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Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Standby Purgatory
Topic: North America

 
    Mick’s off to the U.S, Maria to Bali, Blox to a cruise, and me to work 20 min away.  A couple of days of work before Christmas, is still keeping me busy in May. That’s ok, I did lots of travelling last year, someone has to keep the country going.


“Bing“ My daughter’s turning thirty in two weeks, 268 Thorpe Rd Jackson Ga.

Bugger, 

Georgia is on the far side of the U.S. Two weeks isn’t much notice. On google flights the airfare is four grand, and did I mention trying to finish a job for four people, with only two of us.  I can’t do everything, I text my mate and politely tell him the airfare is too much. Did I mention he worked for an Airline. That’s why I’m standing here at an airline desk with no idea of what I’m doing. I sort of have an an airfare. A Buddy pass is a   benefit of slaving away at an airline for thirty years. You pay the tax, they provide the plane. Down side is you only get a seat if no one else is willing to pay for it. I get a seat request, it’s a sort of boarding pass that gets you through customs. Then you hurry up and wait. The plane is pretty full, but is it completely  full? Finally they announce standby is cleared. I change my seat request for a boarding pass. I’ve got the last seat in the  plane, back left hand corner. Still better than hanging out in Sydney for another night. Once I hit LaLa land, I’m also the last off. This means I’m at the back of a mile long customs que. Result, by the time I get through, I miss my next flight. No problems it’s standby. Back to the Delta desk. Every thing looks pretty full, but after a couple of hours in standby purgatory, I jag the last seat to Atlanta again. Back left hand corner here we come.
    My mate picks me up from ATL airport. The parties in two days. I play Sparkie, and stack esky’s with beer. We are in rural Georgia. I live in a nanny state where every thing is banned. Here every one drives 20 miles an hour over the speed limit while texting, and guns are the only thing that don’t have child proof locks. The party is a big success, Victoria is surprised when her favourite nineties band Kracker appears. We go boating on the lake, then let off fire works.
   Back to the Delta desk. After the last LA fiasco, I’ve  decided I need a bit more change over time, so I head to the airport for an earlier flight. Once again things are pretty full, but I jag the second last seat. The gate guy sees  I’m on a buddy pass, and gives me a window seat. I’m no longer at the back of the plane. So far so good. In LA I waste a couple of hours walking  to IN and OUT burger,and watching the planes fly overhead. Flight time. Even better there are seventy seven seats free seats on the plane. I’m going to make this one. Standbys cleared. There are fourteen of us, we all get upgraded. Layback seats and more movies. Ye Ha !.
        Standby travel is probably not for people who like certainty, but that probably cancels out most travel anyhow.  Thanks Mark, and Delta for the flights, it was fun.

Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM NZT
Updated: Wednesday, 24 May 2023 1:22 AM NZT
Saturday, 11 February 2023
TDU part two
Topic: Australia
HTML tutorial

         I first went to ride the Tour Down Under years ago. In brief some how I ended up with two triathletes, and a nutter who likes riding up hills. Well I’m back again, hopefully smarter, and with more mentally well balanced people. Adelaide is a nice days drive, from Melbourne. We stop at Yellow Expresso in Ballarat for breakfast, followed by plenty of stops try out some of the worlds greatest pies and vanilla slices along the Western Highway. If you don’t put on a least a kilo in carbo loading on the way there your not trying. 
      Our first stop is not Adelaide but Victor Harbour, a lovely little town, where the race is finishing the next day. Accommodation is at the 60’s motel in the middle of town, Maria sources dinner at the local Mexican. The next day we send Ern off to find some hills while Mick and I ride off in search of local coffee. We end up at an outside pub table five meters from the finish line. Love to stay here, but there’s work to do. Next stop Adelaide.
        Tom’s Hotel is new, and two minutes walk from the market, and the race village in the middle of town. Our food guide organises dinner at the local Indian. It’s must be good, because they have bats signed by every Indian touring cricket team for the last thirty years on display. Penfolds Estate for a long breakfast. Here we meet with some of the team sponsors to get a bit of inside info. Good things can’t last forever, and I’m finally forced onto the bike, and stupidly ride up something called corkscrew road. We see the boys do their stuff, then roll backdown into town. Dinner at the market, after a bit of rehydration at race central, listening to the riders talk about the day.
      I’d love to go riding the next day but I have to do breakfast with a friend. The others head off somewhere on the bikes, while I sleep in. Charlotte and I solve the world’s problems over bacon and eggs, 20 feet from the hotel. That arvo, more insights over beers at race central, then Maria sources us excelente Chinese at Gouger St. 
       Time to leave our home away from home Toms. Maria sensibly flies home to go partying. Ern sets off to ride up to Mount lofty. Mick and I jump in the car and drive up the hill to Crafters. It’s the last day of racing and the boys are doing a couple of different loops around the hills.  This means you can get to see the race go past multiple times from different places with just a little bit of riding. Crafters has a good bakery, with a fine vanilla slice, and an excellent view of the race. Jay Vine the Aussie wins. 
      Mission accomplished we stop in Handoff for the biggest bratwurst I have ever seen. With our Culinary guide gone our standards drop, and it’s dim sims at Horsham on the way home.

