2013 - A bass_ke travel odyssey

[bass_ke]

The next 4 nights in CNS gave us a great oppurtunity to explore the city and a little further out, including the coffee plantations in Mareeba.





The food is always a highlight for me in cairns and I can assure you kind folk that I ate myself silly on a number of Occasions during the stay! I don't have a great deal more to report back on as a good deal of time was spent doing family things and also celebrating my Daughters 2nd birthday which brings me to the next par of the TR, her first flight in her own seat and 41st sector which would nicely close off her first logbook.

15MAR2014
Virgin Australia
VA778
CNS -HID
VH-YIF B738
Seat 4D



This would be our first time in the new VA lounge at CNS.





As I've started noticing at OOL Lately when its quiet, Coffee was ordered at and delivered to our tables. The staff even prepared a babycino and collected some paper and crayons for Ms Bass_ke. I seem to have something with the letter C as Cairns joined Coolangatta and Canberra as my favorites in the VA network.

The flight was just another B738 flight apart from the fact we now had the entire row to ourselves and that my little one got to ride in her own seat the entire way, and earn me some SC's and points

 

[bass_ke]

Friends, The trip Hath begun.

After visiting Currumbin wildlife sanctuary yesterday and saying final goodbyes to my 2.5 yr olds favorite Kangaroo we felt charged and ready to go.

An early wake up call saw us rolling into OOL about 0700. I was feeling a little excited as this was my first time on NZ and I've heard great great things about them.

Check went well with easy access to the premium queue and no fuss. the first security gauntlet at OOL became a little interesting this time. With the ongoing debate as to whether wearing Status tags on baggage you may check sometimes but carry on sometimes is a bit DYKWIA it seemed fitting that I get challenged at OOL about accessing the priority screening lane today. With armfuls of 2.5 yr old, a fair bit of camera kit, a 17 inch laptop and all the goodies that come with family travel the SG Card attached to my bigger bag saved me from having to dig out my VFF card or explain that the small VA-G on my NZ boarding pass really means that I can access that lane.

As always the OOL lounge was a delight, Banana bread on offer this morning was pretty good. It was interesting watching the works going on upon the edge of the apron at OOL, great to see some action out there finally.



With the arrival of our beasty NZ A320 it was time to head on down and deal with the rest of the formalities.



23OCT2014
Air New Zealand
NZ938
OOL - AKL
ZK-OJN A320
Seat 4C

We were greeted by a very cheerful CSM, Amanda and after dropping my little ones logbook off with her we made our ways down to Row 4. I'm impressed I was able to access Row 4 without paying extra, at 6 foot I didn't feel squashed at all.



We weren't expecting a meal on this sector but had specified VGML for the upcoming AKL - LAX - AKL sectors. We were pleasantly surprised when 3 vegie meals turned up, chalk up another for Air NZ. I did this sector with VA about 10 months ago and I don't think I would again considering I can earn the SC's with NZ. The service was a lot more cheerful, IFE a lot nicer, Legroom appreciated and the ability to nominate meal preferences (Something I can't even do on a Transcon J flight with VA!) Brilliant. Add to all that the fact that VA SG and above can access the PE seats on the 777 out of BNE, SYD and MEL and you're onto a winning combination.

Landing at AKL was easy. The time differences during daylight savings are always awful in this direction, it was 1600 by the time we cleared customs and we then had a wait for the shuttle to the Holiday Inn.

We are staying at only IHG properties on this trip apart from our 8 or so nights in the RV, I'm hoping they all go like this one. We booked a base level room with a priority privilege certificate and were both given a double upgrade to a King Spa room and not asked for our cert, not that PP certs are much good these days anyway. As tired as this hotel look's on the outside it's actually reasonable on the inside. A short stroll up the road for some supplies was about all we achieved for the day.

The night has been spent prepping onward eastbound adventure and getting into the swing of things in the grand gym here.



Apologies for the lack of decent photographs, I somehow managed to forget I was carrying and SLR and 3 lenses on my back today. I did however go stupid with the GoPro, more to come.....