I love the Middle East and have enjoyed amazing hospitality from very generous and kind people Today, I join many others in my sadness over today’s events in Syria. How can we stop such cruelty in our world. Can we stop fighting and killing each other?
The Fake Zoo
A Chinese zoo at the People’s Park in Luohe faced a dilemma when its most popular exhibit its African Lion was sent away to a breeding programme. The zoo hit on a novel idea of replacing the lion with a Tibetan mastiff, a large and hairy dog. The plan came unstuck when the “Lion” opened its mouth and instead of a regal roar began barking. > Other fake animals were uncovered at the zoo including a fake Golden jaguar: A dog in a wolf pen: two coypu rodents in a snake’s cage: Authorities in the…
All about OptionTown
Another way of unbundling has reached my attention. Using the services of Optiontown, I got an upgrade last week, with Air Asia at nominal cost. The way it worked was this: I completed my online booking with Air Asia I then navigated to Optiontown and retrieved my airline booking Chose the upgrade option I wanted Paid a small non refundable fee to apply for the upgrade. Fees can be paid by Credit Card or Paypal Paid a second fee equivalent to 50% of the usual upgrade price. This fee is refunded five days after the flight if upgrade does…
Switch off that Phone????
As the announcement to switch off our phones is broadcast. I watch some people settle back in their seats content or smug, they have complied. Some will discover upon landing that their phone wasn’t actually off! In fact the Airline Passenger Experience Association and the Consumer Electronics Association found 30 percent of passengers accidentally left an electronic device turned on during a flight -61 percent said it was a smartphone. Another group will get up and check in a panic, only to find they have indeed already switched their phone off. On a recent flight,…
Mapping 10 Busiest Air Routes of 2012
Was fascinated by this mapping of the Top Ten busiest air routes by Visual Statistix. The article is from Amadeus which noted that 300 of the world’s routes carry 20pc of the world’s passengers. They also state that each of these 300 “super routes” has one million plus passengers per year. It seems seven of the top ten routes are in Asia, one in Australia, one in Africa and one in the Americas. Considering 60 per cent of the world’s population live in Asia, this makes sense. The high use of trains in Europe probably…
Hyperlooping Sci Fi or Real?
;Imagine sitting in a sealed pressurised car shaped capsule with 27 other passengers travelling at 1100+km/h (660mph) in a near vacuum through a tube in an electromagnetically suspensed vehicle. The tube would be built on pylons above or next to the current California Interstate 5 highway between Los Angeles and San Francisco reducing the 380-mile (610km) journey between the two cities to “about half an hour”. One major advantage of this system is that riders could go directly from city centre to city centre. The proposed Hyperloop is a “cross between a Concorde, a railgun…
Booted for phone use
Following on the proud tradition set by Alec Baldwin in 2011 who was infamously thrown off one an American flight after refusing to turn off his phone and becoming combative with flight staff… Two incidents in two months involving passengers being kicked off planes for cell phone usage. The first was a 22 year old woman who fought airline staff as they removed her from US Airways flight 906 scheduled to fly between Fort Lauderdale, FL to Charlotte, NC. She reportedly “kicked a deputy in the groin, elbowed another in the face and scratched two other deputies”.…
My 500th Route!
My 977th flight today from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was my 500th route. Since my first flight 45 years ago, I have spent 131 days instead aeroplanes. If I count check in and waiting times, I have probably spent a year of my life in air travel! Eleven of my Top 20 routes have been in Australia with sixty nine trips being between Sydney and Melbourne’s main airport Tullamarine. Not surprisingly Melbourne, Australia my home port which I have travelled into or out of 320 times features in eleven of my top routes. Los…
Stay Well En Route
After my post, last Wednesday, about the students who flew home ill from Chile last week, thought I would share some tips to stay well. Getting sick is part of the joys of travel, so be prepared! Feel free to add your suggestions. Before Travel Get all appropriate vaccinations for the area you are travelling to Get your up to date flu vaccination Make sure you have appropriate travel insurance coverage Take a travel-size bottle of hand sanitizer Carry medication for headaches, toothaches (it can happen) and diarrhea Have mosquito repellant When Flying I drink a fresh squeezed…
Stunning look at Earth from Space
I was very taken by this. Watch and enjoy. Related Posts Astronaut Tweets Flood Pics
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