Author archive
3 January 2020
I thought it would be nice to go see friends and relatives in Christchurch. It combined well with an invite to go camping with Kim’s friends at Lake Benmore. Despite being on a standby ticket, I managed to get to Christchurch without too many hassles during the holiday period.
12 November 2019
I leave Melbourne after experiencing the craziness of their weather. It was 9 degC when I arrived and went to a max of around 18 degC before having a day of 30 degC! Then it turned cold again. Talk about extremes! I had had too much sleep the night before last and suffered last night […]
9 November 2019
Despite the sleeping pill, I didn’t sleep that deeply this time. During one of the interruptions, I took another half and had about 4h in total. I managed to catch the crew as they were wrapping up their sale of breakfast. I was surprised that I’d be hungry at 0400 Malaysian time, which was 2h […]
8 November 2019
Today I leave Kuching for Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur. The flight leaves in the late afternoon, but I wanted to do as much as I could for Mum and my brother who recently had a knee operation. So I started the day at 0800 with getting their groceries, not entirely missing the rush-hour traffic. After […]
2 November 2019
Today I pick up friend Michelle from New Zealand who will visit and stay till my departure. She arrived yesterday morning and will leave five minutes before me next week. I had asked her to stay in town for the first night and given her some sightseeing tips to start off her stay before I […]
1 November 2019
As it was cold outside, the A330 aircraft to Kuala Lumpur appeared to be heated. Perhaps a little too much. We were ready to go but had to wait for connecting passengers who had perhaps been delayed by the rain a couple of hours ago. We left about 15 mins later than the scheduled time […]
31 October 2019
Cruising the Bosphorus Today I have to kill the entire day before my flight to Kuala Lumpur at 0135 tomorrow morning. I stayed indoors after breakfast to attend to admin before checking out at 1130. My rough plan was to hop on one of the ferries. At one station, they were going to Hydarpasar which […]
30 October 2019
Dolmabahce Palace After breakfast, I took the tram to Dolmabahce Palace. This palace had been on my radar since my first visit 27 years ago. But having seen a few opulent palaces through the years, in fell down my priority list. But now, I have done and repeated many things in Istanbul, so it’s popped […]
29 October 2019
Leaving Sharm I got to Sharm el Sheikh airport just after midnight. With my departure at 0340 I expected check-in to open at 0040. A queue had built up and airport security started checking documents to enter the check-in area. I then realised it was for the Pegasus flight to Istanbul. I had a short […]
28 October 2019
I thought I deserved a sleep-in but I woked at 0600 despite the blackout curtains being drawn tightly. I lazed around till 0715 when I hit the gym. My flight to Istanbul leaves at 0340 tomorrow morning and I have a 1200 check-out and 2345 departure from the hotel for the airport. After the gym […]