For context: I’m a frequent flyer who maintains status across multiple programs: primarily Virgin Australia Platinum, Qantas Platinum, and Star Alliance Gold. This isn’t unique. Many frequent flyers play multiple programs to maximise coverage and benefits. Are you one of them? Virgin Australia has been one of my “main homes” for 13 years because it operates an extensive domestic network and international routes across the Asia/Pacific region. Virgin has reinvented itself three times: as a low-cost carrier, a full-service carrier, and now a hybrid. Throughout, they’ve been my preferred option for Australian domestic travel, alongside…
Terrific Turku, Finland’s Historical Capital. All You Need to Know
Turku is a low-key river city known for its university life and as a gateway to medieval Finland and the beautiful Turku Archipelago. Turku has tens of thousands of students across multiple universities and this creates a fun, youthful atmosphere. Quality‑of‑life index scores Turku slightly higher than Helsinki overall (Turku 215 vs Helsinki 206), with better scores for healthcare, safety, and housing affordability Nice range of museums. I visited in the depths of January winter, but plan to return in summer! Eight Hundred Years Old Turku is Finland’s oldest city, with its origins usually…
A Moomin Pilgrimage Through 80 Years of Finnish Magic
I just spent two amazing weeks in Finland, which remains one of my favourite countries in the world. This trip: Helsinki, Rovaniemi, and Turku. I’m still processing everything I experienced. The timber architecture of Rovaniemi, the frozen Baltic where ships should be, and now this: my Moomin pilgrimage across 80 years of Finnish magic. All my friends know I’m a huge Moomin fan. The Moomins are a family of warm‑hearted troll‑like creatures created by Finnish artist and writer Tove Jansson (1914–2001). Across novels, picture books, comics and murals, she uses Moominvalley to explore friendship, freedom…
Rovvaniemei: Timber, Fire, and Reinvention
Welcome to the ArcticMy second time on the Arctic Circle! Rovaniemi, in Northern Finland, sells hard on Santa and the northern lights. I came for the Northern Lights, the Ice Hotel, to ride one of the most northerly train routes, cross the Arctic Circle again and Santa Claus (in that order), and discovered that beneath the Christmas branding, there is a real Lapland hub for winter and summer activities, warm people, and experiences I’d never had before. But no lights. Backstory: Timber, Fire, and ReinventionPeople have lived around present‑day Rovaniemi since the Stone Age, but…
Walking on Water! The Surreal Magic of standing where Ships Should Be: Helsinki in Winter
My Strava doesn’t lie. It shows me walking 300 metres across the water from Helsinki’s shoreline, just near Kaivopuisto in southern Helsinki, to the island of Harakka. I walked over water that is six or seven metres deep! In winter, Helsinki can spend weeks below zero Celsius, which means vast areas of the sea freeze into thick ice. The water I walked over was covered by about 1.5 metres of solid sea ice. Ice that is strong enough for people to walk, ski, and even cycle across. A whole harbour below me! Surreal and exciting.…
Cape Town: Beautiful and Complicated
I came to Cape Town hoping to like it and ended up loving it. I want to encourage other visitors to look beyond the surface here. It’s a complex and fascinating place. Introducing the City The road from the modern Cape Town airport passes through the sprawling townships of Langa, Nyanga, and Gugulethu, dense settlements of shacks with varying degrees of access to electricity and water, and unemployment rates over 50%. Literally around the corner are the well-lit, well-patrolled suburbs of Sea Point and Camps Bay, where mind-bogglingly priced sea-view homes cling to the slopes…
Seventeen Mega Groups: How Airline Consolidation could rewire the World
In my last post, I showed how the airline industry has consolidated significantly, with most European and US airlines falling into just three mega-groups that control a significant share of the world’s seats. But the consolidation appears nowhere near over. The airline industry is genuinely hard to forecast. Hub airports, widebody fleets, equity stakes, and airline alliances play out over 10 to 20-year lifespans. The economic forecasts they are built on are inherently uncertain, however. Demand, fuel prices, regulation, geopolitics, industrial issues, climate policy, or air accidents can derail what looked like a sure path…
Are You Really Choosing Your Airline? Three Groups Control Our World.
Johannesburg: First encounter with the City of Gold
Firstly, three fascinating facts about Johannesburg for your next Trivia Pursuit Competition: I flew to Johannesburg expecting not to like it, but there is something about its youthfulness, energy, hustling, humour and beauty that got to me. I rate all the cities I have visited or lived in, and Johannesburg ranked 52nd among my 306 cities.1 I feel similarly about a diverse mix of cities, including Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne, Portland (Maine) and Santa Fe in the USA, Tangier in Morocco, and Yala in Thailand. Birth of the city To make sense of today’s…
Grounded for Good: The Airlines That Didn’t Survive 2025
For over a decade, I’ve been keeping note of which airlines go out of business each year. Do you recognise any of these? Air BelgiumBelgium. Founded: 2016. Commenced: 2018. Passenger operations ceased: 2024 (bankruptcy). Passenger flying had already stopped following the 2024 insolvency. After that, it was limited to wet‑lease and cargo work. In 2025, it finally vanished. Aerolínea Lanhsa Honduras. Founded: 2009. Commenced: 2010. Ceased: 7 April 2025. Aimed to connect the Hondouran capital, Tegucigalpa, with coastal and island destinations such as Roatán and La Ceiba using three turboprops. On 17 March 2025, Flight…
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