About this time of year most of the schools are back in around Australia. During the school holidays I got away with the family to the beach. We found our way to Mollymook in New South Wales. It is a beautiful place and my wife especially likes swimming in an area that is protected by rocks. She is not a fan of waves.

This was a great time and we enjoyed our coast holiday. The problem was it was too short. During the Christmas and school holiday period I still had to entertain my daughter while at home. This has made me feel like I still need a holiday. My wife and I will be planning to go away soon on a holiday in Sydney to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Just a few days away without our daugher…


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If you know the feeling of seeing the kids off to school but still feeling exausted maybe you also need to get away for a short holiday just with your special someone. Hopefully that is your wife or husband or at least your partner, not like Tiger Woods…

Some great holiday ideas include a long weekend on the Gold Coast, a couple of days in Melbourne for some shopping. You can also take in a drive along the great ocean road and maybe say hello to the penguins on Phillip Island.

If you are in Sydney maybe a romantic getaway in the Hunter Valley could be for you. Just spend some lazy time tasting wine and enjoying the scenery.

Whatever you decide you can check out the deals available at Zuji.com.au.

I would love to see your comments about where you dream vacation would take place.

To get started I have been fortunate enough to see quite a bit of this planet we live on. Some of my most memorable sights have been the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Great Wall of China and the amazing colours of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef.

I have been to some big sporting events such as the Olympics in Sydney and Beijing. I have also been to the Australian Open on many occasions.

They are just a few of my experiences during my travels. Now as I sit here I am thinking about what my dream destinations are.

Tahiti is always one that comes to mind. The view of Bora Bora from an over water bungalow is something I always dream of seeing. Just sitting on the balcony and relaxing sounds good to me. Then when I am ready to cool off I just step into the spectacular lagoon. Perhaps I would slip on the face mask and snorkel and check out the local fish.

Another place I have always dreamed of visiting is the land of the Great Pyramids in Egypt. The sight of the Great Sphinx of Giza and the nearby pyramids is something high on my list of places to visit.

Something else I dream of is to do a Grand Slam of Tennis tour. If money was no object I would take in all of the Grand Slam tournaments in the same year. First of course I would visit Melbourne the home of the Australian Open tennis. While in Melbourne I would head over to Phillip Island to see the penguins. I would also take a drive along the Great Ocean road and then I would let my wife loose in Melbourne to do some shopping.

To fill in some time between the Australian Open in late January and the French Open in May I would go on a cruise going the long way around to Europe. I of course would be in no hurry. I would plan to arrive in Europe in early April and then take in the sights of Italy, maybe even learn a bit of Italian cooking. Once the tennis is about to begin I would arrive in Paris. I of course would do some sight-seeing and take some romantic walks along the river Seine with my wife.

After the French Open it would leave me some time to see a bit more of Europe before skipping over to London to take in Wimbledon. I would spend at least a day on Henman Hill or is that now Murray’s Mound. Hopefully some Aussies would go ok at the tennis to add to the atmosphere.

Next it would be time to head over to the USA. Here I would land in Los Angeles. Next it would be time to pickup the luxury RV and then start cruising. First off I would head up the Californian coastline then keep going north up to Canada. I would then come back down and check out Yosemite before heading across to Las Vegas. From there it is the Grand Canyon and plenty of sights inbetween there and my final destination New York.

Now it is time for a bit more tennis and then perhaps another cruise back to Australia.

That is just some of what I am dreaming about. If only money was no object you could really enjoy yourself. I would need a personal assistant to take care of all of the travel bookings or maybe I could just do it all online. It would be fun trying.

Now over to you. Where would you go if money was no object and you could live out your dream vacation. Love to read about it below.

A while back Beijing flights were disrupted by thick pollution. Now a more pleasant disruption has been provided by mother nature. Heavy snow falls in the Beijing area have seen at least 200 flights canceled or delayed.

Some parts of Beijing received 12 centimeters of snow making it some of the heaviest snowfalls for quite some time. The timing was spot on as most people could stay at home and enjoy the snow due to the New Year holiday.

Monday’s forecast for Beijing was for a low of minus 19 Celsius.

The photo at left was taken Sunday night in Beijing just near the famous landmark of the Drum Tower.

The Drum Tower is just one of many attractions you could visit while in Beijing.

