Articles from this Category
25 May 2005
Kazan to Samara to Frankfurt to London We have a big day today, flying from Kazan to Samara and then Frankfurt on the same flight, then connecting to London Heathrow, and then self-connecting to Los Angeles. We woke at 0400 and were out of the hotel into a pre-ordered taxi at 0450. It was a […]
4 May 2005
Today we embarked on our Trans-Mongolian journey, but not yet in earnest. We start off with a flight to Osaka where we’ll stay a four nights before going to Beijing where we’ll board the train. Coming with us to Osaka are Kim’s best mate Rodger and his fiancée of many many years, Liisa. They came […]
9 November 2004
I dozed for four hours inflight, making the overnight flight quite bearable. Soon enough, breakfast came and I landed in Auckland around 1130. It had been an awesome adventure for ourselves and for Kim’s parents. Travelling with the elderly, in intrepid destinations has its challenges but I think we deserve nearly full marks for making […]
4 November 2004
Boarding the Malaysia Airlines B777 was very quick. There were only 65 passengers on board, leaving from Cairo for Kuala Lumpur at 0150. Despite that we left 15 mins late. Onboard, I recognised a number of the crew. I had seen them at the pyramids , and immediately thought “They must be Malaysia Airlines crew […]
14 October 2004
Tonight, we fly to Kuala Lumpur for an airside overnight transit, in preparation for an early flight to Beirut tomorrow morning. With our departure at 2110 tonight, we have the day to kill. We visited my aunt around 1100 who took us out to the Singapore Swimming Club for lunch. We had a delicious a […]
12 October 2004
Arriving at Singapore, Kim helped his parents into a taxi to get to their hotel, Perak Lodge. We have a two night stopover in Singapore which Kim and I will spend at my step-dad’s place. Mum and step-dad had come to pick us up at the airport. But being a large airport, we had a […]
12 October 2004
Today we embark on a family adventure with Kim’s parents, starting in Beirut and finishing in Cairo. The largely-overland journey would take us through Syria and Jordan. We left home around 1015 for Auckland airport. After a slow check-in we boarded at a remote gate. A baggage container tipped over during the loading process and […]
24 June 2004
After crossing the International Date Line and skipping a day, we landed in Auckland after 0500 on 24 June 2004. We picked up a relocation vehicle from Avis to drive home. It was a very special deal for NZD19 including airport surcharge and we had to return it to the city office near our home […]
22 June 2004
Above: Probably the Grand Canyon before descending into Los Angeles. We landed in Los Angeles around 1930. Again, we had a 2h transit but this time we didn’t have to collect our bags, clear immigration and run upstairs to check-in. We only had to tolerate an immigration clearance in a makeshift transit area. A much […]
14 June 2004
Milan to London We woke at 0700 and took breakfast at the hotel. Described as a “lavish” breakfast, it wasn’t really. Italians aren’t big on breakfast so the fact that they had some ham and cheese in addition to pastries and biscuits made it lavish I suppose. At check-out, we made a last attempt to […]