Plane Sailing : Brett Debritz's travel blog

Change of scene

This travel blog has ceased to be. I’m still active on the Mister Brisbane newsletter and the Radio Bert YouTube Channel.

Bored with Earth? Space is the next travel frontier

Images of the Virgin Galactic trials. (imagenet)

Where would we be without eccentric entrepreneurs? Stuck on our own planet, that’s where.

From the photo files: Munich

‘Tis the holiday season and I’ve been trawling through my archives. Here are some photos of Munich, taken just a few years ago.

They cover the Marienplatz and inner city area, plus — of course — the world-famous Hofbräuhaus.

That familiar feeling: staying with brand-name hotels

The bed may look familiar, but it’s comfortable and clean.

“Hello Sir, good to see you again.” So said the doorman at the Ibis Soi 4 Sukhumvit hotel, a modest, comfortable and popular hotel in central Bangkok where I’ve stayed on three occasions in the past 18 months.

Yes, it’s part of the global Accor chain, but last week’s greeting (which came before I proffered any identifying paperwork) disproved the accepted wisdom that these places lack warmth and personal service.

Cruise ships are microcosms of life, and death

The Royal Princess became a crime scene. (Image: princess.com)

Updated on November 19 due to new information

When a 52-year-old American woman plummeted from the lido deck of the Royal Princess onto a lifeboat several decks below during a Caribbean cruise, it shocked her fellow passengers, the crew and cruise-lovers in general.

The woman died and a man, who was arrested by police when the boat docked at the island of Aruba, now stands accused of murder. It is alleged that he strangled her and threw her overboard.

Passengers pitch in to fix plane before takeoff

Of the list of things you might think could happen on an aircraft, this one takes some beating.

Customers aboard a LOT Polish Airlines plane were reportedly asked to help pay to fix the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s hydraulic pump.

Would you sign up to be a responsible tourist?

Tourism is big business for a lot of countries. But opening your beaches, forests and city streets to thousands of outsiders can put a big strain on infrastructure, and the environment.

Some countries have successfully throttled tourist numbers in sensitive natural areas, with the Philipines and Thailand both recently closing beach resorts to allow them to rehabilitate after “overtouristing”.

New Zealand is trying a different approach.

Are UFOs, or meteors, a danger to aviation?

The Day the Earth Stood Still (20th Century Fox, 1951)

A very bright light accelerating to twice the speed of sound caused momentary cause for concern for pilots over Ireland.

Was it a alien spaceship or, as officials suggest, a meteor that sped up once it hit Earth’s atmosphere.

Would a driverless taxi know the way through San Jose?

A Navya Autonom driverless vehicle. (navya.tech)

It appears inevitable that self-driving vehicles will be appearing on roads around the world within the next few years.

The technology is improving by the day, with lots of big money behind it. However, significant questions remain about our these vehicles’ suitability to share the roads with human-piloted cars and with passengers’ willingness to use them.

Cruise-ship sinking: a case of hurtful fake news

Triumph didn’t overturn, in fact it’s about to be refitted and renamed. (Photo: Carnival.com)

A story doing the rounds on the internet claiming that a Carnival cruise ship has sunk has been described as a “prank”. But it’s more than that, it’s a lie that misleads would-be passengers and capitalises on a real tragedy.

A picture of the partly submerged Costa Concordia, on which 32 people died in 2012, was used with the story, which claimed the Carnival Triumph had sunk off the coast of Mexico.

The smell that stopped a plane from taking off

Few things, let alone fruits, are as divisive as durian. I’m reliably informed that many people find them delicious.

But many other people find their stench unbearable, leading to many hotels in Asia having a very strict “no-durian” policy. So, it comes as no surprise to read that the smell of the fruit has delayed a flight.

A matter of life, death and racial profiling at 30,000 feet

If you were suffering a medical emergency on a flight and a doctor came to your aid, you’d almost certainly welcome their attention.

But what if airline crew tried to stop the doctor from helping you? That’s not a hypothetical situation; it actually happened.

Thailand national park bans plastic bags and styrofoam

Is more sustainable tourism in sight? Well it may just be for me, because right now I am staying on the mainland opposite the Thai resort island of Koh Samet.

And Samet, in common with other tourist destinations around the world, has announced that it is striving to eliminate styrofoam and plastic bags from the ecosystem.

You should be vigilant, but not panic, about air safety

Update, November 22, 2018: The general thrust of this article is that you should look carefully at the safety record of the airline you intend to fly with. This New York Times story suggests that Lion Air has grown too quickly and without instilling a safety culture among its workforce. It also raises questions about the Indonesian air safety authorities.

Update, November 2, 2018: As I mention below, Indonesia has an air-safety problem. Read more about it here. The headline of this article has also be changed, and a footnote added.

You want travel rewards? Computer says No

David Walliams as Carol in Little Britain. (BBC)

Sometimes when I sit at my laptop I feel like I’m in one of those Little Britain sketches where a relatively simple operation is thwarted because the “computer says No”.

It’s happened to me on so many occasions that I reckon I’m wasting my time even reading those tempting travel-related offers that come via my inbox

Forget about privacy, everyone’s got your number

Updated (see second footnote)

Another day, another data breach. Revelations that data held by Cathay Pacific has been “compromised” do worry me a little, as I have flown with the airline several times, and plan to do so again next month.

But, as a frequent traveller, I’ve got used to the idea that many people have the details of my credit cards, passport and much, much more.

Would you sail on the Titanic II?

On the surface — and I’ve used that phrase deliberately — it would seem like the worst idea ever.

But, according to news reports, the project to build an (almost) exact replica of the Titanic is now going full-steam ahead.

Should passengers be bumped to make way for off-duty pilots?

There’s a saying about airlines being “bad on the ground, but good in the air”. Basically, it means that booking, checking in and so on may be a hassle, but the airline compensates for all that by offering superior service during the flight (which is pretty much all that matters to most passengers.)

If there are scales of good to bad both in the air and on the ground, I’m not sure where Thai Airways sits after a recent debacle concerning passengers who were bumped back from first class to the business cabin to make way for two off-duty pilots.

Would you sleep with a stranger to save money?

On Costa cruises, I’ve travelled solo several times with no supplement!

First up, this is not about school dormitories, hospital wards or backpacker hostels. Or about dodgy blokes renting out rooms in return for “benefits”. It’s about the choice offered to adult tourists to share a hotel room or cruise-ship cabin with somebody they don’t know.

While it’s not as common as it used to be, there are still tour operators who promise to pair-up solo travellers in the same room.

The ugly side to joining the Mile High Club

We’ve heard the jokes about the Mile High Club, and it’s probable that some people reading this have aspirations to join it.

But having sex in a toilet cubicle* on a commercial aircraft is no laughing matter, or anything to be proud of. It’s a matter of hygiene, people.