Leaving on a jet plane (again) (again)

Despite having four huge bags of stuff (and a brace of umbrellas) checking in this morning was pretty pain free. Apart from the five dollar fee to use a luggage trolley, which rankles every time. Perhaps JFK has a big problem with people stealing luggage trolleys. Perhaps JFK has a big problem with not charging people for absolutely everything it can think of.

Getting The Fear

Today has been a series of terrors for me. It started with the trilling of the telephone in my room, striking fear into my heart. But I shouldn't have been scared; it wasn't the end of the world, just time to get out of bed. Which is sort of the end of the world, but with fresh pancakes.

More air travel hijinks

As I wrote yesterday, this week there have been two separate incidents where a Qantas jet flying out of Singapore has suffered engine failure and had to return to land there. That must have been horrible: imagine being in that plane, not being able to get away from Singapore.

Flying to Taipei from Hong Kong

It's ever-so-slightly cheaper to fly with Dragonair than Cathay Pacific (if you care for saving fifty Hong Kong dollars after you've spent two hours flicking back and forth between websites) but I'd forgotten that I'd made my booking with the former, so had to trundle my luggage down to the Dragonair desk, where they tried to upgrade us to the Cathay flight leaving thirty minutes earlier.

China Airlines: What have I done to deserve this?

Travelling with China Airlines from Hong Kong is pleasantly surprising. I booked a cheap 2-day package in Taipei, for a running race tomorrow morning, and when I get to the check-in desk without even asking I'm given access to the lounge, and a seat right up by the front of the plane. This was even before I'd passed them my frequent flyer card; I'm now wondering if China Airlines have decided on a policy of random acts of kindness to passengers.