Journey to the Land of Flying Barges

[Skyring]

Episode 1: Planning begins with some worrying.

Kelpies at large. (Image by Steven Straiton and Wikimedia CC BY 2.0)
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The last stamp​

My passport makes for sad reading. The last time it saw any serious action — apart from a couple of Trans-Tasman trips, and you don’t even get stamps for those — was 2019 with a weekend in Mainz.

Meine letzte große Reise. (Image by author)
​

Those were the days! Qatar Airways had an international flight out of Canberra to Doha. Admittedly, it stopped at Sydney there and back. Still, it was one seat on one aircraft all the way to Doha and more importantly, the passport control and customs facilities were in Canberra, avoiding that inconvenient transit bus and the horrid scrum at dawn in Sydney when a host of flights from across the globe arrive just after curfew lifts.

Qatar B777 in CBR (image by author)​

I would have to deplane in Sydney, of course, but that meant a trip through security and an hour browsing the airside shops, perhaps having a flat white and a pie.

Sadly, the international flights out of Canberra vanished with the pandemic. There had also been a Singapore Airlines flight linking three capital cities — Singapore, Canberra, and Wellington — that had been very convenient for me.

Apart from a few Facebook updates, I made no trip reports. In fact, I had been absent from my “home” travel forum (more on that later) for over five years until returning a couple of weeks ago.

The trip had been a quick “there and back” for a weekend in Mainz for the annual BookCrossing.com convention in mid-April. This has been a staple of my life since 2005 and has sparked any number of round-the-world trips to meet up with a bunch of book-loving mates.

The problem with long-haul​

Yes, I’m getting old. I’m in the fourth year of my eighth decade and a flight to Europe or North America basically entails 24 hours of “airside” until I’m spat out onto a taxi rank somewhere in a radically different time zone on the other side of the planet.

I’m tall enough — and a side sleeper to boot — that sleep is all but impossible in an economy seat. Even if I do manage to nod off through sheer exhaustion, there are constant noises and interruptions. I was once jolted awake by the unexpected arrival in my lap of the hand of the gentleman beside me. I’m sure it was quite innocent — his wife was on his other side — but I spent the rest of the flight warily awake.

Transit and lounges​

A few hours in an airport between the legs of a long flight rarely does much to adjust my fatigue level. Worst of all is when my flight begins in the evening after a long day of packing up, dealing with trains and taxis and security goons, and then waiting around for boarding time.

A sleepless night flight and then I may have more hours in some intervening airport before the flight to Australia.

Finding a place to rest for a long layover can be difficult, especially on the fly with a strange airport to navigate. There’s a dedicated website — SleepinginAirports — that can be a great resource. Still, stretching out in a corner can be a chancy exercise, especially if you wake to find all your stuff gone or you have slumbered past boarding time.

Even in my glory days of first-class lounge access sleeping in some relaxation room could be difficult. It’s rare that an actual flat bed is provided, let alone privacy.

My accommodation in Doha (image by author)
​

The photo above shows me (via a mirrored ceiling) in some Doha pay-per-access business lounge. It was okay, with snacks and drinks and comfy chairs and free wifi, but I had several hours there and no secure area to snooze in.

I managed to curl up — I think the seat had a footrest — for an hour or so. When I awoke the strangers around me had been replaced by a fresh batch and I had just enough time for a shave and a coffee before navigating the huge airport for my Canberra-via-Sydney flight.

A non-stop long-haul trip and I arrive at my destination with my batteries drained and my phone on its last flickering charge bar. Finding my Uber or AirBnB can be a challenge!

Perhaps more importantly, if I’m travelling alone and I’m sleep-deprived, this is exactly the time when I can make expensive mistakes. Walk out into the street, looking the wrong way, and get wiped out by a bus.

Go to the wrong terminal for the right flight. Or vice versa.

So, how to get a reasonable amount of recharge on a long trip?

Transit hotels​

I’ve had good experiences with transit hotels. I’ve used the excellent Ambassador at Changi a few times now, as well as the pod Yotels at Heathrow and Gatwick.

The advantages here are obvious:

• An actual bed with a pillow and blankets
• A door you can lock
• Powerpoints and a desk for charging devices
• A bathroom
• A wake-up service

Anything extra — clothes hangers, an iron, tea/coffee facilities — is a bonus.

The cons are sometimes equally glaring:

• high prices
• hard to find in odd corners
• inconsistencies in booking

Most hotels, you check in after lunch and leave the next morning. With a transit sleep, you could be wanting a random four hours or so, often on the same day. Hotel booking sites don’t cover this; generally you have to hunt down the transit inn’s own booking site or contact them via phone or email.

And, while I’ve never had a bad experience at one of these places, standards can vary. Always worth reading the recent reviews.

Business flying​

With business class flights, fatigue and sleeplessness aren’t so much of a problem. Crank the seat down to horizontal, tuck everything away, put on the eyeshades, and grab some sleep.

I have immediate access to my carryon bag, there are charging ports available, the food and drink is good, and I arrive more or less refreshed.

Any intermediate stops have the benefit of lounge time, with a shower and good coffee.

This is not to say that sleep is guaranteed. A noisy business cabin, with lights and interruptions, can wreak havoc on a nap.

And I have to say that a good Business — or First — product can have so many bits and pieces to sample and explore that sleep becomes something to cram in between all the luxuries.

I’ve taken an Emirates First flight from Sydney to a Middle-Eastern destination with a twelve-hour layover at their fabulous First lounge in Dubai and what with the inflight shower, the Dom, the caviar, the wide screen and the attractions of the lounge, by the time I hauled myself up to the First cabin for my onward flight, all I wanted to do was endure the takeoff and ascent, drop my seat to horizontal, and shut my eyes, scorning all offers of food and drink, no matter how glorious!

