Mileage earning opportunity of the year? Gotta be the Tesco’s Triumvirate – Life Insurance, Palmiers and Laurent-Perrier! Close runner up being the 250 miles for OLCI…..

Best value flight of the year (excluding awards)? Going to SFO in F, and back in J, having paid £638 for WT+ - all courtesy of Shazza after BAEC screwed up my booking and I sent a little complaint letter

Special offer of the year (non-flight)? Hmmm – probably the regular batches of HEx upgrade vouchers which I seem to be being sent – I’ve had (and used) at least 12 in ’04.

Biggest f***-up of the year? Getting stranded in Edinburgh during the light fluttering of snow at the end of January – not only did I have no overnight kit etc, but I had to stay at a 5* hotel which had no hot water at 04:15 in the morning (The George Intercontinental, since you ask )

Biggest pain in the derriere mileage partner? Hertz – sometimes lots of miles, sometimes none – neither rhyme nor reason to it.

Biggest let down of the year? The Intercontinental in Frankfurt – I’ve stayed in Holiday Inn’s which were nicer (the room appeared as I envisage the inside of a Travelodge might appear...), more pleasantly staffed and less useless. Hmmmm – maybe Intercontinental and I are just not meant to be….. And the fact that I’ve missed out on every single BAEC bonus miles promotion

Best flight of the year? See the F leg of the best value flight above. Second place goes to being the only pax in CE on the way back from SOF – so well looked after!

Worst flight of the year? Any of the 06:35’s from EDI to LCY over the year – far too early a start to be remotely enjoyable.

Best travel discovery of the year (physical)? Attending FT do’s! Having sat on the sidelines and toyed with the idea of attending, I finally took the plunge in July – and met some of the most fantastic, friendly, outgoing people I know.

Best travel discovery of the year (non-physical)? Nothing comes to mind really.

Hotel of the year? UK – The Glasshouse, Edinburgh – great rooms, great rate and good staff (plus an honesty bar… – hic! ). Overseas: Ritz-Carlton Bahrain – stunning grounds, great service and quality poolside totty

Weirdest travel experience of the year? Hehe – much like Jenbel, a very short trip to BRU. And flying over Baghdad and the east of Iraq en route to BAH – made even more amusing by the fact that the sky map referred to “Iraq” as Mesopotamia

Achievements of the year: Hitting Silver qualifying levels twice, and finally completing my traverse of the BA Cabins, having now ticked off: Concorde, First, NCW, WT+, WT, CE, ET, Shuttle

Worst travel experience of the year? A 2 day excursion to Frankfurt turning into 7 day trudge. Or possibly the two hours biting nails in the lounge at SFO before Shazza’s promise of an up***** came good (see above!)

Regret of the year? None really – it’s been a good year for travel!

Do of the year Has to be my very first back in July. Even though I’ve been subjected to allegations of teuchterism and much worse since….

Thing I'm looking forward to in 2005? Hopefully a bit more long-haul travel, certainly more FT do’s, and exploring a bit more of the BA route network!