BAEC FlyerTalk Trip Report of the Year competition 2012
Mar 1, 2013, 9:39 am
#61
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, LH Sen, MUCCI, Junior Jet Club.
Posts: 8,101
Thanks everyone, it's a real honour to win such an award. I really enjoyed making it and I encourage you all to do the same. http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/what-is.html is a good start.
Mar 1, 2013, 11:52 am
#63
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: NYC, SLC, LAX
Programs: AA EXP, UA Plat
Posts: 3,951
Make it fun! And awesome! And entertaining. And with good pictures. And with nice descriptions.
Mar 1, 2013, 12:46 pm
#64
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: LON, RUH and DXB
Programs: BA Bronze, GF, EK, WY
Posts: 2,607
There is an excellent sticky in the TR forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ip-report.html.
The only consistent theme appears to be that nobody can agree on what makes a great TR. This is a familiar feeling ...
The only consistent theme appears to be that nobody can agree on what makes a great TR. This is a familiar feeling ...
Mar 2, 2013, 11:46 am
#66
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: LON, RUH and DXB
Programs: BA Bronze, GF, EK, WY
Posts: 2,607
Winner of the First Time Trip Report 2012
We set this category up in order to make it a bit easier for someone new to FlyerTalk or Trip Reporting to get some visibility in this competition. In the end the short listed nominations were: CreativeBill and Dandan87027
Now admittedly CreativeBill starts with quite a few advantages. This was one extraordinary party experience, involving many FT regulars, going on an awayday to Seoul. This very detailed and collaborative trip report has been put together with a high degree of professionalism and very successfully gets over the many, many facets of this event. We were a bit concerned that it wasn't completed by the end of the year, and indeed this is a downside to big trip reports, but as one of us pointed out, it doesn't stop us from enjoying Schubert. Great photos, action shots and all, good layout and first class writing. It really conveys a strong impression of what it was like on that mad trip to South Korea.
So this was perhaps not a typical example of a debut trip report. No such reservations apply to Dan87027's report on a Club World Christmas in Dubai. This had a good respresentation of the things that we were looking for, in terms of pictures, commentary and indeed a good description of what to expect in Dubai itself. It will be a great help to other travellers destined to that part of the world. There is a lot of detail on the Club World product too. So we liked this report and congratulate its author.
However in the end we felt that the winner absolutely had to be CreativeBill. A fantastic, many layered Trip Report, and one of the best out there. Her report is outstanding and is our winner for 2012.
Tomorrow we unveil the overall winner of the Trip Report of the year.
Best wishes from all the BAEC Ambassadors
BahrainLad, corporate-wage-slave, dave_c, dunk, DWFI and Stez.
We set this category up in order to make it a bit easier for someone new to FlyerTalk or Trip Reporting to get some visibility in this competition. In the end the short listed nominations were: CreativeBill and Dandan87027
Now admittedly CreativeBill starts with quite a few advantages. This was one extraordinary party experience, involving many FT regulars, going on an awayday to Seoul. This very detailed and collaborative trip report has been put together with a high degree of professionalism and very successfully gets over the many, many facets of this event. We were a bit concerned that it wasn't completed by the end of the year, and indeed this is a downside to big trip reports, but as one of us pointed out, it doesn't stop us from enjoying Schubert. Great photos, action shots and all, good layout and first class writing. It really conveys a strong impression of what it was like on that mad trip to South Korea.
So this was perhaps not a typical example of a debut trip report. No such reservations apply to Dan87027's report on a Club World Christmas in Dubai. This had a good respresentation of the things that we were looking for, in terms of pictures, commentary and indeed a good description of what to expect in Dubai itself. It will be a great help to other travellers destined to that part of the world. There is a lot of detail on the Club World product too. So we liked this report and congratulate its author.
However in the end we felt that the winner absolutely had to be CreativeBill. A fantastic, many layered Trip Report, and one of the best out there. Her report is outstanding and is our winner for 2012.
Tomorrow we unveil the overall winner of the Trip Report of the year.