Make mine a stopover​

If I had all the time in the world, I’d do what the smart travellers do. Break the flight down into daylight legs and stop over between each flight. All but the longest sectors are bearable if properly bookended by a good sleep.

The downside is that good stopover flights aren’t so easily found and booked on a single ticket, and you have to leave the airport — with all the hassles of immigration, security, public transit and converting currency — to get to your hotel.

Then again, airport hotels generally charge a premium and, much as I love airports, they are not usually located in the scenic or historic areas of town.

A nice break would be two or three nights, with a chance to explore the city and make sure I was fully refreshed before pressing on.

Now, about that home travel forum​

I booked the convention months ahead, found a nice AirBnB, and lollygagged about my flights, trying to work out what options I had that would suit my time and budget.

With only six weeks to go, I had to do something. A direct business-class flight was out of my price range and although I had well over half a million Qantas frequent flyer points, there was no apparent reward availability, at least not for my dates.

At this point I turned to the travel forum I hadn’t looked into much for five years.

This one!

Over the years this has been a mine of fabulous information for all sorts of travel to and from (and even within) Australia.

The members have amassed an unbelievable amount of travel experience. You want a city, someone has been there and knows the best pub. Someone else is an expert on the booking procedure for the shuttles around LAX. Another knows how to maximise point earnings on round-the-world trips.

Over the years, this site has saved me tens of thousands of dollars in travel.

Or, looking at it another way, cost me about the same amount.

Still, it’s been fun and I could have worse hobbies/addictions.

If ever there was a place to find out the best way of getting to and from Edinburgh without going bankrupt or sober, this was it.

Skyring

***

This article was originally posted on Medium.com (free link), where I earn a few bucks from member reads.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Love episode 1, looking forward to the next chapter @Skyring

 

[Skyring]

With two parallel publication streams, I'll divide this TR up into more frequent and bite-sized chunks here and longer and more structured instalments on Medium.com.

The BookCrossing Thing

BookCrossing.com is one of those wacko American things that has kind of taken off. Like Geocaching and Markeroni, this one involves tagging books with a tracking number and "releasing them into the wild".

Mostly these books are never heard from again but enough bounce from reader to reader to make it interesting. And the people who do this sort of thing are a little quirky, well-read, generous, and mostly female. A lot of fun.

Every April since 2004 a city somewhere around the world has hosted a convention to celebrate the anniversary of the site: St Louis, Christchurch, London, Toronto, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Gothenburg, Bordeaux…

I’ve attended most of them, not to mention various more localised “Unconventions”. Each one a tonne of fun with friends and an excuse for travel.

Mainz in Germany was the last one, in 2019, and a couple of we Aussies made a presentation pitching the delights of the 2020 world convention on the Gold Coast.

We had booked the function room at the Broadbeach Surf Club and we were going all out to entice our Northern Hemisphere friends Down Under.

And then Covid. February saw things begin to wobble and in March the borders slammed shut.

End of the dream.

We eventually held a watered-down Unconvention in April 2022 with a single international visitor — from New Zealand — and no more BookCrossing conventions on the horizon.

Finland had been slated for the 2021 con but their organising team had postponed and eventually cancelled their operation.

Scotland steps up​

In late 2022 with Covid and its various mutant strains receding as a threat to international travel, and no April gathering planned, the UK BookCrossers decided to upgrade their national Unconvention in the Northern Summer into the 2023 Convention.

Originally a low-key affair — and who can blame them in the years of uncertainty? — in a modestly-sized cafe and function centre in the town of Falkirk midway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, this was now to host a gathering that typically attracted at least a hundred visitors from around the world.

Just forty this time. All that the venue could hold without breaking fire regulations.

Still, better than nothing, I put my name down for a place before the tickets sold out.

Now, how to get from Canberra to Scotland…

 

[Skyring]

Building the base​

Usually these BookCrossing conventions are held on a weekend and a certain pattern has developed:

• Wednesday: the first arrivals land and inevitably get together for an earlybirds dinner.
• Thursday: visitors take a trip around the region. Another dinner with more arrivals.
• Friday: the thing begins with a welcome, ice-breaker activities, a buffet meal, and the unveiling of empty tables for guests to fill up with free books.
• Saturday: a full day of presentations, author talks, and panel discussions, culminating in the convention dinner.
• Sunday: the raffle is drawn, the remaining books are gathered up and “released into the wild” throughout the town, there’s a group photograph and the attendees begin to scatter on their homeward journeys. Those who are left in town generally gather up those of the organising committee still standing and treat them to dinner.

So I plan for a Wednesday arrival and a Monday departure if the city is a long way from Australia. I probably need time to recover on the way in, and I want to get a good night’s sleep before heading out again.

The key time is arrival in Falkirk. Too early, I’m spinning my wheels (though there are worse places to spin them than Scotland, I have to say!) and too late I’ll miss out on events.

Ideally, I would like to arrive just as the AirBnB owner allows checkin on Wednesday. Counting back a minimum 24 hours for travel for Canberra, I’d have to leave some time on Tuesday, given that midnight flights out of Sydney or Canberra don’t happen. More realistically, a Monday departure is likely. Any spare time could be used to look into London. I’m on a Sherlock Holmes kick and’d like to see the museum on Baker Street.

On the way back, I don’t care so much. I’m retired, I’ll be travelling alone, I’ll get back when I get back.

I like to find an AirBnB for accommodation. I find they cost about the same as a hotel room, offer more room, and most importantly a laundry and a kitchen.

I hunted around Falkirk, found a place and booked it. (And afterwards found out that I could have booked it via Qantas and earned some points. One QFF point per dollar with a 500 point initial bonus. Oh well, next time!)

At this point I should say that I did suggest to my wife that a quick jaunt to Scotland and back might be a lovely holiday from the middle of a Canberra winter — which is another reason why I booked an AirBnB in the first place — but she knows the sort of travel I do, not to mention having to share the company of a herd of BookCrossers.

