Re: 2015 in review
I was supposed to be cutting down from 50 or so flights the previous year
Total flights - ~105 sectors, no idea about miles.
New airlines - Aircalin, Air Caledonie, Rex regional!, Vietnam airlines, 3K, LAN
New airports -
Vietnam: HCM, HAN, DAD
New Caledonia: La Tontouta (international), and Magenta (Noumea domestic), Ouvea, and Isle of Pines.
Australia: ADL, CNS, MKY, ALH, KGI, BME, DRB (tourist flight to Horizontal falls), KGC, CBR
Highlights - Made NZ Elite and requalified. The benefits have allowed me to take family away for free or make them comfortable. Also organizing my partner to meet me in SYD for a weekend and it being seamless rather than a hassle ie paving the way for him to come to Oz more I hope.
QF Platinum challenge - looks like I'll requalify which I didn't expect. I very much like the OLCI on phone for QF domestic then place phone at machine to read, put bag with tags on belt and you're done!!! It's slightly easier than Air NZ's kiosk and bag drop. (Although they've brought out a new machine for international which I'm looking forward to trying). The F lounges are nice but I really have a massive soft spot for the new PER dom J lounge (especially since they've added a NZ sav blanc!). The Qantas Cash card is nice and easy to use with very little in the way of fees and saves me getting hammered by the NZ cc.
Lows - being told off by significant other for being away from home too much (but I felt that one coming).
- A nonenglish speaking person seating themselves in my seat on Air NZ economy! Gggrrrrr!!! My worst flight of the year sitting in a seat I hadn't sat in for years it seems, turbulent, and the day just got worse (for other reasons) really.
- The QF website has made me tear my hair out on multiple occasions and I dread booking anything more than a single sector flight.
- Small things on VA which make me think twice about flying them frequently but I'm going to persist for a bit longer and see how it feels.
Planes/cabins: Tried EK F once on sale fare and once as an op-up. Although its nice I'm not sure I see myself paying for it again unless I need a few extra status credits, otherwise I'll stick to J and Y. Not my first time on the A380 but it's still an impressive plane.
- EK J - this is probably the sweet spot for my QF flying but I'll only do it if flying on to WA the next day. Otherwise it's Y.
- LAN J. Had one of the best sleeps ever on their dreamliner - very smooth. Being asleep I can't really comment on much else. Didn't eat either.
- SQ J Bit of work on the phone to get book the cook to work as the website didn't seem to even if signed up but its a great idea. The NZ lamb chops were a winner! cough sleep. I'm not sure why. I think the new 777 Business seats look more like me.
- QF A330 dom J suites are pretty cool, found a new cool seat in 7K and I'm surprised I like being open to the aisle but it has extra storage for my cough I carry around. I assume 7A is similar. Previous favourites were windows row 2A and 4A. Not a fan of the sash belt though. Will try out VA's dom J product next week.
- QF A330 Y and VA A330 Y. Better than the 738's. Did try QF's refurbed 738 - looks nicer but, same seat really.
- QF J TT on 738. Not really my preferred TT plane although I've booked in Y later in year due to sale.
- Rex regional was a very nice surprise. Honestly those seats beat the pants off any down under economy! Very spacious! I don't enjoy small planes but well ... sometimes you just gotta go.
- Air NZ dreamliner economy. I had the whole row free with light loadings but I can sort of see where the nickname squeezeliner comes from. I think the 777 economy feels better. Nonetheless it's still my favourite plane for PE and J. Trying out LAN's dreamliner economy mid year.
- 3K's A320 exit row - really comfy!! I was expecting something significantly worse - the plane didn't even look like it had finished being painted but... shouldn't judge a book by it's cover! Great flight, best smoothest landing I've had in a very long time. Probably my favourite flight of the year for its surprising comfort and smoothness on a gorgeous day with mostly cloudless skies. The only negative was being at the airport so bleary eyed and early.... and in a massive queue!
- Aircalins A320 in Y - light loading so was nice having middle seat free. The one time I want to watch IFE and it wasn't there.
