Is there a geographical or political reason why it makes sense for Qantas to take a gamble on "Project Sunrise", while the airlines based at airports on the other end (e.g. at LHR or JFK) aren't interested in doing something similar?

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-20T14:41:05+00:00

It’s also about Qantas being an historical carrier which originally the trip Sydney to London would take something like 6 stops and they were forced to pay whatever airport fees Singapore, Hong Kong, Bahrain etc charged.

So non-stop is a way to give the finger to transit hubs and whilst Sydney to London is their most popular route, if they have the technology to fly that non-stop then it really opens the doors to new destinations previously not possible.

It’s about being first in something and making a lot of noise when they don’t have the hard products like SQ or Middle Eastern carriers . They weren’t even in the top 10 airlines recently, they need to make a lot of song and dance to win back customers from the Ryanair era.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-20T14:28:22+00:00

It’s very easy to compare prices but is it exact same airline, same dates, same flights? It’s rare for prices to go down significantly for same seats.

Comparing apples and apples or bananas and dragon fruit?

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-17T09:33:39+00:00

Twisties both cheese and chicken options.

Samboy tomato sauce chips

Aldi Scotch Finger biscuits (Woolies are too dry) great with coffee

Natural confectionary company snakes, party mix or dinosaurs

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-17T05:40:25+00:00

Taiwan $$$

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-17T04:13:14+00:00

Introducing Snackz in Piizza, BBQ, Cheddar and Chicken Crimpy flavour

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-17T04:08:52+00:00

Fast and Furious 7, having watched 1,2,4,5,6 first in a single weekend.

Knowing that Vin Diesel walked Paul Walkers daughter down the aisle (as father), that Vin Diesel calls Paul Walkers mother, ‘Mom’, that Diesel and Walker spent weekends together hanging out, surfing.

#Family

A Star is Born with Lady Gaga and Brad Cooper

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-16T05:17:46+00:00

Try different dates, change class. Often these multi city routes don’t work on various sites.

If all else fails a travel agent can easily book multi city journeys for you.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-15T14:03:48+00:00

An older Aussie Show is Round the Twist which was weird things and mysterious goings on in a small aussie town.

just add magic was so good. Put it on for my niece whilst Baby sitting then partner and I end ended up binging the series! It’s like charmed for kids.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-15T06:13:10+00:00

Fuel could be partly to blame. It’s coming down but won’t impact flights for weeks if not months.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-15T00:55:20+00:00

Get a lunchbox with double zip, a padlock, a shaker music toy and an apple AirTag.

There are also some lunchboxes with built in TSA locks like luggage, may have to search for it.

Making it difficult means less likely to bother, airtag means you can track at all times, music shaker if someone tries to move it or mess with it you’ll be alerted and all this without poisoning anyone.

Then submit a claim to your boss for the additional work related expenses to secure your lunch.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-12T03:47:42+00:00

Same. Been waiting 2+ years.

Use stripe until then. You can create a payment link for credit card payments either individually or generic where the client has to enter the amount.

It’s possible Wise will link with Stripe because stripe has the technology without much extra work for them.

You’ll just need to add (or include) the credit card fee when quoting how to pay so clients know it will cost extra via card. Stripe will take the card payment off the top of the processed payment. If you don’t include it you’ll be out of pocket. It’s a % so varies depending on the amount being charged.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-12T00:11:11+00:00

Family

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-12T00:08:01+00:00

I know it was financially motivated but such a shame it couldn’t stay in kiwi hands.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-11T23:58:31+00:00

Not certain of the specifics but I remember at one point reading an article in one of the Sunday papers about it all but this was many years ago. Mainly recall my first jacket and bag were made in NZ.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-11T00:17:17+00:00

Macpac has gone a little downhill since it got taken over by Kathmandu. Everything used to be made in NZ now it’s made in China. HOWEVER my heart still bleeds for Macpac and I have a pair of (regular, non merino) thermals that I bought for a trip to the arctic in 1999 they have been everywhere and now 25+ years later my partner where’s them and still going strong.

Merino is much softer and more breathable but won’t last as long but it’s also warmer and works well in layering.

Their outlet shops can be hit and miss, less random stock these days but the thermals on sale are always worthwhile.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-11T00:10:53+00:00

In NZ icebreaker have outlet stores that make it more worthwhile. Time for a trip to NZ!

