Author archive
29 June 2023
Today, I have a dive pre-booked, so it’s fortunate that the weather had taken a turn for the better. We had hoped to arrange for Kim to go snorkelling but the place we found only accept Japanese speaking customers for today’s trip as they don’t have English-speaking staff on duty. I got picked up by […]
28 June 2023
Above: It seems so funny that an Indian restaurant provides chopsticks! Today is our day of orientation and research for things like daytrips and car rentals. As most activities are sea-based we didn’t want to book online too early in case of uncertain weather. The weather looked cloudy from our room and by the time […]
27 June 2023
Above: I find a noodles sandwich strange, in that it’s all starch. What I find stranger is that it costs more than a hamburger. Seen at Narita Airport. Flying to Ishigaki With a flight at 1435 to Ishigaki today, we had a lazy morning, taking our hotel buffet breakfast around 0800. Checkout was at 1000 […]
26 June 2023
We woke in earnest around 0645 which wasn’t bad for the 3h time change. We took our time and went down to the hotel’s included breakfast around 0800. Not knowing what to expect, I brought down my muesli in case it was a light continental offering. But we were wowed by the green salads, fruit […]
25 June 2023
Above: Our first meal in Japan this trip. Despite the slightly delayed pushback, we landed at Narita at our scheduled time of 1650. The flight went pretty quickly with two meals, a mid-flight snack, chatting with friends on the unlimited free wifi and a lie-down. After our dream departure from Auckland, we had a dream […]
25 June 2023
Another odd itinerary Kim and I depart again today on another of my odd itineraries. It evolved from a couple of requirements: Using Korean Air expiring points which were best used for a flight from Okinawa to Seoul, and Using a leftover Emirates ticket from nearly 3 years ago from Larnaca to Malta. That hop […]
28 April 2023
We landed in Auckland about 30 mins earlier than our 0925 scheduled time. I had taken care to throw out the wooden toothbrush from the new Air New Zealand amenity kit (which came in a black tough paper bag). I wonder if anyone has been fined for not declaring the wooden item (it is a […]
27 April 2023
Above: My awesome meal was a great way to finish the trip! Brief exploration in Taipei My flight back to New Zealand departs at 1835 today. I had worked it out that if I left the hotel at 1100 for Taipei, I’d still get to the airport around 1400, meaning I’d have spare time for […]
26 April 2023
I woke to miserably wet weather, worse than yesterday’s. After a good hotel breakfast, I checked the forecast. It was meant to be more or less similar all day but just slightly better in the afternoon. Around 0900, I decided to put on a brave face and the poncho which I had bought five years […]
25 April 2023
Getting to Jiufen Today, I had the luxury of sitting down for breakfast at McDonald’s before walking to the train station. It proved to be the right move for two reasons. The tea at McD was awesome with two bags of Dilmah and plenty of milk. And some food options at the station weren’t yet […]