Laos part 1/2 Covid-19 decimated the tourism industries of many countries, and many are only now starting to recover. Amongst the worst affected was Lao. On our 2022 visit the place was like a ghost town, despite its southern neighbor, Thailand, rapidly restoring its tourism industry. We entered the country from Nong Khai in northern…
Over recent years many friends, relatives and workmates have asked me how I manage to fly so often in business and first class. My answer is always the same – Most of the time I use airline loyalty programs to pay for the flights using points or miles attached to those programs, usually the hardest…
Right from my first Independent Adventures in the 1990’s I’ve been a member of an airline loyalty program. Over the years I’ve managed to take a number of “award” flights, many recently have been in business and first class. Living in Australia, few would be surprised to know the program I chose to join was…
Date: February 2023 Airport: Paris – Charles de Gaulle Title: Qatar Airways Premium Lounge Location: 11th floor, Terminal 1 Airline/Alliance: Qatar Airways; Oneworld Access: Qatar Airways business/first class passenger; Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald traveling any class; high “status”frequent flyers with Qatar and partners airlines Summary: At the time of writing the all-new Qatar Airways business…
If we’re completely honest, Lisbon was booked on our current European trip purely because we knew nothing about the city. As so often happens in cases such as this, we had an incredible couple of days, and wished we had more time… Don’t ever fly the national airline, TAP Air Portugal, they were bloody terrible,…
Anyone who has spent time skiing in Australia in recent years would understand that the costs involved in pursuing the sport back home has been getting out of control for many years. These costs, along with better quality snow eventually pushed my ski adventures offshore. First to NZ, often to Japan, and more recently to…
Each year I love nothing more than to head out from Australia’s summer heat and fly to the northern hemisphere for my annual ski trip. This year’s trip is to Champoluc, part of the Monterosa ski area in Italy’s Aosta Valley. Most of the guides I read prior to arriving suggested hiring a car to…
Speak to anyone who’s taken a lengthy holiday to South East Asia and you would find that heaps of them have experience renting a motorbike or scooter, or at least, knows someone who has. Apart from the convenience of not needing to arrange to catch a ride share or a bus every time you wish to…
First time Backpacking my way through South East Asia back in 2006 I honestly knew very little about the famous, Cambodian attraction, Angkor Wat. At the time I recall being blown away at the scale and beauty of the place and have since rated Angkor Wat amongst the top 2 or 3 sites in the…
Details: Date: August 2022 Airport: SYD – Sydney, Kingsford Smith Title: Qantas Business Lounge – domestic Location: Opposite Gate 5, Qantas domestic terminal Airline/Alliance: Qantas, Oneworld. Access: Qantas & partner business class passengers; Qantas/Oneworld Sapphire/Emerald customers while ticketed on a Oneworld flight Summary: Having ventured here a few times recently, I thought it about time…