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Chapter 2: An Antipodean in Paris. I had a much-needed 7 hours’ sleep, but I would have had even more if I had not been woken up by my alarm at 8am. One thing I’ve discovered about visiting the Louvre (and, for that matter any popular museum or gallery … have I ever mentioned that I’m a museum...

My first experience of Euro-Business was on an 18-year-old Finnair Embraer E190. My guess is that the cabin hasn’t been updated in those 18 years. On this flight Business consisted of one row. I was in seat 1F. Three of the four seats in the row were occupied. That’s right – Finnair’s Embraer...

I did very much like the sound of the birdsong in the shower. It took me a couple of minutes to realise that it was a recording of birdsongs and not actual birds! Naturally, this reminds me that Finland's second most important classical music composer after Sibelius was Einojuhani Rautavaara...

Jumping back in with one more post because the Finnair Lounge has emptied right out. So I’ve been able to take a few more photos. So now that the Lounge has emptied somewhat, in true teacher fashion I’m upping its grade from a B to an A-minus!

A truer word has never been spoken!!

As I write this I'm in the middle of my 5-and-a-half-hour transit in HEL. My flight to Paris is later tonight on a Finnair Embraer E190. I don't have any photos of my arrival at HEL due to the fact that it was about 10pm in Melbourne and my focus was on talking to my wife before she went to...

Everyone had their windowshades down, but I did manage to sneak in some pretty spectacular views of, I think, Afghanistan... Here's the menu: The main meal was served about three hours before landing. I had pre-ordered the Massaman Beef. Again, it was quite OK without being spectacular. Note...

Sorry we missed each other by a day! I don't know if you're into sweet breakfasts, but the french toast was really a treat!

It felt that I had to leave the Qatar Lounge prematurely, and certainly I could have spent a lot longer than 35 minutes there. But it was time to board. There was a bit of a hold-up at the gate, but we boarded soon enough and the flight departed on time. I had allocated myself seat 11A, in the...

I want to write a little more about the Qatar lounge, as my earlier post was necessarily hurried. It was the best Business class lounge I’ve been to. In fact, the quality of the food was the same as, and the level of service exceeded, the three First Class lounges I’ve been to: namely, The...

Well, I was right to wait for the Qatar Lounge to open. What a great lounge!! I ordered French Toast from the a la carte menu. It did not disappoint. The menu is here. Boarding of my Finnair A350 commences in a few minutes.

If you're flying Economy and want extra legroom but you don't want to pay for it, make a kind and generous offer at the check-in counter along the lines of "In case you haven't found anyone willing to sit in the exit rows, I'm willing to if you'd like". Works more often than you'd expect.

Up at 3:35am for my transfer from the airport. BKK is quite large airport. Check-in, as you’d expect, was quick and efficient and I was issued my boarding passes for HEL and CDG. I was also given an invitation to the Miracle Lounge. But I'm an AFFer . “I can do better than that”, I thought...

I'm staying at the "At Residence Suvarnabhumi Hotel" near the airport; thanks @RB for suggesting this. I booked an airport transfer for THB400 (about A$20) return and the transfer was easy and seamless. The room itself costs about $61 for the night. Really can't complain about that; it's about a...

Boarding commenced on time. The Spirit of Australia: Thankfully, I did indeed end up with two seats to myself: About two and a half hours into the ten hour flight — exactly 30 minutes after I first asked myself, “Are we there yet?” — the thought occurred to me: Business class: you don’t...

There was some serious turbulence during our ascent on QF404 — the worst turbulence I’ve encountered on a MEL-SYD flight. But it didn’t last long, leaving time for the “meal” service. My second breakfast, a bacon & cheese Turkish. It wasn’t half bad: I’m not used to seat-back entertainment on...

Chapter 1: A Passage to Europe QF404 MEL-SYD Economy QF 295 (operated by Finnair) SYD-BKK Economy AY142 BKK-HEL Business AY 1581 HEL-CDG Business Cost: 136,000 Qantas points plus $271 This was all booked 6 days before the Qantas FF devaluation. After a 3am wake-up, with no-one willing to...

At this stage my itinerary looks like this: MEL-SYD Qantas Economy SYD-BKK Qantas Economy (operated by Finnair) Overnight in Bangkok BKK-HEL-CDG Finnair Business 3 nights in Paris CDG-MAN Air France Economy Overnight in Manchester 5 nights at the writing workshop in West Yorkshire Overnight in...

I'm afraid I have no idea about moors ... but I'm looking forward to finding out! My book will be a biography... more details of the subject to follow in this and also in my next TR!!

I'll be in West Yorkshire, a few kilometres out of a town/village called Hebden Bridge. It's more-or-less in between Manchester and Leeds. In fact I briefly toyed with a couple of alternative names for this TR: "Books, Bones & Bibles: Learning about Literature in Leeds" or "Publications...