Finally arrived home in Cebu yesterday afternoon (17 Sep) after a long day traveling from Launceston, Melbourne, Brunei, Manila then Cebu. The tiredness was bought about by waking at 3.30 am for the 6 am flight Launceston to Melbourne then a wait at Melbourne for a 12.15 pm departure for Brunei and Manila. Made me wonder how I used to fly those long legs of 8 hours plus and keep alert !! Traveled on Royal Brunei Airlines for the first time. Aircraft was the new B787 Dreamliner. Muslim airline so no booze served but I bought a bottle of red at Duty Free (Twice the price sold at Woolworths or Coles) and they give a glass to consume it. Female cabin crew wore Burkas and I told my wife the Captain wore one too which almost resulted in her opening the door to jump out. I was also disappointed I couldn't get a Pork Chop for lunch.
A Typhoon is passing to the east of the Country, so been raining constantly since we arrived, although temp. is still close to 30º so the aircons are running at full bore.
Have quite a lot to do including painting outside of the house. No I wont be painting, why should I when labor is only $8.00 a day !! But I will be acting in a supervisory capacity !!
Will keep you posted.....
Vic41 said
10:58 AM Sep 18, 2014
Glad you had a safe trip BG, keep us posted, you always do interesting threads...
Plendo said
12:02 PM Sep 18, 2014
Good to hear you made it safe Ken.
Been thinking about Manila at Christmas but i think we will go up to Greens, then i will send the boss to Manila in Feb, see how things go.
Never flown Royal Brunai, but I believe there service is good, and reliable.
Glenelg said
01:40 PM Sep 18, 2014
greetings from Adelaide.
Cloak said
04:43 PM Sep 18, 2014
Good one BG..
A mate's wife is from that Island and yes it's possible to hire labour for what is ridiculously low rates from our perspective.
He was looking at buying a place up there too but their laws prohibit foreigners from owning real-estate he said.
You'r not being dodgy are you??????? lol
Cheers
Big Gorilla said
04:51 PM Sep 18, 2014
Cloak wrote:
Good one BG..
A mate's wife is from that Island and yes it's possible to hire labour for what is ridiculously low rates from our perspective.
He was looking at buying a place up there too but their laws prohibit foreigners from owning real-estate he said.
You'r not being dodgy are you??????? lol
Cheers
Dodgy !!! Would I do anything Dodgy !!!! Yes foreigners cannot at present own land but that scenario is being revisited by the Govt. He could buy land in his wife's name, even if she is now an Australian Citizen. She doesn't have to be a Dual Citizen either. If she was born in the Philippines, she can own land here. One interesting bit of info for your Mate, if she owns a house and land here and leaves everything to her Husband in her Will, and passes away before her Husband, he can legally own and register the property in his name. This is the only way a foreigner can own land here legally.
Big Gorilla said
04:56 PM Sep 18, 2014
Plendo wrote:
Good to hear you made it safe Ken.
Been thinking about Manila at Christmas but i think we will go up to Greens, then i will send the boss to Manila in Feb, see how things go.
Never flown Royal Brunai, but I believe there service is good, and reliable.
I assume your wife was born in the Philippines. I usually travel out of Melbourne on Singapore Airlines to Singapore with a connection direct to Cebu. The fare this year was over $1,400.00 round trip. Royal Brunei came up with $685.00 each round trip to Manila. The connection from Launceston and from Manila to Cebu cost around $850.00 total each. The service was good and on time. Their main business is Melbourne/Brunei/Dubai/London. They have a lot of Aussie Pilots also.
Dougwe said
09:50 AM Sep 19, 2014
Good to hear you have got there safe BG. Enjoy your time there and hang on tight if the weather gods remember you from last year.
Big Gorilla said
10:18 AM Sep 19, 2014
Dougwe wrote:
Good to hear you have got there safe BG. Enjoy your time there and hang on tight if the weather gods remember you from last year.
Thank you CHIEF !!!
Dougwe said
01:40 PM Sep 19, 2014
"Chief Crazy Eagle" if you don't mind BG
Big Gorilla said
05:28 PM Sep 19, 2014
Dougwe wrote:
"Chief Crazy Eagle" if you don't mind BG
I don't mind if you want to be a crazy eagle.....Chief....
Been thinking about Manila at Christmas but i think we will go up to Greens, then i will send the boss to Manila in Feb, see how things go.
Never flown Royal Brunai, but I believe there service is good, and reliable.
I assume your wife was born in the Philippines. I usually travel out of Melbourne on Singapore Airlines to Singapore with a connection direct to Cebu. The fare this year was over $1,400.00 round trip. Royal Brunei came up with $685.00 each round trip to Manila. The connection from Launceston and from Manila to Cebu cost around $850.00 total each. The service was good and on time. Their main business is Melbourne/Brunei/Dubai/London. They have a lot of Aussie Pilots also.
good to hear you arrived ok Ken, BTW don't you qualify for staff discounts on airline travel?
Big Gorilla said
09:54 AM Sep 20, 2014
_wombat_ wrote:
good to hear you arrived ok Ken, BTW don't you qualify for staff discounts on airline travel?
Thanks Wombat.
Staff travel ! Simple answer is yes but its not worth the effort. Flights to your proposed destination are never available and by the time you add taxes and extras, you can shop around and buy a cheaper fare. Airlines today dont want to give anything away. Its all about Dollars. Not like the 70s and 80s. In the TAA days, American carrier Continental, flew a DC10 between Sydney and Los Angeles daily. We could fly Continental to LAX, 99% of the time upgraded to First Class, first and last night at Holiday Inn LAX airport, and a Hertz Rent-A-Car for 2 weeks. Total cost..wait for it$350.00.