Lovely people in small quantities but can get a little intense in bulk serves if you aren’t one.

 

[Skyring]

Accommodation settled, now what aboiut my travel?​

I had no idea how I was going to get there and back. Often I make the trip part of a round-the-world flight and in the old days I’d get what they call a DONE4 — a “oneWorld Explorer” in business class for a bargain fare that would generally get me up to the top Qantas tier in a couple of weeks of travel — and do some sightseeing as I tried to get the maximum mileage out of the twenty (later sixteen) flights allowed on the ticket.

I no longer drive a night cab and make buckets of money — hah! — so it’s hard to justify the expense nowadays.

Nevertheless, I contemplated the possibility.

As noted in my previous instalment, flying business class solves a few problems of long-haul travel, namely being able to sleep on the plane and have secure places to eat and shower and use the wifi between flights.

Specialist firms such as Roundabout Travel offer some pretty cheap deals beginning around $7000 but I have Lifetime Silver status with Qantas and I’m keen to push that up to Lifetime Gold with some sweet travel perks so a oneWorld carrier would be my preferred option and the cheapest is Finnair, well north of $8000 RTW.

My first solution​

Google Flights is a good starting point. I entered one passenger, return, business, Canberra to Edinburgh.

Yikes!

The Finnair RTW is way cheaper than anything Google could find and that’s more money than I want to spend on the trip.

A bit more experimenting and I knock off the legs at each end. There are almost affordable options Sydney — Heathrow return. I look at one fare involving Thai to travel to Bangkok and Oman Air via Muscat to London. It looks nice — apart from a 14-hour layover in Muscat each way — but it’s still with the wrong crowd and I’d have to get the bus from Canberra and the train from London and I’d like to do better.

The Murrays bus from Canberra is a known quantity: reliable, comfortable, efficient, and cheap. British train travel is a mixed bag and while I’ve had some good experiences, I’ve had others with them that were unsettling in one way or another. Still, both involve modal transfers and faffing about hauling bags around.

Let’s look at other options before locking Oman in.

My research indicated that Oman Air business was pretty bloody cushy, so it would be okay, just not optimum.

Enter AFF​

At this point I turned to a dependable resource. The Australian Frequent Flyer site mentioned previously. These are people with a finger on the pulse of international air travel. People who understand the importance of going the long way round to earn a few more credit points.

As an ex-cabbie, I’m okay with this.

By sheer chance, the “recent articles” kicked off with this:

Strategies for Cheap Business Class Flights to Europe
If you live in Australia, there are several strategies you can use to book cheap Business Class flights to Europe.www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I read this with keen interest.

One strategy is to avoid the “Australia tax” and fly from an Asian hub, where fares tend to be cheaper. Granted, I still had to get to that hub from Canberra but I could work that out. I could endure a daytime flight to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur or wherever if I then jumped into a business cabin with a lie-flat seat.

So. Can I find an airline flying from an Asian hub to Edinburgh (presumably not directly) offering a cheap Business fare?

 

[Skyring]

Finnair A350 (By Steve Lynes from Sandshurst, United Kingdom CC BY 2.0)

As it turned out…​

Finnair was one of the airlines mentioned, and yes, they flew into Edinburgh. I could book a return flight from Bangkok via Helsinki for less than A$4 000.

This would give me lie-flat seats for most of the trip, and earn me Qantas status credits and miles because Finnair is a oneWorld member. I wouldn’t have to worry about taking the train — or another flight — from Heathrow.

On the downside, I’d still have to get to and from Bangkok, there was a 23-hour layover in Helsinki on the trip home, and the fare was “Business Light” which didn’t include luggage, lounge access, or priority boarding.

I could pay extra for a bag, and considering that a sizeable proportion of my luggage would be books, that was a must, but the rest was icing on the cake that could be skipped. So long as I had the chance to lie down and sleep most of the way to Europe, that transformed a day or two of discomfort — if not torture — into something not just bearable but comfortable.

So I booked the trip, paying extra for luggage, and even springing for lounge access in Helsinki on the way home.

One bag of 32 kilos Bangkok to Edinburgh worked out to 2 860 Thai Baht, and the same return, and that was about $125 each way.

Lounge access in Helsinki was 1 715 Baht or about $75 but I figured that I could spend a few hours there eating up free internet, snacks and drinks before the night flight to Bangkok. While I’ve never actually been to Finland — unless one counts a few metres on the airport tarmac between bus and plane as a country visit — I have visited the Finnair lounge there and it’s a delight.

Business Light the fare might be but it still included full meal service. All in all, a pleasant flight at a bargain price, at least so far as business-class travel goes.

Finnair lounge in Helsinki (By FRED — Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Connecting the dots​

Now I just needed a way to get to and from Bangkok. I saw some initial options on Google Flights via China for as low as $550 to and from Sydney but in the end I settled on Qantas out of Canberra as a known quantity that avoided the bus trip to Sydney and would earn me points and credits that would, with a bit of luck, add up to a solid step on my return to the land of lounge access with two trips to New Zealand coming up before my membership year ran out.

Economy — of course — but I can handle domestic flights in the back of the bus and while the flights to and from Bangkok aren’t short at about ten hours each I’d have some rest at either end.

Both ways I’d have solid layovers in Bangkok, enough to give me some fudge factor if there were delays and at least a few hours in some capsule hotel.

Where I went out on a limb was on my return home. A ninety-minute transfer International to Domestic in Sydney — tight but doable — followed up by a return to Canberra via Brisbane for a few extra points.

All on the one ticket so if I missed the connection Qantas would likely just dump me on the next flight to Canberra but I found it hard to resist a few more points and credits for something like ten bucks extra over flying direct.

