Duty free?

It's not, is it? Duty-free?

There may be no government taxes applied to the purchases but it's not free, and there seems to be a duty attached to buying something as you walk unwashed and unawake through the ceiling to floor stocks of alcohol, cigarettes, make up and perfumes cos it's, well, cheaper. But again, it's not is it? I mean, you've already forked out hundreds or even thousands of dollars to leave the country, for somewhere to stay, eat and entertain yourself and yet, it's easy to justify the further $100 or more on that bottle of vodka or small bottle of perfume.

I know. I do it every time I follow the signs to Customs. I get distracted by the pretty bottles, bright lights and promises of tax-free goodness. 

BUY:

$30.95 - earphones for my iPhone - I keep losing them :(

£3.66 - 100ml bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash

£16.90 - Clinique matte stay powder

£4.67 - toothbrush, tissues and toothbrush guards

$58 - bottle of 42 Below vodka and 20ml bottle of CK IN2U perfume (other rather, aftershave as I bought the men's fragrance)

Oh, and $40 for 2 little onesies with Australiana designs as a gift for V's twins when I caught up with them in London. 

WHY?

Cos they're so cute!

Travel buddies

BUY:

GBP12.99 - History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason
GBP12.99 - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

WHY?

What better company on a long, solitary journey than a book or two?

The first was chosen after I read this article which piqued my interest.  Sadly the very pleasurable experience of reading this book only lasted 3 of the 24 hours between London and Sydney. In small, because I tend to devour books but largely because it was a romping good read through early 20^th century aristocratic Amsterdam and I couldn't put it down! It’s the kind of book, and style of writing, that makes me wish I had such a talent. I mean, take the first paragraph:

“The adventures of adolescence had taught Piet Barol that he was extremely attractive to most women and to many men. He was old enough to be pragmatic about this advantage, young enough to be immodest,  and experienced enough to suspect that it might be decisive in this, as in other instances.”

It's up there with the intelligent, witty and sarcastic first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" that I regard as one of the best opening lines. While Mason isn't writing contemporaneously like Austen, he certain transports the reader easily into the period through descriptions and his use of language. Definitely money well spent. 

The second I'm yet to finish but will let you know!

The best laid plans...

BUY:

€35 taxi

€10 beer

€220 Eurostar ticket

€104 Deutsche Bahn ticket

WHY?



Having spent the better part of 2010 sending other people around the world on amazing holidays, 17 December marked the beginning of my own. After all the planning and saving during the preceding months, I don’t think I have been more excited for a holiday. In large part because I knew I would enjoy myself, catching up with friends dearly missed and meeting my niece (as well as three weeks out of the office) but, if I am honest, also as a result of my savings regime. The stash of cash readily available to me was incredibly liberating. I have never not left Australia on the back of my credit card!



Brussels

 But clearly the universe wanted me to work hard for my long-earned break! In the industry we always joke that it’s your own bookings you stuff up - like when my colleague booked himself on a different flight to his family - and while almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong for me, luckily none of it was my fault.

I checked in for my flight to London, regaling the lady at the desk with insider travel tales in the hope of charming my way towards the pointy end of the plane (which failed), with no idea that I was flying towards a snowstorm, the likes of which the UK had not seen in about 100 years.


View from train between Frankfurt
and Brussels

 Happily watching the in-flight entertainment and sipping on my vodka sodas, for 23 hours I remained blissfully unaware of the road closures, train delays and general carnage being reaped by three inches of snow at my destination. At about the time I was anticipating being told to prepare for landing, the captain came over the intercom to advise that Heathrow was closed and we were being diverted to Frankfurt. This initial briefing suggested it was only for a few hours but 5 hours on the tarmac suggested otherwise and it really was no surprise when it was finally confirmed that we would be overnighting in Germany. While disappointed, I figured the dinner party I was to attend would go on, even without the guest of honour. And really, diversions like this actually add to the sense of adventure, particularly when I’m not footing the bill! Well, the exhausted mother of three sitting opposite me probably disagreed though. Not one of her brood had slept during the trip and a confirmed delay of at least 12 hours before she could pass the brats off to their father brought tears to her already red and tired eyes.

After a short yet comfortable sleep I was woken by an uncomfortably early morning call to prepare for the hour bus trip back to the airport. Unnecessarily as it turned out. Heathrow was to be closed for another 3 days. Despite promises of free food and a warm bed I had no intention of remaining in Frankfurt, even if their Christmas market is one of the best in Europe. Somewhat wiser about the German rail system but €350 poorer, the next stage of my adventure began.