That's all folks  007


Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM EADT
Updated: Sunday, 12 February 2023 4:25 PM EADT
Friday, 2 December 2022
The Great Ocean Road
Topic: Australia
GVBR

 Click the pic
 
       The Great Victorian Bike Ride takes 5000 riders 500 KM around Victoria every year. I did a couple in the late 90's, they're hard work. This years  goes down the Great Ocean Road, a magnificent bike ride, but along a narrow and dangerous highway. Normally I wouldn't think of riding it, but for the GVBR they close the road. A few of us got together, jumped in the car, and took off. Apollo Bay to Anglesea is 74 KM. Along with thousands of others we had a perfect day. Apart from the Sun, Wind, and Fatigue, that is.

Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM EADT
Saturday, 19 November 2022
Now your Flying
Topic: Undefined
Scoot


Got a bit of time. Up for an adventure. Don't mind a bit of uncertainty in your life. 
Random Flying is for you.

I'm in Morocco, I have to get home to Australia before my last credit card expires at the end of the month. There are a few other minor things like I cant really spend any time in Europe but we will ignore them.

I really don’t like the flight to Oz. Twenty four hours is way to long to spend inside something that is really a glorified coke can. The sensible thing to do is fly to London and get a cheap flight back. I could do that for probably about $2.5 k, but what’s the fun in that.

Ok. Google flights. Morocco to somewhere, hopefully closer to home. Cairo $770, too much, Split $ 220. Mmmm. I’ve got a mate there. Flight leaves early, goes through Europe, which I have visa problems with, and gets in in the middle of the night Yuck.  For the next week I look every day. But no luck. 

Finally London Tirana, ain’t been there before, leaves at lunch time.  $145. Hit buy. Next Marrakesh London, even goes to the same airport. $210. Hit buy. Leg one down.

Tirana Somewhere. Back to google flights. Tirana is not exactly the aviation hub of the universe, but Athens  652 klicks away is. Scoot Athens Melbourne via Singapore $2.2 k. I have to try a couple of different cards to pay but eventually “get ready, your going to Mel” appears with a locator code. Leg 2 and I’ll be back for the Grand final. Easy.

A week later I’m standing in a big cue at ATH airport. Give the lady my passport, she types it in, Computer says no. “ I’m very sorry Sir, your flights been cancelled”, todays flight is full. Piss off. Thank you. I must admit one of my personality traits I don’t like is I don’t deal well with idiots. The problem with budget airlines is no one works for them. Yes I’m wearing a Scoot uniform standing under a Scoot sign, but I don’t even have a contact number for them. I waste their time, because their in a hurry, and now I’m not. Call the cops, ring your manager, I got lots of time. Eventually I get a contact number. 

The flights full, so this fight can wait for another day. One problem, I have used the last two days on my visa getting here. I can’t really just head back to town and wait around for another flight. But hey, l’m in an airport, it has wifi, and I have an iPad. Etihad have an economy flight for only $ 6000. An hour later, Saudia airlines . Jedda, Mala, Singapore. $600, and they even have a booking office at the airport. Leaves in a couple of hours. Jedda has a six hour stop over, but it’s night, a big modern airport and the restaurants open. I book a hotel to keep customs happy in SIN, and even get a couple of hours sleep. Mala is in the Seychelles, we don’t even get off the plane.

I like Singapore, it reminds me of Chadstone shopping center. Clean, well run, soulless.  It’s early evening, leg 2 down, I’m through customs, and it’s raining outside. Getting to Asia is not a problem. The problem is getting back to Australia. September, is school holidays, add in COVID, and half the airlines still aren’t flying. The Grand final is the day after tomorrow, and the ones left, are full.

There are no flights to Melbourne. I mean none. Economy ,business, first class, I probably couldn’t even hire a lear jet. Fortunately I just have to get back into Australia. Leg 3 Singapore, Manila, Sydney, Canberra. $964. Tick, $2 train to my hotel, feed at a noodle joint, sleep, breaky in the hotel, train back, give my train ticket to a backpacker at the station. I’m back in the checkin cue.

