Arrivals & Departures Weekly Travel News & Views 27 May 2025

OFF TO ITALY

As you read this, I’m in Italy for a few days where I few in to Venice Marco Polo Airport near Venice. Just that name makes me reflect (of course) on both the changed nature of travel (from foot to fast planes) and the unaltered essence of it (to connect, expand, experience and learn).

CHANGE & SAMENESS

Marco Polo was a merchant, explorer and writer from Venice who travelled along the Silk Road through Asia between 1271 and 1295. The writing from his journeys was published as The Travels Of Marco Polo (which is also, more poetically, known as The Book Of The Marvels Of The World). Marco’s intelligence and humility impressed the great emperor Kublai Khan, founder of China’s Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. He was appointed as Kublai Khan’s foreign emissary and sent on diplomatic missions to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

ISLAND LIFE

Venice is built on more than 100 small islands in a big lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. There are no roads, just canals. The Grand Canal, its main thoroughfare, is lined with renaissance and Gothic palaces. Piazza San Marco is its central square, with St Mark’s Basilica as its centrepiece. The basilica’s campanile, or belltower, gives views over Piazza San Marco and the city’s red roofs. It is open from 9.30am to 8.45pm and adult entry is €10 (about $17.50).

CITIES OF TODAY

The 19th International Architecture Exhibition is on in Venice until November 23, 2025. labiennale.org/en/architecture/2025

This time around, the exhibition is being curated by Italian architect Carlo Ratti. He says: “To face a burning world, architecture must harness all the intelligence around us.” Carlo teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Politecnico di Milano, is the director of the Senseable City Lab, and a good thinker about cities, planning and philosophy. He recognises: “The city is a universe. Cities are 2 per cent of the Earth’s crust but they are 50 per cent of the world’s population.” senseable.mit.edu

WASTE WORDS

And still on Venice, I’ll mention that it is a particularly fragile city, and one of the challenges it faces is the management and disposal of waste. It’s something for us visitors to think about (everywhere we go, come to that). In Venice, there simply aren’t that many rubbish bins, and those you find are often full. Reducing waste is the best approach but also keeping your waste and taking it back to your accommodation to be sorted will help Venetians. Rather like us, Venice has three-category waste sorting — organic, paper and plastic/metal/glass. Residents can take unsorted waste to waste-disposal boats moored on the canals.

SHANKLESS TRAVEL

It’s quite likely that it is the shank in a shoe that will set off airport detectors. The shank is a long but thin piece between the insole and outsole which gives a shoe or boot its structure. But Hush Puppies has worked around this with what the team there calls the “airport-friendly shankless construction” of its Transit men’s shoes. A slide-on leather dress shoe with a microsuede lining, I like mine very much. They are light and comfortable (and I paid $149.95). The Hush Puppies folk say the shoes have “bounce technology” which gives “energy return”. We could all use that, couldn’t we? hushpuppies.com.au

CALL FOR CASH

Regular reader Jacqui Proctor recently returned from what she calls “five glorious weeks in the UK”. After the Good Friday service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Jacqui says she joined a queue of women on some steps which led down to the basement washrooms. It wasn’t moving because there was a turnstile that needed a 50-pence coin to crank the machine and give access. Jacqui had cash and went on through, watched by those who obviously didn’t have coins. When Jacqui left, they were still trying to get some coins. Jacqui says: “You may think we have become a cashless society but in reality it is still a good idea to retain some notes and coins for those unexpected but necessary eventualities.”

BALI BOOMING

The Indonesia Tourism Board has revealed that 1.54 million Australians travelled to Bali in 2024 — compared with 1.24 million in 2023. Former WA commissioner to Indonesia Ross Taylor says: “A growth of around 23 per cent in one year is breathtaking, and certainly exceeded my predictions whilst also dispelling the doomsayers who predicted we would abandon Bali. It’s great to see our relationship with this small part of Indonesia still thriving.”

SINGAPORE BOON

Royal Caribbean has announced that its ship Navigator Of The Seas will be calling Singapore home for the first time in the 2026-2027 sailing season. Between October 2026 and February 2027, it will sail three to 12-night voyages visiting some of South-East Asia and East Asia’s most loved destinations. A three-night cruise to the island of Penang and back costs from $417 per person. A five-night sail to Penang, Phuket and Langkawi is from $680 per person. royalcaribbean.com

LUGGAGE WINNER

I’ve just sent a Kathmandu Feather Flight Carry-On to the winner of our competition, run through our Wednesday eTravel Digital Edition. The luggage is on its way to Padbury, and there are more competitions coming up.

RURAL LIFE

For anyone looking for a glimpse into rural life (or who just likes driving out of the suburbs at the weekend), there’s a lot going on at the Countryman Gidgegannup Small Farm Field Day on Sunday. There’s entertainment, and products and services designed for efficient rural practices. Gidgegannup is on Great Eastern Highway, 22km east of Midland. gidgegannup.info and its Facebook page.