If you are looking to book a longhaul flight with Qantas you had better get in quick. On 18 December 2009 prices are set to increase.

Here are the details for the airfare increases

First class fares will increase by up to 3% for the following markets: United Kingdom/Europe, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Africa

Business class fares will increase by up to 3% for the following markets: Japan, United Kingdom/Europe, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Africa, Indonesia and Philippines

Premium Economy class fares will increase by up to 5% for the following markets: North America, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, United Kingdom/Europe

Economy class fares will increase by up to 5% for the following markets: Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Honolulu, South America, Singapore, Thailand, Africa, North America, United Kingdom/Europe

Air quality in Beijing is a problem at the best of times. When it gets bad you are lucky to see 100 metres on occasion. Yesterday in Beijing it was so bad that poor visibility delayed about 280 domestic and international flights serving Beijing.

This news came from the capital’s airport and follows several days of heavy air pollution. According to a statement from the airport visibility in Beijing was reduced to as little as 50m. The flight delays were not limited to Beijing. It was at least fog that caused delays from the main airport in Chengdu. According to Xinhua reports 105 flight were delayed stranding more than 10 000 passengers.

If you are interested in reading about air quality measurements regarding Beijing there is a twitter feed that you can check out. It does not make pleasant reading at the moment. The current readout is saying air quality is very unhealthy.

Air quality is a big issue and it is something China is keen to address at the upcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen.

I remember each time I have flown in or out of the Beijing international airport that nearly on every occasion visibility was very poor. When compared to what you could see when taking off or landing at other airports around the world it is very different. The airplane would very quickly dissapear into the pollution haze.

Last month Delta Air Lines announced the addition of direct flights to Beijing from Seattle which will take effect in the summer of 2010.

Delta will fly to Beijing from Seattle five times per week. The first flights are scheduled to commence on June 4.

Delta Air Lines will schedule flights to Beijing so that they have convenient connections with other Delta flights and their partner Alaska Airlines.

The airline also announced new flights to Osaka, Japan and Amsterdam, The Netherlands also to start in June 2010.

The Beijing flights will be serviced by Boeing 767-300 aircraft as will flights to Osaka. Flights to Amsterdam will use both 767-300 and Airbus A330-300 jets.

You can read about the best time for Beijing flights at the feature article on this site.

Ryanair are not happy with how an episode of the BBC’s Panorama program has portrayed them. To hit back at the allegations they have decided to give away 100 000 per false claim that was made on the show.

According to Ryanair there were 11 in total so that means over one million free seats on their flights. These will be truly free tickets as there will be now taxes or charges.

Here is the news release from Ryanair.

Ryanair, Britain’s favourite airline, today (Tue 13th Oct) released 1.1million FREE seats after BBC Panorama screened its ‘hatchet job’ on Ryanair last evening in which it uncovered – nothing, nada, rien, diddly squat. Ryanair criticised Panorama for its refusal of Ryanair’s offer of a live or uncut pre-recorded interview with Michael O’Leary, but this refusal isn’t surprising given that Panorama had no real case or valid points which would stand up to interview.

Last night Panorama made 11 false or misleading claims as follows:

1. Panorama featured check in problems at Stansted one weekend in August with no mention of the fact that on the other 32 weekends since web check-in was introduced Ryanair has seen no problems whatsoever at Stansted or the other 150 airports Ryanair operates from.

2. Panorama quoted a “Which” magazine survey which has no basis in reality whatsoever since “Which” continue to nominate British Airways as Britain’s favourite airline despite the fact that three times more passengers prefer Ryanair.

3. Panorama claimed that Ryanair charges £5 to all passengers for web check-in but omitted that more than half of Ryanair’s passengers avoid this fee by booking Ryanair’s promotional fares (which include free web check-in).

4. Panorama interviewed a ‘website usability expert’, who claimed that ryanair.com was designed to force passengers to buy Ryanair travel insurance. Panorama hid the fact that over 96% of Ryanair passengers decline travel insurance, which clearly confirms that this ‘website usability expert’ was clueless.

5. Panorama produced a ‘Professor of Corporate Reputation’ to suggest that ‘people feel cheated’ by Ryanair – which is clearly false when over 66 million passengers this year will choose to fly Ryanair because they feel cheated by BA’s and Easyjet’s high fares.

