The view from my "office"

[Finale]

From Conrad Koh Samui. I love this place more than Ritz Maldives. Already booked the next trip.

 

[Daver6]

From Conrad Koh Samui. I love this place more than Ritz Maldives. Already booked the next trip.

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TR please

 

[Sprucegoose]

From Conrad Koh Samui. I love this place more than Ritz Maldives. Already booked the next trip.

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You have me very interested in this place; thank you for sharing.

 

[Finale]

TR please

You have me very interested in this place; thank you for sharing.

I'm not very good at writing ha. There wasn't much actually as all we did was swimming and relaxing. We booked another resort and couldn't stand it so cut it short and booked Conrad last minute. We only had 3 nights which was not enough. We used hilton points 95K/n then I got a confirmed upgrade about $120/n.

It was the best resort experience for me. At Ritz Maldives, at one point it was really annnoying after a few staff tried so hard to sell resort activities. At Conrad, we felt very relaxed. Staff were so nice and wouldn't try to sell you anything.

While Conrad is a bit remote, you can still go into town for about $40 one way and buy food/booze. We stopped at Winepro and a supermarket nearby before coming here and saved a lot of $$ on drinks I recommend this to everybody. Hilton also gave 25% off food and baverage and hope that continues until our next trip.

There are many things to do around the islands and they aren't going to cost you an arm and a leg like Maldives. The only off resort activity we did was to watch Thai boxing.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I'm not very good at writing ha. There wasn't much actually as all we did was swimming and relaxing. We booked another resort and couldn't stand it so cut it short and booked Conrad last minute. We only had 3 nights which was not enough. We used hilton points 95K/n then I got a confirmed upgrade about $120/n.

It was the best resort experience for me. At Ritz Maldives, at one point it was really annnoying after a few staff tried so hard to sell resort activities. At Conrad, we felt very relaxed. Staff were so nice and wouldn't try to sell you anything.

While Conrad is a bit remote, you can still go into town for about $40 one way and buy food/booze. We stopped at Winepro and a supermarket nearby before coming here and saved a lot of $$ on drinks I recommend this to everybody. Hilton also gave 25% off food and baverage and hope that continues until our next trip.

There are many things to do around the islands and they aren't going to cost you an arm and a leg like Maldives. The only off resort activity we did was to watch Thai boxing.

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Thanks for that Finale; I think its a place that screams 'relax' .............clearly a stage left from the unkind Melbourne winters.

I have only just started climbing the Hilton status ladder (slow starter), so I might try my luck with a few deals.

I don't see any trouble getting a boat for the day.

 

[Finale]

Thanks for that Finale; I think its a place that screams 'relax' .............clearly a stage left from the unkind Melbourne winters.

I have only just started climbing the Hilton status ladder (slow starter), so I might try my luck with a few deals.

I don't see any trouble getting a boat for the day.

There is the airport on the island Pretty much just Bangkok Airways. Taxi costs about $40 from there and about 50% more if you get the resort one.

 

[VPS]

Heading back to Oz. In the gin bar in the Qantas lounge.

The people in the lounge are lovely but the check in people were not nice. Queuing to check in and abruptly told go to the kiosk and check in and get your bag tags and go to bag drop (flying in J)

 

[Flashback]

Final day in Turin (Torino), really enjoyed our time here. Would recommend it. Today was sleet/snow all day so was definitely an inside day. First up the Royal Palace Museum, really good Mrs FB and I thought and easy enough to kill half a day there. Then the Automobile Museum in the afternoon, also easy to kill half a day.

The armoury was quite impressive in the Royal Palace Museum, a lot of variety and some really interesting designs. Haven't seen anything to quite that extent before.


Chapel of the Shroud

Off to the automobile museum....



A 2CV ..... this time, not in Madagascar

Lots of Formula cars.

And finally... a bit of snow (was 14 and sunny yesterday!), isn't the new ITA Airways livery cool?

 

[Sprucegoose]

Final day in Turin (Torino), really enjoyed our time here. Would recommend it. Today was sleet/snow all day so was definitely an inside day. First up the Royal Palace Museum, really good Mrs FB and I thought and easy enough to kill half a day there. Then the Automobile Museum in the afternoon, also easy to kill half a day.

