Travel highlights from 2013

I've been trying to think of my travel highlights for 2013. It's a difficult task as there are so many to choose from. This has been a massive year for travel, with three overseas trips for me and a few domestic travels scattered in between.

March

A 25 day journey through Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan. There were so many highlights, orangutans outside of languid colonial Kuching, amazing Taiwan, early cherry blossoms and onsens in Japan, but what sticks in my mind is the simple ryokan at the quiet but beautifully isolated town of Gujo Hachiman.

April

My first ever black tie event as I was invited to the Qantas-Emirates Gala Dinner. It's so saddening to hear of Qantas' recent woes.

June

In June we said goodbye to that unloved icon, the Sydney Monorail and a premature farewell to the service of the Boeing 737-400 at Qantas with return flights to Canberra on a tumultuous day in the capital.

July

I flew by myself to Japan to revisit the island of Shikoku and finally complete my dream of riding the entire length of the Sanin railway line.

August

My turbulence nightmares returned flying back from Canberra on a Qantas 737-400 through very bumpy skies.

September

Alex and I were invited aboard a specially decorated Qantas Boeing 767-300ER for the premiere of Disney's Planes, complete with a water canon salute and a flight to nowhere and return.

October

It was back to Asia with 10 flights in 11 days as we raced through Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Vietnam, a new country for us. Despite the rush we had time to enjoy each destination, including beautiful Hoi An.

I've created a four minute montage of photos from this year's travels. Why not watch it at full HD at YouTube. Enjoy!

Aviation stats for the year

Visited 6 countries
Passed through 16 airports
Flew on 12 airlines
9 aircraft types
26 flights (28 including transits)!
Days travelling 47 (including work, domestic travel).

Comments

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...

Asagaya and heading home

How can I be happy? I am about to return to a country where the toilets have at most two buttons and no seat warmers. But the tickets are booked and there are no cyclones, typhoons or other disasters standing in our way. It's almost time to go back to my first home. First B wants to do some "local shopping". So we catch the Chuo Line up a few stations to Asagaya, a residential area with a number of Shotengai, covered and uncovered arcades leading away from the station and narrow alleys lined with bars. It is an interesting area for a wander around. We are mainly looking, do some shopping for toothbrushes and sweets from Seiyu, a Wal-Mart owned supermarket/minor department store. We skipped breakfast and lunch is ramen and gyoza at a small restaurant near the entrance to the Pearl Centre shotengai. With the help of a staff member, I manage to purchase tickets at a branch of Lawson to the Ghibli Museum for a friend travelling to Japan in May. There are some...

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...

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