A minor monumental moment happened this week for me, when Qantas shifted me from Lifetime Silver to Lifetime Gold in recognition of the 385 flights and 562,430 miles flown with them since I joined the Qantas Frequent Flyer programme 20 years ago in 1997. (Plus the few hundred thousand miles on partner carriers such as American, British and Cathay Pacific). Lifetime Gold is the equivalent of One World Sapphire. I am pretty excited by being a Gold member for life. It means that while I am alive and Qantas is in business and they do not change the rules (important…
Europe’s LCC Wizz is 14 -plans to keep on Wizzing!
I have been fascinated with Wizzair for over a decade. They have been aiming for dominance of European skies from their Hungarian base. Celebrating their 14th birthday this month, they now operate 80 aircraft from 19 bases in ten countries across Central and Eastern Europe flying to a massive 140 cities in 50 countries. They have now flown 100 million people. For most of its history, Wizzair reportedly lost money. So much so that in 2009, they were voted by Bookmaker Paddy Power as the next airline likely to go bust. Interesting that both airlines Wizz were…
Altialia – The Eternal Airline?
They call Rome, the eternal city. The airline that flies there must be the same. Every time we think Alitalia is about to go, it has been reprieved. In 2013 I thought they were finally doomed but they kept on flying. It has come at a high cost and with a huge amount of support. Over the last decade, Alitalia as received seven billion euros worth of support. In 2008 the Italian government and a group of Italian companies rescued the carrier. Then in 2014, Etihad bought a 49% stake and attempted to work with the company…
Heavenly HELsinki – Eighth Best City in the world!
I have just paid my first visit to Finland (my 68th country) and to its compact but option packed capital. Definitely felt at home, after a very short time. Verdict Regular readers will know, I rate every airline and every city I encounter.Helsinki was easy to rate! My Overall Rating: 85.6% Ranking out of my top 200 Cities: 8th place- Narrowly behind Wellington (New Zealand) which has a very similar look and feel to Helsinki The Economist Ranking: 9th Most livable city Why it should be visited: Stunning architecture, easy to get around, brilliant museums, great art, food…
Who drinks the Most Coffee and Tea in the World? The answers may surprise you.
Which countries drink the most coffee? I think Coffee and I think Italy (quality) and the USA (quantity). Well, I was wrong! I came across some fascinating stats about the real state of play with coffee this week. I already knew before I recently went to Helsinki, that the Finns drink a lot of coffee. They even had a Coffee Festival in Helsinki while I was there! I had no idea quite how much coffee Finns drink compared to other nations. According to the International Coffee Organization cited by traveller.com.au, the Finns drink a staggering 12kg per capita…
To HEL and back – two more (almost) Heavenly Finnair flights!
Three years ago, I had four pretty nice flights with Finnair. On this occasion, I was particularly looking forward to trying their Airbus 350 for what would be my 1201st flight ever! Booking: 9/10 Finnair runs the only direct service from Bangkok to Helsinki (HEL). During the Finnish winter, the airline offers 16 services a week -mostly for Finns escaping the Northern hemisphere’s cold. From April, the number of flights runs a daily service with a morning departure from Bangkok at 0855 arriving Helsinki at 15:05. The return flight is an overnighter departing HEL at 17:35…
Coping with Culture Shock
Following on yesterday’s post on least favourite cities, many people in the comments described symptoms of “culture shock”. There are many places that I will visit that I will love the whole time you I am there -possibly with some minor with occasional irritants or discomforts. There are other occasions where we can experience irritation and frustration on a regular pattern. People experiencing culture shock can appear angry, confused, frustrated or irritable. We cannot understand why people are enjoying the very things we are hating. These feelings will make us negative about our trip, the country…
What is the WORST City you have ever visited? And Why?
I have been to almost 200 cities with more than 100,000 people. True to my OCD form. I have ranked them all from 1 onwards! Last week I added Vientiane in Laos, which was better than I imagined. In the same week, I also flew to Helsinki which I loved) bringing me to 194 cities! Can you imagine, I went from a daily maximum of 37°C (98.6°F) 3to a maximum of 5°C (41°F) in the same week? That took some ingenious packing and adjusting. This led me to consider that I have a definite list of the…
What to see in Confronting Kanchanaburi- Home of the Thai-Burma Death Railway
Kanchanaburi juxtaposes two things. On the surface, it is a lovely relaxed riverside town in the west of Thailand which attracts tourists from all over Thailand and the world drawn to the natural beauty of the surrounding area. But the other drawcard is that the town is also the haunting centre of one of the most horrific projects of World War Two, the infamous Death Railway built from the River Kwai across Thailand and into Burma. 160,00o Asian forced labourers and Allied POWs worked on the bridge. Between 90,000 and 120,000 died during its construction in…
Preventing Bed Bugs in your hotel bed in Paris, in New York or Your nearest Holiday city.
It has been three years since I last wrote on bed bugs. Last week Le Parisien reported that nearly every day a resident is forced to throw out their infested mattresses. Further RVIP a property management group told the publication that the bugs are coming from the United States. RIVP manager Oliver Perret said: “It’s been like this for two or three years,” RIVP group said that 20% of the 1,000 properties it oversees have dealt with bedbug infestations. The group told reporters that it had been deep-freezing infested furniture at -25C in order to get rid of…
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