Best wishes from all the BAEC Ambassadors
BahrainLad, corporate-wage-slave, dave_c, dunk, DWFI and Stez.
Last edited by dunk; Mar 2, 2013 at 3:32 pm Reason: spelling error
Mar 2, 2013, 1:41 pm
#67
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bristol, UK
Programs: HH D, Rad VIP, Marriott G
Posts: 5,359
Well done CreativeBill ^
The description of Dandan87027's report will make me go and read it even though I am unlikely to venture to Dubai...looking forward to reading that.
I look forward to reading many more reports from both of you in the future and thank you for taking the time to do them. ^
Thanks to the Ambassadors for taking the time to decide this impossible task as well...You're stars :-:
The description of Dandan87027's report will make me go and read it even though I am unlikely to venture to Dubai...looking forward to reading that.
I look forward to reading many more reports from both of you in the future and thank you for taking the time to do them. ^
Thanks to the Ambassadors for taking the time to decide this impossible task as well...You're stars :-:
Mar 2, 2013, 3:37 pm
#68
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: LON, RUH and DXB
Programs: BA Bronze, GF, EK, WY
Posts: 2,607
The report is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...lub-world.html, and you should try Dubai once ...
My thanks to origin for the heads-up ^
Mar 2, 2013, 3:58 pm
#69
Join Date: May 2012
Location: London
Posts: 442
Thank you
Wow, thanks very much to our judges for the accolade. 
At the risk of resembling Gwyneth Paltrow for the first and only time in my life (and try to imagine this without the blubbing), I do definitely need to thank my co-contributors PETER01, BotB, nh1980 and Stez for their input. Particular thanks goes to the outstanding photography of papabear and nickyjames. And a special mention for BAPilotInsider, without whom, none of this would be possible.
Most of all, I'd like to thank the entire crew of FTers that joined the jaunt and made it such a fun story to tell.
I promise to finish it soon(ish). I may continue to wait for the final thoughts of the troupe, or I may well go ahead and just make the last bits up
.
I shall buy you all a drink next time we meet, or if we are in a lounge, I'll buy you two.
*Curtsies clumsily and exits stage left*
At the risk of resembling Gwyneth Paltrow for the first and only time in my life (and try to imagine this without the blubbing), I do definitely need to thank my co-contributors PETER01, BotB, nh1980 and Stez for their input. Particular thanks goes to the outstanding photography of papabear and nickyjames. And a special mention for BAPilotInsider, without whom, none of this would be possible.
Most of all, I'd like to thank the entire crew of FTers that joined the jaunt and made it such a fun story to tell.
I promise to finish it soon(ish). I may continue to wait for the final thoughts of the troupe, or I may well go ahead and just make the last bits up
.I shall buy you all a drink next time we meet, or if we are in a lounge, I'll buy you two.
*Curtsies clumsily and exits stage left*
Mar 2, 2013, 4:12 pm
#70
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Scotland & London
Programs: BA GGL, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Mucci des Salons Ouvrants
Posts: 3,026
Congrats CreativeBill^
I think that it is a trip report that will be forever in FT folklore
Now I await the next category results with eager anticipation!
aks120
I think that it is a trip report that will be forever in FT folklore
Now I await the next category results with eager anticipation!
aks120
Mar 3, 2013, 3:05 am
#73
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,146
May I add my congratulations to CreativeBill? The introduction alone set the scene for what turned out to be an extraordinary piece of written and photographic work!
Mar 3, 2013, 8:37 am
#74
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 10,155
Congratulations Bahraid Lad for what was indeed a very enjoyable video TR and I hope we will see some more BA ones from you and others in the future. ^
CreativeBill Very well done for what was not only your first and very humorous TR but a mammoth task at that. Such an enjoyable event/trip/company etc and a huge thanks for putting it all together with some very fine contributions of photographs especially Papabear and NickyJames as well as your own of course ^ A very worthy winner.
Good luck to all this evening for the overall winner and here's hoping for many more BA related TR's for 2013 in all shapes and sizes, locations etc.
