One kilometre off the French coast lies a small rocky, cone-shaped island in Normandy called Mont Saint Michel, one of the most mesmerising and romantic places on the planet, I have visited. I stayed for two nights. Verdict: My Overall Rating: 87% Global Ranking: The “Mount” is the third most popular tourist attraction in France, with over three million annual visitors a year. It is beaten by the Eiffel Tower, and the Palace of Versailles, neither of which should be a surprise! Mount Saint Michel was declared a historic monument way back in 1874 and was designated as…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for June 2017.
Mid Air Emergency- Air Asia Pilot asks for Prayer – Not Good Enough
This week’s weird moment has to be on Air Asia D7 237 which developed engine trouble 90 minutes out of Australia’s Perth International airport. Prayer is a feature if most human religions. In many an emergency, some non-believers have suddenly discovered a higher being and prayed for rescue, or salvation. While the plane began shaking violently, the pilot specifically asked passengers to pray twice. I believe in the power of prayer but this seems to be the oddest way of reassuring passengers. Compare this to the calm Pilot on Qantas 32 in 2010, when his Airbus 380 shredded one of…
Preventing a Pickpocket Ruining Your Trip
Pickpockets have been around since the dawn of money. A skilled pickpocketer can have relieved their victim of money, watch, passport, identification and credit cards and have moved on, before that person has noticed anyone is close to them. Pickpockets have a large variety of ways of operating and are always coming up with new schemes, so it’s almost impossible to totally protect yourself. There are some things that can reduce your risk Assume you may be next. Many people travel thinking they will be exempt from losing stuff but experiments have shown that we…
Best Airlines in the World (my reactions and comments)
Who is the best airline you have flown? Chances are, it is not US carrier! Each year at the Paris Air Show, Skytrax releases their rankings of airlines including world’s best airlines, best cabin crew, most improved etc. Of this year’s Top 100 airlines, I have flown exactly half of them. How Reliable is Skytrax? Skytrax claims its World Airline Awards to be “the global benchmarks of airline excellence” with almost 20 million travellers from 105 countries voting on 320 airlines between August 2016 and May 2017. Yet each year I question some of their statistics. This…
#Auschwitz, the most sobering place on the planet
Remembering my visit Auschwitz. Over 1.1 million men, women and children lost their lives here. Verdict: My Overall Rating: 100% Global Ranking: Listed Tenth Museum in the world by TripAdvisor. In 1979, the concentration camp was designated as one of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Why it should be visited: History, Negatives: Crowds Would I return?: Yes. I would choose a period that is as “off seasons” as possible. It is a dilemma about the crowds because in reality, every human should come here. In fact, all politicians should come and see this place (and Hiroshima), before taking…
Yes, Quokka made it as a Qantas aeroplane name!
I love the fact that Qantas names their planes. It is a custom that dates back to the very first small planes that bore the Qantas name back in the 1920s. For their new 787 Dreamliners, Qantas invited the public to participate. A risky move after the UK got names for polar research ship vessel of Boaty Mcboatface. 60,000 suggestions were sent to Qantas and then 45,000 votes were cast to choose the eight names which are here in alphabetical order: Boomerang- an aboriginal hunting weapon Dreamtime- the Aboriginal understanding of creation Great Barrier Reef Great Southern Land…
Inside Voices Please
I have just endured two four hour journeys listening to people shout at each other in a confined space. The context was I was travelling on a train in an Asian country where people speak in very low volumes. When they take a mobile phone call, they carefully do all they can to minimise noise. In this space, we were assaulted by people from a different cultural background whose speech volume was in complete disregard to those around them. Oblivious to the glances, glares and smouldering stares, they spoke at this volume for the entire…
Spectacular, Stunning Stonehenge
Verdict: My Overall Rating: 84% Global Ranking: Listed seventh amongst Historical Landmarks to See Before You Die (I have seen 32 of the top 50) Why it should be visited: History, Spiritual place Negatives: Traffic, Crowds Would I return?: Yes, in a heartbeat. Bear in mind that there are many other stone circles through which have fewer crowds Location and Orientation Stonehenge is probably one of the most famous stone monuments in the world. It sits on a chalky plain north of the Salisbury, England about 88 miles south-west of London. Archaeologists and historians believe that the site…
All about Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions
Thank you for the comments and feedback on last weeks’ post on how to prepare for a potential disaster when you are travelling (terror related or natural disaster). One of the things I encouraged you to do was to “Know the contact number(s) for the Embassy, High Commission or Consular office in the city you are visiting“. A few people indicated confusion over what an embassy is and what it can do. Like most people. I rarely encounter embassies, except for where I have friends working for one or I go to a Festival or…
162nd Blog in Top 1000+ Travel Bloggers
The Top 1000+ Travel bloggers started in April 2014 with 1000 travel bloggers and 700 additional bloggers have since joined the community. The main objective of this success tracking program is to give each blogger a regular personal score that reflects as accurately as possible their success in their activity – in this case, blogging about travel. The #travel1k score has been designed to measure digital & online influence. The scoring algorithm is not perfect but it is an interesting measure. For a numbers nerd like me, it is fascinating! My ranking is 162nd…
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