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  1. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    PS: the family andye did mock my criticism of the TK B777 bed not being completely flat. Overall, would choose an A350 if you get the choice though. Would definitely fly TK again. I credited the flights to SQ as relatively easy to top up with VA points. Most of the way to Krisflyer Silver from...
  2. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    You may have noticed I've not travelled very directly. However SYD-(KUL)-IST-LHR/HEL-IST-SIN-MEL was priced very keenly at $6300 when most other carriers were around the $9k mark. Would have been even better value with the free 5* stopover. So last flight was QF448 MEL-SYD in Y on a B737. My...
  3. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    SQ237 SIN-MEL is a B777 Whether due to the XO or not, i slept for almost the whole trip. Flip over flat bed was very comfortable. The meal was a breakfast which doesn't usually excite me anyway. Did get my first PDB champagne (Charles Heisdeck)
  4. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    The SilverKris lounge has been completely revamped since my last visit a few year's back. Overall, I thought the space and food better but maybe a slight drop in drinks though. Champagne was Piper Essentiel. The Courvoisier XO was high quality for a J lounge ($390 a bottle in Aus duty free)
  5. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    Had a longish layover in SIN. I've transited plenty of times but only been into the city once (and then didn't get to see much as the young children promptly started to show signs of gastro). Took a taxi to Raffles and visited the Long Bar. Im not a fan of the Singapore Sling so tried a...
  6. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    On the other hand, the chef was there and the food (particularly the lamb chops) was very good I did sleep very well also
  7. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    Another hike to one of the further gates Gate came up as "boarding" over and hour before departure. It wasn't but I can kind of understand the need to chivvy people along. TK54 IST-SIN is a B777. The layout is very different to the A350 at 2-3-2. Although the leathers and trim looked in good...
  8. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    Landed at IST. Quite a long taxi and to a bus gate but was an exclusive one for J pax. Pretty much straight to the lounge, though nearly went to the museum (another time perhaps). There were some replica statues dotted around the concourse. Booked shower and stowed carry-on. Not all of the...
  9. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    HEL-IST was a pretty similar set-up to the IST-LHR flight in an A321. Decent food again Views over Finnish lakes
  10. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    I was hoping to do some sightseeing after the conference finished on Friday lunchtime but it was as wet as the current Sydney May. Had checked out first thing and stored baggage. Was a bit surprised to find out that booze was not eligible for the Radisson Rewards 10% discount (though food and...
  11. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    Helsinki was pretty balmy for the first 2 days. Lots of people out and about on the Thursday night. Then worked out it for the big match. Finland V USA in ice-hockey Returned to the hotel restaurant and had a pretty nice steak tartare and potato salad
  12. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    The hotel is pretty well located, a few minutes from the central railway station One stop to the conference centre and the organisers had negotiated free (you had to put a link into the Helsinki travel app). Conference impressive as usual. Notable higher number of high-quality nursing and...
  13. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    Maybe it was the quite cheap rate I was on that pushed me down the queue
  14. andye

    Should you Renew your UK passport?

    I did stare mournfully at the empty EU egates in HEL while waiting in a long, long queue for Aus/NZ/UK/US/Korea/Japan egates. UK passport wouldn't have helped though
  15. andye

    Should you Renew your UK passport?

    I've let mine, mrsandye's and mstrsandye3&4 expire. Everything x4 becomes expensive. The older sons are either already working or considering working in UK so makes sense to keep them running. I've always found the egates in UK pretty quick with Aus passport
  16. andye

    General Medical issues thread

    I'm in NSW but I am not aware of any government programme that provides 24 hour care. The highest Commonwealth Aged Care Package is a level 4 which might provide up to a couple of hours daily. If you think your father might need that, you are correct about the long queue so best to apply early...
  17. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    It was about a 15 minute briskish walk.
  18. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    Arrived pretty late into HEL but plenty of taxis. Checked into the Radisson Blu Plaza. I am top tier due to the Avolta status match Club Avolta (formerly RED by Dufry) status match with potential future Radisson status I'd been hoping to get a juicy upgrade (top tier are supposed to get the...
  19. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    As I've made the 3h LHR-HEL trip a few times in Y, I had picked a Comfort seat for extra legroom. AY1338 is now an A350 (3-4-3) so maybe the ordinary Y would have been OK. (There was late J award availability but as its not an awfully long flight and my Y seat was non-cancellable, I didn't take...
  20. andye

    TK away to London & Helsinki

    Then adjourned to the Qantas lounge. Very pleased to see they had my favourite Plymouth Gin and settled in Its the first time in T3 that I haven't felt the need to go to the CX lounge which is a compliment to QF
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