Vote now for the 2024 AFF 'Trip Report of the Year'

[AFF Editor]

Cast your vote now!​

In June, we introduced a new "Trip Report of the Month" award on AFF. Each month, the AFF editorial team chooses their favourite AFF member trip report from the previous month, with the winner receiving a special banner on their profile (which also links to their winning trip report) for that month.

We're doing this to recognise and show our appreciation to AFF members who've put a lot of time and effort into writing sensational trip reports that have informed and entertained us all.

As promised, we're now opening up voting for AFF "Trip Report of the Year". Each of this year's "Trip Report of the Month" winners are finalists.

We invite all AFF members to vote for their favourite Trip Report from this year by Monday, 16 December 2024. The author of the trip report that gets the most votes will win a complimentary AFF Platinum membership for a year, valued at $195.

To cast your vote, simply select your favourite Trip Report on the poll in this thread. Each member may vote once only.

See the post below for a full list of finalists. ​

 

[AFF Editor]

The 2024 candidates for 'Trip Report of the Year'​

Here's an overview of this year's finalists:

​

"On the road again" by @Justinf​

Thread 'On the road again'

May 26, 2024

Bit of a different trip report this time.
probably quite boring to be precise.
short story is my daughter and her fiancée weren’t getting anywhere financially so they decided to move to Weipa so that he could work in the mines.
daughter already had a job lined up at the local primary school teaching and he now has guaranteed work in the mines.
being a cool dad I decided to help drive her car to cairns where their friends, who already live and work up there, could help drive it from cairns to Weipa.
we left Barwon Heads today and the first night was to be Narrandera, about a six-hour drive...

• Justinf
• Replies: 114
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

"Return to the Japan Alps May 2024" by @rbjhan​

Thread 'Return to the Japan Alps May 2024'

Apr 30, 2024

I may or may not have mentioned before, but the Japan Alps 日本アルプス is one of my favourite regions in the country, especially the Northern Alps.
Okay Kyoto will always be the No.1 in my heart but damn the crowds can get to you...and ofc there's something about Tokyo that is nothing like the others...but I do keep going back to the Alps, in fact this will be my 4th time.

Itinerary is quite simple:
MEL-TPE-NRT
Chiba - Matsumoto -Hirayu onsen - Kamikochi - Yudanaka onsen - Nagano - Karuizawa - Kusatsu onsen- Tokyo
HND-SIN-MEL

Outbound flights are CI, QFF redemption. Inbound flights are SQ...

• rbjhan
• Replies: 171
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 
• 

"East Africa, Victoria Falls and Madagascar" by @Fruitloop50​

F

Thread 'East Africa, Victoria Falls and Madagascar'

Jul 2, 2024

I've been reading this forum for several years and have obtained a lot of good information from the generous people that post here. I especially like reading trip reports so thought I would give something back by contributing one of our own.

We have just returned from a month in Africa. Eight months ago I read some trip reports on AFF about gorilla trekking. We didn't even know that was something available to tourists, and it sounded fantastic, so we decided to give it a go.

Mr F is an avid reader of Wilbur Smith novels and said that he would like to visit the Masai Mara and the...

• Fruitloop50
• Replies: 121
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

"Of black maned lions and rampaging hippos" by @bPeteb​

Thread 'Of black maned lions and rampaging hippos'

Jul 30, 2024

Here we are, sat in the J lounge in Brisbane, wondering just when our flight to Sydney will eventually depart. And they wondered why we weren't comfortable with a two hour early morning connection!



Finally off to southern Africa in the morning. I'm not sure if I'll try to keep this up to date along the way, or just when we get home. You'll all know at the same time as I do.

Tonight down to SYD where we're staying at the Novotel across the road from the international terminal.

Tomorrow off to JNB on QF63. One night at the airport at the City Lodge then Airlink to...

• bPeteb
• Replies: 263
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 
• 

"Mainly Namibia" by @RooFlyer​

Thread 'Mainly Namibia'

Aug 8, 2024

I can't recall the genesis of this trip. About a year ago I think I was looking at the map for somewhere I hadn't been before, and where I could see interesting things. Namibia had always be of interest, and I noticed Intrepid had a 'Premium Namibia' 10 day tour. I'm more and more attracted to tours these days, especially in non-first world countries. I was happy enough driving around Chile last December and Japan a few months ago, but I decided I'd see a lot more on a small group tour here, being driven around with everything organised.

