A new perspective on travelling – Post-Covid

[leadman]

Like many people whose travel ground to a halt and were locked away during those long dark days, there was a lot of reassessment of priorities. For me, it was to reflect on the travel I have done and what I have missed out on. Turning 60 during this period, coupled with a few other personal situations/challenges, I decided to focus my trips on my two passions; bird watching and beer tasting.

I’ve never been one for tourist attractions (the further away, the better!), and with work taking me to many backblocks around the world, I’m looking forward to it. In doing this, I have set a target of sighting 2,500 species and tasting 1,000 new world beers before my travelling time is over.

So instead of a trip report full of snaps of airline food and lounges, I thought I would put together some of my sightings, off-road visits and my scorecard. It will be bird watching in the morning and beer tasting in the afternoon on days I am not working.

I have already had three trips “under the belt” with a fourth planned for the end of August. Planning these has been quite fun, as instead of using the standard travel tools, I have been using the Ebird website, looking at the “hotspots” where birds have been identified. Then planning accommodation and the best way to get there, not forgetting the work scene.

My weapons of choice: Olympus E-MD5 Mk II attached to 300mm F 4.0 with 10x42 Vortex Viper binoculars. Bird recording on Ebird and beer recording will be done in an already beer-stained diary.

So to start: 836 species, 0 beers.

 

[leadman]

Trip 1.

MEL > SYD > SIN: BA J
SIN > CGK: KL J
CGK > SIN: 3K Y
SIN > KUL > SIN: MH Y
SIN > SYD > MEL: BA/QF J

Day 1.

Wow, BA, surely there is better food available! Pretty poor effort for J lunch.
Night at Grand Mercure Roxy as it is close to the MTR for Singapore Botanical Gardens. (I’m not going to pay those outrageous fees downtown, Sin600++)

Day 2.

07:00 at Singapore Botanical Gardens. Great spotting, and after three hours, highlights were Grey-headed Fish-eagle, Stork-Billed Kingfisher and Common Hill Myna. I forgot what walking in high temp and high humidity is like > taxi back to the hotel.

 

[leadman]

16:00 SIN > CGK. Stay at Swissotel PIK, driven by being near Taman Wisata Alam Kapuk Park. Good new hotel and area. It beats travelling further into Jakarta and spending hours in a car/taxi.

Day 3,4, and 5. Work at Tegal, Central Java. The highlight was the large-tailed nightjars on the plant roof of the operation I had to inspect.

 

[leadman]

Day 6. Back to Jakarta and Swissotel PIK. Out to Taman Wisata and highlight were the White-headed munia, Golden-bellied Gerygone and the woodpeckers.

 

[leadman]

Day 8/9. CGK > SIN. First time at Changi Cove hotel undoubtedly different from downtown. Selected on location as good watching at Changi ferry terminal and can easily get out to Pulau Ubin island. Great to be down with the locals again at the open restaurants. Highlights, Blue-winged pita, Common Flame-back and Golden-backed Weaver. The island is a great place to go to get away from the hustle and bustle.

 

[leadman]

Day 10/11/12. SIN > KUL. Into the J.W. Marriott and upgraded to the Junior Suite. The lounge is not open yet, but supposedly soon. The new foyer (in my opinion) is terrible, merged into the shopping centre. Caught a Grab out to the Forestry Institute and booked the Skywalk, not the greatest for watching, once down the highlight of the trip, the Black-and-Red Broadbill. The black-thighed Falconet and a good shop of the Asian Glossy starling topped off a good walk.

 

[leadman]

Day 13/14. KUL > SIN > SYD > MEL. Stock standard flights and lounges.



Summary: Trip took me back to my early years of travel, seeing things through different eyes and drivers. Enjoyable.

Scorecard. Birds: start 836, end 860. Beer: start 0, end 13.

Trip 2 shortly……..

 

[Hvr]

I'm twitching with excitement looking forward to your photos.

 

[VPS]

I'm twitching with excitement looking forward to your photos.

Just stay in the humour thread please

 

[Daver6]

. It will be bird watching in the morning and beer tasting in the afternoon on days I am not working.

So to start: 836 species, 0 beers.

What a great thread!

However, birds in the morning and beers in the afternoon. That's a lot of birds on your first morning then Should be a big arvo on the beers based on that

 

[Tiki]

Nice pics! I'm a birder too (but not a beer fan). I also use ebird to help plan trips although it gets tricky in some countries because they hide reports of sensitive species. I use birding tour operator itineraries to help plan routes but I always go independant. Singapore Botanical Garden is a great place.

 

[leadman]

Trip 2.

MEL > COL > LHR: UL J
LHR > LIN > LHR: BA Y
LHR > COL > MEL: UL J

The work part of the trip was to give a series of lectures at a conference in Bergamo. Personal was to use UL and the layovers in Sri Lanka to do some watching/sampling. It didn’t work that way, but no complaints.

Day 1 & 2.

