Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
Major Trips
| Round The World 2004: An RTW trip based on the oneworld Alliance's AONE4 deal (One World Explorer, First Class, 4 Continents), in this case purchased in Cairo. This report covers the main part of the ticket's use - a six-week journey to the Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the continental USA. It's the trip that started this website! |
| Portugal - California 2004: An unlikely sounding combination, from the time when 'ex-LIS' was part of the BA Board vocabulary on FlyerTalk. |
| Round The World 2006-07: My third RTW trip and the second to be based on the One World Explorer ticket, in this case an ex-Gibraltar AONE3. The trip is split into four parts and takes in the Middle East and the Far East, as well as multiple visits to North America, including Alaska. |
| Spring Fever 2008: Due to circumstances at the time, separately planned trips to France, the Middle East and the Caribbean ended up being done back-to-back. The result? Spring Fever! |
| Far East 2009: A visit to some new destinations and some old favourites in the Far East, starting in ... erm, Barcelona. (All will be explained.) Journey highlights include first-time experiences of several Star Alliance premium products. Best of all, I get to sample Singapore Airlines Suites, aboard my first flight on the A380 super-jumbo. |
| South America 2009: Despite the extent of my travels over many years, South America had always been my Lost Continent. I'd never set foot in the place. 2009 was the year to rectify this aberration, with this visit to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. |
Shanghaied in Tuscany!: So there I am on my hols in Italy, minding my own business, when suddenly these people in uniforms whisk me off to heaven-knows-where, saying all this weird stuff to me, like Herzlich Willkommen an Bord and Möchten Sie noch ein Glas Champagner? I mean, I ask you, what's the world coming to?  |
| A Tale of Two Cities: Not London and Paris in this case, but Madrid and Beijing. It was also meant to be something of a clash of the titans, with Lufthansa and British Airways going head-to-head in First Class. |
| Tasmanian Devils: A long awaited return down under, majoring on the Australian island state of Tasmania and including a cheeky initial stop in the Italian Lakes! |
| Vietnam 2010: A two-week, in-depth exploration of a brand new destination for me. |
| Canada & Mexico 2011: First part of a North American triple bill in 2011. |
| USA Road Trip 2011: The North American theme continues with a fly-drive trip to Utah and Arizona, ending with a weekend visit to San Diego. |
| Planes, Trains & Automobiles: More American adventures as New Year is ushered in on board Amtrak's Southwest Chief, somewhere between Los Angeles and Santa Fe. |
| And coming next ... |
| Indian Ocean 2012: The main focal points of this trip are the Indian Ocean islands of Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Langkawi, Malaysia. Old favourites Dubai and Singapore also feature briefly, and it all gets underway in Gothenburg, Sweden. |
These are trips where I have kept a full diary of each day's events, logged every flight and reported on every hotel I stayed at.
Typically, they also tend to be longer in duration and to unfold in something approximating to real time.
However it's the style of reporting that makes the distinction!