Today, I am going to try and nominate my Twenty Favourite Spots in England. What do you think? Lakes District National Park- Steamer trips on the lakes, steam train, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge Beatrix Potter and days of hiking in all weathers! The Yorkshire Dales -wild and stunning Stonehenge- if you get a chance get onto one of the few tours that actually lets you walk around the stones – it is mesmerising Little Venice and the Canal Path to Camden Markets, London– stroll through the countryside in the middle of London. Have walked this many times…
Seven hours in Eden
In the middle of Cornwall, England near the town of St Austell, England is a piece of Eden. The Eden Project, was built the Eden Project in Cornwall in a disused clay mine, opening ten years ago. The project is about regenerating the environment and introducing it to the public. For example, when the Eden Project started, the site was so bad it had been used as the scene of a ruined alien plante in a BBC TV series. Getting there Train to St Austell station. From there were two choices of bus. Tip: When buying the train ticket, add a St Austell Bus plus onto the fare. It…
British Airways & Iberia PLUS American?
This week saw the first anniversary of a joint business agreement between American, Iberia and British. Under this agreement, the airlines agreed to co-operate commercially on flights between the United States, Mexico, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and Norway. The agreement was backed up by anti trust immunity from US and European authorities. Shortly, after the agreement was signed, in January, 2011, Iberia and BA merged into a new company called IAG (international Airlines Group), Europe’s third largest airline group and the sixth largest in the world by revenue. The airlines have combined the strong BA Asian connections with Iberia’s…
By Rail from Melbourne, Australia to Adelaide, Australia.
I travelled this week the 828km between these two Australian cities on the Overland train. Departure was 08:05 am and the arrival a mere ten hours and 45minutes later! The Overland began running as the Intercolonial Express train in October 1887. In 1926, the overnight rail service became The Overland in 1926. In the 1950s, The Overland introduced air-conditioned carriages and was the first train in the world to have on board showers! Unfortunately, trains in Australia have not had the similar investment, European railways have enjoyed. Today, the train journey takes much about the same time as…
Tuesday Trip Report: Train to Torquay
Torquay is the home of Basil Fawlty, the long suffering proprietor in the cringingly hilarious English Tv series Fawlty Towers. Its also the town in England where my ancestors came from. My grandfather often talked about the mighty Great Western Railway steam engines that connected the town to London. The railway designed by British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was designed to be fast, and stylish way of travel. Today the GWR is known as First Great Western (owned by First Group). They operate trains through to Wales and the southwest of England from London’s Paddington station (more well…
British Airways and Ipads –I like it
If you have ever sat near the front of an aeroplane, you would know that when the cabin door is about to close, the crew are handed a long scrolled up piece of paper with all customer details. In the 21st Century! It looks so primitive. BA is testing Ipads with 100 cabin staff with the aim of rolling them out to all senior crew members in the next few months. Loaded on them are timetables, safety manuals and customer service updates. More importantly from a customer service point of view, when the doors are about to close,…
This week
I have just come back from the UK. This week’s blog posts will, as a result, be focussing, therefore, on the UK. I was mostly in the Southwest of the UK: London, Devon, Cornwall and Bristol. See map below. Struck this time by two things: how much the UK packs into every square foot. how old things are! For example. Exeter in Devon, has had a mayor since at least 1207. Have a great week
China Southern A380 to fly this week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bszcN2SwgTIThis week, for the first time ever, an A380 will be used on a domestic route. China Southern received their first 380 on October 14 from Airbus in France (see handover video above- Note the slight error in translation of the CEO’s speech when the plane is referred to as “A-three-eight-zero“). The plane touched down in Beijing October 15. China Southern’s became the seventh airline to fly the A380 joining Air France, Emirates, Korea, Lufthansa, Qantas and Singapore. number seven and their A380 is the 58th in scheduled service. They have ordered five A380s. The handover video gives you…
Emirates: No Match
Its like being turned down by someone you most like! Ever had that experience? I just asked Emirates, my favourite airline, for a “status match” with Qantas where I hold Gold Frequent Flyer Status. One of the difficulties of being “high status” with one airline is that it does “lock you in”. Gold Status comes with express check in, lounge access, bonus frequent flyer points and higher luggage allowances. I have Blue Status (the basic level with Emirates) because I frankly haven’t flown them enough. They don’t fly on most of the routes, I have…
Tuesday Trip Report: Lufthansa’s A380
In August, the A380 celebrated its third Birthday of flying, Last week, I flew my fourth A38o airline: Lufthansa, the German flag carrier. My earlier A380 flights have been with Qantas, Singapore and Emirates. Booking I was determined to fly on the Lufthansa A380 so I searched for the flight at Lufthansa.com to find it was much more expensive than I planned. I then found United was selling seats on the exact same Lufthansa flight for substantially cheaper than the Lufthansa price! After confirmation of my booking, my next task was seat selection. Lufthansa’s website works very well and…
Recent Comments