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Jimmy Thomson

Jimmy Thomson

Jimmy Thomson is an author and journalist.

Empty hotel sun-loungers on a beach Vũng Tàu, Vietnam.

Looking for a cheaper holiday? Here’s where you can find it

Surging airfares and disruption to routes are leaving Asia’s beaches and hotels empty. One country in particular is offering exceptional bang for buck right now.

  • Jimmy Thomson

Latest

If allowed to slowly become an area to which only the wealthy can aspire, Kings Cross will lose its allure.

Kings Cross can be naughty or nice. But not both

Formerly the seediest – and arguably most fun – area of Sydney may finally have met its match with the state government’s accelerated approvals for developments near transport hubs.

  • Jimmy Thomson
Chris Minns has made a captain’s call on rental laws, meaning landlords will find it easier to deny tenants from having pets in their properties.

Why is the premier favouring landlords over renters? I think I know

Unless the NSW government can make property investment more attractive, its ambitious housing target will not be met.

  • Jimmy Thomson
apartment block Sydney

New strata laws are great, but I can’t get an answer about undies on the balcony

There are many excellent changes in the new NSW strata laws. But they need to be well policed and Fair Trading must step up.

  • Jimmy Thomson
Pet-owning renters have established stronger rights, but will landlords dodge them by switching to holiday letting?

Pet-owning renters won the battle, but might landlords win the war?

The courts and NSW law have affirmed renters’ rights to own pets, but landlords could sidestep those rules by switching to holiday rentals.

  • Jimmy Thomson
Is four stars really better than two?

Is a four-star hotel really better than a two-star? I put it to the test

When $50 can get you a clean, private room in a great location, is it worth splurging on a higher star rating? I found out in Vietnam.

  • Jimmy Thomson
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Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones are fighting for life in a Thai hospital.

In Vang Vieng, tragically, tourist deaths are nothing new

Laotian authorities have been working to rid the town of its deadly reputation. Clearly, they haven’t worked hard enough.

  • Jimmy Thomson
Ho Chi Minh City is a fun and inexpensive city.

Beyond Bali and Thailand, smart young travellers are now heading here

This bustling and rapidly changing Asian city is now a magnet for younger travellers.

  • Jimmy Thomson
Views of La Roque-Alric in the heart of Dentelles de Montmirail.

This hike from one perched village to another is tough (but worth it)

A five-day hike around Mont Ventoux, the southern France mountain that strikes fear into the hearts of Tour de France cyclists every few years, is equally confronting and rewarding.

  • Jimmy Thomson
Indonesia, including the holiday island of Bali, has been grappling with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. Australia has been free of the disease for more than a century and just one positive case could shut down the $27 billion livestock export trade.

My return trip from Bali does not bode well for our biosecurity

Australia’s chances of keeping foot and mouth disease out of the country are close to zero if the behaviour of young Aussies at Denpasar airport is anything to go by.

  • Jimmy Thomson