Featured
Travel inspired jumping!

Ten compelling reasons to subscribe to The Tina Sparkles Experience

April 19, 2012 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 2 Comments

Everyone who subscribes in the next 10 days will receive a free set of steak knives, absolutely free.* You’ll feel better about your love life, by reading about mine. You’ll be able to say you knew me when I was indie and underground, before I became more famous than the love child of Bill Bryson [...]

Read more
The Learning Experience
, , , , , , , ,
Why are all the pretty ones batting for the other team?

Tips for meeting men in the modern world…

April 15, 2012 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 1 Comment

There comes a point in a 30 something’s life when friends and family start to express concern for your ongoing single status.  Everyone’s an expert, and I commonly get “Have you thought about internet dating?” (oh no, THAT never occurred to me) and “Do your friends know any single men?” The family, however, go the [...]

Read more
The Learning Experience
, , , ,
At one with the orange people

The Orange Queen and the Rabbit King- Sparkles and Devine in Nether-NetherLand

April 11, 2012 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 0 Comments

Having made our way through Hungary, Prague, the Black Forest and errr… Utrecht, and we finally made it to Amsterdam and our buddy Ron.  With no time to waste, Aimee and I set about getting to know the city via the Sandeman’s New Europe Free Walking Tour. The  tour took in the ‘sights’ of the [...]

Read more
Sparkles & Devine Ride Europe- the back catalogue
, , ,
Dressing as a bumblebee can be endearing, but I caution against it on a first date

Tina’s Top 10 Tips- ‘What not to do on a first date’

March 10, 2011 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 1 Comment

Don’t eat corn on the cob.  Corn on the cob is NOT first date food. Don’t buy ‘Burnt Caramel’ ice-cream in a cone, and drive your date home eating said ice-cream while wearing a pale blue singlet on a hot Brisbane day in a car with no air con.  It can have him looking at [...]

Read more
The Learning Experience
, , ,
GSM Andrews Bald

Intrepid Travel Writing Competition- an unashamed plug for votes!

May 12, 2012 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 0 Comments

Hello Wonderful Subscribers! I’ve recently entered a travel writing competition with Intrepid Travel- using an abridged version of my ‘Creepy Moments in Solo Travel’ blog. http://iamintrepid.intrepidtravel.com/entries/show/id/400 To be in the running to win, I need to be in the top 10 most voted entries- I am currently 7 outside the top 10- not bad out [...]

Read more
Travel Moments
, , , ,
USA Atlas

Creepy Moments in Solo Travel: The amorous camp ground host

May 4, 2012 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 9 Comments

A few years back, I traveled solo for the first time.  I’d been working at Summer Camp USA in the beautiful State of Maine and had about 6 weeks before my visa ran out and I had to return to Oz. Not entirely sure how I would spend this time, I happened to be browsing [...]

Read more
The Learning Experience, Travel Moments
, , , , ,
IMG_0273

Would the real Amsterdam… please stand up, please stand up?

February 25, 2012 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 2 Comments

1.29 am and our train pulled in to Stuttgart, Germany to collect us for our onward journey to Amsterdam.  We’d booked ‘sleeperettes’ which for me conjured visions of lying in a cosy bed, perhaps a blankie and pillow, and a dark blue curtain to shield us from the light for our 8 hour journey.  This [...]

Read more
Sparkles & Devine Ride Europe- the back catalogue
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Buses, Beers, Babes and the Black Forest- part two

January 3, 2012 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 1 Comment

So there we were, two wee lasses sitting outside a train station in the extreme South of Germany, wondering whether we were the victims of a pretty good practical joke.  We were waiting to be waiting to be picked up by Bens and Sebastian, our friends from Prague who’d invited us to come stay with [...]

Read more
Sparkles & Devine Ride Europe- the back catalogue
, , ,
Lederhosen- perfect for everyday life!

Buses, Beers, Babes and the Black Forest- part one

June 13, 2011 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 3 Comments

With 45 mins sleep under our belts, we hoisted on our backpacks and czeched out of the Czech Inn, with the usual last minute drama which ensues when one attempts to print their bus tickets at 6am, while the cleaning staff play “It’s Raining Men” offensively loudly in the hostel reception. We’d decided to catch [...]

Read more
Sparkles & Devine Ride Europe- the back catalogue
The Prague Posse- Sebastian, Bens & Aussie Aussie Matt

Castles, Czechs, Clocks and Chiwawas- part two

March 28, 2011 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 0 Comments

We’d arrived in Prague as planned on Saturday, intending to stay until Tuesday, when we were scheduled to fly out for 8 days in Ireland.  But, as large clouds of volcanic ash spewed into the sky, and no dragons appeared to taxi us there, our dream of horse riding in Ireland began to fade. As [...]

Read more
Sparkles & Devine Ride Europe- the back catalogue
I'm sure the guard loved me giving him a wee cuddle- and who doesn't love a man in uniform?

Castles, Czechs, Clocks and Chiwawas- part one

March 20, 2011 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 1 Comment

Fresh off the train from Budapest (the highlights being a cabin to ourselves for the 6 hour trip, and catching sight of a naked man sitting in the window of his apartment block right next to the tracks) we took a tram to our hostel, the Czech Inn.  After czeching in, we were bursting to [...]

Read more
Sparkles & Devine Ride Europe- the back catalogue

The Valentine’s Day Avengers

February 14, 2011 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 1 Comment

A few years back (quite a few, to be inexact) on Valentine’s day one of my besties (let’s call her Moonlight Dancer)  and I were taking stock of the last 6 months or so of our dating lives. We thought about those boys who’d wooed, won, and then discarded us, or who said “I’ll call [...]

Read more
The Learning Experience

Tina & the worst best pick up line

February 6, 2011 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 3 Comments

Back in the hazy days of my mid twenties, where life seemed like a perpetual summer break, filled with pubs, friends, balmy nights, lazy days and of course, boys, boys, boys, its fair to say I’d heard and used my fair share of pick up lines. Among the most memorable touted by me: “My friend [...]

Read more
The Learning Experience

Lost in Translation, Lost in Hungary- part 2

February 2, 2011 by The Tina Sparkles Experience 0 Comments

This being a riding tour, Aimee and I decided it was time to get ourselves on a horse.  We had planned a trip out of Budapest to stay at Debrecen (Debreton) which, I am sure you will be interested to know, is Hungary’s 2nd largest city. Being the highly organised well oiled travelling machines that [...]

Read more
Sparkles & Devine Ride Europe- the back catalogue
Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 69 other followers