6. Panorama claimed that Ryanair’s 25 minute turnaround was a ‘record time’. This is false since Southwest Airlines in the US operates a 15 minute turnaround.

7. A Panorama actor claimed that cabin crew would not get a contract if they didn’t meet their targets at the end of the day or year. Totally false.

8. Panorama claimed that cabin crew pay £2,000 to train and qualify as cabin crew but conveniently omitted that these payments were not paid to Ryanair.

9. Another Panorama actor claimed Ryanair had ‘no respect or dignity for pilots or cabin crew’ – this is a false claim put about by the British Airways pilots’ union. Respect and dignity in Ryanair come in the form of high pay, rapid promotion and job security – unlike at BA where pilots are facing job cuts and pay cuts.

10. Panorama falsely claimed that no food or drinks are provided to cabin crew without pointing out that each pilot and cabin crew member receives a food allowance on every flight to pay for their own food and drinks.

11. Panorama claimed that “O’Leary is a bully” – this is clearly false when the whole world knows that O’Leary is a kind and gentle, caring and thoughtful, sensitive and saintly human being widely beloved by all Ryanair’s 6,500 people and its 66m passengers.

To celebrate the total failure of BBC Panorama’s hatchet job, Ryanair has today released 1.1million free seats – 100,000 for each of the 11 above lies or false claims made by Panorama last night.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said,

“Last night’s programme was more Bananarama than Panorama. The BBC had no case, no facts and no clue. The only benefit it provided to viewers was the 1.1million free seats Ryanair will give away as a result of its false claims.

66 million passengers know that flying Ryanair guarantees the lowest fares, the best punctuality, no check-in queues and the pleasure of joining the Michael O’Leary fan club. Ryanair’s 1.1million free seats, for travel in November and December, are now available on www.ryanair.com and we urge passengers to snap them up.”

Going on a flight to Beijing from Washington DC? Here is some background information to enjoy as a video.

Beijing flights from the capital of the USA only started in 2007. Before that people in Washington DC were forced to fly via Chicago or New York or other options out of the USA to Beijing.

This came as a surprise to me as I expected that there would be flights to Beijing from Washington DC a long time before that. The Chinese don’t won’t too much competition for local airlines so they restrict the number of flights that can go direct to China.

If you are thinking of going to Beijing and want to read about finding cheap flights to Beijing read the related article on this site.

I have used a new service to create the video. Some feedback would be appreciated.

In my previous post I mentioned the American Airways frequent flyer program and how they are offering double points until mid-December.

Not to be outdone, US Airways have announced a promotion that allows their frequent flyers the fastest and easiest way to get Preferred status.

For flights between 1 October and December 25, 2009 you need just 7,500 miles or 10 segments to earn Silver Preferred status. 15,000 miles or 20 segments sees you earn Gold Preferred status. You can reach the top level with 30,000 miles or 40 segments. That will give you Chairman’s Preferred status.

In case you are wondering what the benefits are of reaching elite status here are some of the perks.

If you are Silver Preferred you could receive an upgrade to First Class if an upgrade become available. You’re able to reserve select exit-row seats and Choice Seats at no additional cost. You are also exempt from first and second checked bag fees.

Just looking at the current fee schedule for checked bags the Silver Preferred status can save you over $50 if you had two bags to check-in.

That is only a sampling of the benefits of reaching Preferred status. For further details regarding this promotion and the benefits of the different Preferred status levels visit US Airways.

If you fly American Airlines and are not in the Frequent Flyer American Airlines program they are giving you plenty of reasons to join.

The airline is offering double miles elite on all American Airlines flights.  To join just visit their website and use the code ELTRW to join.

If you do get into the American Airlines Frequent Flyer program and like flying you could look at doing some weekend flights to build up your points.

One good way to build up frequent flyer points is to add stopovers for a direct flight. For example Detroit (DTW) to Los Angeles (LAX) could pick you up a nice lot of miles at a cheap airfare. If you throw in Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) to Memphis (MEM) you can earn some extra miles from flying north-south along the way.

You of course have to be someone who loves flying to do all that just to be building up your points, but in the long run if that is something you can afford to do it is worthwhile.

The Frequent Flyer American Airlines offer ends in December so take action now.