My very first flight out of Canberra on the raddled way to Edinburgh will be at six in the morning, an early start to be sure but when flying out of Canberra in winter, that’s the flight you want because the plane is already on the ground overnight and will be lifting off on time, regardless of fog.

The second and subsequent flights of the day have to fly in from somewhere else and if there’s fog in Canberra — as there often is in June — those planes will likely be delayed several hours, resulting in a missed connection.

I burnt one of my freebie Qantas lounge passes for my second flight Sydney to Bangkok. I’d have a couple of hours waiting in the International terminal for the day flight to Bangkok, and I might as well do it in comfort.

I also put in for upgrades on the SYD-BKK legs. I have plenty of points - they want 55 000 points each way - but as a lowly Qantas Silver trying to jump two classes I can't say I like my chances.

$1 800 for these Qantas flights, for a total flight cost of about $6 000. Not cheap, for sure, but given that if I went onto the Qantas site and booked economy flights Canberra to Edinburgh return it would cost me just under $5 000, I’m not complaining. After 30+ hours each way in cramped seats I’d be a wreck coming and going.

So, flights sorted​

It would take me two days to get to Edinburgh, and three and a half returning home. I just needed to work out accommodation to fill in three lengthy layovers, not to mention arriving in Scotland a day before my AirBnB would be ready.

Next instalment — and the last one before I take off and start reporting actual travel — is the horrific saga of finding hotels and extras for the trip.

(Read in bigger chunks on Medium here)

 

[I love to travel]

Great start looking forward to the next installment.

 

[Skyring]

Great start looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks! My record on these things isn't great. Usually I start out with copious instalments full of photographs and details and gradually run out of puff as time, energy, and internet diminishes.

 

[Skyring]

Accommodation
In an increasingly short time I’m off on my first big trip since the pandemic. A weekend away at a booklovers convention in Scotland.

My nine-flight itinerary Canberra to Edinburgh and back is reasonably complex but — apart from a tight transfer in Sydney on the way home — it should work out okay. Nothing like some of the sprawling round-the-world adventures I’ve had in the past and in fact it’s slower going than my usual headlong rush.

The convention is in the charming Scottish town of Falkirk. Well, bits of it are charming. My AirBnB doesn’t look like it’s in one of the better bits but at least it’s well-situated.

Once I booked my convention tickets I hunted down an AirBnB. Five nights in a place and I’m wanting a laundry and a kitchen. I had originally envisaged bringing my wife with me but she found remaining at home a more attractive option. Tell the truth we’re both at home together all day every day and I suspect she wants a bit of alone time.

Much as I like travelling with a companion, I’m also okay with solo travel and it gives me more time to wander around taking photographs and hanging out in bookshops and fast-food joints instead of eating healthy and looking at the museums.

All good.

Anyway, I like an AirBnB because they tend to offer more space and facilities than a hotel room for the same cost. It looks like I’m going to rattle around in this one and although I’ve put out the word for another bloke or a couple to camp in the second bedroom no takers yet.

An extra night, please?​

I’d given myself a bit of fudge factor in planning the trip, not sure what flights I’d get and how I’d make it in. At one stage I was contemplating a night in London before getting the train up but that (thankfully) fell by the wayside when I found some direct flights in and out of Edinburgh. Not that I don’t like London but I would have been lugging my bags around between Heathrow and a hotel and Kings Cross and then probably paying a fortune for some less-than-idyllic train seat.

Anyways, I’m flying into Edinburgh a day early and I contacted the AirBnB bloke, asking for an extra night on the front end.

No can do, he says, someone else is in residence.

Oh well. Worth a shot.

So I’ve now got a choice. Find a place in Falkirk that night and drag my bags a couple of blocks the next day, or find a place in Edinburgh and hustle to and from on the train.

I thought about it — pros and cons — but in the end Edinburgh won out. I could maybe skip out at dawn, grab some photographs before all the tourists woke up, and then wander around some of my old haunts from previous visits. I have a couple of specialised Sherlock Holmes books I want to pick up without spending a fortune online and/or in shipping, and there are some excellent bookshops in Edinburgh.

Falkirk, not so much.

I’ll admit, I splurged here. I spent a day or two looking over accommodation options. I could have a capsule hostel bed for a reasonable price, a hotel a fair hike from the city centre, or pay double for a place beside Waverley station. I opted for comfort and convenience but honestly, I’ve paid less for a room at the Waldorf-Astoria.

OK. Scotland sorted. What’s next?​

I’ve still got three nights to fill. There’s an overnight in Bangkok between my Qantas and Finnair flights, about fifteen hours, a shorter daylight layover on the way home of about twelve hours, and an overnight in Helsinki, a solid 23 hours.

I looked at Helsinki first. I wasn’t too keen initially to get too far from the airport but the budget accommodation options had poor reviews and the more expensive ones didn’t seem like good value.

I’d be landing at Helsinki airport mid-afternoon and leaving for Bangkok 23 hours later. Advice from the Australian Frequent Flyers group was that trains into Helsinki itself were frequent, cheap, and easy and I figured I had plenty of time to travel into the city, look around, grab a meal, get some exercise, have a solid sleep and get back for lunch in the lounge.

So I found a place not too far from the main train station.

My booking strategy here is to use one of the major hotel search engines to get a rough idea of prices, location, facilities, and availability, pick something I like and then hunt up the hotel’s own site to make the actual reservation. It’s usually the same price, give or take, the hotel gets the money directly, and if I have a loyalty card I can use that to score some points.

In Helsinki in high summer, and I’ll be there pretty much on the solstice, the sun doesn’t set at all for about a month. I might ask the hotel check-in staff to book me a wake-up call for dawn and see what happens.

I’ll have to look into what happens with my checked luggage for an overnight layover. If it stays with the airline I’ll be living out of my backpack and I need to make sure I’ve got a change of undies and socks.

