Travel blog of a digital nomad
I am due to fly to Kuala Lumpur next week with AirAsiaX. I am looking forward to trying out this airline that started flights to Melbourne in 2008. Actually I’m just looking forward to going away, so my heart sank briefly when I got this text message from the airline:
- AirasiaX Text Message -
There is no explanation why this flight is cancelled, but fortunately I’m on the next flight 2 days after.
Heathrow Terminal 5 is fully operational but it hasn’t made Heathrow a better airport. Heathrow was recently voted in yet another aiport poll as the worst in the world. I don’t hate it that much. I find the location is handy and it’s actually one of the most economical airports to get to (£1.50 via the underground train).
The problem with Heathrow is that it’s on a parcel of land that is too small for the airport that Heathrow deserves to be.
My flight from Munich to Heathrow was with British Airways so I got to see the T5 terminal for the first time. My impression of T5 was that it’s a great looking terminal compared to the rest of Heathrow, but surprisingly small. When the flight arrived the landing slots were full so the aircraft was parked on the tarmac nearby and we had to be bussed to the terminal.
[Bus to Heathrow T5]
From T5 I had to connect to a Qantas flight at T4. The terminals are connected by a bus service and the trip is 18 minutes between terminals.
[Qantas at Heathrow T4 and T5 in the background]
The London Airport Dilemma
Even with 5 airports serving the city, Heathrow is the third busiest passenger airport in the world, (and the busiest in Europe). It should have an airport like Hong Kong or Dubai. Instead it has an airport that that began life as an RAF airfield in 1943 and has been expanded over the decades as demand required to the point that it has outgrown its location. There are two runways which aren’t enough and the planned third Heathrow runway hasn’t got past planning.
There are plans for a new London airport, the Thames Estuary Airport, which London mayor Boris Johnson is in favour of considering.
Building a new airport from scratch would be the sensible thing to do, but closing Heathrow and moving the principal airport to the other side of the city is a situation no one wants to make a decision on.
Flight: Ryanair FR6012
Date: 25 Nov 2008
From: Nador (NDR), Morocoo
To: Marseille(MRS), France
When I’m in Europe I always look at the Ryanair map and see if there are any airports near where I’m going to be. It’s a fun map to play with because they have so many destination airports.
[Ryanair Destinations 2008]
I had not heard of Nador before booking this flight. I figured that it looked close enough to Fes, which is where I was ending my Moroccan trip. Nador is near the border of the Spanish Enclave of Melilla.
Ryanair fly from Nador to Marseille, which I had not been to, so it was a logical choice.
Free Seat*
I booked this ticket during one of Ryanair’s many free seat sales*. There is always that conditional asterisk. Free plus taxes and charges. This is the breakdown of the fare, in Moroccan Dirham:
****0.00 MAD Total Fare
***99.00 MAD Taxes, Fees and Charges
**114.00 MAD Passenger Fee: BAG
***57.00 MAD Passenger Fee: Airport Check in
***57.00 MAD Passenger Fee: Debit Card Fee
**327.00 MAD Total Paid (about €29/$42USD at time of booking)
Very cheap, asterisk or not, for a 2 hour flight.
Nador Airport
Nador airport is about 20 kms from Nador and there is no bus, so you can only get there by taxi.
Smoking is something of a national hobby in Morocco. I like how they have a smokers box for those that need it.
[Smokers Box - Nador Airport]
[Aeroport Nador Al Aroui]
Paying for Cheap Flights
Ryanair have introduced in cabin advertising as a way of making more revenue. The overhead bins now offer advertising space.
[In-Cabin Advertising]
How else to offer cheap flights? Sell water for more than you buy fuel.
[Ryanair Drinks]
Before the flight there is an annoying jingle that is played over and over as they spruik duty free goods and lotto tickets. This annoying jingle is now a single: Mr Superfly
[Mr Superfly]
Out The Window
[Spanish Enclave Melilla]
[Sierra Nevada mountain range - Andalucia]
[Over Barcelona]
[Frioul Islands - Where the character in The Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned]
Marseille Airport
Marseille Provence Airport has a terminal for budget airlines, MP2. There is a bus that runs from the airport to central Marseille, for €8.50 (as at Nov 2008).
[MP2 Airport Marseille destinations]
It may come as a surprise to fliers in the west that Iraqi Airways is still open for business. Actually it might come as a surprise that there ever was a national carrier in the first place.
