Australia & New Zealand cruises
Hi Everyone,
I should be back home by the time you read this. My wife and I have been on an extended vacation again this year (we went to French Polynesia last year) and have been away since November 24, 2017 returning on January 13, 2018 This year we decided to take a 30 day cruise (actually two back to back cruises) on Holland America which started in Auckland, New Zealand, down the coast, over to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to Sydney, then the second part from Sydney, on to New Caledonia, Vanuatu Islands and then back to Sydney. We stayed in AirBnb's north of Auckland for 10 days before the cruise and are presently in an AirBnb south of Sydney (in a small town called Bowral) for 8 days after the cruise. We rented a car in both New Zealand and Australia.
 |
 |
As part of the expansion of the ACFamily Network, I am planning to write a "blog" with accompanying articles on a step by step procedure of how I booked airfare, car rental, travel insurance, AirBnb and the cruise in order to open a dialog of how airline employees and especially retired airline employees travel. We will then invite others to share their travel experiences as well if they wish in the hope to discover options for those wishing to do the same. There are a lot of travel sites out there and we don't intend to even try to duplicate them, just to show it from an airline retiree's viewpoint. We certainly have an abundance of knowledge to tap into as there are hundreds (thousands?) of airline retirees travelling each year and we've all picked up a lot of knowledge along the way.
I'll let you know in a future NetLetter when my blog and the travel discussion area is ready on the ACFamily Network. We are making good progress in rebuilding the site but it had to be put on the backburner while I was away.
Sincerely,
Alan
Seaplanes – Graceful Workhorses
One of my favourite things to do while I was still living in Richmond, British Columbia (I moved to Surrey after I retired) was to cycle around YVR airport on Sea Island. Although I frequently rode my bike to work, the real pleasure was to spend a day off wandering around Sea Island’s many paths while watching aircraft come and go.
On these excursions, I often stopped at an establishment called “The Flying Beaver” for a burger and beer before heading home. The pub is located inside the Harbour Air terminal on the south side of YVR and I loved to sit on the patio and watch passengers board the seaplanes parked less that a hundred metres away. After boarding, the pilots taxi the aircraft into the middle of the south arm of the Fraser River and then take off. There is something so graceful about watching an aircraft lift out of the water into the sky (particularly on a sunny day).
My initial concept for this article was to chronicle the de Havilland DHC-3 and DHC-6 series aircraft still in service today. However, I soon realized that task could become a whole new career. 
I did find one aircraft, a DHC-6-100 registration C-GQKN, that seems to have been in service for almost fifty years. RZJets shows the aircraft was built in 1968 and delivered to Surinam Airways. It was acquired by Pacific Coastal Airlines in 1989 and then Air BC in 1993. Air BC’s seaplane service was spun off to create West Coast Air which was later acquired by Harbour Air in 2010.
Pictured is C-GQKN in Air BC livery in Victoria Harbour in 1998; posted in Flickr by Rob Hodgkins.
 Following NetLetter # 1381, here we have the final list of Aerial Rule for Aerial Fools sent in by Alan Evans. |
|
Engine fault.
The problem is, the four engine aircraft in the main image - parked at a pier tip of Frankfurt’s Terminal 1 - are two Airbus A340-600s, a type powered exclusively by arch-rival Rolls-Royce's Trent 500 power plants. (Source. Flight International November 29, 2017) |
Vern Swerdfeger sent us this New Year wish-
The Boarding on Flight 2018 has been announced.....
Your luggage should only contain the best souvenirs from 2017,
the bad and sad moments should be left in the garbage.
The duration of the flight will be 12 months.
The next stop-overs will be :
Health, Love, Joy, Harmony, Well-being and Peace.
The Captain offers you the following menu which will be served during the flight:
A Cocktail of Friendship
A Supreme of Health
A Gratin of Prosperity
A Bowl of Excellent News
A Salad of Success
A Cake of Happiness
All accompanied by Bursts of Laughter
Wishing you and yours an enjoyable trip on board Flight 2018
May This Be Your Best Year Ever!!
|
Ways to avoid paying too much to travel. (Source: MSN.COM) Exchanging Your Currency at the Airport Trouble is, the airport may not always offer the best exchange rates as you rush to change over that cash before boarding your flight. Get the best rate by doing it ahead of time and save a little extra spending money. Flying Direct Every Time |
|
Smart bags use lithium ion batteries to power electronics and embedded tracking and self-weigh devices. There is increasing concern, however, about lithium ion batteries causing runaway fires in cargo holds unless devices are properly stored and separated from items that could worsen a fire, such as cans of inflammable liquids. Carriers are banning so-called smart bags from being checked into luggage holds unless the bag’s integrated lithium battery can be removed and carried separately. They follow similar actions by other carriers including Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Qantas Airways, Qatar Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Australia. (Source: atwonline.com January 5, 2018) |
