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  1. leadman

    Baggage dilemma - fix or retire

    Sadly after my last trip, I thought my trusty Samsonite Aeris had seen its last cargo hold, and it was time to retire to that "lost baggage section" in the air. Coming off the carousel, the handle all but fell off and was quite embarrassing pushing through customs. But after the tear-down of the...
  2. leadman

    A new perspective on travelling – Post-Covid

    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...
  3. leadman

    Virgin Australia > Velocity cleans up at the Freddies [Again]

    Interesting e:mail this morning to see that Virgin cleaned up in the Freddie Awards for ME/Asia/Oceania. Program of the Year — Virgin Australia > Velocity Best Elite Program — Virgin Australia > Velocity Best Promotion — Virgin Australia > Velocity Best Customer Service — Virgin Australia >...
  4. leadman

    Bangkok Taxi Scam

    Arrive BKK hotel this morning and front story on the Bangkok Post was reporting on a German report about the hotels, taxi, etc, scam in various parts in Thailand at the moment. Perfect timing as i just had a nasty experience coming from the airport with a taxi whose meter was doctored. As a...
  5. leadman

    Travelling support for the Aged, a lot of help

    I've mentioned a number of times in posts here over the years one of strengths of travelling for me was dad and mum's many trips to Thailand (100 +) when we were growing up and travel/asia/people etc, just became the family norm. Unfortunately they have reached that time in life that its...
  6. leadman

    What people do to try to get a hotel upgrade

    I've witnessed many times people trying to get a hotel upgrade at the front desk from the true and tried DYKWIA right through to outright begging and pleading, but last nights one is worth posting. Checking in at a Marriott in London, the Office manager was taking a call which went something...
  7. leadman

    Nice beers i have had recently - Trappist, lagers, Ales et al.

    I've been thinking about this for some time, that the humble beer really does not get the mention wine does on this forum. A whole section dedicated to the "red & white" and the common man's drink is left well behind. Then to add insult to injury, a new thread "Beer, cider and alcoholic...
  8. leadman

    Best reason for an aircraft not to fly

    Now sitting in the Admirals Club after de-planing AA27 LAX > HND due to the engineer losing "his rag"! Sounds good, but the pilot informed us that the engineer was cleaning the air con duct and his cleaning rag was sucked into the plane. After 3 fruitless hours the rag could not be retrieved...
  9. leadman

    Anyone else had a weird experience like this?

    Was dreading the RNO > DFW > BOS flight on AA today as it left at 12:53am and never like those 3 and a bit hour flights after midnight, the rest of the day is usually a write-off. Flying J and in 3A, (which is where we seemed to get dumped) noticed the PAX next to me was in wrap-around dark...
  10. leadman

    Profiling through customs

    A number of times I've passed through AU Customs and seen what i thought was a bit of profiling; once when standing next to lady of Asian appearance but the accent was better than mine, was questioned 3 separate times, but yesterday coming through felt it first hand. I took my son on one half...
  11. leadman

    Late go-around at LAX

    Yesterday walked into my room at the Renaissance overlooking LAX north runways. As the bags went down watched BA283 380 landing on 24R. The OZ201 380 was on 24L and starting to roll leaving a slow exit of the BA from the tarmac. Suddenly the 777 of AF66 came into view on approach, then jumped...
  12. leadman

    OH&S gone mad

    Trolling through my old flash drive and came across these snaps from the Sheraton FRA. How could you even get your head in and close the door! The message must be for hamsters!
  13. leadman

    The life of a Lounge - TK IST

    I have been to many lounges across the world, would hate to count the number, but it was my first time in the TK lounge in IST. After arriving from BKK early morning it was big surprise to find a really great, clean, well set out lounge, even to the point I e:mailed a colleague telling him this...
  14. leadman

    Bingham Code - Pascoe hits the nail on the head

    Great article from Micheal Pascoe, and resting after 24 hours from BKK > HKG > LAX > RNO it was perfect reading as I could relate to nearly all of them across the three flights. The Bingham Code: The 11 rules frequent flyers need to follow Almost should be carved in stone. "Stand to right...
  15. leadman

    The Lady of the Sky - nice article

    As the 747 Begins Its Final Approach, a Pilot Takes a Flight Down Memory Lane A nice article on the 747. I ready do miss them, but when I recently flew SYD - SFO on a 747 I realized how quiet the new aircraft have become. In my opinion the A380 has nothing on the 747 especially on takeoff.
  16. leadman

    Minimum layover time for a city visit

    A few posts recently have mentioned minimum times between flights for a city run/visit during layovers. I thought i would give it a go on this trip in FRA and gather some facts/thoughts. Scheduled to arrive from TXL at 10:05 and out to BKK at 14:45 so, in theory, 4:40 was seatbelt off >...
  17. leadman

    Ban the Trunki!!!

    I'm seriously looking at starting a petition on Change.org to ban these horrendous animals/bags from airports! After being viscously attacked by two of these woefully designed, plastic fantastic, poor wheel based critters driven by juveniles without proper training, I ended up on my posterior at...
  18. leadman

    Spare amenity kits for charity

    In a quick visit back to my home town my Auntie asked if I had any spare amenity kits for a charity she was working with. After reading the website I'm now packing about 20 odd bags to get to them to help their cause which of those who read the link daysforgirls.org would appreciate is one of...
  19. leadman

    Korea - a bit of a travel dilemma

    About to pack and head to MEL for the HKG > ICN flight, but cannot seem to break away from family calling about the Korean peninsula. I've been through a few risks in my time; north Pakistan, gunfight in Guatemala et al, but Dad got me thinking when he said have I an "escape plan" if something...
  20. leadman

    songs that get you travelling

    Five minutes to take off and was listening to a bit of music, then it was Albert Hammonds, Never rains in southern California. Is there any better two lines for a FF? "Got on board a west bound 7 47 Didn't think of deciding what to do"
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