Look at this website to see what is available today:
Frequent Flyer points is a rort. I have over 250,000 Qantas points. To use them, taxes and charges are added. To fly Qantas to the Philippines you have to book 12 months ahead. To use the points for upgrade to Business Class, you have to buy a full Economy fare and HOPE your upgrade will be approved.
Melbourne to LAX is 96,000 points in Economy. Last time I considered a trip, the extra charges were around $900.00 each using the FF points. I found a cheaper fare on American Carrier, United for less than $900.00 each. Goodbye Qantas hello United
Dougwe said
10:04 AM Sep 20, 2014
Big Gorilla wrote:
Dougwe wrote:
That's me first thing in the morning for sure BG. At least until I put the war paint on
I know the feeling well, but I like the Chief's daughter !!!
I'm in deep doo doo then BG, cos that's T1. Because their twins T2 looks the same.
_wombat_ said
11:02 AM Sep 21, 2014
interesting site Ken, but would need to get to Syd Mel or Brisbane to catch a flight, not a big deal really, we still use ST but not that often, is was alright before retiring, as you say in the TAA days.
Finally arrived home in Cebu yesterday afternoon (17 Sep) after a long day traveling from Launceston, Melbourne, Brunei, Manila then Cebu. The tiredness was bought about by waking at 3.30 am for the 6 am flight Launceston to Melbourne then a wait at Melbourne for a 12.15 pm departure for Brunei and Manila. Made me wonder how I used to fly those long legs of 8 hours plus and keep alert !! Traveled on Royal Brunei Airlines for the first time. Aircraft was the new B787 Dreamliner. Muslim airline so no booze served but I bought a bottle of red at Duty Free (Twice the price sold at Woolworths or Coles) and they give a glass to consume it. Female cabin crew wore Burkas and I told my wife the Captain wore one too which almost resulted in her opening the door to jump out. I was also disappointed I couldn't get a Pork Chop for lunch.
A Typhoon is passing to the east of the Country, so been raining constantly since we arrived, although temp. is still close to 30º so the aircons are running at full bore.
Have quite a lot to do including painting outside of the house. No I wont be painting, why should I when labor is only $8.00 a day !! But I will be acting in a supervisory capacity !!
Will keep you posted.....
Glad you had a safe trip BG, keep us posted, you always do interesting threads...
Good to hear you made it safe Ken.
Been thinking about Manila at Christmas but i think we will go up to Greens, then i will send the boss to Manila in Feb, see how things go.
Never flown Royal Brunai, but I believe there service is good, and reliable.
A mate's wife is from that Island and yes it's possible to hire labour for what is ridiculously low rates from our perspective.
He was looking at buying a place up there too but their laws prohibit foreigners from owning real-estate he said.
You'r not being dodgy are you??????? lol
Cheers
Dodgy !!! Would I do anything Dodgy !!!!
Yes foreigners cannot at present own land but that scenario is being revisited by the Govt. He could buy land in his wife's name, even if she is now an Australian Citizen. She doesn't have to be a Dual Citizen either. If she was born in the Philippines, she can own land here. One interesting bit of info for your Mate, if she owns a house and land here and leaves everything to her Husband in her Will, and passes away before her Husband, he can legally own and register the property in his name. This is the only way a foreigner can own land here legally.
I assume your wife was born in the Philippines. I usually travel out of Melbourne on Singapore Airlines to Singapore with a connection direct to Cebu. The fare this year was over $1,400.00 round trip. Royal Brunei came up with $685.00 each round trip to Manila. The connection from Launceston and from Manila to Cebu cost around $850.00 total each. The service was good and on time. Their main business is Melbourne/Brunei/Dubai/London. They have a lot of Aussie Pilots also.
Thank you CHIEF !!!
"Chief Crazy Eagle" if you don't mind BG
I don't mind if you want to be a crazy eagle.....Chief....
That's me first thing in the morning for sure BG. At least until I put the war paint on
I know the feeling well, but I like the Chief's daughter !!!
good to hear you arrived ok Ken, BTW don't you qualify for staff discounts on airline travel?
Thanks Wombat.
Staff travel ! Simple answer is yes but its not worth the effort. Flights to your proposed destination are never available and by the time you add taxes and extras, you can shop around and buy a cheaper fare. Airlines today dont want to give anything away. Its all about Dollars. Not like the 70s and 80s. In the TAA days, American carrier Continental, flew a DC10 between Sydney and Los Angeles daily. We could fly Continental to LAX, 99% of the time upgraded to First Class, first and last night at Holiday Inn LAX airport, and a Hertz Rent-A-Car for 2 weeks. Total cost..wait for it$350.00.
Look at this website to see what is available today:
http://www.worldinterline.com.au/
Frequent Flyer points is a rort. I have over 250,000 Qantas points. To use them, taxes and charges are added. To fly Qantas to the Philippines you have to book 12 months ahead. To use the points for upgrade to Business Class, you have to buy a full Economy fare and HOPE your upgrade will be approved.
Melbourne to LAX is 96,000 points in Economy. Last time I considered a trip, the extra charges were around $900.00 each using the FF points. I found a cheaper fare on American Carrier, United for less than $900.00 each. Goodbye Qantas hello United
I'm in deep doo doo then BG, cos that's T1. Because their twins T2 looks the same.
interesting site Ken, but would need to get to Syd Mel or Brisbane to catch a flight, not a big deal really, we still use ST but not that often, is was alright before retiring, as you say in the TAA days.