Practical travel advice, candid reviews and first-hand experiences from decades of independent travel — from local ferries and economy seats to premium cabins, points and elite status.
At Travel with Mark, we aim to provide pragmatic travel advice and unbiased insights based on real travel experiences. We are experienced global travelers who have lived as expats for many years. We have lived and worked in Australia, the UK and Europe, the United States and Canada, and across Asia, including Malaysia, India, Thailand and Singapore. Having lived in many different cultures, we believe we understand much more than we would if we had only been exposed to a single culture. We believe this helps us both see the similarities and appreciate the differences as we travel. We live our experiences and try to properly experience all that this beautiful world has to offer.
You can check out our travel videos on our Activities page or find us on YouTube.
Please also check out our destination guides. We are constantly adding new content. You can visit the self-proclaimed wine capital of the world, Mendoza, Argentina, where you can dine on exceptional steak and drink Malbec wine; visit the beaches of tropical Aruba; go shopping in the morning and ride a camel in the afternoon in glitzy Dubai; or perhaps get off the beaten track in Indonesia.
Our first guide to Indonesia covers Ternate, which we visited a few years ago. The information is still useful, and there are resources to help you plan your trip. We have also added guides to the Asian destinations of Manado and Penang in Malaysia, along with a guide to the Mexican city of Merida.
We also produce videos about the airplane and train trips we take, so you can get a candid view of the journeys. We love traveling by ferry as well and report on a number of ferry trips we have taken. We also have an extensive collection of Amtrak reviews covering train travel within the United States and have added a review of the Tren Maya between Cancun and Merida in Mexico.
As an example of the sort of content we produce, check out our guide below to a cheap day tour of Sydney Harbour, where we see all the major sights for around ten dollars. We also produce longer-form videos about destinations we particularly enjoy and where we spend more time. We call these our Out & About series, and they can be found on our Activities page. We hope to add many more in the future.
Please note that, in some circumstances, we may receive compensation for bookings you make through us or products you buy through our website. This is not by any means a profitable business for us. We simply use the modest income, if any, to help fund further travels.
We do not consider ourselves ‘influencers’. We aim to provide practical advice for people traveling to these destinations. Sometimes our first-hand experience can help people plan their own trips. We do not provide comprehensive guides or every piece of detailed information you may require, but we do provide our impressions of the places we visit through our particular lens. We include the information available to us when we write each guide, but some details may not age well. If you need detailed, current information, that is what Google is for.
It's possible to visit and tour around Sydney Harbour by ferry (note, it's Sydney ‘Harbour’, not Sydney ‘Harbor’!). It is quite cheap and you get magnificent views of all the main sights for just a few dollars. We get great views of the Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and all the sights on the way from Pyrmont to Double Bay. We use the F4 and F7 ferries and the cost is around $10. This is absolutely the cheapest way to see the sights of Sydney Harbour, and it's no hassle, no pressure and fits in nicely with our relaxed style of travel.
Transport NSW has an excellent route planning map where you can just click on the map for your departure point and where you want to go, and it will plan the trip for you. Check out the Route Planner to use this free service. Note that this route planner includes all modes of transport, not specifically ferries
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