If you have ever come across the term “positioning flight,” it doesn’t always have to do with human locomotion. To clarify the first definition, it simply refers to when an aircraft gets repositioned from one airport to another, generally for operational reasons. These positioning flights don’t take on passengers or cargo. Whisk me away to […]
Travel Hacks
Airport Supermarkets (Updated 18 September 2024)
As much as I personally love finding new foods to eat, I feel that much better when I can share some of the findings with family and friends. Though, it would be fair to say I don’t always remember to get to a city supermarket for some last-minute local food souvenir shopping. Enter: airport supermarkets. […]
What’s Right with Hotels.com?
Whether or not you’re a fan of hotels.com, today’s criticisms of its consumer-facing existence are unfortunately not unique to that company. Bullet points, now! Go use another OTA (online travel agent), one might say. Book direct, chimes another. Chill out, at least you’re traveling. Nice rose-colored glasses you’ve got there. Start your own. Hmm. Feel good? Good. […]
Airline Status Match Reality
ASMR for me has nothing to do with the sound of someone crunching a mid-flight Air France crouton. No, it’s all about the airline status match reality I’m currently facing. Prepare your small violins for this one. In my last post, I mentioned about how Emirates was quite open to the idea of a status […]
The Emirates Status Match
Really, there’s a Skywards Emirates status match challenge available? If access is granted to its business class lounges in Dubai (DXB), it might be worth it. But how did this discovery come about, and more importantly, what’s a status match? A few years ago, to invite frequent fliers to sign-up for its brand-new Volare program, […]
Metro Access to Istanbul International Airport
If you, too, are as interested as I am in mass transit, then I’ve got some good news– there’s now metro access to Istanbul International Airport (IST). On 29 January the M11 metro line, connecting IST to Gayrettepe transfer station near downtown Istanbul, started operations. For your reference, I’ve added a snippet of the official […]
Visa & Entry Requirements Travel Hack
Years ago, when travel for me was all about amassing passport stamps, many times I had to doff my cap to Wikipedia. But muh sources. Sure, like any website, one has to know how to separate fantasy (new nonstops from O’Hare to Midway) from reality. And generally speaking, the Wikipedia entry requirements travel hack did the […]
How to Reserve Train Seats in Japan
The third — and likely final — video in my Japan travel series involves a how-to for Japanese train reservations. Why final? I’m getting out of Dodge soon, so I wanted to get one more helpful video beforehand. It’s also getting tiresome, innit? Anyway, the photo below shows a variety of train tickets acquired through […]