The totally off-topic thread

[Bundy Bear]

Currently in the Hilton Prague Executive lounge, having a drink with a few flyertalkers, you might know 4 of them.

Pompeii was good but it requires a bit of walking over cobble stones. Not the sort of visit you want to do when you do a world trip during retirement, something for all the old people to keep in mind.

Flew Lufthansa Italia today flights number 11 and 12 which offered decent service, a sandwich, a soft drink and tea or coffee is available.

No IFE, but the magazine had some good articles, including one about the Lufthansa flight training school in Phoenix.

Interesting waiting for my Air Berlin flight all flights on Wednesday the concourse announcements in both German then English, the final sign off was Goodbye or bye bye which was a rather strange sign off line, something like Safe travels would have been a better ending phrase. Maybe there is a better sign off line in the German language that doesn't correctly translate to English.

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[samh004]

YouTube - ‪Kerry Decker TV Show: 2nd Space Shuttle Launch (1981)‬‏

Cool video!

Pompeii was good but it requires a bit of walking over cobble stones. Not the sort of visit you want to do when you do a world trip during retirement, something for all the old people to keep in mind.

I beg your pardon, I'm not that old!

 

[drmikki]

the final sign off was Goodbye or bye bye which was a rather strange sign off line

Could be worse, mate - could be "So long, suckers!"

 

[drron]

Friday the tenth had a lot of firsts.On AA167 JFK-NRT.Captain Ron came on as we got toi the runway saying we were tenth in line for takeoff and it would be in ~ 18 minutes.We had got to ~ 3 in line when he again comes on and says the runway has been closed temporarily as turles are crossing it.Don't believe they were of the Ninja mutant variety.
Then arriving in NRT-walked into the Immigration Hall and there was not one other pax there.Similarly for the baggage hall.
Even more amazing was the belt started less than 5 minutes later and our bags were leading the parade!:shock:

 

[Bundy Bear]

And another FT Do comes to an end, this one was held in Prague. Good to catch up with Serfty, Serfty + 1 and anat0l. I am off to Hamburg via Frankfurt and Paris CDG in the morning.



I had to laugh at one of the menu options. I have never seen it before.

Might not have Internet for a few days, how will I cope.

Seems like AFF has been a bit flaky this far from home.

Sam, I didn't have you in mind when I wrote my last post but thanks for your reply.




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[Flashback]

Seems like AFF has been a bit flaky this far from home.

I had a lot of issues using multiple providers in Portugal too. Back in London now though, and it's working much better.

I see there's a new WYSIWYG editor for posts now.

 

[Mal]

I see there's a new WYSIWYG editor for posts now.

And auto-save for those times when you write up a huge post and it crashes (for whatever reason)

 

[samh004]

And auto-save for those times when you write up a huge post and it crashes (for whatever reason)

The question is, will it also save everything I wrote when the site goes down, not my browser crashing

 

[Nigelinoz]

Reports that Christchurch has had two earthquakes this morning,one 5.2 about 11:00AM our time and another at least 6.0 in the last
few minutes,reports of at least one building collapsed.
Poor Christchurch,they had had a horror time of it recently,hope any AFF'ers with family or friends there are ok.
Cheers
N'oz

nz_quake NZ Earthquake Bot



QUAKE: Mag 6.0, Mon, June 13 2011 at 2:20 pm (NZST), 10 km south-east of Christchurch. Depth: 9 km http://tinyurl.com/4yw5wc8 #eqnz

 

[MissBurrill]

Why did I decide to knit a cardigan with double moss stitch and cables? It's finished with crochet trim.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Found free wifi and found another airport lounge, A few snacks, a coffee machine and most importantly free wifi. Today I am flying 3 segments. PRG-FRA-CDG-HAM on 2 separate tickets, the first 2 in business on a BMI redemption, the final sector in economy on a mileage run for Lufthansa status match, I am spending 2 nights in Hamburg, I had considered Berlin but it is a location that would need more than 48 hours to visit properly, and TXL airport is not connected to the subway.

 

[anat0l]

So much for the Czech Transport Union strike scheduled for today - the courts won and the union has pushed back the intended strikes until Thursday.

