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I fly often enough to know what's what on board a plane. I can grab some sleep heading east or west, I can tell where my nearest emergency exit is and I have my meal-time strategy down to a T.
But there's one thing that I always — always — do when I'm in the air… I keep my seatbelt fastened.
Asleep or awake, if I'm in my seat I'm clipped in. I might not always listen closely to the safety demonstration before take-off, but keeping my bum firmly attached to my seat throughout the flight just seems like an inherently good idea.
It's a lesson 40-odd passengers learnt the hard way this week on a Qantas flight from Singapore to Perth. Their Airbus dropped around two kilometers in a matter of seconds, sending cutlery, bags and passengers flying around the cabin.
"It was horrendous, absolutely gruesome, terrible, the worst experience of my life," said Jim Ford, of Perth, who said he thought he was going to die.
Qantas, who have been hit by a string of safety incidents lately, used a classic piece of understatement to describe the incident as a "sudden change in altitude."
I'll say.
There's no word yet on what caused the plane to nose-dive, and I doubt it's any fault on the part of Qantas, but there's certainly a lesson to be learnt in this week's episode. To steal a phrase from the road safety campaigns: Buckle up and arrive alive.
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Ever wondered how many planes are buzzing around the planet at any one time?
Thousands, it would seem, if these simulations are anything to go by.
Visit http://iafrica.com/travel/gallery/1193100.htm and keep an eye out for how the traffic flows between North America, Asia and Europe as overnight flights hit the virtual highways of the skies.
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Apart from the obvious pleasures of lie-flat beds, an international wine list and food that you'd pay good money for on the ground, one of my favourite perks of flying Business Class (which doesn't happen very often, I'm afraid to say) is the airport departure lounge.
Free drinks, a comfy seat, great views and the chance to freshen up make them a brilliant place to while away the boring hours between passport control and the boarding gate.
What's more, they're a great place to meet weird and wonderful travellers… only the lucky few are admitted behind those frosted doors, and you're bound to meet someone interesting in the lounge. It's where the cognoscenti of travel while away their time, glad that they're not stuck on the hard metal chairs outside.
Which is why we decided to call the brand new section on iafrica.com 'The Departure Lounge'. Presented by British Airways, it's a collection of travel tales that could have been told in lounges from Berlin to Beijing. We've rounded up fantastic columnists, including Ben Trovato, from South Africa and abroad to tell their tales from travelling the globe.
Visit http://travel.iafrica.com/departurelounge... I think you'll enjoy the company. |
I wish the Swiss would just make up their mind. Are they neutral? Are they part of Europe? Or are they just too busy timing the trains to decide either way...
Anyway, word on the street is that South African passport holders will require a Schengen visa to enter
Switzerland from 05 December 2008. Currently SA passport holders have only had to have a passport valid for six months to holiday in Switzerland.
If you are travelling to Switzerland and return before 5 December then you won't need that pesky Schengen, but if you depart SA before the introduction of the Schengen visa and return after 5 December you will have to apply for a Swiss visa before departure.
For more information visit http://www.eda.admin.ch/pretoria. |
At last… Botswana's Okavango Delta has been ticked off my travel to-do list. I've wanted to visit the Delta for years, and a trip last week with CC Africa was perhaps the perfect way to do it. Apart from the fact that being stuck in an uber-romantic CC Africa suite by your lonesome takes a bit of the shine off.
I muddled through somehow though… probably the river of G&Ts which flows from the ever-friendly staff!
Xudum and Xaranna are the latest additions to the CC Africa stable and certainly look set to become two of their flagship camps. CC Africa (whose name is set to change in the next few weeks, so watch this space) has long been famous for their well-trained guides, and now they are playing in the ultra-luxury accommodation space too.
Suites at both camps are enormous, with all the romantic mod-cons you could hope for – deep bathtubs, outdoor sala for lazy afternoons, gargantuan bed under billowing mosquito net. Best of all… not a TV in sight. Although there is wi-fi available if you can't bear to be out of touch.
The easiest way into the camps is to fly into Maun, a two-hour flight from Johannesburg. From there it's a 15-20 minute flip on a 'vomit-comet' light plane to the gravel air strip, then a 30-minute journey by boat and 4x4 to the lodges.
I'll be writing more about the lodges in the next week or two, so keep an eye out on the site. In the meantime, visit www.ccafrica.com.
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Page 15 of 17 |
Or just a sign of commercialism heading south? Refuse to shop at Melissa's nowadays: overpriced and average
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