Penny Hunter

American photographer Steve McCurry’s passion for travel and visual storytelling was sparked early in his career when he went to India for the first time. He has returned to the subcontinent many times in the ensuing decades. One of those trips led to his most famous photograph, taken after he crossed the border into Pakistan and visited the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in 1984. The Afghan girl, a portrait of nine-year-old Sharbat Gula, her vivid green eyes framed by a tattered red headscarf, graced the cover of National Geographic and helped to raise awareness of the plight of Afghans under the country’s brutal occupation by Soviet forces.

The dining experience is definitely a step up but the seats in this premium economy are not an improvement on the bulkhead ones in the class below.

Norway is facing a dilemma. Its vast reserves of natural beauty, with their promise of the northern lights, combined with its weakened krone, are drawing increasing numbers of tourists to its shores. The Lofotens, a gorgeous cluster of islands off the northwest coast, experienced a reported 15 per cent surge in visitors in 2022-23. And while its citizens might welcome the money this growing interest in their country brings (representing almost 4 per cent of GDP), tourism presents a threat to something at the heart of the Norwegian psyche – a deep reverence for nature.

‘Wind. Bus. Patagonia.” Type those three words into Google and you’ll find a video of tourists having a memorable but very chilly ride in a bus with its windows blown out. Southern Chile’s infamous wind has snatched gravel from the road and hurled it at the glass with such force that the panels have shattered. Before I arrived in Torres del Paine National Park, I’d heard tales of trekkers being blown off their feet. The town of Puerto Natales, gateway to the wilderness reserve, even has a waterfront sculpture called Monument to the Wind, depicting a man and woman joyously being held aloft by a gale.

The tourism industry’s best and brightest were honoured at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards on Friday night.

On a trip to Canada back in February, I gently tried to read the room on Trump, tariffs and the idea of becoming the 51st US state. It turned out the room didn’t need reading. It was shouting back a hard “no”. Overwhelmingly, and unsurprisingly, Canadians were united in their opposition to trade barriers and the US President’s geopolitical manoeuvres. They were boycotting US-made products at supermarkets and cancelling holidays south of the border.

This premium airport lounge impresses with its range of facilities and and views stretching all the way to Botany Bay.

“Get up! Get up!” The words are an order, shouted emphatically like a captain rousing army cadets from sleep. But we are very much awake, albeit lying down. Bobby, senior coach with the Rip Curl School of Surf in Bali, is urging us to our feet as our boards surge forward on to a wave.

The carry-on about carry-on-only travel shows no sign of abating, with travellers proudly touting their packing expertise on the likes of YouTube, Instagram and Reddit forums. These hardcore flyers will smugly head overseas for a month with one tiny bag weighing not a fraction over 7kg. The trend is even more visible on domestic flights, where people are often on short jaunts away.

If asked to name Canada’s national dish, most people would scratch their heads before nominating poutine, a crude concoction of hot chips, cheese curds and gravy. Believed to have originated in rural Quebec, the snack is the kind of unrefined fare that might appeal to carb-loading marathon runners or those who treat their cardiac health with disdain.