Not a great start to the trip; departure time changed from 16:00 to 18:00, then finally 24:00. Any layover was forgotten, and after a 7-hour stay in the lounge, we were off to London via Cochin India to refuel. It’s such a dire state in the country that UL uses Indian ports to refuel.

Arrived 21:00 LHR, and from leaving the plane to out of the terminal, it took a total of 18 minutes. I never had this before, and I just hope they can keep it up! Renaissance Airport was booked as a late flight, and it was Wimbledon week, so the hotel rates were frightening.

Day 3.

06:30 across the road to Boltons Lane Open Space for a two-hour walk. Certainly different viewing than Australia and Asia, with smaller, less coloured species like the Robin, White Wagtail and the Stock Dove. Train to Arundel to catch up with a mate and a night at the Norfolk Arms. (for the tourist, there is a big castle there). OK accommodation, but they have a craft beer bar which is superb. Beers from the Gun, Abyss and Arundel Brewery are a “must try”.

 

[leadman]

Day 4.

As it happens (although with good planning), there is a WWT (Wildlife and Wetland Trust) just up the road from the hotel. There are 10 in the UK, even one in London (more on Day 6). Great watching there, along with the adjacent Swanborne Lake. The best ones were Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gull and Chaffinch. Then train back up to London to Purfleet.

 

[leadman]

Day 5.

Purfleet, well, not many people even in the UK know where it is. East of London and really in the backblocks, their Staten Island. Booked the Royal Oak Hotel at 45 pounds, and a true experience! When asked about the restaurant, I was told it was under renovation, and I joked it looked like it’s taken 5 years, with the answer, “that’s about right!” But it’s on the Thames and a 5-minute walk to the RSPB Rainham Marshes. This area is one of UK’s best birding areas. Highlights were Egyptian Goose, Northern Lapwing and Great Crested Grebe. Back to London in the afternoon to the Novotel Hammersmith.

 

[leadman]

Day 6.

Hotels were a nightmare in London and the first I’ve stayed at a Novotel. With Wimbledon, it was crazy, and hotel rates were crazy. Had to use points to bring the cost down to a reasonable rate. The hotel was the base for the Junior tennis players, so it was bedlam. So down to the WWT London Wetland Centre. From Hammersmith, straight across the Thames and about a 15-minute walk. Well set out for both the birder and school children. Good sightings of Bearded Reedling, Eurasian Jay and Rose Ringed Parrakeet. A good walk deserves a good beer, so called into the Red Lion around the corner of the WWT. Excellent schnitzel was washed down with a few pints of Fullers London Pride.

 

[leadman]

Day 7.



Back to work, but a great long lunch at Sweetings, on Queen Victoria Street, then back to the Renaissance Airport for an early morning flight



Days 8/9

LHR > LIN

As reported in the other threads, LHR was in shambles, but at least they rushed us through at the makeshift J counter. Sheraton Diana Majestic was the inn of choice with an upgrade to the junior suite. Nice bottle of Red with it. Poor pickings at the Indro Montanelli Gardens nearby.

Next day was a nightmare; a regional train strike and Milan Central was ugly. It would be nice if they learned to communicate with passengers. Had to finally get a taxi to Bergamo, 130 euros!

Days 10/15

Back working. Some of the restaurants were fantastic, all up in the old centre. Il Ducale, Circolino Citta Alta, Resturante La Tana, just to name a few. Birding was poor, as predicted in eBird.

Days 16/17

Back to Milan and the Sheraton, upgraded but no wine. Early morning out to Parco Gino Cassinis by train on the outskirts of Milan. Hot and dry, like a Melbourne summer’s day. Plenty of Eurasian Kestrels, a Spotted Flycatcher and Grey Heron.

 

[leadman]

Days 18/19/20

LIN > LHR > COL > MEL

Lunch in a small quaint café just off Kings Cross, Casa Tua, before flying out.

Arrived in COL, and the transfer desk told us we had a hotel room, but they didn’t have any way to get there. No arguments from the passengers. We just all hope things get better with the new government.

So it was a 13-hour stay in the lounge (watching the hooded crows) before flying back to India to refuel and then head home.


Summary: Beer was a bit better than briding on this trip. Just hope Sri Lanka gets out of its problems soon.

Scorecard. Birds: start 860, end 880. Beer: start 13, end 31.

Trip 3 to come.......

 

[VPS]

Excellent photos

 

[leadman]

Nice pics! I'm a birder too (but not a beer fan). I also use ebird to help plan trips although it gets tricky in some countries because they hide reports of sensitive species. I use birding tour operator itineraries to help plan routes but I always go independant. Singapore Botanical Garden is a great place.

Using eBird certainly puts another layer of planning on a trip, but in a fun way. In regards to sensitive species, I see that some common birds are on that list, which I will show a few in Trip 3. SBG is a great place to visit and opens early, but one weird thing in the UK is the RSBP and WWT areas don't open up until 9:30!

 

[stm1sydney]

Love ya work! More beer photos would be good!