(my money, in my humble opinion, is on possibly having joint winners of matthandy or SFO777 or an extremely close 1st and 2nd between them. Both were exceptional TR's ^^
CreativeBill Very well done for what was not only your first and very humorous TR but a mammoth task at that. Such an enjoyable event/trip/company etc and a huge thanks for putting it all together with some very fine contributions of photographs especially Papabear and NickyJames as well as your own of course ^ A very worthy winner.
Good luck to all this evening for the overall winner and here's hoping for many more BA related TR's for 2013 in all shapes and sizes, locations etc.
(my money, in my humble opinion, is on possibly having joint winners of matthandy or SFO777 or an extremely close 1st and 2nd between them. Both were exceptional TR's ^^
Mar 4, 2013, 12:00 pm
#75
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland
Programs: BA gold
Posts: 3,902
BAEC FlyerTalk Trip Report of the Year 2012 - the winner!
So Ladies and Gentlemen, we finally now have the result of the Trip Report of the Year 2012.
But first we would like to share some of our thoughts on the finalists. In no particular order...
CreativeBill's TR of course won the First Timer report the other day. But it was so good that some judges felt that it was a strong contender for overall TR of the year as well as, or instead of, the First Timer report.
On the other hand, Matthandy was last year's winner and has a clutch of excellent TRs under his belt. 2012 was no exception and it was no surprise that his trip to Hong Kong (and elsewhere) was right up there in terms of quality of production, design, good writing, and superlative photography. It's quite tricky to get details without descending into excess verbiage and Matthandy always gets the balance spot on.
Alongside Matthandy, PETER01 is another old hand at the TR game, he had two up for contention, and we decided to focus on the Australia trip. Many people heading that way will read PETER01's report with interest, and enjoy the large array of photographs, from both the flight and Australia. You can sense the author's excitement and enjoyment. This was a TR that we very much liked and made it through to the final round of debate among the judges.
Many of us were impressed by the report from SFO777. He could never be accused of showing excess favouritism to British Airways. Nevertheless his trip report had in it something that many other TRs lacked: analysis and commentary. It's definitely one of our highlighted TRs on the year and well worth a re-visit to enjoy the high quality writing and photographs. It is also unusual in being a British Airways TR that started and ended somewhere other than London.
Which bring us on to ContinentalClub's unusual report on the delivery of BA 777 aircraft STBF from Seattle to Cardiff. This is certainly a unique report for a very special occasion. The photos convey a story more than a simple trip, with a wonderful to read narrative to back it up. For many of us, this would be literally the trip of a lifetime, something that money cannot buy. ContinentalClub's TR therefore utterly fulfilled one very important criteria: allowing the reader to feel in some way or other part of this amazing experience.
After considerable debate the Ambassadors are united in awarding the BAEC Forum's Trip Report of 2012 to ContinentalClub. Many congratulations are in order and we thank the author for sharing this excellent story.
===========
Also mentioned in dispatches, for related reasons, were the reports from EightBlack and PanGalactic. EightBlack's Hunter S. Thompson style is very effective in getting a good gonzo belly laugh. He also has an interesting way of juxtaposing travel time with thread timing, to give a sense of a slow motion car crash narrowly averted. Only PanGalatic can screw up a simple trip to Amsterdam, and in one short trip he managed to skirt his way around more disasters than some of us in a lifetime of flying. A very different Trip Report than many on here, and very readable.
We also want to salute the affectionate and very human TR of noniron and his wife to the USA, and making excellent use of Avios and the companion voucher system along the way. zanskar had a certain advantage in that his trip report focused on Oman, a favourite destination of several ambassadors - the Trip Report gives excellent reportage of that wonderful country.
Then there is RB211's report on a trip home from SFO to LHR. A short report but long on warmth, with a focus on good customer service from BA staff. concorde02's report was an around the world tour, from Vancouver to Seattle, via South Africa and Asia, with BA featuring in some of the sectors. The sheer love of travel comes over in spades of affection. Finally we should mention one of our long suffering Mods, our very own Swedish House Mafiosa, Petrus. He was on the same trip as ContinentalClub and his TR gives an excellent set of additional photos from that extraordinary event.