Manila airport, cue’s, crowds, heat, and dirt. Five hours here, but it takes two just to get back to departure. Finally we board. At the gate the hostie tells me I’ve got a seat change. It’s an overnighter so I don’t care. I find my seat, I’ve been upgraded to business. Wine, movies, and a sleep on the way back. Next morning at Sydney, I jump the bus to my friends place at Canberra. Here I’m a pensioner $ 30.

Leg 4 Canberra, Albury, Melbourne. I could get a flight but they are $400. Pensioner, Bus Train. $38.50. Easy. I’m running on cash because my last credit card has finally expired. Only problem the reserved train seats are full and they can’t guarantee me a ticket. In Albury I get a non reserved ticket, there’s plenty of space. The cafeteria is even open. We zip through the Victorian countryside. For under $2000 I’m standing at Malvern station on the same platform I left from four months ago.  Looks like nothings changed.

By the way, if your flight gets cancelled, without notice in Europe, you have an automatic right to up to 600 euros in compensation written into European law. If Scoot keeps on ignoring you, there are plenty of law firms on the internet who make a living from shafting budget airlines. Let the fun begin.


Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM EADT
Friday, 4 November 2022
Ah Suzie
Topic: Europe
Hitching

             I'm on a bus in Greece looking out the window at the magnificent county side. As I watch the olive trees, mountains, and the Med  roll past the window, my mind goes back to a time nearly forty years ago. I was here with my friend. We had spent a couple of months travelling through the U.K., then down through Austria, Hungary, and Italy. We had done all the usual backpacking stuff. Hitchhiking in the English rain. Swapping books between us. Lord of the rings, Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, and Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, our three well thumbed paperbacks. Tried to kill ourselves by riding motor scooters, and falling off cliffs into rivers. Slept in hostels, railway stations, and caves. Drunk too much whisky in Scotland, eaten too much pizza everywhere, and taken full advantage of the cheap beer, and  goulash behind the iron curtain. Greece was the last haragh, after that it was back to the depressing real world, jobs, and adulthood.

        We caught the ferry from Brindisi to Corfu, drank the local water, and got seriously ill with gastro.  I recovered pretty quickly, but her constitution wasn’t quite as sturdy. On to Athens, we’re we did the rounds of chemists, and hospitals, collecting the newest, and latest in poo stopping medication. The wild and free travelling life isn’t much fun when you can’t go more than twenty minute’s without running to the loo. Finally with the help of Gastrostop, herbs , and a couple of witch doctors we managed to stretch the loo stops out to a couple of hours. She told me she would feel much better, lying on the beach, than  in a grotty Athens hotel. We jumped on the bus, then a ferry and arrived at Assilinos beach, in Skiathos.  We pitched the tent under an old olive tree, shooing away the flys and the local sheep. It worked, Ten days of lying in the sun, on an ldilic beach, cures everything.  Unfortunately it couldn’t last, she had a flight out of Athens, and summer was over. After a 3AM tearful goodbye at the airport, I jumped an overnight bus north.

 

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Thinking of you Suzi.

 

Susan McGuckin 1960 - 1991.

 

Click the pic to be transported back to the 80’s


Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM NZT
Updated: Sunday, 2 July 2023 1:49 AM NZT
Friday, 14 October 2022
Albania
Topic: Europe
Albaina