If I have to collect it, that’s kind of convenient but it also means I have to haul it on and off trains.

Tying down Thailand​

Two transits in Bangkok between Qantas and Finnair. Both basically half a day, I’ll have my luggage with me, and I’ll be wanting a few hours snooze at least. A shower would be nice as well. Nothing bucks me up quite so much on the road as a good tub.

Bangkok airport. A new one for me, though I’ve spent a day in Thailand before as a stop on a cruise. Can’t say I liked Pattaya enough to want to come back. Like Surfers with added tackiness.

Great place for pirate DVDs and CDs. Maybe I can find a brick emporium to browse through boxes of stuff that aren’t Lego with a Lego pricetag. My granddaughter is heavily into the Friends line and I’ve avoided that girly sort of stuff for well, ever.

Garish girly stuff. (Image by author)
​

Nowadays all the bricks are made in robot factories in China, Lego’s patents expired decades ago, and if I want to light up my granddaughter’s life, I can do it a lot cheaper than paying the prices the Danish people charge.

Space in my bag might be tricky. We’ll see.

Advice from Australian Frequent Flyers turned up a few hotels that offered good prices, free shuttles, and 24/7 service. I picked one and booked a room.

On the way back, I fly in at dawn and leave at dusk. I opted for one of the “capsule” hotels at the airport itself. Not airside, but not so far that I’d be dependent on public transport or a shuttle. I’m mainly after a safe place to recharge my devices and myself, store my bags, have a nap before the redeye to Sydney.

I guess I make it sound easy but in reality there was a lot of work scrolling through listings, examining maps, reading reviews and judging pros and cons before making any decisions.

Next instalment, miscellany, bags, electronics, insurance.

 

[Skyring]

Stuff
Pre-pandemic I’d buy travel insurance in annual multi-trip packs as being the best value for money. I’ve never had to claim in all my years of travel except for one time when I accidentally lowered a car seat onto a camera that had slipped underneath and came out a smidge crushed.

Still, I’ve heard enough horror stories of people breaking a leg in the US and having to take out a second mortgage to pay for the medication. Stuff like that.

I have one of those credit cards that offer free travel insurance but the word from the wise is not to depend on those too fully.

The wise, of course, being the Australian Frequent Flyers group because of course they spend their time obsessing about everything to do with travel. Even travel insurance.

Picking an insurance provider is rather like choosing a hotel. A fine balance between price and coverage. And service. If you are in trouble on the road having a 24/7 hotline for assistance is a must, along with someone on the far end who knows what they are about.

I went with NIB. They cover my (mild) pre-existing medical conditions automatically and had good reports from the other experts.

I hope that it’s money down the drain, to be honest. Maybe I can get any unexpected expenses covered but I’d much prefer not having anything go wrong in the first place. Still, it’s like being a driver. No matter how good or how careful you are, there’s always the chance of some galoot of a cop mounting a chase because some yobbo gave them the ups and T-boning you as you go through on the green.

Internet​

I’m with Vodafone and they have a $5 a day international roaming charge. You pay five bucks for each day you are overseas and you can use your normal Australian settings. No more coming home to a huge bill because you checked Google Maps or something.

Not every country is included but most are. A little gotcha in that UAE isn’t included so if you are transiting through Dubai and decide to download the next episode in your favourite series to watch on the plane, it might be expensive at a buck a megabyte.

I’m covered for Thailand, Finland, and the UK, so that’s good.

I have a mobile hotspot on the plan, so I’ll be turning my phone off and relying on the Pocket Wifi that can also serve my laptop and tablet. Hotels and my AirBnB will likely have free broadband but still there will be times when I won’t have coverage and be sitting in an airport or train station or whatever. I don’t want to be using the sort of free wifi you get at these places. The cost comes at a price.

Bags​

Let’s go small to huge.

Travel wallet(Image by author)​

First up is my travel organiser. It’s a Levenger Roads Scholar. They don’t seem to make this any more which is a pity.

It’s red and it's leather so it’s hard-wearing and brightly visible so that I’m not likely to leave it behind anywhere.

This is the heart of my travel kit. It has a tonne of pockets inside and out.

Left to right we see my passport, my express passes for speeding through security and immigration gates, foreign money, and pockets for my various loyalty cards and train passes and so on, sorted by function.

Hidden underneath the notes is a pocket for a pen, currently filled by a Fisher Bullet Space Pen I bought at the Space Needle many years ago. Small, silver, pressurised, it writes in any conditions.

There’s a pocket on the outside where I stick my boarding passes and itinerary. I can rock up to a check-in counter and have everything I need at my fingertips.

Cocoon Man bag. Scotch for scale. (Image by author)​

My travel organiser lives in a Cocoon case. Originally designed for their clever Grid-it system of elastic straps, I’ve since ditched that part and just use it for my immediate carry-on needs.

One of the zip pockets holds my Roads Scholar, maybe an itinerary printout.

On the other side is another zipped pocket for my iPad.

In the middle is a big cave with an interior zipped compartment and some integrated pen loops. What goes in here varies but it’s usually foreign currency coins in the zippered bit, another pen or two, immediate medications such as an inhaler and painkillers, chewing gum so I can have a comfortable ascent and descent without my eardrums telling me all about it, a small Moleskine for making notes, sleep mask, a little wifi gizmo for hooking up my wireless headphones to the plane system and I usually chuck in USB cables and chargers and stuff.

This has a strap for carrying over the shoulder and I keep it with me at all times. It goes under the seat if I’m flying in the back of the bus; never in the overhead compartment.

It counts as my personal item and never gets weighed, so I tend to stuff it full of stuff. A bit like the bottom kitchen drawer.

Jack Wolfskin. (Image by author)​

My carry-on item is a backpack. This is basically electronics and emergency supplies. I don’t want to put my cameras, laptop, tablets or anything valuable in my checked baggage, so this is where they live.

