22 October 2012
19 October 2012
Off for the long weekend
With an evening departure I managed to fit in a whole day’s work and a shower at home before leaving for the airport, picking up Mark on the way. He lives only a few metres off the road to the airport. We are bound for Apia, Samoa to escape the miserable Auckland weather. Today I’m […]
27 August 2012
Early start
While the flight to Tongatapu wasn’t super-early, we still had to wake up before 0500. I had tried flying out on a day with an afternoon flight but those don’t connect on to Vava’u very well. Further, going on those days would require a stay in Tonga on a Sunday – which is an unproductive […]
24 August 2012
Summing up, financially
I arrived back into Auckland today after 12 weeks away. The 12 week journey cost me a total of NZD7400 made up as follows: Accommodation and Expenses: NZD5500. Airfares (17 flights): NZD1900. Accommodation costs reflects 13 nights spent in free accommodation (friend’s place and own holiday home). Expenses include four dives, 2 in Seychelles and another […]
23 August 2012
The end is nigh
It was an early (but not obscene) start in Kuching to catch the Malaysia Airlines direct flight from Kuching to Hong Kong (via Kota Kinabalu). FYI, direct means same plane (in airline lingo); it doesn’t mean non-stop. It was 1h30 plus 2h55 with a fairly long turnaround at Kota Kinabalu of 1h05 (unlike AirAsia’s 25 […]
19 July 2012
Time with friends
I arrived in Singapore, via Dubai and Colombo, somewhat shattered for a stay with friends. They have a lovely apartment in a flash complex in Bukit Timah.
31 May 2012
Tonight my plans turn into reality
Dreams to plans to reality The seed of this complex trip was the need to use up my Emirates’ frequent flyer points which were expiring (again). I had enough to take me from East Asia to the weirdest and most wonderful dream destinations in West Asia and Africa, like Sudan, Pakistan or Seychelles. After plenty […]
8 November 2011
Home but not quite
Our AirAsia X flight landed in Christchurch around 1500. We were home in New Zealand but not quiet home home. We had another flight departing at 1730 before we would be truly home in Auckland at 1850 . We had booked ourselves firm tickets for the domestic flight rather than standby. Of course, the downside […]
7 November 2011
Homeward bound
We left Kuching at 1615 for Kuala Lumpur. Arriving at 1755 we had a very safe “self-connect” waiting time till our ridiculously cheap non-stop flight to Christchurch at 2340.
29 October 2011
With family
We had a nice buffet breakfast at the Novotel where had stayed for the night. But kids were running around noisily around us. It wound Kim up quite badly. On our midday flight from Bandung to Kuala Lumpur, I had ordered possibly the best airline meals I have ever savoured, so Kim could share in […]