My Musings (Sundays)

Category Archives for My Musings (Sundays).

Post Germanwings: 2 in cockpit

March 29, 2015 by Martin J Cowling 1 Comment

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…

I Hike Hadrians Wall across England

January 18, 2015 by Martin J Cowling 4 Comments

There are many crazy things I like to do in life. One is walking long distances! I have walked several long distance tracks in Australia, the UK and New Zealand now including the famed NZ Milford track. One of my goals was to walk the width of England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea following the path of Hadrian’s wall. 84 miles (140km) long. And I did it! It took seven days walking West to East. To back track, Hadrian’s Wall was built in the 2nd Century AD by the order of the Roman Emperor…

An appeal to civility in 2015

January 11, 2015 by Martin J Cowling 2 Comments

Some people collect stamps, some build and race model cars and others garden. Me? I travel. And I blog. That is my hobby and that is how I see it. I enjoy sharing my world with my friends – and others. Over the last year, I have become concerned, disappointed and distressed at what feels like an erosion of civility in social media. Just as we see teens bullying each other, so I see adults behaving disappointingly. I welcome your comments. I want to know where I go wrong, what I can learn and what…

Reviewing 2014-How do you measure your travel?

January 4, 2015 by Martin J Cowling 3 Comments

As I reflect on 2014, I pondered how do I measure my travel? 1. By Kilometres, miles or points? In 2014 I covered: 3000km (2000 miles) by train 4000km (2500 miles) by bus 12000km by rental car (7000 miles) 124,754 (77.5k) by air to or from 22 airports. I flew four new airlines bringing my total number of air carriers to 91 airlines! The new ones were: Burma’s Air KBZ, Bangkok Airways Finnair (review coming Tuesday) and Germania 2. The Goals I achieved? In 2014, I completed my first (and last) marathon in Berlin, Germany hiked across…

TajMahal Memories- A Top Experience

November 16, 2014 by Martin J Cowling 1 Comment

Was reflecting that, eight years ago this week, I was at the Taj Mahal for an amazing dawn. From out of the dark… the first rays of the sun lit up the historic building. Gradually more and more of the building appeared. It was beautiful. I include that as one of the top 100 experiences of my life! My camera was much more primitive than it is now. What have been some of your best travel experiences? Related Posts World’s best airlines -skytrax 2013 All about #Bargaining /Haggling Don’t carry a Money Belt

Peeve about Express Security Lines

November 2, 2014 by Martin J Cowling 1 Comment

Many airports have express lines for the security process. These lines are open to elite and/or frequent fliers. I rely on them to make my airport transits as short as possible. I have a few peeves about them. One being is there are not enough of them. Another is that when the “normal lines” are full, they redirect regular passengers to the express lines. I know I should not be selfish and share and slow down etc but it drives me crazy! At Sydney Airport, yesterday, this happened. Two young backpackers got moved into the…

Fight Cancer With Us: #flyforpink

October 12, 2014 by Martin J Cowling Leave A Comment

My sister died two years ago from Cancer. She fought it nobly. You can understand why I will support (almost) anything that helps support the fight against cancer. Here is a simple way you can join in the fight during October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Hint: Cover up your frequent flyer number and other personal details. For every boarding pass photo posted to Twitter & Instagram with the hashtag #flyforpink, the frequent flyer collaborative of BoardingArea, Milepoint,Freddie Awards, Bonusfeber, Ikvliegveel and Frequent Traveler University will donate fifty US cents to cancer-related causes. If we…

Everything worked!

October 4, 2014 by Martin J Cowling 3 Comments

Most of my trips work but none has worked as well as my last three weeks in Europe… Twelve flights with six airlines and five rail trips plus numerous metros and buses took us to six countries. I walked the 141km (84 miles) from the Irish Sea to North Sea along Hadrian’s wall I also ran my first marathon! While my finish timings could have been faster, I was thrilled to finish! All in all, a very satisfying trip -reports coming soon!

900 posts!

September 21, 2014 by Martin J Cowling 1 Comment

Just published my 900th post. Thanks for following along my blog. I continue to be wild about travel and hope to share what’s important to me for a while longer.

Walking across England