My medication supplies and a small toiletries bag — an old red leather Qantas First amenities pouch — sundry camera batteries, wireless headphones, printouts of my booking confirmations. Spare socks and jocks.

When I get to where I’m going I can use this as a daypack. It’s not huge or heavy.

LL Bean rolling duffle. (Image by author)​

This is where anything that is books or clothes or presents or things that I can do without until I get to my hotel or home lives. More cables, power adaptors, power strip, universal converter. And an Airtag.

These big rolling duffles hold a tonne and last forever. Most importantly, when this thing comes around on the conveyor, I can spot it from the other side of the arrivals hall.

They have a sled base, two wheels at one end, an extendable handle. At a pinch I can pick it up and carry it.

I usually have one or two big Sistema plastic containers inside to hold crushable items like Tim Tams or mugs. And some packing cubes to stuff stuff in otherwise after a few days everything is one unholy tangle.

Next instalment will be once I begin my travels, I’ll aim for one report per day, or one per flight, or one perhaps. Who knows?

 

[Skyring]

Today's the day!


Yesterday was a day of packing and shopping for last minute bits.

I set a bunch of alarms and crawled into bed about ten. First flight is 0600, the airport opens at five and I want to be beating the doors down, freshly arrived in an Uber.

Sleep follows a familiar pattern. I awake before midnight to check the clock and every half hour there after until three when I can't stand it any longer, browse AFF for a while in horizontal mode and then leap joyfully up to make a cuppa. My last home made espresso and last chunk of decent computer for a bit.

My laptop was acting wonky when I powered it on yesterday. Been a while since I used it so after some struggling decided to leave it behind. Sames me a couple of kilos but it means I've got to do everything on my iPad so service could be less than optimal depending on how the various bits of software I use perform on the iPad.

Not to worry. I've got enough technology onboard to struggle along.

Last update from home; in a couple of minutes I'll power down my Mac Mini with two nice big screens, have a shower and shave, kiss the wife - I did offer that she might accompany me, but she declined with thanks; she knows my travel style - summon an Uber and hit the road.
My big worry is fog. I'm on a Dash8 and I'm not sure these things can take off from Canberra when it's misty.

OK. Let's get this show rolling!

 

[Skyring]

Quick update from the T1 lounge in Sydney. Bit of a fog delay taking off from Canberra, got away about an hour late. Usual ghastly bus ride crowded with grumpy anxious people and myself.

Now having a much needed flat white and something horribly unhealthy.

Yum.

 

[kookaburra75]

Riding aboard on your trip - thanks for putting it together. Being a fellow Ken Behren, I too have climbed out of bed early for a 6am flight 'somewhere' many a time, but at least it only takes 20 minutes to get to the airport. Safe travels.

 

[Skyring]

Now in Edinburgh in the tropics. My days of drinking a whole bottle of champagne on the flight are definitely over. As of yesterday. More on that later.

 

[Skyring]

A big trip - around the world or there and back to Europe or America - is something out of the ordinary. The familiar routines and comforts of the everyday are set aside.



My possessions are limited to what I can lug around with me. My desktop computer with two big displays and instant internet access is left behind. I’m limited to my phone and tablet and the internet can be slow, insecure, expensive, or just plain unavailable.

Right now, for instance, where I’m writing on my iPad twelve kilometres over Iraq.

I can’t get on my bike and go for a ride, down to the shops, under the trees. Sometimes just moving more than a few centimetres is a challenge.

In a thousand ways every moment is a step outside my comfort zone. My granddaughter visits every Monday and we do things together - we go for a walk, we feed the birds, we play with plastic building bricks - and while I might be worn to a nub by the time I’ve catered to a toddler’s every whim at the end of the day, it’s something I enjoy immensely.

This Monday was different. She was delivered, hunted through the house for her Dad-dad, and when he wasn’t available because he was off travelling, she demanded Peter instead. I guess if I have two different names, in her mind I have two different modes of existence.

In one way, I’m doing what I love. In another I’m being poked with a thousand pins and the world is simultaneously my oyster and my prison.

 

[Skyring]

Today I go from subzero to tropics.

For a wonder, I am packed and ready to go at my target time. Half past four in the morning. A Canberra winter morning at that. The sun is still relaxing on the other side of the world somewhere and we are in a city full of fallen leaves tinged with frost.

Mohammad appears by divine will and a press of the Uber button. His Honda is warm and cosy - too comfy for him to spring out and help me get my bags into the boot - neat and tidy, spacious and modern.

He isn’t in the mood for a chat but that’s okay. As we roll past the ongoing construction site of the War Memorial and past the Defence Academy I want him looking out for kangaroos.

We crest the hill and the airport becomes visible. Kind of.

“0h no!”

Fog.

Not the driver’s lookout. He keeps his thoughts to himself but I’m assessing the quality of the vapour. Mist rather than fog and patchy.

Although the Uber app asks which airline has the grace of my custom today, Mohammed alights me on the Virgin side and does no more than pop the boot for me.

“Five star ride!” I assure him, and keep my word when my phone beeps a few minutes later for a rating and a hopeful tip.

I checked the website beforehand. The airport doesn’t open until five AM, I’m assured, and yet there are passengers inside being checked in, ten minutes shy. My fears of waiting outside in the cold - I look at my watch; minus one - gloom are baseless.

I’m currently Qantas Silver and oneWorld Ruby and there is a welcome little red oval on the Priority checkin line for International Connections. This being Canberra, that means that there are two queues of equal length moving at the same speed.

Still, it’s a psychological boost and I undoubtedly have a more experienced agent when I’m called forward. She takes my passport, does her magic, and issues two boarding passes and a luggage receipt.

