Britain exits longest recession on record – just

Dinner at Hi Sushi, Soho, London

Snow hiking at Afflenz Buergeralm, Styria, Austria

Dinner at Haeuserl im Wald, Graz, Austria

Kir Royal, Melon & Prosciutto, and a massive meat & vegetable platter, at a lovely Austrian restaurant in a snowy forest.

Up in the Air

At the turn of the millennium I was flying around 40 - 50 times a year, had Gold status in the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, and had a six month period in my life where the longest stay in my home city was 8 days. I was young and got a buzz out of being flexible and in demand, the consultant that was willing to drop everything and spend a few days in another city, week in week out.

Ryan Bingham, the corporate downsizing expert played by George Clooney in Up in the Air, takes it to the next level, spending his life in hotels and on planes, drinking in hotel bars and eating in hotel restaurants every night, visiting three to five cities a week, and he absolutely loves it. Never tied down. Always aiming for frequent flyer mile targets and chasing status privileges that mean you can bypass the queues at check-in, get a seat at the front of the plane, get a double upgrade at the car rental desk, etc.

Like Thank You for Smoking before it, I really enjoyed Jason Reitman's new film Up in the Air.

The casting was most impressive. Relative newcomer Anna Kendrick did a fantastic job portraying the go-getter well-educated 23-year-old colleague that thinks they can change the world (been there ;-). Clooney is Clooney - brilliant and fun to watch. And in a respectful acknowledgement of the subject matter in the film, most of the characters that get fired in the film were actually played by non-actors, re-enacting their experiences of getting fired in real life middle America in the months prior to filming.

This is a clever film, with a well-written script, fun, funny, yet respectful.

8 / 10

The Road

Viggo Mortensen and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee shine as a man and his son travelling across the wasteland and struggling to survive in a post apocalyptic world. Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy (author of No Country for Old Men), this is a thoroughly depressing movie, offering a slight glimmer of hope in an otherwise grey and inhumane world where the default option is to trust no one. Robert Duvall is brilliant in a brief, but welcome, cameo appearance as an old man they encounter along their travels.

7 / 10

La bohème - The Royal Opera, London

Classic Puccini, fantastic sets. My first visit to the Royal Opera House in London.

8.5 / 10

2009 - Cities and Towns

Here's the list of cities and towns I've stayed in during the past year.

Sydney, Australia*
Melbourne, Australia*
Canberra, Australia*
San Francisco, CA, USA*
Stateline, NV, USA
Evergreen Lodge, CA, USA
Santa Barbara, CA, USA
San Simeon, CA, USA
Monterey, CA, USA
San Jose, CA, USA
London, England*
Fort William, Scotland
Portnalong, Scotland
Worthy Farm, Pilton, England (Glastonbury Festival)
Alkham, England
Brighton, England
Southwold, England (Latitude Festival)
Barcelona, Spain
Birmingham, England
Wasserburg am Inn, Germany
Zagreb, Croatia
Smoljanac, Croatia
Supetar, Croatia
Trogir, Croatia
Edinburgh, Scotland
Oxford, England
Alfriston, England
Graz, Austria*

* Multiple entries, non-consecutive days.

Sherlock Holmes

Guy Ritchie's first mainstream movie, set in London's seedy heyday. Robert Downey Jnr and Jude Law are brilliantly cast. Heaps of fun, amazing sets, and in true Guy Ritchie style, awesomely shot fight scenes.

8 / 10.

Stephen Fry in America

I've been reading king of twitter Stephen Fry's travelogue, Stephen Fry in America, during my brief holiday moments over the past couple of months. The ever eccentric Mr Fry rushes through every state in the USA in a London Black Cab, for the most part avoiding the big cities, and taking in unique local experiences along the way - visiting Morgan Freeman's blues club in Mississippi, ice fishing in Minnesota, and an interview with the madam at a legalised brothel in Nevada, to name just a few. An enjoyable read, conveniently broken down into bite-sized (state-by-state) chunks. Definitely inspiration for more American travel for yours truly in the coming years.