Click the pic
          I rocked up here knowing nothing about the place apart from the fact it's closer to home, and flights here are cheap. I remember that it was run by a leader that even the communists though was a nutter till the 90's. It's also the bunker capital of the world, you know I love a good bunker. Pleasently surprised to find a modern city full of parks and art.  Tirana has three cafes per square foot. Definately not a place for vegos. Most cafes serve a large range of roast dead things, with cheap beer. A souva and a drink costs about $5. Coffee $1. Comes in a tiny cup. I need to learn the word for big. They even spell as well as I do. A couple of hours flying time from England in the right direction, l’ll work on the next leg from here as there are worse places to be stuck. Albania has more than its fair share of beaches, and scenic walks through the mountains.    Walk uphill, or sit on a beach, bit of a no-brainer really. Time to head south.
            Durrës and Vlorë. First is the main port town for Terana. Great bits of fading communist infrastructure on the beach. The Soviet era monument has seen better days. Main street has a pub at one end and a mosque at the other, with plenty of fun in between. A big ferry port, you can get a boat to just about anywhere. I could stay here but the weather is lousy, and transport south involves a lot of informal transport, in a language I don’t speak. Fortunately there is always a doggy taxi driver nearby. For a local fortune, about $25, I get whisked twenty klicks down the road, and dropped in the middle of a freeway. Eventually a bus pulls up. I hop on, and for the next three hours I stand in the aisle. Vlorë is a big beach town. Very pretty, you can see it goes off here during holiday season. I grab a nice hotel, and find a local Albanian restaurant.  I can highly recommend the lamb with yoghurt, or the local meatballs.
       For some reason Albanian buses all leave from the middle of nowhere. I was dropped off half an hours walk into town. My next stop Sarandë involves me getting back there again. I catch the local bus which is sort of heading in the right direction. Then walk till I see buses, then mumble something which I think sounds like the place I’m going to the locals. After some pointing and grunting, the appropriate bus is found. And it’s leaving shortly. Bonus. We’re off back into town. An hour after I left my hotel I’m back there again picking up passengers out the front of it. Well I tried.
            Last stop Sarandë, another beach town at the bottom of the country. You can see Corfu, Greece half an hour across the water. My plan is to get to Athens from here, via a bus that may or may not exist. On the way here we went past lots of beautiful beach’s  and this town is another. I’ve got a couple of days, so I book a cheap hotel and my bus out. It wasn’t that hard, it even leaves from the center of town. Time for a beer and a bit of beach therapy. All the pieces are in place. What could go wrong from here.

Albania is one of the nicest places I have been to. Get there before the rest of the world catches on to it.

Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM NZT
Updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2022 4:33 PM NZT
Sunday, 2 October 2022
Morocco
Topic: Africa
I leave Malaga at six am and arrive in the new world an hour and a half later. Morocco is just a little bit more than a quick hop across the Med, but as soon as you get here, you know your not in Spain. First problem, the airport is 50km inland, surrounded by desert. No public transport here, just the usual hoard of taxi touts. Ah well, when in Rome. For only double my airfare I get a ride into town, in a car that I'm sure has been used in a suicide bombing somewhere. 
Agadir is a sort of Surfers Paradise. Its got lots of ritzy hotels with big pools lining the bay. I'm booked into the Hotel Welcome, it's not one of them. It's in the dusty, dirty bit of town. Cheap and cheerful, it's cleen, has breakfast, and internet, and stray cats. They are every where, a meal with out a cat looking up at you is not a meal here.
Why Agadir you ask? It was the cheapest airfare out of Europe. My ninety day visa was about to expire, and seventeen Euros buys a lot of airfare sometimes. Better check out what the place is about. I'll give them marks for effort, half of the town seems to be being rebuilt. They are turning the roads into tree lined boulevards, but the half finished result is more like walking through a building site. It's a half hour walk to the beach. It's got a wide boardwalk and a fine selection of restaurants. I'm not quite ready to go full native on the food yet, so lets try something familiar.
KFC is something that I feel like until I've eaten it. I was feeling like lunch and there it was. I particularly dislike the chips, which have never been edible since the stopped covering them in an inch of chicken salt. There's a terrazza out the front, and a young guy chasing away the kids who are like hungry wolves circling a carcass. The kids don't look particularly hungry, I think they just enjoy the game. Jump on the path, wave at people eating, young guy chases you back off path. As a fan of juvenile delinquency, I gave one of the little guys my chips on the way out. On the way back I hit my first Moroccan coffee shop. The main business I can see around town is blokes sitting around drinking tea. Standard place has around 30 guys (only) just hanging out. Buy a pot, sit as long as you want. Good cafe au lait is about a buck.
After a few days checking out the lowlights,it's time to move on. Agadir is in the south of the country, and a couple of hundred clicks south are meant to be some great surf beaches. Problem one is how to get there. Morocco doesn't seem to do busses between towns. The main form of transport seems to be collectivos, and the all seem to leave from a place 10 km out of town. First job is catch the local bus to the main bus station. On the third try I get it right. Reward breakfast. Next get a taxi with my six new best friends to a place called Tiznit. There are 30 lines of taxies, I don't speak French, or Berber. Just wander around saying Tiznit loudly. People keep on pointing you in different directions until "bingo". A couple of hours later we're there. Tiznit is in the middle of a desert and about as exciting as it sounds. I really want to get to the beach. Repeat above process with Sidi Ifni inserted for Tiznit. My new friends include a woman with three small children. It's about another couple of hours so l sit back and relax. Five minutes out of town we pull over, and the taxi driver buys the woman a large bottle of red fizzy drink. I think you can see were this is going. An hour later the little kid in the middle seat turns him inside out, much to the amusement of the driver. Fifteen minutes later it the turn of the kid beside me. Fortunately he has been supplied with a plastic bag to stick over his head. Ten minutes later we're there. I get lunch, fried fish and a bean stew for a couple of bucks.
I really want to get to Legzira. About six km down the road, for a buck you can catch the local bus, then walk a km down the hill, to the beach, that's famous for a rock with a hole in it. There used to be two of them but the one fell down a couple of years ago. Some thing to think about while you are walking through the other one. It's a beautiful beach with lots of cheap accommodation overlooking the water. Perfect place to catch up on the reading, or watch people with no knowledge of how to swim get sucked out by the beach rip.
I've been thinking of how to get out of here.I need to sort of head home soon as my last bankcard expires at the end of the month. Every day I Check on google flights. I'd like to sort of head east. The problem is some are a bit exotic, even for me. Think Tripoli or Kinshasa. Most of the others go through Europe. Visa Problems. Or like Cairo are just damn expensive. Eventually I find a set of flights that almost meet the criteria. There expensive, go totally in the wrong direction, involve a stopover in one of the most depressed places in the world. And it also leaves in four days time from Marrakesh in the middle of the country. Time to leave the beach. I'm in.
Marrakesh is a great market town. A huge souk sells everything. Need a Real Madrid footy shirt, Metal lampy thing, weird spice, or maybe another lampy thing, It's got it. I caught a taxi with a couple of young German blokes to the middle of town, and ended up at the hostel. From there we all went out searching for a feed. Tagine. Kabap, Couscous, Moroccan Salad, great food, why would you think of anything different to eat. We are thinking of something different, the food here is great but it gets very much more of the same, very quickly. We spend an hour looking round the souk, then give up and settle on Kabap. It's good, I go there another couple of times. When I get to the airport there is a Starbucks, but by then I had spent all my cash. At least they had the obligotory stray cat airside.

