Jonny Blair eating stinky tofu in Hong Kong

Friday’s Featured Food: Stinky Tofu in Hong Kong

In case you’ve missed the latest news, we’re just about to welcome in the Chinese New Year (of the snake) and so today’s Friday’s Featured Food comes from Asia. I first tried stinky tofu in 2009 while touring the beautiful island of Taiwan. It’s a fairly common feature of night markets in Taiwan. The wafting scent Read more about Friday’s Featured Food: Stinky Tofu in Hong Kong[…]

Jonny Blair in Quito's old town

Thirsty Thursdays: Canelazo and Ecuadorian Music in La Ronda, Old Town, Quito

Today’s Thirsty Thursdays takes me back to December 2010 on my travels when I stayed in the Old Town of Quito in Ecuador. I simply loved the local charm of the Old Town in Quito and was staying at the quite excellent Colonial House Hotel. A four storey terraced house turned into a hostel. All Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: Canelazo and Ecuadorian Music in La Ronda, Old Town, Quito[…]

Jonny Blair weeding a cabbage paddock in Bishopsbourne

Working Wednesdays: Cabbage Weeding in Bishopsbourne, Tasmania, Australia

Today’s Working Wednesdays takes us cabbage weeding in Bishopsbourne in Tasmania. How I ended up in this job, I will probably never know. But I enjoyed it for all it was worth. Which incidentally was a massive $19 Australian Dollars an hour. Well worth it. If you’re thinking of doing this type of work, it’s Read more about Working Wednesdays: Cabbage Weeding in Bishopsbourne, Tasmania, Australia[…]

a bar of soap is better than shower gel for travelling

Tuesday’s Travel Essentials: A Bar of Soap

I’m not sure how long a post I can actually write about a bar of soap, but I gave up travelling with shower gel and any kind of liquid soap about 4 years ago in favour of a tiny bar of soap. I haven’t looked back since. It wasn’t just the idea of not being Read more about Tuesday’s Travel Essentials: A Bar of Soap[…]

5 ‘Fake Countries’ to Visit When Backpacking the World

As travellers we visit a lot of countries, but it’s also nice to get out there and experience some places that are often called “countries” but yet they are not. It’s actually a huge topic for debate amongst travellers as to what is a country and what is not, I mean is Podjistan a country? Read more about 5 ‘Fake Countries’ to Visit When Backpacking the World[…]

Jonny Blair of Dont Stop Living recommends avoiding taxis on your travels

Monday’s Money Saving Tips: Avoid Taxis

Today’s Monday’s Money Saving Tips is all about getting you to stop paying ridiculous amounts of money to taxi drivers!! They earn enough as it is and they often rip you off (and none of this “they work hard and work irregular hours” melarkey). Yes they work hard and work irregular hours, but so do Read more about Monday’s Money Saving Tips: Avoid Taxis[…]

Jonny Blair pushing the leaning tower of pisa

Visiting The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

It’s sometimes a cliché in life to “tick off the major sights” but like a lot of other travellers, I do them too. It would also seem a bit ludicrous to end up in Pisa in Italy, without actually visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I was there, 4 years ago to the day, what’s Read more about Visiting The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy[…]

Jonny Blair making notes at a travel conference in Hong Kong - 5 tips to earn money on your travels

5 Tips to Earn Money on Your Travels ;-)

It’s time to get inspired on Don’t Stop Living!! If you are sitting in a dull office job right now, or working on the till in a supermarket, stop for a moment and think – is this really how you want to spend your life?? I’m guessing it’s not!! So in an attempt to get Read more about 5 Tips to Earn Money on Your Travels 😉[…]

Jonny Blair partying at the Happy J Pub Crawl

Thirsty Thursdays: Happy J Pub Crawl – Kiwi Style!!

Today my Thirsty Thursdays feature comes from New Zealand. They know how to party there as I found out!! After settling into my new “home for 2 days”, I had noticed a flier advertising a Pub Crawl of Christchurch that very night – there’s one every Friday. The flier was in the visitors guide brochure Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: Happy J Pub Crawl – Kiwi Style!![…]

Jonny Blair of Dont Stop Living featured in the County Down Spectator in Bangor in January 2013

Working Wednesdays: Journalist for my Local Newspaper!

My Working Wednesdays series covers stories from my constantly changing career. For today’s post we head back to January 1998, exactly 15 years ago this week I was working for the local newspaper, the County Down Spectator in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Now obviously writing is something I love doing, so this seemed an obvious job Read more about Working Wednesdays: Journalist for my Local Newspaper![…]