Inflight Entertainment

As anyone who has trawled through my photos would know, my favourite inflight entertainment is the window. But on those dark nights over the ocean when there is nothing to see outside and I can't sleep there is nothing better than watching a movie. It doesn't have to be a good movie; in the oxygen starved environment of an aircraft cabin even a bad movie can be enjoyable. Light, fluffy, mindless action, slightly crazy, it's amazing what is watchable at 30,000 feet up.

What I don't want to watch, let alone pay for, are the entertainment offerings of the low coast carriers. I joke that on Jetstar it's always a Steve Carell movie, but at least their long-haul flights have free cabin screens, though movies about the invention of the windscreen wiper, endlessly looped Two and a Half Men and surf sports are not to my taste.

Scoot have just posted news about their new inflight streaming entertainment where you can either bring your own device or hire an iPad for the flight. I was curious to see what's on offer [pdf] for our upcoming flights in March, seeing as they have absolutely no other form of cabin entertainment and both B and Alex will need amusing.

Surprise, surprise, it's not so different to Jetstar, but as befitting Scoot's poorer comfort levels, worse. There's a Steve Carrell movie (Date Night) and Two and a Half Men, a show barely worse than The Librarians. Bridget Jones' Diary was funny when we saw it on our honeymoon flight back in 2001, but the DVD has been sitting unwatched for a long time now. Black Swan was responsible for a midflight emotional meltdown a couple of years ago. I've read that it's a movie nobody would watch a second time.

Maybe Alex would like Rio and a bit of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride might be more my thing, but I think I'll be continuing the arduous process of converting our own videos for the iPad and Android devices, along with card games and stories. I had the (fastest in our house but now too slow) computer running all night and all day with the first batch, then it had the temerity to shutdown without warning before they were all completed. What I really want from the IFE (and this should be possible through streaming!) is the flight map. If only we were flying on a proper airline...

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IKEA Museum

We have a packed itinerary today. Flat packed and assembled with an Allen key. There are patches of snow on the ground that weren't there the previous evening. We are a bit sad to leave the Duxiana after the comfy beds and the breakfast of cold cuts, fruits and hot waffles. I tried the Swedish caviar on my boiled egg. It was... Interesting. I was very disappointed to realise that, after talking it up for months, I had forgotten the Disgusting Foods Museum in Malmö yesterday. Too late now. We catch another Oresundstag train, for a bit over an hour. Past yesterday's Lund, past increasingly white fields and towns to Älmhult, home of IKEA. The conductor warns us that the train will split in two so we have to move carriages forward. Unfortunately, there we no spare sets of chairs for all of us. The IKEA Museum showcases the history of the furniture company, along with temporary exhibitions. One of these was "Hacking IKEA," about using IKEA ob...

One night in Canberra

It's the April school holidays and we are too busy to have a break but need one because of that. And because it's the Easter weekend the options are limited, so we just drive down to Canberra for the night. No, this isn't our first trip for 2023. I wrote about Japan on another site . I refuse to wake up early so we depart after 8.30 AM. There is not much to say about the drive except that the clouds seem so low and Lake George is very full. We stop at a rest area and at the lookout up the hill to take it all in. Everyone is hungry so we first stop in Dickson and then can't think of anything to eat, so I drive us to Civic, where we can't decide and end up eating at the Singaporean Killiney Kopitiam branch. The Canberra Centre has nice shops. I dream of getting an iPad from the Apple Store, we buy a blanket and toothbrushes from Muji and wish that Lego wasn't so expensive. Nothing we can't get in Sydney, but then we rarely go out shopping in the city. It...

Springs, castles and the end of the line

I am never happy to stop before the end of the line. It irritates me to know that there is still somewhere unexplored lying ahead. So when I only got as far as Gujo Hachiman on the Nagaragawa Railway last year I knew I needed to return for more. Especially as this private third sector railway is, by its very nature, always at threat of closure due to low patronage. But did Gujo Hachiman deserve another visit? Sure it's a nice enough town, but had we missed out on enough last time to return? Mum's trip provided the excuse. I originally planned the Oito line, which wI'll be partly closed when the Shinkansen line is extended to Kanazawa. However, when I thought of special places in Japan that deserved to be shared Gujo Hachiman was at the top of the list. Before we could go anywhere Mum needed her coffee. There was a Tully's Coffee opposite the hotel entrance, so I parked her there while I booked our seat reservations. Mum got her fast train ride on a ...

travelling allrite

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