Made you read the spacer text - GOTCHA!
Now according to most Australian people, or so I've been told, the ‘normal’ thing to do would be to either only go to one of those conferences, or to stay in Europe for the entire time until after the second conference. After all, antipodean travel is not cheap.
But I’m not normal...I’m a frequent flyer
. And this is May we’re talking about. I’ve been through two episodes of
Mad May (once in 2009 and again in 2010), was it time for another episode? You bet......
Being the final year (
fingers crossed!) of my PhD thesis, I wanted to get a big travel fix, and the conference travel made a perfect excuse to do so.
So now the plan: under the guise that I needed to be back at home in the interim between the two conferences, I would travel to Europe for each conference. That’s twice in two months.
This trip report will tell the story of my two months of travel when I went to Europe...to Europe. Oh, and a quickie to DRW for Oz Fest #8 thrown into the mix...and PRG Do as well. The pictures in my FT Galleries also say a lot, so please visit those, too. (Click
this link for Euro Travel and PRG Do pics; and
this link for Oz Fest 8 DRW pics).
There is a mix of premium and non-premium travel here – I’ve got it all. There is regular travel, then there is a status run. You may call me a hero, a heretic, a hedonist or a hair-brain. Or a combination of all the above.
As with all
anat0l TRs, I recommend a good amount of time and a long drink. Some of you may desire or require the entire bottle. Either way, keep something at hand.
I will also warn you that I do like food (and it does show on me), and food shots are a common occurrence in my TRs. For those of you on a diet, proceed with caution. You have been warned. Jenny Craig has a multi-million dollar bounty out on me. I think I saw the poster somewhere in Zimbabwe. Just kidding.
Finally, whilst I lack the dry wit of many other TR writers or the wet* wit of
eightblack, I’ll try my best to keep you entertained.
* What do I mean by ‘wet wit’? Well, when you’re laughing hard enough, check the front of your pants... or, if you happen to be drinking something, the state of your monitor / laptop...
The Flight Schedule
Code:
Date Flight Sector Dep Arr Dur'n A/C Cls Seat Connect* Remarks
04MAY QF 605 BNE-MEL 0555 0820 2:25 738 Y 4A 2:40
04MAY JQ 7 MEL-SIN 1100 1650 7:50 332 W 4A 7:00
04MAY SQ 26 SIN-FRA 2350 0630+1 12:40 744 F 1B 1:10:15 SQ First Saver Redemption
05MAY Train from Frankfurt to Bruges via Brussels
06MAY Train from Bruges to Brussels
06MAY SN2101 BRU-LHR 1610 1650 1:10 AR1 J 1C 2:30 BD Business Miles+Cash Redemption
06MAY BD 169 LHR-BSL 1925 2200 1:35 319 J 1F 1:18:10
08MAY BD 162 BSL-LHR 1610 1650 1:40 319 J 2F 8:05:20
08MAY Train from London to Falmouth via Truro
12MAY Train from Falmouth to London via Truro
16MAY QF 10 LHR-SIN 2130 1730+1 13:00 388 Y 50A 2:15
17MAY QF 10 SIN-MEL 1945 0500+1 7:15 388 Y 50A 2:05
18MAY QF 604 MEL-BNE 0705 0915 2:10 738 Y 8A 10:00:00
28MAY QF 824 BNE-DRW 0915 1255 4:10 763 Y 34A 18:30
29MAY QF1935 DRW-ASP 0725 0925 2:00 717 Y 2F 3:00 Op QantasLink; QF Economy Classic Award
29MAY QF 982 ASP-BNE 1225 1525 2:30 738 Y 4A 10:23:30 QF Economy Classic Award
09JUN QF 625 BNE-MEL 1455 1720 2:25 738 Y 4A 5:30
09JUN QF 29 MEL-HKG 2250 0550+1 9:00 744 Y 41K 1:45
10JUN QF 29 HKG-LHR 0735 1330 12:55 744 Y 41K 2:10
10JUN BA 856 LHR-PRG 1540 1850 2:10 322 Y 7F 7:19:45
12JUN Train from Prague to Aachen via Heidelberg, Frankfurt and Cologne
17JUN Train from Aachen to Frankfurt via Cologne
18JUN LH1196 FRA-ZRH 1640 1730 0:50 322 J 1C 5:15 BD First Miles+Cash Redemption
18JUN LX 180 ZRH-BKK 2245 1435+1 10:50 343 F 2K 8:35 BD First Miles+Cash Redemption
19JUN TG 658 BKK-ICN 2305 0630+1 5:25 772 J 11E 6:10 BD First Miles+Cash Redemption
20JUN CX 421 ICN-TPE 0930
TPE-HKG 1345 4:15 772 J 14K 1:00
20JUN CX 919 HKG-MNL 1445 1650 2:05 773 J 14A 3:40
20JUN KA 932 MNL-HKG 2030 2240 2:10 321 J 11A 2:00
21JUN CX 412 HKG-ICN 0040 0515 3:35 333 J 14A 4:20
21JUN TG 659 ICN-BKK 0935 1325 6:30 773 J 12K 5:50 BD First Miles+Cash Redemption
21JUN TG 475 BKK-SYD 1915 0720+1 9:05 346 F 2A 13:45 BD First Miles+Cash Redemption
22JUN QF 556 SYD-BNE 2105 2235 1:30 763 J 1F END QF Business Any Seat Award
* In table above: "Connect" is calculated as the connection time between flights only; it doesn't account for other forms of transport, such as trains.