 
You know what to do for the photos.





Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM NZT
Updated: Tuesday, 4 October 2022 4:15 PM NZT
Saturday, 10 September 2022
The Old Dart
Topic: Europe
Gatwick Hotel

 

 

 

Twelve hours in England. It's cold and dreary, totally in the wrong direction, suddenly overrun with mourners, and unfortunately the best way to get where I want to go. The Queen is as dead as the Pound but that hasn't stopped all the hotels jacking up their prices $500, because this may be the last chance to make a killing before someone turns the lights out. I arrive after midnight, and sleep in the airport with my 200 new friends . Next morning I meet up with a mate, while he was charged 10 pounds drop off charge for stopping to pick me up. Drive through the gloom to Marks and Spencer at Crawley. Get off at garage and walk 500meters to avoid drop off charge. Get back on plane. Highlight Company and Nice bacon roll, oj at M+S. Things not to miss, que for non existent taxis in middle of the night after bingle on M25 shut the ring road.


Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM NZT
Updated: Monday, 3 October 2022 5:36 PM NZT
Thursday, 8 September 2022
The Rest
Topic: Europe


            Well actually no rest, While just about everyone else is headed back to a Victorian winter, l don’t even have a return ticket. This seemed like a good idea six months ago, but COVID and bad management by the airlines has seen return ticket prices doubling by the month. Oh well, I still have a month left before my visa runs out.  Perhaps things will get cheaper after the European summer holidays. Time to leave the beach, and head to “the beach”. Benidorm is known as a little bit of England in Spain. Well known for its English speakers, and pubs doing bangers and mash. For a couple of days I hang out with a mate.  Things I like, they speak Spanish without the mix of French, Catalan, and German thrown into every sentence. Get up early, coffee , walk, sesita, dinner and a few beers. My mates headed to Madrid for business. This is his old stamping ground, so that’s the next stop. Got to love wall to wall tapas bars. Down to Cordoba , where I meet up with a few more travelling Wilburrys. For the next couple of weeks we trip around the southeast of Spain. My mate was born here, but lives in  Melbourne. We hang out with his family at the finca (farm), and rent a 4 room mansion in the middle of Malaga.  More Tapas bars and Curingqitos.  My time here is at an end. I catch the six am flight to Morocco, while the crew head off for a couple of days in Marbella. Thanks Pete, Ern, Maria, and the Family, for the company. Catch you on the flip. 
007.

Click the pic.

Posted by bondrj at 11:04 AM NZT
Updated: Monday, 3 October 2022 1:12 PM NZT
Tuesday, 9 August 2022
The Spanish House
Topic: Europe


               It’s not one house, it’s really three. A beach, and a beach bar. What more could you want. Click the pic for more.

Posted by bondrj at 12:01 AM NZT
Updated: Tuesday, 4 October 2022 4:20 PM NZT

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