I have never booked a flight to HEL before! Re-assuredly, I was also able to book flights out of HELsinki, the capital of Finland quite easily. I was bemused that one of my flights was AY 666 (Biblical number of evil) from Copenhangen to HEL. None of the crew or passengers were sprouting horns and the only non human creatures we encountered were popular Finnish Comic Moomin family products which the airline was selling on board. Of the 15 One World member airlines, I have now flown 11 of them (and two ex members!) for…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
Boutique Bangkok Airways blows me away
Every now and then you get a reminder of what flying used to be like and a glimpse of what it could be like. Porter Airways in Canada is one such “boutique” carrier and Bangkok Airways is another. This was the 90th airline I have ever flown. Bangkok Airways started back in 1968 as Sahakol Air, the first ever private aviation company in Thailand. They have embarked on a fairly aggressive growth strategy in the last three years. They have some of the cutest ads of any airline in the world! Booking: 10/10 There is now a crowded market…
Trip Report: Rail Comfort to Chiang Mai
Bangkok to Chiang Mai- Train Number 1. First Class. Dep: 1830. Arr: 0815 There are many ways to travel between Bangkok and Chiang Mai; flying, driving and a frequent bus services. Being a railway geek, I was determined to add another Thai train trip to my collection. There are four main train lines in Thailand: The Northern route to Chiang Mai (today’s trip) The Northeastern route which breaks into two branches The Eastern route to the Cambodian border which we took last December The Southern route into Malaysia Booking: 5/10 For some inexplicable reason,…
Qantas -My 1001st flight
Bravo to Qantas for recognising my 1001st time in the air! (it was also my 292nd second flight with the Aussie airline) and my third time on this particular aircraft an Airbus 330 (VH-QPF) named Esperance (after a town in Western Australia). I had last flown this plane back in March. Booking: 9/10 I was prompted to book by the announcement of a Qantas fare sale to Bangkok. In an unusual deviation from pattern, I only checked one fare comparison site kayak. I had almost hit “confirm” on the Qantas website which would charge my card and finalise…
Riding the Yangon Circle Train
I have been wanting to ride this train for years. The Yangon Circular Railway is a British built train line that connects Yangon Central station (pictured above) with inner city suburbs, impoverished towns and semi- country villages in a 46 kilometre (28.5 mile) long loop with 39 stations. Trip Adviser users rate it as the seventh best attraction in Yangon with people saying “a trip of a life time” and “Excellent way to watch everyday life in yangon“. Some of the key stations with close by attractions include: Pagoda Road for Bogyoke Market and Holy…
Air KBZ to Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)
One thing I didn’t want to do was fly internally in Myanmar! The fledgling airline industry does not have a great safety record. After our long train trip from Mandalay to Bagan, we realised, however that a ten hour train trip from Bagan to Yangon would take too much time out of our schedule so I reluctantly agreed to fly! Booking: 7/10 The country has seven local airlines registered: Air Bagan; Air KBZ, Air Mandalay, Asian Wings, Golden Myanmar Airlines; Myanmar Airways International and Yangon Airways. Our first choice was Asian Wings because they are 49 per cent owned by Japan’s ANA. Unfortunately,…
Rail Mayhem in Myanmar (Trip Report)
I have ridden the rails in Africa, the Americas,Asia, Australia and Europe in steam trains to TGVs! Today’s report talks about a train ride in Myanmar (Burma) from Mandalay (the country’s second biggest city located in the centre of the map) to Bagan (the tourist and spiritual heart of the country located southwest of Mandalay). This ride has to be simultaneously one of the best, worst and funniest rail journeys I have ever done! Some websites warn tourists that trains in Myanmar are expensive compared to buses, slow, uncomfortable, dirty, noisy and smelly. True. Others extol…
Flight 1000 utter mix up!!
I kind of hoped for more from my 1000th flight… Check in After disembarking from a magnificent Emirates flight from Kuala Lumpur, I wheeled my small case into the Qantas lounge at Melbourne airport. The International and Qantas domestic terminals are right next door to each other making it one of the easiest airports in the world to connect! Much better than Sydney connections). I had already checked in on-line but wanted to see if I could get a bulkhead seat. After glancing at my frequent flyer card and tapping at his keyboard, the…
5* Emirates Business: Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur
Qatar, Emirates and Cathay Pacific, have been my three favourite airlines for a while now (although I have some misgivings regarding Qatar following revelations last year of their employment practices). Nonetheless, these carriers bring back the pleasure of airline travel providing me with reminders that air flights do not have to be a barren bus like experiences! Today’s flight (my 994th ever) was the epitome of how phenomenal Emirates are. Booking: 9 out of 10 I actually booked my ticket through Qantas. Despite being the same seat on the same plane, Qantas were selling it…
An Empty Qantas Bangkok to Sydney
This has happened four times in 991 flights -a plane so empty, l score four seats in Economy to myself allowing me a stretch and a good sleep Not sure where the passengers were? Normally this is a very full flight. Scared off by the troubles in Thailand? Flying Jetstar, Emirates or Air Asia instead? Check in: 7 out of 10 After a frustrating time trying to do this on my phone, I gave up and waited until I had laptop access. This has got to be made possible using the Qantas mobile site…
Recent Comments