I have just run a half marathon in Hobart, Tasmania. One of my 2012 steps toward my fitness goal is 12 major runs of 12km (7miles) or more. Of those I aim to do six half marathons. A half marathon is 21km (almost 13 miles). I am aiming to do a half marathon in Paris in March. Maybe one on the Gold Coast of Australia in July. Anyone want to join me? Or for any of them? Open to suggestions of interesting places to run. Today’s race: The Cadbury Marathon was relatively well organised. There were very…
Air Australia–Where does a new Carrier fit?
Since the start of aviation , Australia’s domestic airline market has been largely composed of two major national airlines. From time to time the cozy duopoloy is challenged by a new entrant with a blaze of low fares.The latest such carrier is Air Australia. 2011 Background Twelve months is a long time in aviation. Qantas the dominant domestic carrier suffered a series of rolling disputes in 2011 culminating in the dramatic three day grounding of the carrier’s services. Tiger Airlines Australia was also grounded be the safety authorities in mid 2011 for safety breaches. Virgin Blue the nation’s largest discount carrier has made a move to full service airline. Brisbane-based Strategic Airlines Operating…
My Favourite Cities at end of 2011
In 2011 I visited eleven new cities with a population of 100 000 people plus. This brought the number of cities I have been to with that size population to 167. The new cities were (in order of how highly I rated them) Seoul, S Korea…I was blown away by this amazing vibrant capital city. I ve decided it is the best city in Asia and my 11th favourite in the world! Here I am pictured in down town Seoul Exeter, UK….a cute small English city with amazing Roman ruins and a very old and grand Cathedral Dubai, UAE…as fun, spectacular…
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…
Trip Report: Air France A380
This is my sixth A380 trip having flown A380s operated by Singapore, Qantas, Emirates, Korean and Lufthansa. Air France was one of the launch customers for the A380 in 2001, ordering 12. They got their first A380 in October, 2009. Booking: 10 out of 10 Upon searching for economy airfares from the USA to Europe and back, I found Air France was offering a sale on its Premium Economy product (Premium Voyageur) so I treated myself to that! Booking, payment and ticketing was very straightforward. Unfortunately the very small premium economy cabin had only two seats left- both in the middle section of the cabin. I like my window seat!…
Virgin America Plane Clips fence
Media sources say that a Virgin America airplane bound for San Francisco as flight 83, clipped a fence at O’Hare International Airport with one of its wings on Saturday afternoon at about 230pm. The plane was leaving the gate. No injuries were reported and the accident will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Revisiting my 2011 Goals
I set some goals a year ago. Time to revisit them. A number of my plans were thrown out the window by a family illness. Despite not having my intended trips to Turkey or China, I got to my 53rd country. Jordan, Lebanon, Brazil, Korea, UAE, Brunei, Saudi Arabia were the newest countries I visited. I have four states to go to get to all of the 50th US state I did finally get to South America in 2011: I have yet to do the Abel Tasman walk, a stunning 54km (33 mile) hike at the top of the…
Toward 2012
Here is what I want to do in 2012: Fly the China Southern, Malaysian and Thai A380s Fly less (a 40% reduction in travel would be good) I do want to visit two new US states which means I will be upo to 48 US states visited I want to add three new countries- definitely Turkey and Denmark and possibly South Africa? I expect to fly at least three new airlines I hope to be able to share all this with you….thanks for being Wild About Travel! What are your 2012 Travek goals? Related Posts: 2011 Flying…
2011 Flying Highlights
I am Wild about Flying and thanks to my friend Tony (see separate story), I have a very accurate record of my travel. This means I know for a certainty, that as at today’s date I have flown 812 times in my life- 111 times in 2011. Question: Do I need to fly 112 times next year? 111 times in a year is about twice per week. In total a scary 412 hours of my year was spent in aeroplanes- two and a half weeks!! Distance Flown I travelled 304 560 km (189 245 miles). That number is…
December, 2011 Blog Review
December is one of my quietest travel months. A mere seven flights- three with Etihad and four with the transitioning Virgin Australia (all in front row!). Blog post wise: Dec 31: Best and worst airlines of 2011: Top Spot to Emirates and Bottom spot to Tiger Australia (that will teach them to bump me off a flight!) Dec 21: Flying highlights for 2011 -I effectively flew round the world seven times in 2011 and managed a 7*7 frequency whereby my 737th flight was on a Southwest 737, the 747th on a Qantas 747: 757th on a United 757, then Qantas 767 and Air New Zealand…
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