Having been to so many amazing, wonderful places, whittling down my list to my top ten has taken quite a bit of work and thought. Out of all my 80 countries I have been to, there are just five I would never go back to again. I am sometimes reluctant to share my favourites, because it can lead to a war of words on why I chose one place and not another! My criteria are based around culture, food, ease of travel, safety and peace, great nature and people. So with that caveat, here are…
europe
Tag Archives for europe.
Almost everything on the Thomas Cook collapse–including Passenger & Staff Rights
Thomas Cook who lived from 1808 to 1892 began his career by running a successful one-day railway excursion for 500 temperance campaigners at a shilling a head from Leicester to Loughborough, a 19km (11 mile journey) on 5 July, 1841. He invented new payment systems for hotels and travel bookings, sold travel goods, organised excursions and ran a small alcohol free hotel in Fleet Street, London before he retired in 1878. There is a statue dedicated to him, outside Leicester Railway Station in the UK which was unveiled on 14 January 1994. His son took…
London to Paris for only $42
There is something very civilised about catching the Tube to Kings Cross/St Pancras station for the Eurostar journey between the English Capital and French capital. One moment you are using pounds, speaking English and enjoying a Cornish pasty and the next you are whizzing under the water emerging 2 hours 16 minutes later in Paris, my favourite city in the world ready to start speaking French, using Euros and hunting for the best Croissants! Eurostar is offering a £58 ($US84) round trip from London St Pancras or Ebbsfleet or Ashford to Paris, Brussels & Lille in Standard…
World’s longest flight in search of a reason -Emirates delays Panama…again
In the world of airlines, having the longest flight seems to be the holy grail of marketing. I do not know why anyone would think it is a good thing to celebrate sitting for over 16 hours scrunched up in a seat with 31 inches of leg room surrounded by people who have not washed for almost a day. For me that would mean four hours of computer work, a novel and a dozen episodes of Big Bang Theory! True, many First Class travellers would relish the chance to extend their cushioned comfort! Years ago,…
19 hour marathon will be longest Flight
If you can bear a 19 hour non stop flight, then the Qantas announcement of a non stop flight between Perth, Australia and London, England from 2017 might excite you. Using a Boeing 787-9 two pairs of pilots and a spare cabin crew would allow the aeroplane to make the 14,000 kilometre (9009 mile) journey in 19 hours. At the moment, Perth-London can be reached with one stop via Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, Malaysian, Qatar and Singapore. The new service to London would have an early evening departure from Perth, reaching London, the next day by noon. Even…
Don’t be pound foolish
This old English saying comes from the early 17th Century. It describes a person who is thrifty (or miserly) with small amounts of their money, but wasteful with larger amounts. Travelling I see plenty of people guilty of this! I used to work with a very wise man called Tom. He taught me the value of valuing my time and money. He noted that his predecessor used to drive across town two hours and back to save the $10 delivery fee on a particular supply. Tom noted it was costing the company $35 to save that $10. Tom noted…
Post Germanwings: 2 in cockpit
On many of my flights, I have watched the pilot come out of the cockpit to use the lavatory. On some airlines, as he or she has emerged, a member of the cabin crew has replaced him. On others, the pilot or co pilot has left their colleague alone in charge of the plane. The U.S.A had rules before last Tuesday’s Germanwings crash requiring airlines to have two crew members present at all times during the flight. Many other countries allowed airlines to set their own policies. And this has always bothered me. I have always…
Ryanair US site – tips for flying
I have flown 90 airlines to all continents of the world (except for Antarctica) and one airline continues to dismay me: Ryanair. People keep flying Ryanair for one reason: cheap fares. I avoid them because of their seats, customer disdain, staff attitude, ethical concerns and their flying to random secondary airports nowhere near the city I am flying to. My experience of Ryanair is that they are like a bus. If you like bus travel, its fine. If something goes wrong, then you are on your own. The airline has made a concerted effort to improve…
This week’s nutty incident
I think everybody has been bemused this week at the news of the recent behaviour of the daughter of Korean Air‘s CEO on board Flight KE086 from New York‘s JFK to Seoul. Heather Cho was a senior vice-president at the airline and the airline’s head of cabin service. If you have missed what happened; Ms Cho was seated as a passenger in the first class section of the A380. She became angry at the way a junior flight attendant served her some macadamia nuts. Apparently, he failed to ask her if she wanted the nuts. To add insult to injury, he…
Exraordinary Etihad deals from Australia
Tempted by this extraordinary deal from Etihad. Hot on their Australian status match promotion, the airline is offering ridiculously cheap fares to Europe and India from all Australian ports. I am trying to work out whether the airline has massive capacity or is trying to flex some muscle? For example, Sydney to Amsterdam or Paris or Rome or Zurich for $A1230 round trip. The next cheapest price from any airline is around $1430 with Vietnam Airlines and China Southern, both of which take much longer to get you to Europe. The extraordinary bargain are the flights from…
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