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No points or staus credits since the change to booking via the virgin compflights site unfortunately. I've since cancelled my card, as I found the explorer+platinum edge combo better for me. Although I'll have to re-evaluate that too with the upcoming April redemption changes.

My most recommended experience in recent years would be a visit to the Chornobyl / Chernobyl exclusion zone :D. Also the short trip I made to Bariloche in Patigonia Argentina - the best part here was hiking alone on mountain trails encountering very few people whilst being surrounded by...

I'm afraid I didn't get any photo of the seat - failure there on my part to remember before settling in and spreading my stuff everywhere! Here's one I found/stole from an image search: In terms of seat comfort, I had the following buried away from the LHR-YYC flight: The seats aren't quite...

SYD-PER Flight: VA559 Aircraft: A330-200 (VH-XFD) Seat: 2K (J) Departed: SYD 09/09/2018 13:22 (17 mins late) AEST Arrived: PER 09/09/2018 16:18 (3 mins late) AWST Duration: 4h 56m The reason for my connection via Sydney wasn't really to do with earning extra status credits (unfortunately I...

MEL-SYD Flight: VA833 Aircraft: 737-800 (VH-VUZ) Seat: 4D (Y+) Departed: MEL 09/09/2018 10:10 (10 mins late) AEST Arrived: SYD 09/09/2018 11:41 (16 mins late) AEST Duration: 1h 31m Skybus to airport. Easy check-in using priority line. Breakfast in lounge. Bacon, caramelised onion and corn...

Novotel Melbourne On Collins A spent a couple of nights in Melbourne, to relax and to catch up with some friends. I had booked and pre-paid for the Novotel Melbourne on Collins during an Accor Plus private members sale (at $120-130 per night). They had a high-floor room reserved for me, but...

YVR-MEL Flight: AC37 Aircraft: 787-9 (C-FGEI) Seat: 2A (J) Departed: YVR 05/09/2018 22:50 (on time) PDT Arrived: MEL 07/09/2018 07:50 (10 mins early) AEST Duration: 16h This flight was booked as a Star Alliance redemption using 117,000 KrisFlyer miles (transferred from Velocity). It cost me...

The Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge at Vancouver Airport intentional terminal was quite pleasant, and the food was good (albeit not a huge selection) with a chef station serving the dish of the day. There was also a tended bar serving spirits. The shower rooms were great - and after a day of...

The next day I made the long drive back to Nanaimo Airport, where I arrived bang-on 3 hours before my scheduled flight time to Vancouver. For a short domestic flight, this was very early - but I wasn't prepared to risk any delays as my YVR-MEL flight was on a separate ticket, and the highway...

Bear Watching trip After seeing multiple warning notices daily, I really wanted to see a bear! Vancouver Island doesn't have grizzlies, but does have black bears. They often frequent the rocky shoreline during low tide to feed on marine life in rock pools, or hiding under rocks. The tour...

Schooner Cove Trail and Schooner's Beach A short 1km stair-filled walk through the rainforest brings you to a beautiful beach. Picnic time!

For my last full day on Vancouver Island I had a bear watching boat trip booked for the early afternoon (timed when it's low tide, as this is when the bears come down to the shoreline to scavenge for seafood). In the morning, I had some time to quickly visit two destinations back in Pacific Rim...

OK - This trip report has dragged on long enough! I've spent the last couple of days finishing the sorting of photos, so now I'll actually finish this thing :D!

You should be able to use the ITA Matrix website to find availability by month. I believe (could be wrong!) that the free ANZ flight requires availability in the "T" economy class fare (in addition to the 60 - or is it 90? - days advanced booking condition). Matrix - ITA Software by Google...

In addition to the above mentioned Virgin Mobile, don't VA sometimes have tie-ins with Virgin Wines and Virgin Money too? I think that's pretty much all the Virgin branded services in Australia?

Ah - thank you, good to know! I probably should have known that. It was quite a striking bird, and I meant to look it up before I posted, but I'd become fed up of sorting/labelling photos so put it back on the to-do pile.

Ucluelet Wild Pacific Trail Lighthouse Loop I continued the drive towards Ucluelet (~20min), stopping briefly in the town to pick up a coffee and a sandwich, before arriving at the Wild Pacific Trail Lighthouse Loop trail. Another easy/pleasant walk (~2.6km) with some beautiful views. The cloud...

Pacific Rim National Park It's surprising how much the weather can change here - maybe it's specific by location, but possibly it just changes in a short time too. Despite waking up to a beautiful sunny morning with clear blue sky, by the time I'd driven the ~30 minutes to Wickaninnish Beach...

And yes, I find the new site incredibly unintuitive to navigate and find what I'm after. Too much scrolling to find what feels like randomly placed sections of content.

Great photos - Pyongyang there looks very clean and tidy, but also quiet and maybe a bit sterile? What was the atmosphere like? I imagine it must have felt quite surreal to be there. Thanks for sharing your trip - I'm finding this report quite fascinating!