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My daughter and her husband received a last-minute invitation to an event in Sydney during the first week of the December school holidays, and they asked me if I could use my Velocity points for reward flights given that flights at that time of the year are expensive. So I did a search for...

The Wall Street Journal has an article about Boeing's plans for a new narrowbody to replace the 737. The headline is "Boeing has Started Working on a 737 MAX Replacement". The article is by Benjamin Katz and Drew Fitzgerald: Boeing is planning a new single-aisle airplane that would succeed...

I am writing this Trip Report for me (and my family), to remember what may well be my mother’s final overseas trip. She is in her mid-eighties, having had an incredible life … a life worthy of a book, in fact! She spent her childhood in a war zone, a witness to terrorism. She remembers tanks...

I haven't been able to login to the Velocity estore all week. I've tried different devices and different browsers. When I try to login, after entering my Velocity number and password I just get a blank white screen. Is this just me?

Prologue: An Unexpected Journey I want to write a book. I have Long Service Leave due, and my wife has been encouraging me to give myself an LSL project rather than simply galivanting around the world. The project I’ve chosen is to write a biography of a relative who has had an incredible...

I'll be taking some last-minute unexpected Long Service Leave later this month and will be transiting through BKK overnight. I have never been to Bangkok/Thailand before and I don't know what I don't know. I'll be arriving at 4:40pm on QF295 and departing at 7:05am the next morning on AY142 to...

This Trip Report won’t be for everyone. I’ve been in two minds for months over whether to write it at all. But there hasn’t been a Bali trip report on AFF for … well, for almost a whole year now. And the circumstances of this TR might be of some interest to at least a small subset of AFF...

This came through this morning. Will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of it!

A couple of years ago my wife and I had a 3-night stopover in Istanbul which we loved. While we were there, a number of locals recommended Cappadocia to us. We're planning another trip to Europe next year and once again are planning a stopover in Istanbul, and we're wondering whether we should...

As a child, I was obsessed with space travel. One of my earliest memories of school is my Kindergarten teacher sharing the news of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz joint mission. I remember my fascination and excitement a year later when the Viking landers sent back the first ever colour photographs from...

In an escalation of a pay dispute between Sydney train drivers and the NSW government, it has been announced that unless something changes, Sydney trains will stop running from Thursday night until Sunday. I'm due to fly into Sydney for the weekend but I'm seriously considering cancelling if...

Anyone know what's happening with NZ247?

Boeing is now reporting that the 777X is now delayed until 2026. Disappointing, but not unexpected. https://onemileatatime.com/news/boeing-777x-delay/ https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2024-10-11-Boeing-Reports-Preliminary-Third-Quarter-Results

The Value (ie. long-term) carpark at Melbourne Airport has traditionally been (to my knowledge) one of the cheapest in the country, charging $12 per 24-hour period. It has meant that parking for a weekend getaway has cost only $24, and the 2-hour grace period for online bookings has made it even...

One of the fun things about using points for flights is the “sweet spot” — flights for fewer points than one would normally expect or would normally be required. Using Virgin Atlantic points to fly ANA First Class, or to fly Air NZ in Business Class from Perth to NZ (or anywhere in the South...

My daughter and her new husband chose to go to NZ for their honeymoon so I used Qantas points to book them on EK412 from Sydney to Christchurch in Business class. Before they flew I suggested that they casually mention to the crew on boarding that they were on their honeymoon. I thought they...

I’m a schoolteacher so while I can afford the occasional indulgence, more often than not when I travel I’m on a budget. A few weeks ago I noticed availability in Emirates first class (using Qantas points) from Singapore to Melbourne, during the upcoming school holidays. I then found one...

Tonight I was upgraded to Business class at the gate for my SYD-MEL flight. It was pretty clear why Virgin did this: on the flight was what appeared to be an entire AFLW team plus entourage, and every seat was filled. My question: was I upgraded because I happened to be one of the first...

I'm visiting my 82-year-old mother and she pulled out this small Qantas suitcase which looks like it's from the 70s or maybe the late 60s. It lies flat but when you open it up it becomes a small, carry-on size, suitcase. My mother solemnly told me that I should sell it because I could get a lot...

So I'm a bit of a space-travel nerd and I'm starting to think about a quick (10 days approx) one-person trip (my wife isn't the least bit interested but she's happy for me to go!) to visit some iconic space-themed destinations in the USA in January 2025. So far my thinking is... 2 days at...