New Zealand photo gallery

“Why cycle North Island?” asks an incredulous Auckland bike mechanic

True: it’s expensive, hilly, and the cars drive really fast. But I cycled a few areas of the North Island independently for a month and discovered that from a bicycle seat it’s the little details and moments that make it worthwhile.

Mamaku, North Island, New Zealand

New Zealand North Island travelogues (photos with commentary)

Coromandel Peninsula including: Miranda Road, Pipiroa, Thames, Tararu, Pauanui, Tairua, Whitianga, Kuaotunu, Coromandel Town and the Kawau Kat ferry into Auckland (50 photos).

Central region including: Auckland, Papakura, Pukehohe, Tuakau, Pukekawa, Huntly, Waingaro Hot Springs, Raglan, Hamilton, Cambridge, Lake Karapiro, Tirau, Mamaku, Rotorua, Murupara, Galatea, Taupo, Tarawera, Te Pohue, Eskdale, Napier, Wellington, and a Tranz Scenic train to Auckland (200 photos).

Tarawera

Raglan

Rotorua

Lake Taupo

Soloists Team Up to Beat Singles’ Fees

Would you like a good spanking? Would you? Because if you’re single and like to travel, expect to get spanked hard when you go to pay for that fabulous all-inclusive holiday. In addition to the taxes, surcharges, and fees everyone else pays, solo travelers must submit to an additional smack called the “single supplement” merely because they have the cheek to journey alone.

A single supplement, in case you’re not experienced, is an industry convention that allows cruise, resort, and package-tour operators to pass on up to 200 percent of an accommodation’s double occupancy rate, on top of the rate. According to Paul Noble, an industry veteran and instructor at International Travel and Business College, “Most pricing for tour product is based on two people so [singles] have to pay more than if they were with someone.”

Monthly salons draw fans of flying solo

Where do you book an off-season college-dorm bed in Edinburgh? Which cruise lines don’t charge single travellers an extra fee for a cabin? Is it really possible to experience a fulfilling, worry-free adventure if you travel by yourself?

Advice, anecdotes, and appetizers fly across the table at the Solo Travellers’ Cafés. For those who have journeyed by themselves –or want to– this monthly salon offers up servings of solo-oriented tales and information at an eatery near you.

Created less than a year ago by “returned” traveller and workshop instructor Deborah Tiffany, the roving café, usually held on the second Wednesday of every month, has attracted up to 50 participants to neighbourhood tapas, dessert, and ethnic restaurants. A table of 20 café-goers joined Tiffany at Commercial Drive’s Artistico Greek Café recently. Prompted to describe their latest trips, the chatting travellers recounted tales ranging from a Canadian studies work term in Scotland and a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas to a road trip up the Yukon’s Dempster Highway and a cross-country tour of France’s valleys.

Hostels can be ‘lux’ for just a few bucks

West Coast accommodations debunk myths and welcome families

TOFINO, B.C. — It’s a characteristically wet, winter day and, as a Whalers on the Point Guesthouse visitor, you find yourself faced with a difficult decision so early in the day. Should you sip rosehip tea and watch for whales in the solarium, curl up with a thick West Coast guidebook in front of the massive stone fireplace or bake a batch of chunky cookies with some new British, Aussie and Brazilian friends in the kitchen?

Life is good at this exclusive, award-winning Vancouver Island hostel and — for the nominal cost of a hosteling membership — it’s yours for only $22 a night.

A hostel?

“A lot of people in North America are still unaware of hostels,” says Shelbey Sy, from Hostelling International’s Vancouver office. She and other staff realized that, despite its century-old history as a member-driven, not-for-profit association, Canadians still have a lot of misconceptions about hostels.

The staff started hosting workshops regularly called “Hostelling 101″ to debunk myths, share hostel basics and give “locals” the scoop on what five million worldwide travellers already know: hostels can be “lux” for not a lot of bucks.