The armoury was quite impressive in the Royal Palace Museum, a lot of variety and some really interesting designs. Haven't seen anything to quite that extent before.
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Chapel of the Shroud
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Off to the automobile museum....
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A 2CV ..... this time, not in Madagascar
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Lots of Formula cars.
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And finally... a bit of snow (was 14 and sunny yesterday!), isn't the new ITA Airways livery cool?
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How does anyone tire of the offerings in ITA?

A recent visitor had doubts about the ITA lounge; what was your view?

 

[Sprucegoose]

Heading back to Oz. In the gin bar in the Qantas lounge.

The people in the lounge are lovely but the check in people were not nice. Queuing to check in and abruptly told go to the kiosk and check in and get your bag tags and go to bag drop (flying in J)


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Not good enough, QF ground team seeks to have a touch of SQ MELB?

Love the gin bar (of course!)

 

[Ade]

Sundays at Penfolds

I did a wine tasting at Penfolds at Barossa. Did you go to the same place? From memory, this was in 2021 when there were still CoVID restrictions in place, Penfolds had the wine tasting in their Barossa place but didn’t have any “experiences”.

If they are offering one now, I’d be interested to visit them …

 

[henleybeach]

I did a wine tasting at Penfolds at Barossa. Did you go to the same place? From memory, this was in 2021 when there were still CoVID restrictions in place, Penfolds had the wine tasting in their Barossa place but didn’t have any “experiences”.

If they are offering one now, I’d be interested to visit them …

This was at Magill estate.
They do their normal tours and tastings year round plus their summer series

Penfolds Magill Estate Cellar Door | Our City Winery Cellar Door

Experience the iconic Magill Estate Cellar Door, a prestigious Adelaide winery. Explore our exquisite wines and plan your cellar door visit today.

www.penfolds.com

 

[Flashback]

How does anyone tire of the offerings in ITA?

A recent visitor had doubts about the ITA lounge; what was your view?

Generic lounge at TRN, open to Priority Pass card holders too. Was reasonable for a continental Europe lounge; not the worst we've been too but not the best. Plenty of seating and comfortable though, so that's the main thing.

 

[Muppet501st]

Lovely office view in Toowoomba

 

[jxv]

This was at Magill estate.
They do their normal tours and tastings year round plus their summer series

Penfolds Magill Estate Cellar Door | Our City Winery Cellar Door

Experience the iconic Magill Estate Cellar Door, a prestigious Adelaide winery. Explore our exquisite wines and plan your cellar door visit today.

www.penfolds.com

We did the "Iconic Experience" at Magill. I had looked at it before but thought it a bit expensive. As part of a Ghan package the expense didn't really matter. The tour was very interesting, not only the winery, but also the original house and the story of how Dr. Penfold started the business. The tasting was of the latest release of six of their flagship wines, including Grange. This was followed by a great three course lunch accompanied by three more top class wines, each introduced by the sommelier. We arrived at 10:30 and left after 3 pm, very happy!

A while ago I cleaned up my desk and found the wine list from that day. I put it away in a safe place and can't find it right now!

 

[Ade]

Not a good start-of-the-trip view. Seems something wrong with the engine … delayed by 35 mins so far.



Bunch of VA staff around the engine, trying to figure out what’s wrong - one can imagine.



Finally boarding was announced at 1900. Welcomed back to the flight and settled in 1A

 

[Ade]

VA249 - MEL-ADL. 1C

Effective PB. First call to those need assistance, it was weird only one person came forward (there were at least 3 persons with wheelchairs). There was this air of expectation that those requiring assistance would come to board, but that didn’t happen … Anyways, after a brief 2/3 minutes, the agent called for J, VA WP/SG, YX to board.

Welcomed by the agent that scans the BP at the gate, followed by another warm welcome by the agent at the door of the aircraft.

Kate, the J FA was in this flight. She was in my CBR-MEL flight as well.

Saw a couple of folks carrying the pride flag on this flight.

You might also notice the watch face on the pax in my pic below has the pride thing

 

[Sprucegoose]

Seems something wrong with the engine

Best to have those discussions on the ground rather than in the air!

 

[Ade]

Best to have those discussions on the ground rather than in the air!

It was later clarified by the captain who came on the PA and announced that there was a suspected bird hit on arrival into CBR and it is mandatory to do a full inspection of the engine before next departure …

 

[Sprucegoose]

It was later clarified by the captain who came on the PA and announced that there was a suspected bird hit on arrival into CBR and it is mandatory to do a full inspection of the engine before next departure …

I am surprised the RSPCA was not involved, given everything has rights these days.