Archive for: September 2006

Off season, the views of Mont Blanc etc. are still spectacular.  Warm (28°C) at ground level, but take the Teleferique up to the Aiguille de Midi (36€, two stages, 3,872 m) and it’s a lot colder at the …

Follow the owl (chouette) walk around town, small arrows and owl motifs in the pavement lead you from place to place. Stroke the tiny owl on the side of the Notre Dame church for good luck and to …

As you drive towards Beaune on the Cote d’Or, the village names read like an elite wine list.  In the town itself you can visit the Hotel de Dieu on your own. Wonder through the different rooms where the …

Chablis is not a large place, but there’s no doubt what it’s famous for! However, before you sample the local grape juice, be sure to check out the church with horse shoes hammered on the door and the …

When you visit the church in Vezelay, note the 15 large wooden crosses around the walls. These were brought from the various warring countries after WWII in 1946. There were originally 14, but a 15th was made by …

Troyes, the old political capital of Champagne, isn’t shaped like a champagne cork as far as I can see, I reckon that idea was the product of some tourist marketing man’s over-fertile imagination, but the old town is …

The introduction of the Oystercard for the Underground in London is a lifesaver for the tourist stuck for change, and what’s more, it saves you a bomb on short trips around town. For example, GBP3.00 for a trip …

I spoke too soon yesterday! The lost luggage saga continued until 3:35 pm this afternoon, when my wayward bag finally arrived. But not until I had made numerous calls to Pune in India (although the airport is 16 km away, you can’t ring up BMI there, the airport switchboard is only allowed to give you the number of the Indian Call Centre). Interestingly, the only numbers listed in the UK for BMI other than their Admin HQ in Castle Donnington (switchboard closed on Saturdays) are all Indian numbers!

Our first post on this Europe trip has a happy ending, but didn’t look that way to begin with!

We had a good flight on Singapore Airlines to Singapore, but the SQ flight to the UK was delayed 90 minutes or so for technical reasons (and yes, we were waiting on the plane!). We made up some time, arriving about 40 minutes late at Heathrow Terminal 3, collected our bags and dashed off to our connection in Terminal 1 on BMIBaby to Leeds Bradford airport in the north of England.

Note: Immigration was quick for us, my UK passport allowed my wife Helen (Australian passport) to come with me through the UK/EU immigration gate.

Customs was a walk-through. Getting from Terminal 3 to 1 is a 10-15 minute trolley push. When you come off the last travelator you have to double back for about twenty metres to find the trolley route to the Terminal – it’s a bit of a push uphill! You arrive in the arrivals hall, so for departures take the lift on the left up one floor.

BMIBaby uses e-tickets, you go to one of the many machines at their check-in area and follow the prompts. We identified ourselves by a Kris Flyer frequent flyer card (you’re asked to put in your frequent flyer memberships when you make the booking, or we could have used the credit card used to make the booking) and the tickets were printed out. Then we dropped off our check-in bags at the counter and continued to Security.

Note: Security for UK flights is a bit all over the place at the moment. There are instructions on the Heathrow and Airline sites, but not all personnel on the ground seem to be up to speed. For example, you can theoretically take a lipstick on board but after the first security check a woman checking the boarding passes was telling everyone that no cosmetics of any kind were allowed, much to the distress of a few ladies. Some airline crew personnel who were passing told us that a lipstick was permissible, and  I might add that at the next security x-ray check Helen had no problem with her eyeshadow.

The BMIBaby 1 hour flight to Leeds Bradford was not crowded and the cabin crew pleasant; it was also the first airline I have travelled on where I could have bought a toasted (fried) bacon sandwich “with Heinz Tomato Ketchup” as a snack!