travelling allrite

I think I've finally done it. I've travelled along all the public lengths of the Sanin line . Didn't I complete that last trip? No, there was one stretch, an old stretch no longer traversed by normal trains, that remained. And now I've ridden along it. The photo that won me the Jetstar voucher that paid for part of this holiday was taken at the bamboo forests at Arashiyama, on Kyoto's outskirts. I thought it would be appropriate to return there, not just for the competition, but also to travel on that last stretch of railway line. We caught a brown Hankyu limited express train from Umeda to Kasugi, where we had to change to a semi express to Omiya in Kyoto. There's something a little old fashioned about the Hankyu trains, but they do tend to be rather packed. It was very hot outside when we emerged from the underground station at Omiya, changing to the Keifuku Railway, colloquially known as the Randen. This is Kyoto's last tram service and is the...

The magic of flying. At it’s best it’s about sailing high above the clouds through smooth skies listening to beautiful music. At it’s worst it’s squashed, exhausted, bored and unable to sleep, into a cramped aluminium can bouncing through turbulent night skies. From the comments of many you would think that Jetstar is all about the latter. I have to agree that I have had some ordinary flights with them, cooped up with nothing to do. But when I saw a couple of their A330s fly overhead today I couldn’t help but remember some of the more amazing adventures I’ve had and how I’d like to be up there on those aircraft. I’ve taken a Jetstar flight at least once a year since I first flew with them in 2005. Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to the Gold Coast, Cairns, Kuala Lumpur, Narita and Osaka, Darwin and Singapore. It’s thanks to their cheap fares that I can afford to keep travelling. I don’t mind if this means sacrificing a little luxury now and then. The view out of the window is still the ...