Articles from this Category
10 January 2025
We had a relaxing start today, hitting the road at 0900 for the drive to Auckland. We stopped at the supermarket to get some fruit as we didn’t have breakfast. That ought to sustain me till brunch which we had at Mokau River. Fortunately, Kim remembered that we had parked our car at a hotel […]
9 January 2025
Trip overview Today we fly to Wellington to look at and hopefully buy a car, then embark on a road trip to New Plymouth for a nightstop enroute to Auckland. If we don’t buy the car, we have backup standby flights from Wellington to New Plymouth and then to Auckland next day. As the flight […]
12 December 2024
My flight arrived about 10 mins later than the scheduled time of 0940. Auckland Airport, sometimes known for its awful queues at arrival due to biosecurity screening was a breeze today. Our flight had been selected for an express arrival trial. With nothing to declare and no luggage to collect from the carousel, I was […]
10 December 2024
Technical failure I have an evening flight to Auckland today. With the time difference back in India, I woke up early and had a snack before killing time and packing. Mid-morning, I went out to grab brunch but my preferred meal (cha siew rice) to finish all my HKD wasn’t yet available. So, I settled […]
9 December 2024
Flying to Delhi Today’s a long day for me with an early start in Nashik, flying to Delhi for a nearly 12h self-connect to Hong Kong, with the second flight being on standby. I left the hotel around 0640 by autorickshaw, summoned on Uber. It was colder than I had thought and I had to […]
18 November 2024
Long Istanbul self-connect It was around 0745 when I left the hotel after breakfast, walking to the taxi stand outside the hotel to find a cab to Travzon airport. The journey was quick on the highway which kinda followed the shore of the Black Seat. It’s a pity that the city didn’t have any kind […]
26 October 2024
We landed in Singapore nearly an hour later than the scheduled time of 1650. With the aircraft parked really close to the arrival hall, we had to wait for our luggage, something that rarely happens at Changi. Wen kindly picked me up and took me to his place in the south of the island before […]
26 October 2024
Leaving Auckland I had missed the email that arrived after midnight advising that my 1105 flight to Singapore had been delayed by under an hour. I could have had a bit more sleep instead of waking at 0700. Kim dropped me at the airport around 0900 and due to the kindness of a friend, I […]
13 August 2024
The 787 Dreamliner departed on time at 0100. The crew on board were most obliging, especially with the lady across the aisle from me: The lady across the aisle asked to check that her checked-in baggage had been loaded due to having been rebooked. Even just before doors closed, the crew took her boarding pass […]
12 August 2024
Above: Air China’s First Class lounge in Terminal 3E of Capital Airport. Flying to Bejing I woke up to an email advising of a one-hour reschedule to my flight from Urumqi to Bejing from 1440 to 1540. I had purposely chosen a 6h30 connection to Auckland at 0100 rather one 2h shorter or 4h shorter. […]