I do not want for one second to belittle the tragic loss of life that occurs with each air crash but I wonder, what is it about a plane crash that impacts on our consciousness? Every two days, approximately 66 people are killed on Egyptian roads; a total of 12,000 a year. 45 people per 100,000 die on Egyptian roads. Thats a horrific statistic but no one says anything about it. A year ago, a bus veered off the road at Giza into a canal leading to 35 people dead. It barely made a blip in…
My Musings (Sundays)
Category Archives for My Musings (Sundays).
Formula for Mapping the Tourists
I loved exploring the sights of Venice, Italy. I wandered through quiet squares where locals pegged washing out and gossiped. I was often the only tourist in the back alleys. Yet when I visited St mark’s Square, the place was crowded with tourists of every nation. Why didn’t those people stray far from the square? The same thing happened when I went to Petra. Most people walked the one kilometre (half a mile) to the amazing treasury building and went no further. Some went to the next section. I explored the furthest reaches and was…
Achieved Qantas Gold Again
Qantas has a five tier system for its Feequent Fluer system starting at Bronze and working through silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One,. I have held Gold or higher for over a decade. Thanks to a long distance relationship, I have achieved Gold again for 2016/2017. As mentioned two weeks ago, I am on track for Platinum. This gets me First Class check in and lounges and priority for seats and upgrades. When you spend hundreds of hours a year in airports and on planes, these make a difference for which I am very grateful!…
Kuwait to require DNA testing of all tourists
I have been to many Middle Eastern countries (Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, UAE, for example) but not to the State of Kuwait. I have an open invitation from some Kuwaiti colleagues to visit the country. The news that the country will extend DNA testing to tourists leaves me a little disquieted. Kuwait has talked about introducing DNA testing for a while. Following the bombing of a mosque in June, 2015 which killed 26 worshippers in Kuwait City, the country quickly enacted laws to mandate DNA testing of its 1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 2.9 million expatriates. It’s the…
Mileage Run- with Qantas Double Status Credits help!
My membership year for Qantas finishes soon. I had intended to keep my Qantas Gold Status for another year. With Qantas announcing, their double status credit promotion last week, this changed. Enticed by the earning of double the number of status credits on every flight booked between now and May 4th for travel until 16th April, 2o17, I began a stocktake of my miles situation. A few bookings later, it looked like I would be close to Qantas Platinum! Platinum gives access to One World First Class lounges internationally and Business Class in Australia. The Qantas First Lounge in Sydney is one…
I’ve Visited Airports starting with 23 letters of alphabet
As air travellers are aware, airports are marked by a three digit code managed by IATA. This system allows for 17,576 airport codes with all the combinations. Apparently there are 43,982 airports in the world so many apparently do not have commercial service! Some of these three digit codes are “logical” eg SYD for SYDNEY, SEA for Seattle and EDI for Edinburgh. Some are less so EZE for the Buenos Aires suburb that the airport is located in. Toronto Pearson, Canada is YYZ for historical reasons and IAD is Washington-Dulles. I was struck by a post on Boardingarea site: Pointswithacrew about…
My Easter Prayer
Today is Easter in my tradition. It seems like a day to reflect on our world and think through what we can do to bring light.
Je Suis Ankara (#2)
Last Sunday, on, 13 March 2016, at 635pm local time a 1995 BMW laden with explosives was exploded in a street location where there are many bus stops. 37 people were killed, 125 injured, with 19 severely injured, a bus was completely burnt up, along with many cars. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed responsibility for the attack. They had also been responsible for the 17 February Ankara bombing. They insisted that they were aiming for a Police station nearby and did not intend to harm citizens. This is either a monstrous lie or the group…
Madness: Malaysia refuses checked baggage
Imagine arriving at the airport for your European vacation or business trip to find that you airline is NOT accepting checked luggage. Malaysia Airlines passengers on all flights from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to London, Paris and Amsterdam were told from Tuesday January 5th that Economy Class passengers could only take luggage weighing seven kilograms (about 15 pounds) onboard, while Business and First class passengers could board with carry-on bags that weighed 14 kilograms (about 31 pounds). I understand passengers could book their luggage on but it would arrive separately! The outcry was significant as you can…
Happy New Year for 2016
Thanks for journeying with me in 2015. I had my quietest year for air travel since 2003 with only three flights a month! All of my flights were in Australia and Asia. I flew just six airlines in the whole year but two were new airlines for me: Nok Air and Thai Smile! This brings me to 1064 flights in my life with 90 airlines (see right for my lifetime stats) to 48 countries. I have also travelled to four countries by bus, two by ship and six by train. Giving a total of 6o countries In 2015, I had…
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