21.5 kilos for my big bag. I’m under the limit for this Dash-8 flight, another miracle for me. “Your bag will go straight through to Bangkok,” she tells me, “and your upgrade request is still in the system.”

“I’m not holding out much hope,” I reply.

And I’m not. I checked the Bangkok flight. Every Business seat has a bum in it.

“You never know,” she says reassuringly and smiles me off to the security check.

No wait at this hour. I’ve dropped all my loose gear into my backpack. Pack and pouch go into a tray and I spread my legs in the Nude-o-Scope. One of these days I’m doing to hide a jumbo Picnic bar in my undies and see what happens.

Today is not that day. I even get to keep my slipon shoes and plastic belt on.

A quick look through the airside shops. I’m hoping for some piece of craft - a mug or a scarf or something - by the fabulous Australian artist Chern’ee Sutton but nothing jumps out at me.

Indigenous art can be colourful and exciting - and a few items on sale are very good - but Chern’ee has a rare talent for layering colour, texture, form and meaning down in heartfeeling harmony.

No lounge access for me. Qantas has given me three freebie passes but I can’t see the point of using one for a half hour of comfy chairs and coffee.



Instead I find my gate and look out on my plane with interest. It’s being de-iced, something I don’t see often. A guy on the end of an extensible arm spraying stuff on the wings of a plane. That’s a job to dream about.



It would be a lot of fun on a sunny afternoon.



It’s a little hazey out but I think we’ll be off on time.

We board on schedule. Well, there’s a bit of delay on the tarmac before we board and I kind of regret not putting on my spray jacket and a giggle hat to cover my bald spot. I watch as my bright yellow bag slides up the belt to be hurled into the hold.



I’ve been assigned a window seat - beside the hulking starboard engine - and I’m into my usual routine of filling in a new page in my flight log Moleskine when the pilot makes an announcement.

Not the usual guff about expected arrival time delivered after takeoff but an observation about fog and visibility. Seems it’s thickened up, is expected to hang around, and for our comfort we’re to wait in the warmth of the terminal.

I’m perfectly comfortable right where I am - I have a row of two all to myself - but we file off into the cold, foggy dark and into the terminal again. This could be a long wait and I wonder how Qantas plans on getting me to Bangkok if I miss my connection.

Still, I have a three hour transit in Sydney. That’s probably two hours of fudge factor right there.

I watch - and listen - with some interest as an E190 taxis out and takes off for Brisbane. If that guy can go, why can’t we?

And we do. We’re loaded up again, my boarding pass refusing to beep when scanned until the crew lady points out that 52A is not a seat assignment generally found on a small propellor plane and perhaps I have another boarding pass somewhere on my person.

I do. This time we’re swiftly seated - and delayed while the guy with the deicing gun gets another jolly - pushed back and pointed skyward.



There’s even a glow in the east, turning into pink and gold as we and the sun both climb higher.



It’s an enchanting sight, to be honest, and I stick my camera out of the window as far as it will go, capturing pools of fog against the dark earth beiow and playing around with my shutter speed to freeze or blur the prop blades.





We’re served coffee and a muffin - “You’ve just saved a life,” I tell the hostie as she pours brown liquid into a paper cup - and it almost makes up for the delay that air traffic control imposes on us, as the pilot informs us through gritted teeth from the coughpit.



Some of the passengers have taken the series of unfortunate delays very poorly. One gent has an expression that is a bit like a dark and stormy weather forecast in itself but I take the view that I have no control and getting upset is like yelling at the rain. Pointless waste of emotional effort that could be better spent on enjoying the misery.

We swing out over the Pacific - or is it the Tasman here? Big bit of blue wet, anyway, dotted with ships and boats and probably whales as well heading north for their tropical winter sex romp - and I enjoy myself some more trying and failing for fine art photography through bleary perspex.

(Oops. Can only attach ten files per post. Will add a couple more later. Please excuse any typos and so on. I wrote these articles in various stages of intoxication and fatigue. On my iPad. Sometimes without internet. And posting them with a different set of tiredness and hangover and whatnot. Possibly also without internet.)

We plonk onto the third runway, taxi to a stand and I stride off for that bloody transit bus for the international terminal on the other side of the main runway.

Monday 12 June 2023
Flight 2307
QF1420 CBR - SYD
VH-QOC “Mackay” Q400
Scheduled: 0600
Boarding: 0545 - 0555 (via standing on tarmac) and 0627 (a bit nippier)
Pushback: 0640
Takeoff: 0656 to N
Landing: 0742 from S
Gate: 0747


#

I’m actually posting this from Edinburgh. It’s about two in the morning. Not sure what day it is. Will now try to upload photos.

 

[Skyring]

A couple of bonus pics to go with the above post. These are just some. I’ve got about a million that I haven’t gotten around to tinkering with and may never.

 

[craven morehead]

View attachment 333665

Today I go from subzero to tropics.

For a wonder, I am packed and ready to go at my target time. Half past four in the morning. A Canberra winter morning at that. The sun is still relaxing on the other side of the world somewhere and we are in a city full of fallen leaves tinged with frost.

Mohammad appears by divine will and a press of the Uber button. His Honda is warm and cosy - too comfy for him to spring out and help me get my bags into the boot - neat and tidy, spacious and modern.

He isn’t in the mood for a chat but that’s okay. As we roll past the ongoing construction site of the War Memorial and past the Defence Academy I want him looking out for kangaroos.

We crest the hill and the airport becomes visible. Kind of.

“0h no!”

Fog.

Not the driver’s lookout. He keeps his thoughts to himself but I’m assessing the quality of the vapour. Mist rather than fog and patchy.

Although the Uber app asks which airline has the grace of my custom today, Mohammed alights me on the Virgin side and does no more than pop the boot for me.

“Five star ride!” I assure him, and keep my word when my phone beeps a few minutes later for a rating and a hopeful tip.

