Jules Verne’s character Phileas Fogg traveled by steamer, train, elephant and horse around the world to demonstrate it was possible to do so. It took eighty days. Today, I completed my 80th navigation of the globe. This is a touch over two million miles (3.2 million kilometres), a feat which has taken me just over half a century of flying. This is what it looks like: I have flown to 62 of the 80 countries, I have visited. The rest I have reached by bus, train, car and in one case foot. Importantly, my travels…
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And Russia makes 77
I am filling in my globe with all of the countries, territories and regions I have visited. With the addition of Russia this week, I have made it to 77 countries. I only count a country if I have left the airport. So while, I have transited through Doha and Johannesburg airports, I do not include Qatar and South South Africa in my tally. I have been to about two thirds of the countries in both Asia and Europe and exactly half of all the nations in the Oceania region of the planet. African exploration…
YOU MUST wear your seat belt on a plane- Graphic warning as to why
I noted on my last Air Asia flight, how much disregard was shown for the seat belt sign with passengers chatting in rows and aisles and wandering up and down the plane even while we went through turbulence. If you have any family members or friends who still believe wearing the seat belt in a plane during turbulence, is optional, show them this post. Last week, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board gave a very strong reminder for passengers to wear seatbelts in their report on Air Canada flight 088 . I am always fascinated by air turbulence stories and this…
My 10 Worst Travel Experiences
Create your own visited countries map or check out the JavaScript Charts. I have been to or lived in sixty-two countries. Most of my experiences have been wonderful and magical. There are a very few that were pretty awful: Being threatened with being tortured or shot by the army in El Salvador just after the Civil War- they had not made their mind up what to do to me. Clearly, I survived. Having my bus blown up in the Middle East two stops before mine. I still reflect carefully on life as six on the…
Call Centre Bingo- tips for better outcomes
Moved house this week. This means lots of call centre experiences. How to have better ones… Investigate complaints boards, frequent flyer forums and Tripadvisor to see if other people have had the same issue. Sometimes, you can get a quick tip or have information for the operator on how to solve the problem or be told who the best contact is. If it is clear that no one else has had success using a particular route, then do not waste your time duplicating fruitless efforts Learn how that company works. ContactHelp can GetHuman have…
Thai Curfew Times Relaxed
In a move which is intended to help tourism, the military has relaxed the curfew. The curfew now runs from from midnight to 4 a.m. (It was 10pm to 6am). Markets, shops, petrol stations and bars will now be able to stay open longer. This follows a fall in tourism numbers of 20 per cent since martial law was imposed just over a week ago. Nine per cent of Thailand‘s GDP is tourism related. There has also been a drop in consumer spending by Thais. Outside Bangkok, tourists and locals are reporting little difference to day…
What to do with left over foreign coins?
One of the annoyances of travelling international is the amount of “small change” that can accumulate. In some countries, coins are used instead of small notes so at the end of a trip, you can have a surprisingly large amount of money tied up in coinage. There is a limit as to how many of these coins one wants to collect for souvenir purposes and these coins are “virtually” worthless on return as most money changers and banks only accept notes in foreign exchange transactions. Options- Spend, Save, Give Learn the coinage of the country…
Air Canada’s Luggage Toss!
On April 17, 2014, Darren Van Slyke and Dwayne Stewart were aboard one of Air Canada‘s brand new Boeing 777s traveling from Toronto to Vancouver. , on the airline’s brand new Boeing 777. They captured baggage handlers tossing gate checked bags to the ground. It became rapidly one of the most talked about news stories in North America within a very few days. Air Canada says the two employees may be fired as “Their actions clearly contravened our standard baggage-handling procedures which require gate-checked bags to be hand-carried to the ramp…We take matters involving the protection of our customers’ personal…
No Place for a Woman
This comes from the category where one hopes the story is fictional. Alas, it checks out as true. A Westjet pilot was left this note by an unhappy passenger after a routine flight Victoria and Calgary in Canada. The note-writer apparently had questioned flight attendants about Captain Steacy’s ability as soon as she spoke over the PA system to passengers as the plane prepared for take-off. He asked them if she had enough flight hours to be flying a plane? Ironically, Proverbs 31 lauds the virtues of an ideal woman saying not only does she ensure the hime…
My 58th country: Vietnam
Crossed the border into Vietnam making this nation the 58th I have been to in my life. The crossing was made smoother, thanks to Mekong Express Limousine Bus. They are easily the best coach operator in Cambodia and I would not use anyone else. It was one of the best land crossings I have ever experienced! My goal is to visit or live in 99 countries by the age of 70! This gives me an average of two new places per year to achieve that. Related posts I visit my 57th country/
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