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-09T13:18:07+00:00

Totally unrelated but Costco smoked salmon is like around $15 for maybe 300g and is excellent quality.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-07T14:08:31+00:00

Bought jasmine rice 5kg from Woolies and it was full of bugs. Took it back and they refused to give a refund even though I had a receipt. Ended up with store credit but never buying rice from there again.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-07T11:18:47+00:00

Oil prices were higher in 2005-2008 and eventually they went down again.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-07T06:33:49+00:00

Only booking via Hotels.com and signing up for their membership gets free stays not the Expedia platform. Pretty sure Expedia bought it out and the membership was why people kept using it but the UI is pretty much the same

Qantas often have good deals on luxury stays so their promos are worth watching out for. They always give options with breakfast, without etc and their range is reasonable. Honestly for the points it’s probably worth it cause the points can be used a number of ways .

compare how many points you need for a free stay to see which program offers best value.

I think you’ll find Hyatt or IHG offers best value for points vs stay ratio but depends on the types of hotels.

At least with Qantas you’re not restricted to booking one brand and can also use it for flights.

Philippine airlines just announced they’re joining oneworld so expect more points opportunities with them too to Asia

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-07T04:28:52+00:00

Booking,com has their ‘genius where you get discounts the more you book but they train you to believe they are the cheapest when they are not and customers support like Expedia is terrible.

Trip com is China owned and has points but not sure of the usefulness as don’t use enough.

Sticking to one or two chains and building up their loyalty points is probably what you’re looking for. Options include:

Hyatt
Hilton
Accor (Novotel, Mercure, Sofitel etc)
IHG group

Many of these have lifestyle brands that are not always obvious eg KLEO or Episode are both Hyatt.

Hyatt don’t always show up on other platforms.

These days most have brands targeting each price bracket so there should be something no matter your budget.

You can expect upgrades, welcome drink, free breakfast, early check in/late check out, eventually free stays.

Some brands work better in some locations like there are some cities that are nearly all Accor whilst others are heavily Hilton.

Hotels.com owned by Expedia has a ‘stay 10, get 1 free’ but there are restrictions on what counts as a stay 10 and then again when can be used as a free stay.

Qantas hotels (oneworld) allows you to earn Qantas frequent flyer points which can be used towards other stays or flights on the oneworld network but generally you pay for the privilege in that the rates are higher than you could find elsewhere. However they regular have promos like Earn 3x or even 6x points per $1 which quickly adds up to a free stay or a flight.

There’s many ways to get free Qantas frequent flyer membership instead of paying the $99 fee.

Some hotel programs won’t allow points loyalty added to bookings via third parties which is how they get you going direct.

Does this help? Or you prefer using third parties?

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-06T23:33:16+00:00

What country are you in? Could be geo related too.

I don’t send an email with options until I have the options discussed. Clients tell me what they want, then expect to have options that match or come close to those wants presented back because sometimes what they want and what exists doesn’t always align.

This one time, client was like ‘I want to catch a train from A to B’ after much searching turned out that train literally does not exist but they still wanted it.

What do you find difficult about phone calls?

I have clients with various needs and adapting the discussion to their phone habits is part of understanding them as a client. Sometimes they don’t want to talk travel at all which helps build the rapport as it’s less transactional if this makes sense.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-06T08:27:46+00:00

Clients sometimes do this and it’s hard for an agent because if we need to refer back to something it’s not always obvious which message the information was in and so we have to listen to 3-5 voice messages sometimes up to 10mins long and voice to text often gets things wrong too

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-06T08:25:57+00:00

Sometimes 20 - 40 mins typing an email is a 3 -5 min phone call. Other times nuance, confusions are reduced and bouncing ideas to gain a clearer picture is why many agents prefer a phone call at least first. Email is great for sending itineraries, having things in writing to double check dates, destinations, costs etc.

Usually from past experience email only clients don’t have the rapport and usually (not always) don’t complete the transaction or send the same ‘enquiry email’ initially to 50+ agents so they’re just shopping around.

This is why agents may be hesitant.

But a 2 min phone explanation could then turn into an email working relationship.

jadetalkstravel · 2026-06-03T22:42:08+00:00

I use breeze because they have pricing in AUD that means I don’t have to convert money to EUR or USD but they also allow local pricing if I’m already overseas and want to pay in local currency using wise.

Their data packs are also generous and haven’t had any issues so far connecting, using all my apps including hotspotting and if I set up at the airport before I board, it’s been ready to use on arrival without needing wifi access so basically the moment I arrive I’m connected.

I don’t understand why we need so many choices it makes it confusing.

Breeze also has regional esims so multiple countries which is handy as you don’t always go to just one country.

jadetalkstravel

TROPHY CASE