So that was the first plank...

• RooFlyer
• Replies: 232
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 
• 

"RTW in F/J - Hand Carry Only - Iceland, Finland, Washington and a few other places" by @PrezRegan​

P

Thread 'RTW in F/J - Hand Carry Only - Iceland, Finland, Washington and a few other places'

Sep 25, 2024

Today I embark on a First Class Oneworld Award that has been in planning for a few months. The purpose of this trip was to fly as much as possible in F and J, and to go to Iceland (because why not) and to Washington (to visit a mate). I have managed to get the following itinerary:

View attachment 408386

Not included in there is a train transfer from Paris to London, and also a final flight from Singapore to Darwin on Singapore airlines in J booked using 38,000 VA points + taxes.

Graphically this looks like



It's a bit all over the place, but again this was somewhat necessary to...

• PrezRegan
• round the world
• Replies: 132
• Forum: Trip Reports

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• 
• 

Guided by the Stars (Alliance) by @Scarlett​

Thread 'Guided by the Stars (Alliance)'

Sep 25, 2024

I'm not a capture-photos-whilst-travelling kind of person, so not sure whether this will become a 'proper' trip report or not.

With that disclaimer out of the way, the family Scarlett is travelling over to Europe for the school holidays and because I'm not a normal person, we're taking a slightly convoluted routing. I have applied the AFF adage of why fly direct when you can connect and maybe stretched it a little.

GCMAP shows my flights as:


This is an 18-leg journey (return) to get to and from our destinations: the Portuguese Atlantic islands of the Azores (PDL) and then...

• Scarlett
• Replies: 72
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

 

[VPS]

Ooh - tough decision

 

[AFF Editor]

Ooh - tough decision

For sure! There are some very high quality contenders in the mix

 

[Captain Halliday]

I’m yet to vote.

If any of the nominees need to bump up their numbers, I’m open to offers.

 

[Notyourbag]

Any chance we can also add ddrons "

The Dark side of Japan Tourism"​

 

[AFF Editor]

Any chance we can also add ddrons "

The Dark side of Japan Tourism"​

This was indeed a very interesting and, unfortunately, harrowing read. If anyone hasn't read it yet, you can find drron's thread here: The Dark side of Japan Tourism.

The editorial and moderation teams did discuss this, but we ultimately felt this wasn't a "traditional" trip report and therefore isn't one of the threads in the running for this particular prize.

 

[Human]

I’m preparing to post my first Trip Report and I’ve learned a lot from these great TRs … and they’ve also helped me to think about what I’d do differently!

 

[bussyboy]

I've a lot of reading to do this weekend so I can cast a vote. Will read in random order.

 

[AFF Editor]

Thanks to everyone who voted. Voting has now closed and the winner is @RooFlyer for this trip report:

Thread 'Mainly Namibia'

Aug 8, 2024

I can't recall the genesis of this trip. About a year ago I think I was looking at the map for somewhere I hadn't been before, and where I could see interesting things. Namibia had always be of interest, and I noticed Intrepid had a 'Premium Namibia' 10 day tour. I'm more and more attracted to tours these days, especially in non-first world countries. I was happy enough driving around Chile last December and Japan a few months ago, but I decided I'd see a lot more on a small group tour here, being driven around with everything organised.

So that was the first plank...

• RooFlyer
• Replies: 232
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 
• 

Congratulations and we'll be in touch with RooFlyer to award the 1-year AFF Platinum membership!

 

[MooTime]

Congrats @RooFlyer

Ripper report.
Thoroughly enjoyed following it.
Opened my eyes to that part of the world.

Super effort.

 

[VPS]

Well done @RooFlyer - well deserved

 

[RooFlyer]

Well thank you. I voted for

"Of black maned lions and rampaging hippos" by @bPeteb​

The first image alone showed that it would be a fun time.. And just on the basis of it, and having just visited STH Africa etc I got my TA to price a similar tour ( but couldn’t make it work )

 

[bPeteb]

Well thank you. I voted for

"Of black maned lions and rampaging hippos" by @bPeteb​

The first image alone showed that it would be a fun time.. And just on the basis of it, and having just visited STH Africa etc I got my TA to price a similar tour ( but couldn’t make it work )

thanks M!

 

[Flyfrequently]

Congratulations @RooFlyer and well done to the other contenders - always great reading TR's and enjoy the armchair travelling.