Two weeks ago, I blogged about my High Speed ICE experience. Today’s Trip Report is a little of a contrast. A much more slower trip from Budapest, the capital of Hungary to Baja, a small city south of Budapest. Booking: 3 out of 10 MAV Start has the most complex train booking system I have ever experienced. The site also froze a few times. It does provide all of the fare and train options on the one screen so you can see which train has the cheapest seats and make up your mind easily about tickets. Eventually,…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
280 times at MEL
I fly for the 280th time through Melbourne (Australia) airport! This is the airport I have used the most through my life. 280 check ins! Altogether, that is a lot of time in the security lines, shops and lounges! As of today, my ten most visited airports are: Melbourne, Australia (MEL): 279 times. 4.3 out of 5 Sydney, Australia (SYD): 248 times. 3.0 Los Angeles, USA (LAX): 89 times. 1.8 Auckland, New Zealand (AKL): 69 times. 3.2 Adelaide, Australia (ADL) 69 times. 4.1 San Francisco, USA (SF): 46 times. 4.0 London Heathrow, UK (LHR): 41 times. 2.6 Wellington,…
Hip Hamburg
I have been wanting to get to Hamburg for twelve years. The city has eluded me until just two weeks ago when I hopped on a train for the 250km (158 mile) trip from Berlin and made Hamburg the 171st city I have visited. This Northern Germany city is 610 miles (380 miles) from Munich and 365 km (227 miles) from Frankfurt. Aesthetics Getting off the train in Hamburg, I was struck by two things. Firstly, how flat Hamburg is and secondly how much water the city has. Officially, known as Free Harbour City of…
Trip Report: Hamburg -Berlin ICE
My rail trip from Berlin to Hamburg was a disappointment with a late, underwhelming train that had stinky lavatories. I hoped the return would be better. Booking- 7 out of 10 I found bhan.com to be a little more complex than I felt it needed to be. German Railways want you to know every single possible piece of information before you commit to buying your ticket. Conditions of travel, what hotels can be booked and even what platform your train will be leaving from are all thrust upon you. There were several choices of ticket delivery including MMS…
German Train Delays
Many years ago, when Germany first had its ICE (Intercity Express) High Speed Trains, I was riding one to Frankfurt. As the train conductor walked through the carriage I was in, three German Businessmen yelled angrily at him “Drei Minuten”. Yes, our train was three minutes late. That image of the punctual German Railway has stayed with me so it was with a sense of disappointment that I discovered on arriving at Berlin’s brand new multi level Bahnhof (Central Station ), that my Hamburg bound train was 20 minutes late. When the train finally rolled in…
Trip Report: Virgin Atlantic to London in Premium
I am a bit of a Virgin with Virgin Atlantic, particularly compared to their sister carriers: Virgin Australia and Virgin America. Since 2011, Virgin Australia has transitioned to a full service airline and integrated their frequent flyer and fare offerrings with their UK and American counterparts. As a Virgin Australia Platinum flier (top tier), I am eligible for benefits with these partners. My experience is that the systems are still a bit creaky, as this trip illustrates. Booking 8 out of 10 I booked through Virgin Australia using their points on Virgin Atlantic. I got great service…
Trip Report: American- LAX to SFO
A positive review from me about American airlines? There is aways room for a first! I have flown AA 49 times and given them universally low rankings: Today my fiftieth American Airlines flight was a very pleasant experience. Check in: 9 out of 10 I was on a tight time frame and the LAX inter terminal bus was slowed by lost tourists. Upon getting to the LAX American Airlines terminal, I became a little lost. I saw a sign emblazoned “priority Access” and assumed (wrongly) that it was referring to entry to the gates so for some reason went…
Qantas 250th time
I flew my 250th Qantas flight, last week, from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia. It was also my 860th flight of my life! Five weeks of my life spent inside Qantas planes travelling the equivalent of 16 times around the world! As you can see from the map below, the Australian flag carrier has taken me to five continents. What is interesting is how many of the Qantas routes I have flown on have now vanished: Harare to Perth, Bangkok to London, Sydney to San Francisco, Christchurch to Melbourne, and Auckland to Los Angeles are all gone. I have…
The Interislander
Have a quick stopover in Wellington, New Zealand en route to the USA. I will be taking the Interislander ferry between the North and South islands of New Zealand. (To get to the airport in Melbourne, I will be taking bus and train. So on Thursday, I will manage bus, train, plane and ferry all in one day!) Am always excited to take the Inter- Islander. It is a stunning ride. When the water is calm, the trip is magic. When it is rough, it is shall we say more “challenging”.
US Airways A319: Spokane to LAX
Getting from Spokane to Los Angeles on a Sunday after Bloomsday, a major running race in Spokane, was not as easy or as cheap as I would like. My options were fairly limited as I had to fly out after the race had finished and get to LAX in time to connect to a flight to Australia. I could either travel with Frontier via Denver, Alaska via Seattle and US Airways via Phoenix. None very cheap! I chose US Airways which is a big step for me! I had studiously avoided them for years after some terrible flights. More recently,…
Recent Comments