[Iraqi Airways Office - Casablanca]
I saw this office in Casablanca so I naturally had to look up where they fly to. They only fly within the Arab world at the moment, such as to Casablanca, but according to the Iraqi Airways UK site, they will fly to London. The site was last updated in 2006, so don’t book your Baghdad holiday yet.
Flight: easyJet EZY8901
Date: 13 Nov 2008
From: London Gatwick (LGW)
Date: Gibraltar (GIB)
In October 2007 easyJet bought fellow UK carrier GB Airways. Most of the flights operated by GB Airways have since been integrated into the easyjet network. The acquisition meant that easyJet now has rights to fly to Gibraltar.
I am travelling to Morocco and I want to arrive via ferry, so I thought this was a good opportunity to fly to the legendary airport at Gibraltar.
Out of the 5 London airports, I probably like Gatwick the least because it is so expensive to get to. My flight ticket cost me £37 and the train to Gatwick costs £10.
The flight left at 7.30 and checking in with easyJet at Gatwick is relatively painless. They have so many flights out of Gatwick that they have a general check in line and you can check in earlier if you get there before 2 hours.
[Over the South of England]
As this flight was over 2 hours long they showed a movie (Hancock) on the shared screens. It was free providing you brought your own headsets, otherwise you would have had to have bought a pair.
[Airshow]
Gibraltar is a UK Overseas Territory at the bottom of Spain, and on a clear day you can see Africa. It is a tiny little peninsula of land not big enough for a runway, so it extends out over the water.
If you are flying to Gibraltar you will get a great view of the famous Rock if you are sitting on the left hand side of the plane.
[Rock of Gibraltar Landing View]
The runway cuts across a road which is shut down when flight activity is taking place. When you leave the airport the frontier to Spain is next door to the right, so you can walk to the town of La Linea across the border.
[Gibraltar Airport and The Rock]
Flight: Tiger Airways TR 702 Date: 27 Feb 2008
Flight: Tiger Airways TT 7567 Date: 28 Feb 2008
Tiger Airways is a low cost airline based in Singapore, with its primary hub at Singapore Changi Airport. Tiger Airways began operations in 2004 and has since set up Tiger Airways Australia in Melbourne and plan to launch Incheon Tiger Airways based in Seoul in 2009.
[Tiger Airways at Singapore Airport]
Tiger Airways fly from Singapore to Melbourne via Darwin. The flight is with Tiger Airways and Tiger Airways Australia on separate aircraft. Unlike other low cost airlines Tiger facilitate the booking of these separate flight segments in the one booking.
Go to Flight Combo on the Tiger Airways website and you can book two segments in one go. It is important to note that this is two separate flights so your bags are not checked through to the final destination.
Another good feature of the Tiger Airways booking procedure is that you can pick your seat when you book your flight. Oh how I loath the mad scramble for a seat that occurs on low cost airline flights with unallocated seats.
Singapore to Darwin
The entire Tiger Airways fleet consists of Airbus A320 aircraft, thus Tiger only fly within a five-hour radius around Singapore. The flight time from Singapore to Darwin is approximately 4 hours 20 minutes.
As Tiger Airways is a bare minimum no frills airline the onus is on you to keep yourself entertained. There is no TV entertainment and no complimentary meal and drink service.
[Tiger Airways Uniform]
Darwin Airport
In Darwin you must claim your bags and clear Australian customs. Then you must check in again for the Tiger Airways Australia flight from Darwin to Melbourne. Darwin Airport is small enough to make this a simple transfer and there is about 2 hours between the Singapore arrival and the Melbourne departure.
With a population of just over 110,000 people Darwin is a small capital city, even by Australian standards. When you look at a map though of Australia and Southeast Asia Darwin is well situated to be a major hub of air traffic between Australia and Asia. Jetstar have floated this idea recently with a plan to make Darwin a springboard into Asia, and I will revisit this idea in another post.
[Time to spare at a laptop bench - Darwin Airport]
Darwin to Melbourne
The second leg of this flight is with Tiger Airways Australia. Flight time from Darwin to Melbourne is just over 4 hours, leaving Darwin at 2.20am and arriving at Melbourne Tullamarine at 8am. I always forget what a big and empty continent Australia is. Asia seems so far away and exotic to us Aussies. Exotic certainly, but Darwin is much closer to many Asian cities than most other Australian capitals.
