheless comprised part of the story of man's history. The Roman Theatre, Caesarea, Israel (2002) The most obvious and ...

While in the air during flights, I always enjoyed taking photos from the window of my seat. These photos provide a sense of the vastness of the sky and are unlike any other pictures we could have taken from the ground. Pictures of the blue sky with the wing tip or engine of the plane in parts of the photograph typify a form of freedom that is difficult to describe by mere words. Another type of photographs from the air will be the bird's eye views of the city as the plane approaches to land or the views of the airport's tarmac as the plane's landing gear engaged in preparation for a touch down. On a recent trip returning from Thailand's resort island of Phuket to Singapore, I had the chance to capture the view of the tarmac of Singapore's Changi International Airport as the Silkair Boeing 737-800 that I was flying on came in for a touch down. Three Singapore Airlines' planes parked in front of a hangar can be clearly seen in this photograph. They are a ...

Travelling provide us not only with the opportunities to see and experience new places, people and culture, it also allow us to taste food that we don't usually eat back in our home countries and cities. Although one may argue that with the increasing inter-connected world we live in, we can experience food from any other cities in our own backward, However, chances are that these food just don't taste the same as from their places of origin. Different cooking styles and customisations to suit local taste preferences often meant that the traditional cuisines from a faraway land simply taste different in another land. Local town, Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan (2014) Whenever I travel, I always make it a point to dine on local food for all my meals. Food is an important aspect that defines the place we travel to. Eating local food thus allow us to be fully immersed into that wholesale experience of being there and having done that. For all the places that I have...

Pros and cons of group and solo trips....... I don't usually travel with friends not because I am an introvert But I personally prefer a more easy going style of travel where visiting each and every tourist attraction is not a must-do item for every location or city I travel to. I also enjoy a more laid back attitude when it comes to travelling where I take my time to enjoy the place, the culture and the locals instead of basing my daily plans on lists compiled from travel guides and magazines. Traveling with friends or in a group require that we put aside these personal preferences and go with the majority decision where itineraries are concern.  The Author, Timothy on a solo hike in the mountains, Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, Japan (2014) However, I do travel with friends whenever the opportunity present itself. And I do enjoy these trips. In short, traveling solo or with friends both have their pros and cons. And for certain trips, traveling with friends or in a group...