The airbus A330 touched down softly on the tarmac but immediately screamed and juddered as full reverse thrust tried to change the thermodynamic principles of our 100 tonne host. Snow covered every aspect of Kloten Airport except the runway. After a few too many coffees, I boarded a smaller A320 and sat in the empty cabin. “We are totally full returning” said the Maitre De Cabin. I lay out on three seats and snoozed across eastern Europe. I awoke over what the electronic map said was the sea of Marmara. The thick cloud made it impossible to verify this, so [View Full Entry]

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When our Boeing 747-400 slammed down onto the runway at Heathrow, we were roused from our semi sleep. Cisca and I now had to get to Birmingham with all of our kit for the Birmingham Dive Show. We had enjoyed the US, but now it was time to get back to work. We spent two days talking to potential Pemba Divers and old friends who dropped by to say hello and sample our beer. When the show ended it was back on BA046 and yet another night flight to Dar es Salaam. BA were fine, but when we left terminal 5, [View Full Entry]

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The Dive show in Las Vegas came to and end. Dan and Shelly Lee joined us for a few short days. We had made the decision to drive to Los Angeles, but could not not decide on a route. We held a Chinese parliament, and after much horse trading we headed north to Death Valley National Park. Now this was easier said than done. America may be the land of the free, and the freeway, but getting a hire car from Hertz a little close to hard work. We had to change office three times before finding someone who actually really [View Full Entry]

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Going to America was a long journey. Well long by air. Not quite a train journey, but long enough. We woke pre dawn in our tiny hotel in Zanzibar. (Stone Town Café- baraka@zanlink.com) . We traipsed down the ancient stairway in the white building and into our tame taxi drivers’ saloon. (Rashid +255 713 61 92 45) The sun came up over Zanzibar Airport. At least security did not ask me for a bribe this time. We wandered out over the tarmac and boarded. The let 410 climbed out over the channel and dropped us in Dar es Salaam. We were [View Full Entry]

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BA046. Dar es Salaam to London Above Libya Over the Kufra depression The 767 may have been old, but on the inside, the cabin is perfect. The plane is small, clean and blue. The cabin crew seem friendly and helpful. We have boarded quickly, BA’s ground security staff usher us through well. As I take my seat the Captain comes on the tannoy. “Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen for boarding so swiftly, we are now closed up and ready to go. The first officer will be flying you to London today, that’s all from me” And with that we pushed back, [View Full Entry]

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Cantonistan. Loud and independent minded. The T15 was an express to be remembered. It was clean, in good condition, and each cabin had internal airline style toilets. I watched with awe as outer Peking and the countryside slipped by under a blue sky. I had never seen a blue sky this close to the industrial heartland and of course it had to happen on the day we left. The train hammered along at just under 100miles per hour. We ate a light dinner in the good restaurant and then slept early. I woke early as the train clattered around the [View Full Entry]

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PEKING CAPITAL CITY Captain Riyadh put us firmly down onto China. Once he had made contact with the runway at Peking, we began what I call "the Qatar airways roll out". Always long, always quiet, and nearly always with no reverse thrust. We had been on the A330 for over 9 hours. I had slept for five and watched master and commander for the last two. The whole experience had, as usual for Qatar Airways, been utterly painless. We were back in China after a break of three months. With the exception of Olympian fever, or should I say fervour, nothing [View Full Entry]

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This last post about our journey through Sinkiang attracted many comments. Some of them were from Chinese people, some from Uygurs and some were from foreigners. I was surprised by how many comments this attracted, I was also surprised by how many of the comments might have been deemed offensive. I didn’t take offence, but I did think that some form of explanation might not go amiss. My blog is a form of diary, it chronicles my experiences and those of the people that I travel with. This goes out to all of my friends and some people who share an [View Full Entry]

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Captain Riyadh put us firmly down onto China. Once he had made contact with the runway at Peking, we began what I call "the qatar airways roll out". Always long, always quiet, and nearly always with no reverse thrust. We had been on the A330 for over 9 hours. I had slept for five and watched master and commander for the last two. The whole experience had, as usual for Qatar Airways, been utterly painless. We are back in China after a break of three months. With the exception of the Olympian fever, nothing has changed. China is a morass of [View Full Entry]

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The T62. An Insight by Farhat Jah. Every night the Tibetans would meet in an elevated square and dance in a large choreographed circular fashion to loud music. We could not work out whether this was practice for a festival in June, or whether this was a normal facet of life in Zhondian. In any event, the townsfolk seemed to enjoy their dancing enormously. Young women in jeans would dance next to city slickers in skirts, boots and stylish coats, next to old men in sports jackets and trilby’s. Every night we would gravitate to the square to watch the routine. [View Full Entry]

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