I checked the website beforehand. The airport doesn’t open until five AM, I’m assured, and yet there are passengers inside being checked in, ten minutes shy. My fears of waiting outside in the cold - I look at my watch; minus one - gloom are baseless.

I’m currently Qantas Silver and oneWorld Ruby and there is a welcome little red oval on the Priority checkin line for International Connections. This being Canberra, that means that there are two queues of equal length moving at the same speed.

Still, it’s a psychological boost and I undoubtedly have a more experienced agent when I’m called forward. She takes my passport, does her magic, and issues two boarding passes and a luggage receipt.

21.5 kilos for my big bag. I’m under the limit for this Dash-8 flight, another miracle for me. “Your bag will go straight through to Bangkok,” she tells me, “and your upgrade request is still in the system.”

“I’m not holding out much hope,” I reply.

And I’m not. I checked the Bangkok flight. Every Business seat has a bum in it.

“You never know,” she says reassuringly and smiles me off to the security check.

No wait at this hour. I’ve dropped all my loose gear into my backpack. Pack and pouch go into a tray and I spread my legs in the Nude-o-Scope. One of these days I’m doing to hide a jumbo Picnic bar in my undies and see what happens.

Today is not that day. I even get to keep my slipon shoes and plastic belt on.

A quick look through the airside shops. I’m hoping for some piece of craft - a mug or a scarf or something - by the fabulous Australian artist Chern’ee Sutton but nothing jumps out at me.

Indigenous art can be colourful and exciting - and a few items on sale are very good - but Chern’ee has a rare talent for layering colour, texture, form and meaning down in heartfeeling harmony.

No lounge access for me. Qantas has given me three freebie passes but I can’t see the point of using one for a half hour of comfy chairs and coffee.

View attachment 333663

Instead I find my gate and look out on my plane with interest. It’s being de-iced, something I don’t see often. A guy on the end of an extensible arm spraying stuff on the wings of a plane. That’s a job to dream about.

View attachment 333667

It would be a lot of fun on a sunny afternoon.

View attachment 333668

It’s a little hazey out but I think we’ll be off on time.

We board on schedule. Well, there’s a bit of delay on the tarmac before we board and I kind of regret not putting on my spray jacket and a giggle hat to cover my bald spot. I watch as my bright yellow bag slides up the belt to be hurled into the hold.

View attachment 333664

I’ve been assigned a window seat - beside the hulking starboard engine - and I’m into my usual routine of filling in a new page in my flight log Moleskine when the pilot makes an announcement.

Not the usual guff about expected arrival time delivered after takeoff but an observation about fog and visibility. Seems it’s thickened up, is expected to hang around, and for our comfort we’re to wait in the warmth of the terminal.

I’m perfectly comfortable right where I am - I have a row of two all to myself - but we file off into the cold, foggy dark and into the terminal again. This could be a long wait and I wonder how Qantas plans on getting me to Bangkok if I miss my connection.

Still, I have a three hour transit in Sydney. That’s probably two hours of fudge factor right there.

I watch - and listen - with some interest as an E190 taxis out and takes off for Brisbane. If that guy can go, why can’t we?

And we do. We’re loaded up again, my boarding pass refusing to beep when scanned until the crew lady points out that 52A is not a seat assignment generally found on a small propellor plane and perhaps I have another boarding pass somewhere on my person.

I do. This time we’re swiftly seated - and delayed while the guy with the deicing gun gets another jolly - pushed back and pointed skyward.

View attachment 333669

There’s even a glow in the east, turning into pink and gold as we and the sun both climb higher.

View attachment 333670

It’s an enchanting sight, to be honest, and I stick my camera out of the window as far as it will go, capturing pools of fog against the dark earth beiow and playing around with my shutter speed to freeze or blur the prop blades.

View attachment 333671

View attachment 333672

We’re served coffee and a muffin - “You’ve just saved a life,” I tell the hostie as she pours brown liquid into a paper cup - and it almost makes up for the delay that air traffic control imposes on us, as the pilot informs us through gritted teeth from the coughpit.

View attachment 333673

Some of the passengers have taken the series of unfortunate delays very poorly. One gent has an expression that is a bit like a dark and stormy weather forecast in itself but I take the view that I have no control and getting upset is like yelling at the rain. Pointless waste of emotional effort that could be better spent on enjoying the misery.

We swing out over the Pacific - or is it the Tasman here? Big bit of blue wet, anyway, dotted with ships and boats and probably whales as well heading north for their tropical winter sex romp - and I enjoy myself some more trying and failing for fine art photography through bleary perspex.

(Oops. Can only attach ten files per post. Will add a couple more later. Please excuse any typos and so on. I wrote these articles in various stages of intoxication and fatigue. On my iPad. Sometimes without internet. And posting them with a different set of tiredness and hangover and whatnot. Possibly also without internet.)

We plonk onto the third runway, taxi to a stand and I stride off for that bloody transit bus for the international terminal on the other side of the main runway.

Monday 12 June 2023
Flight 2307
QF1420 CBR - SYD
VH-QOC “Mackay” Q400
Scheduled: 0600
Boarding: 0545 - 0555 (via standing on tarmac) and 0627 (a bit nippier)
Pushback: 0640
Takeoff: 0656 to N
Landing: 0742 from S
Gate: 0747


#

I’m actually posting this from Edinburgh. It’s about two in the morning. Not sure what day it is. Will now try to upload photos.

Following along

 

[Skyring]

Following along

Ah, don’t expect too much. I generally run out of puff after a couple of days. I may have hit this point already after yesterday's luggage saga and the milk disaster.

 

[craven morehead]

Ah, don’t expect too much. I generally run out of puff after a couple of days. I may have hit this point already after yesterday's luggage saga and the milk disaster.

Hang in there champion it's all worth it in the end.