Ever locked your keys in the car or lost them? I had some friends lose my house keys recently. They tore apart their car looking for the keys (turned out they had been dropped behind a tree in the garden!). Imagine finding you had locked everyone’s luggage in a Boeing 747 and could not get it out?! This happened to Virgin Atlantic last week. Flight VS029, arrived from London into Barbados with 288 passengers. On the ground,staff tried everything (and failed) to open the rear hold door of the plane. Eventually. it was decided to take…
Weird or Wonderful
Category Archives for Weird or Wonderful.
Wednesday Weirdness: Grumpy people
There are some grumpy people travelling sometimes. I pray that they are not me! It was 540am, in the Virgin Australia lounge at Melbourne airport. A passenger on learning from the check in agent, that his 615am flight to Sydney would be delayed by 15 minutes ripped into the woman serving. He said “why on earth is the second flight of the day delayed” She explained calmly that because of a massive storm in the Sydney area, Air traffic control had reduced landings into Sydney airport. He continued to rudely berate her, telling her it was not good enough and she should be ashamed…
Security Thieving [Updated]
At Auckland International Airport two years ago, I encountered a petty official at the security check point with a petty attitude. I placed my computer on the conveyor belt and waited for it to go through. She insisted that I proceed through the X ray machine before my laptop did but I would not leave my computer unwatched. I see people throwing wallets, keys and watches into the open trays and then marching on through the metal detectors, leaving the stuff on then conveyor belt, ready to be pushed through – by anyone. I put those items…
Wednesday weirdness: How late do you leave it?
As I was standing in the Priority check in line for a Virgin Australia flight at Sydney airport, a young guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked if he could squeeze to the front of the line as his plane was leaving “in ten minutes“. He sprinted to the counter. We watched the check in clerk smile at him, reach for the phone presumably to check with the gate. She shook her head and he came past me looking furious. Whats the latest you have got to an airport and got onto a flight? Picture from: http://lifehacker.com
Wednesday Weirdness: The battle for power
One of the biggest frustrations for today’s traveller is access to power to recharge devices. Considering how much we need to keep powered, I am surprised that no one has set up a charging station network across the globe. In the meantime travellers have to earnestly ferret out power outlets, share, negotiate, bargain and beg. On January 1st, I was in Queens Plaza Shopping Centre in Brisbane, Queensland eating my lunch. It is a shopping centre with the David Jones Department Store where I planned to do some shirt buying. As I sat in the food hall,…
Finnair dances for India Republic Day
Thursday January 26 are national days for Australia (Australia Day) and India (Republic Day). Finnair decided to celebrate India’s Republic Day with a dance group performing on board Flight 21 its Helsinki-Delhi service last Thursday January 26. The flight departed and arrived two hours late. One is not sure if the dancing was to appease passengers or caused the delay? L Lateness aside, I love quirky fun stuff like this. Stuff that Air New Zealand and Southwest Airlines seem to specilise in. Virgin Blue in Australia also used to play the fun card but seem to…
Wednesday Wackiness: Tasmania- MIA
Arnotts, the dominant Australian biscuit (cookie) and cracker manufacturer has created a new cracker in the shape of Australia for the country’s national holiday tomorrow January 26. Some have criticised the crackers because the map does not incude the southern island state of Tasmania (see right) Tasmania has been a separate island for 10 000 years and part of Australia since Federation in 1901 but often gets left off maps, promotional materials, tourist materials. How does one keep the island state in people’s front of mind? A question often asked by the Tasmanian Tourist authorities. In the year to September, 2011…
Britain – Plan Set for Fast Trains
The country that invented railways is about to go high speed. The UK has one high speed line HS1 between London’s St Pancras station and the Channel Tunnel, opened in November, 2009. This is about to change with approval of HS2 (High Speed 2) between a rebuilt London Euston Station and Birmingham. Don’t hold your breath. Opening date is set for 2026. A second phase would have the line split at Birmingham with one branch running up to leeds and the other to Manchester. If Phase one will open 2026, phase two may not be…
Hotel Lock Out
Recently, my partner and I stayed at a small rural hotel in Australia’s Sunshine Coast. Check in was pleasant and friendly. We dumped our bags in the room, had a shower and went out to dinner. As I reached into my pocket in the restaurant at about 1020pm for the car keys to return to the hotel, I realised that I did not have the room key. I immediately rang the hotel and got the voice mail of reception. I left a detailed message and then rang again 30 minutes later. When we arrived at the hotel at…
How many Shoes do you travel with?
The woman in front of me arrived at check in with two suitcases, two smaller carry-on style bags on wheels, a laptop bag and a handbag. On being told she would have to pay to get them all on board, there came a period of frantic repacking which resulted in one of the carry-ons being left behind. We got to watch the woman’s bags full contents as she packed and unpacked. I counted 15 pairs of shoes. If she has been away for the Christmas/New Year period, this means she had one pair of shoes…
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