=====
We know trip reports take a long time to produce and require considerable efforts. We conclude by expressing our thanks to everyone who wrote a trip report in 2012 and we hope there will be plenty more to read in 2013. It has been a privilege for us to judge this competition and we have very much enjoyed the opportunity.
Best wishes from all the BAEC Ambassadors
BahrainLad, corporate-wage-slave, dave_c, dunk, DWFI and Stez.
But first we would like to share some of our thoughts on the finalists. In no particular order...
CreativeBill's TR of course won the First Timer report the other day. But it was so good that some judges felt that it was a strong contender for overall TR of the year as well as, or instead of, the First Timer report.
On the other hand, Matthandy was last year's winner and has a clutch of excellent TRs under his belt. 2012 was no exception and it was no surprise that his trip to Hong Kong (and elsewhere) was right up there in terms of quality of production, design, good writing, and superlative photography. It's quite tricky to get details without descending into excess verbiage and Matthandy always gets the balance spot on.
Alongside Matthandy, PETER01 is another old hand at the TR game, he had two up for contention, and we decided to focus on the Australia trip. Many people heading that way will read PETER01's report with interest, and enjoy the large array of photographs, from both the flight and Australia. You can sense the author's excitement and enjoyment. This was a TR that we very much liked and made it through to the final round of debate among the judges.
Many of us were impressed by the report from SFO777. He could never be accused of showing excess favouritism to British Airways. Nevertheless his trip report had in it something that many other TRs lacked: analysis and commentary. It's definitely one of our highlighted TRs on the year and well worth a re-visit to enjoy the high quality writing and photographs. It is also unusual in being a British Airways TR that started and ended somewhere other than London.
Which bring us on to ContinentalClub's unusual report on the delivery of BA 777 aircraft STBF from Seattle to Cardiff. This is certainly a unique report for a very special occasion. The photos convey a story more than a simple trip, with a wonderful to read narrative to back it up. For many of us, this would be literally the trip of a lifetime, something that money cannot buy. ContinentalClub's TR therefore utterly fulfilled one very important criteria: allowing the reader to feel in some way or other part of this amazing experience.
After considerable debate the Ambassadors are united in awarding the BAEC Forum's Trip Report of 2012 to ContinentalClub. Many congratulations are in order and we thank the author for sharing this excellent story.
===========
Also mentioned in dispatches, for related reasons, were the reports from EightBlack and PanGalactic. EightBlack's Hunter S. Thompson style is very effective in getting a good gonzo belly laugh. He also has an interesting way of juxtaposing travel time with thread timing, to give a sense of a slow motion car crash narrowly averted. Only PanGalatic can screw up a simple trip to Amsterdam, and in one short trip he managed to skirt his way around more disasters than some of us in a lifetime of flying. A very different Trip Report than many on here, and very readable.
We also want to salute the affectionate and very human TR of noniron and his wife to the USA, and making excellent use of Avios and the companion voucher system along the way. zanskar had a certain advantage in that his trip report focused on Oman, a favourite destination of several ambassadors - the Trip Report gives excellent reportage of that wonderful country.
Then there is RB211's report on a trip home from SFO to LHR. A short report but long on warmth, with a focus on good customer service from BA staff. concorde02's report was an around the world tour, from Vancouver to Seattle, via South Africa and Asia, with BA featuring in some of the sectors. The sheer love of travel comes over in spades of affection. Finally we should mention one of our long suffering Mods, our very own Swedish House Mafiosa, Petrus. He was on the same trip as ContinentalClub and his TR gives an excellent set of additional photos from that extraordinary event.
=====
We know trip reports take a long time to produce and require considerable efforts. We conclude by expressing our thanks to everyone who wrote a trip report in 2012 and we hope there will be plenty more to read in 2013. It has been a privilege for us to judge this competition and we have very much enjoyed the opportunity.
Best wishes from all the BAEC Ambassadors
BahrainLad, corporate-wage-slave, dave_c, dunk, DWFI and Stez.