- Air Caledonie ATR not sure which. Boarding was first come first served. Never had that before. Was interesting but fast! Approaches into Noumea felt sometimes like nose dives - yikes!! Me looking out the window going "turn before the mountains, turn before the mountains, yeap make the turn!" Head case I know...I didn't verbalise it I just thought it. Magenta is surprisingly efficient also. I usually think "island time" when I go to islands but yeah pretty great actually. Make sure you check your flights before you fly, ours had been changed but not communicated to us whatsoever. We only found out by talking to the hotel receptionist who was printing out someone else's ticket and asking us where we were off to next. So we debated whether to go early the next day - very lucky!! Our plans would have been a bit stuffed if we had shown up at the regular flight time. Small travel tip - if you're flying to the islands in the morning, buy a baguette, sandwich etc from the cafeteria in the airport so you've got lunch in your bag already. Saves a few $ and you don't have to figure out where to go or what to get on the other side as places aren't always easy to find and it's an expensive place!
- VN was a little ATR. All pretty much the same as other airlines really.
Destination highlights - Hang En Cave - nothing short of AMAZING! The worlds largest Son Doong is 'just a few km up from here'. Got sucked on by a leech also... eeegghh!! Apparently they're disease free - whew! I guess like many other countries Vietnam has a war torn past. My one gripe was that it was quite difficult getting a good grip on what actually happened and how it came to be by going to the museums. Much of it was "look at what the Americans did to us". I had to google wikipedia to get some information!! And although a horrific past with the US it seems some of the younger generation are keen to get to the US. I get the impression the country is healing with time. Very hard working people. Pretty unbeatable hospitality! Very thoughtful and they just go that extra mile. Ho Chi Minh seems like he was a great guy with solid values unlike some leaders today. I was excited to go to the Mausoleum, but then as we got closer in the line I was like "I actually feel like I'm in a funeral procession - who does that on their holiday?!" Felt a bit weird. But it was great to learn about such a cool guy. Much respect.
Surprisingly Esperances beaches in WA and Ouvea in New Caledonia hold special places in my heart now. I plan on doing a sneaky flight back down to Esperance when next in Perth. I just can't get enough of the purity of the beaches and how unspoiled they are. Especially Ouvea. I've been to Noosa before but visited this year during easter. Bad idea!! Chocka! I couldn't stop thinking - give me remote. Give me beauty. And this is Ouvea. Possibly too remote for some but I find it perfect. (Might possibly drive you insane if you stayed for too long as boredom would set in). One has to be plain crazy if you go to New Caledonia and only see Noumea - this is not the gem of NC. That title belongs to the outer islands IMO. NB New Caledonia is windy!! I think some 200 odd days of the year. Basically means you can only go kayaking in one direction
Perfect if you're a kite surfer though - which we're not. Disappointingly we didn't get out to check out their outer reef.
Horizontal falls and Broome were pretty cool along with the great barrier reef (saw Wally the Maori Wrasse! and sighted a number of turtles - great day
. Really happy I did these areas during winter (which doesn't really feel like winter to a kiwi girl). Would definitely like to revisit these areas. KI Koala bears were a highlight also. They're pretty noisy at night!
New places I drove to or took boats to include Esperance, Busselton, Dunsborough (got to see whales just further along the coast!), Augusta, Port Douglas, Daintree, Airlie Beach, Daydream island, Hamilton Island - went to the firing range and fired my first guns! I was shaking!!! And visit to Whitehaven Beach. To be honest I had awful weather with my second scariest boat ride ever across the whitsunday passage on a smaller catamaran with 35 knot winds. Dreamworld tigers are cool, my partner learned how bad my motion sickness is! I should really try some tablets and try again. He had fun though! White water world was also fun - mid week so no lines yay! Would like to tick off a couple of the other gold coast theme parks.
2015 was a naughty year for travel. I will cut it back this year but there's still a few new countries on the list. There's definitely still room for doing things smarter. I've decided my partner and I will sign up for maybe 1 credit card each per year.
Flying bucket list: The elusive EY apartments.