With train tickets to London, via Brussels, firmly in hand I naively thought I was sorted. Sharing a beer with fellow divertees at Frankfurt Central and a few more en route, we had no idea what waited for us at the Eurostar terminal. I mean only I was clever enough to sort out an alternate route to London, wasn’t I? It never crossed my mind that other stranded passengers, far from home, would be as determined as me in reaching their goal or that the weather would again wreak havoc on my travel plans.



My €220 Eurostar seat

However, after 50 hours of travel by plane, train and automobile, through two countries and with only a 50.5km tunnel between me and London, I was not waiting another day to meet my niece and nothing was going to stop me getting to English soil that night. Not the thousand or so passengers on the cancelled train before mine who were given the thousand or so seats on my train. Not even the officious-looking ticket collector nor the lack of a seat. Well, maybe the ticket collector. Luckily he was an officious-looking but understanding ticket collector and as I folded down my seat amongst the baggage racks between the carriages I sent him, his family and any future offspring very heartfelt thanks and blessings for the season. In spite of myself, I then fell into an exhausted but comforted sleep, relieved I’d be in England when I awoke but relatively unworried that it had taken me a total 60 hours and an extra, unanticipated €350 or so!

Hard at work...

Way back when, in my former life as a lawyer, I had to take work trips. Regularly enough that I was temporarily upgraded to silver frequent flyer status. Aside from a free pass into the Qantas lounge, I wasn't there long enough to work out the difference from bronze! But I digress...work trips...

For the case I was working on at the time, they generally involved domestic flights between Canberra and Brisbane, sometimes Sydney, and on the one occasion a flight to Dubbo to collect a car and drive as far as Warren. For those unfamiliar with Australian geography or who are familiar with Australian geography but wonder what and where the f*ck Warren is, it's a small country town in western New South Wales whose population increased 25% the night my colleague and I stayed there!

The accommodation budget during said work trips depended on your position so you could well end up in a different hotel to a more senior colleague or even the client and you were awarded an allowance for out of pocket expenses, measured on how many hours/days/meals you were away for. To avoid unnecessary cost and time out of the office some work trips meant getting the first flight out of a morning and returning on the last. And your time out of the office was spent working. Every 6 minutes had to be justified and of course, billed back to the client. Some of the more exciting moments I recall on work trips were driving through a locust storm (on the way to Warren!), playing a game of Scrabble with the mother of the barrister we had engaged on a particular matter when we were on a trip near his home town and a highlight was probably the night I snuck my then-girlfriend into my hotel room in Melbourne on the final night of a law conference! Exciting stuff!

As a travel agent, I've already had a couple of 'edjos' as they're known in the biz (short for educationals) - Uluru in May and Rotorua last year, but my recent trip to Fiji was like no work trip I have ever taken.

A reward for making my targets back when I was a newie, I joined 10 colleagues and one of the state managers (for want of a better description) for a 3 day all expenses paid trip to Fiji. And when I say all expenses paid, I mean it! I didn't even change any money into Fijian dollars but somehow managed to enjoy cocktails by in the pool, the most 'heavenly' bed ever*, lovely meals, a beginner scuba dive and enough alcohol to fuel NASA's next rocket launch (apparently I accounted for 19 or the 23 or so vodkas ordered during the final night's festivities... In my defence, others were drinking different spirits in similar numbers...).

I can only but thank Sal (representative of the powers that be) profusely for her generosity over the course of the trip. There was no expense spared and certainly no separation based on rank. In fact, I think Sal got the worst room of the bunch, with little water pressure and she had to make do with a garden view rather than this....

Again, you're probably just think 'fine, Steff's just rubbing it in. Why is this here if she didn't spend any money?' so here are the purchases made in anticipation of the trip (and the couple made while in Fiji!):

BUY:

$9.08 - Travacalm tablets (cos I get seasick!)

$18.17 - Nasal spray (cos flying really dries you out)

$23.22 - book called "Don't look back" by Karin Fossum (for the flight of course)

$149.93 - a pair of cotton slacks to wear on the plane (cos when you're travelling on agent tickets you're not allowed to wear jeans and that's pretty much all I own). Well, it was 2 pairs cos I got the second pair at 50% off and I know they will get worn regularly...

$10 - train ticket from airport to home

$30.39 - bottle of 42 below Vodka duty-free (cos I didn't have enough while I was away!)

FJD$19.95 - pair of thongs (as mentioned in earlier post)

FJD$38.67 - little shell bracelets and pencils as Fijian souvenirs for my work mates

*We stayed at the Westin in Denarau.  The 'Heavenly' bed is a signature feature of Westin resorts around the world and is so popular you can purchase the bed, linen or pillows to take home! Rumour was the bed is made with 14 sheets over the mattress which is why it is so comfy but I'm not sure if this is fact or fiction. What I can say as a fact is that I have never slept in a better bed.