Like the flight from Singapore this is a no frills service. Drinks and snacks are available to purchase. Here is a price sample (in Australian Dollars):
Muffins $3
Pot Noodles $4
Coke(250ml) $2.5
Coffee $3
Beer (VB/Hahn) $6
At the moment Tiger Airways Australia only operate in and out of their Melbourne base. They are scouting around for new Australian hubs which should be known sometime in 2008.
[Tiger Airways - Proudly Calling Melbourne Home]
Flight: Jetstar JQ 29
Date: 27 Jan 2008
Jetstar is the low cost airline brand of Qantas. They operate flights from Australia to popular destinations in Asia as well as New Zealand and Hawaii.
[Jetstar at Melbourne Airport]
As Jetstar is a low cost airline it doesn’t have the usual frills of a full service airline such as free food and drink and personal entertainment units.
If you are used to flying long haul flights with full service airlines like Qantas or Thai Airways then flying with a low cost is a step down in the travel experience. What you need to remember is that you are paying for the service of a cheaper flight.
Before you Fly
If you want extra frills onboard you can pre-purchase the following items online when you buy your ticket:
- Buy before you fly and drink free $30 (2 meals and unlimited drink)
- Blanket and amenity pack $7
- Video on demand with headsets $10
If you want to save money on the flight come prepared before you fly. Have a big meal before you go and bring some snacks and you wont need to buy anything onboard.
Onboard
If you didn’t pre-purchase you can buy onboard. A selection of prices include:
- Cadbury Chocolate $3
- Sandwiches $6
- Light meal $10
- Full meal $15
- Beer (375m) $6
- Coffee $3
For entertainment there are video screens onboard that show TV programs and a movie during the flight for free. If you want your own personal video screen with movies on demand then you can still rent it onboard if you didn’t pre-order it online.
This billboard in Melbourne is promoting 167 flights a week to Sydney with Virgin Blue. If you think that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. According to OAG the Sydney to Melbourne air route is the fourth busiest in the world. In 2007 there were 851 flights per week between the two biggest cities in Australia.
[Melbourne - Sydney Virgin Blue advertisement]
For the record, here is the top 10.
Top 10 Busiest Routes Worldwide by Weekly Number of Flights
Barcelona (BCN) <> Madrid (MAD)
Sao Paulo Congonhas (CGH) <> Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont (SDU)
Jeju (CJU) <> Seoul (GMP)
Melbourne (MEL) <> Sydney (SYD)
Cape Town (CPT) <> Johannesburg (JNB)
Mumbai (BOM) <> Delhi (DEL)
Sapporo Chitose (CTS) <> Tokyo Haneda (HND)
Jakarta Soekamo (CGK) <> Hatta Surabaya (SUB)
Honolulu (HNL) <> Kahului (OGG)
Fukuoka (FUK) <> Tokyo Haneda (HND)
It will be interesting to to see the changes in list for 2008. A high speed train line has just been built between Barcelona and Madrid, so they may drop from the top spot eventually. Also watch the rise of the Mumbai and Delhi route.
Aircraft entering Australia are sprayed with pesticide as part of quarantine arrangements.
[Air Spray]
Flight: Viva Macau ZG 9501
Date: 8 Dec 2007
Viva Macau is a low cost airline based in Macau. They currently fly 3 times a week to Sydney.
Viva Macau offer a no frills long haul service so you need to come prepared before you fly, as you will not be fed and entertained like you would on a full service airline.
What they do offer is one of the cheapest flights you will find from Sydney to East Asia. I picked up a sale seat for $199 (one-way) plus taxes, bringing the total to $320 Australian Dollars. I bought this online about one month before flying.
Aircraft
Viva Macau use a Boeing 767 for this route. The seating arrangement is 2-3-2 across.
[Viva Macau seats]
Entertainment
Viva Macau show movies on a projector screen. There are no personal screens. They show an English and Hong Kong film during the flight. Bring your own headphones, otherwise you will need to purchase a set.
Food and Drink
There is no inflight meal service so make sure you have a big meal at the airport or bring enough food. The only hot meal available to purchase was pot noodles. Drinks have to be bought as well.
Currencies accepted include Macau Pataca, Hong Kong, US and Austalian Dollars.
Here is a list of items available for purchase onboard, in Hong Kong Dollars
Blanket 40 HKD
Neck Pillow 20 HKD
Headphones 20 HKD
Coffee 10 HKD
Coke (can) 20 HKD
Heineken (can) 30 HKD
Pot Noodles 30 HKD