Not that it matters; Plan B had been invoked and I proceeded out of PRG via the EuroNight train leaving 1831h local time yesterday (Sun 12/06). I had a rather restless night train ride from Prague to Heidelberg, mainly due to a full 6 bunks in our sleeper cabin and two very loud snorers in it. (One of them even had the nerve to take the wrong bunk, fold up the centre bunk when it was needed later and take an extra pillow!)

Our train was 70 minutes late and I missed my original connection from Heidelberg to Frankfurt am Main, but I just caught the next train and that was OK. Unfortunately, once at Frankfurt am Main Hbf, the DB staff wouldn't let me catch an earlier train to Aachen (or Cologne) without paying an exorbitance.

So I am in Frankfurt city in a Starbucks sucking up free wifi (in lots of 2 hours at a time) until I have to catch my original train at 1517h. Apart from being in need of a shower, a little rest and a shave, I'm doing alright.

 

[Mal]

Tried Mosburger in Brisbane yesterday with a couple of friends. Good stuff! I thought it would lose a lot in the import (and Australian-ise) phase, but they seem to have done a good job.

Now to see if they can make money in Australia (they expect to have 4 stores in Brisbane by end of year). Overseas fast food type places don't tend to have a good track record!!

 

[Bundy Bear]

I am now in CDG terminal 1 after 2 really nice flights on Lufthansa European business class. Probably a very good use of BMI points compared to the cost of one way flights out of Prague.

Who would have thought that CDG would have 15 minutes of free wifi.

I should go and collect my bag and go and check in for my next flight on Eurowings to Hamburg in economy.

A long walk to baggage collection and a good 10 minute wait for bags.




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[notzac]

Can someone tell me if this is a genuine article or a halfway decent 'shop job..?

DC10 02 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I didn't think that any airline in Australia had the DC-10..

 

[docjames]

Can someone tell me if this is a genuine article or a halfway decent 'shop job..?

DC10 02 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I didn't think that any airline in Australia had the DC-10..

Shop. Or possibly "artists rendering" when the manufacurer was showcasing the model.

 

[serfty]

One of a series of issues of this weekend; as you know Qantas suspended flights to/from MEL last night due to the Chilean Volcano eruption. We're on QF10 this (and last) evening. Saturdays QF10 was diverted to SYD.

They have resumed (and the QF10 finally arrived in MEL) but QF flights to/from Tasmania/New Zealand are still suspended.

This may still change, so we have booked a refundable train fare from Albury (ABX) to Melbourne. If we end up in SYD with flights to MEL again suspended, we'll get Qantas to fly us to ABX to catch the train. (Trains/Buses from Sydney left too early or too late or were non-refundable)

BoM-Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre

Volcanic Ash Graphics 5

Glad we-re not going to ADL.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Currently in Hamburg flew in from Paris then caught the train to the hotel, only problem was that the train wasn't running on the station closest to the hotel, I guess Germay was trying to get back at me for not choosing Berlin as it is a bus to the train with no direct train to TXL Berlin.

Today went and visited Miniature Wunderland, basically a big train set with a few different themed areas. One was Hamburg other parts of Germany, Austria, Scandinavia and the US, the US one was good as it had a Las Vegas, Key West, grand canyon, Cape Canaveral complete with trains and cars running everywhere.

I guess I am not likely to see a real shuttle launch and will have to rely on the YouTube link further up but I thought the one I saw today was interesting.



Another was an airport scene with planes, very well done, the reason I went there really.

 

[JohnK]

One of a series of issues of this weekend; as you know Qantas suspended flights to/from MEL last night due to the Chilean Volcano eruption. We're on QF10 this (and last) evening. Saturdays QF10 was diverted to SYD.

They have resumed (and the QF10 finally arrived in MEL) but QF flights to/from Tasmania/New Zealand are still suspended.

I am on QF010 tomorrow and only just realised that Australia has been having issues with volcanic ash. I hope I do not get stuck in Melbourne on Friday....

 

[samh004]

Another was an airport scene with planes, very well done, the reason I went there really.

View attachment 2529

Very cool. Having only seen YouTube videos I hope it lived up to it's expectations.