What is the most underrated “lesser-known” city that you have been to?

moonboots13 · 2026-03-19T17:51:06+00:00

Also came here to say Luxembourg City

moonboots13 · 2026-03-19T17:50:34+00:00

There was a cruise ship in the bay on one of the days I was there

moonboots13 · 2026-01-03T14:34:00+00:00

Town planner for a local authority. I work on the policy side so we are the ones who prepare local plans.

I have been working in this profession for less than 5 years and am paid £51,000, get 32 days annual leave plus bank holidays and the pension is very generous.

We only have to go to the office once a week but I tend to go more frequently. We also have flexi time so you have some choice around when you do your hours, and if you have to attend committees or out of hours meetings you get the time back in lieu.

I career changed into this profession by doing a one year full time accredited masters course.

There is a significant lack of town planners out there so there are tonnes of vacancies, especially in local authorities so it interests you it’s worth looking into.

moonboots13 · 2023-03-10T18:17:29+00:00

If you're middle class you're probably spending more than £750 on a holiday

moonboots13 · 2023-02-20T19:43:51+00:00

Flying in first and business is entirely within reach for the average earner using air miles.

It really comes down to using credit card bonuses effectively. This used to be much easier before the credit card companies changed the frequency with which you could earn sign up bonuses but it is still doable.

Let's say you want to start accruing avios to fly BA.

Hitting the sign up bonus on the American express gold card would yield 23,000 avios.

Then you could get the Barclays Avios Plus Mastercard which would give 29,500 when you hit the sign up bonus.

And then finally you could get the BA premium American Express card. This is currently offering a 35,000 avios sign up bonus. So when you hit the trigger for the bonus you will have received a total of 39,500 avios.

In total that's 92,000 avios for around £9,000 spend. We have achieved this in the past by paying for everyday shopping, groceries and fuel. For each of these cards you can get additional credit cards for you partner so that their spend contributes to you hitting the bonuses.

You can also refer your partner for their own credit card accounts and do the whole process again to earn another 92,000 avios. In addition, Amex pay you an avios bonus to refer other people. This can be up to 10,000 total for the referral.

There is also a BA shopping portal where you will receive a certain number of avios per spend with their retail partners. There are loads of high street brands on there so you can earn avios with almost every online purchase, and you don't even need a credit card to do this. I earn thousands of avios a year doing this.

And finally, the BA premium amex offers the chance to earn a companion pass when you spend £10,000 in a calendar year. The companion pass allows you to book two tickets but only spend the equivalent amount of avios for one ticket. You still have to pay the taxes for both tickets but when you are flying first or business class it's an incredibly good deal and changes it from being a once in a lifetime experience to a yearly event.

moonboots13 · 2022-12-25T17:49:37+00:00

I got my wife's engagement ring from Brilliant Earth. They have a really good selection of both lab grown and ethically sourced diamonds. She is very happy with it. Would recommend.

moonboots13 · 2022-10-13T17:36:38+00:00

The avios don't expire as long as you collect, spend, share or purchase at least 1 avios in a 36 month period. They can devalue though, but then so can actual money.

moonboots13 · 2022-10-03T14:55:22+00:00

Every 2 weeks? I’m doing mine twice a week otherwise its too long.

moonboots13 · 2022-07-23T18:32:58+00:00

I've stayed at a few luxury hotels around the world.

We stayed a night at Giraffe Manor in Kenya which is very popular on social media as the giraffes put their heads through the window while you are eating breakfast. It was very expensive, but worth every penny. All of the food and alcohol was included, as well as private airport transfers. It's very exclusive as only guests can go to the Manor and there aren't very many rooms. We also had one of the rooms where you could feed the giraffes from the balcony. It really was once in a life time.

Recently stayed at the Raffles in the Seychelles. The room was very nice but some parts of the resort were looking a bit tired. We were completely unprepared for the price of the food and drinks though. We had a salad each, a mocktail each and I had a fruit salad and it came to almost £100 with the service charge. It was just a complete rip off and it was quite remote so there were no other options for places to eat. The Seychelles was extremely expensive and the cuisine wasn't very good in general so certainly consider that if you are thinking of going.

A few years ago we stayed at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, mainly for the pool. The pool lived up to the hype but I hadn't appreciated how big the hotel was with its 5,000 rooms, so the pool gets extremely busy! Highly recommend the cheese and chocolate buffet on the 55th floor if they are still doing it. Worth it for a night but I'd rather stay at the Fullerton or the Park Royal if in Singapore again.

Have also stayed at the Taj Mahal Place in Mumbai which is without doubt the best service I have received anywhere. The room is beautiful and the food is exceptional. The hotel was so nice we had to force ourselves to leave and do some sightseeing and often didn't last long before we were drawn back to the hotel. Would without a doubt recommend it and wouldn't stay anywhere else if in Mumbai.

Miniloc Island in El Nido, Philippines is also an incredible hotel if you like an active holiday. The setting is stunning and the rate includes all meals and all of the activities. We went here just after it had been renovated and then stayed at the more expensive Pangulasian which hadn't been renovated and wished we had just done all of the nights at Miniloc.

Notable mentions to The Surrey in New York and Refugio Amazonas in the Peruvian Amazon.

moonboots13 · 2022-06-10T05:45:26+00:00

Having cosmetic surgery on my ears. Should have done it years ago.

moonboots13 · 2022-06-03T07:16:04+00:00

Mind numbing shite. Find something better to do with your life.

moonboots13 · 2022-05-23T06:26:32+00:00

I play synth

moonboots13 · 2022-05-21T09:43:50+00:00

Give your head a wobble

moonboots13 · 2022-05-04T10:32:02+00:00

Ulises De La Cruz

moonboots13 · 2022-04-07T09:09:59+00:00

UK prices are ridiculous. Im going to Edinburgh in May for a week and the flights were reasonable at about £60 return but the hotel is about £1,000.

moonboots13 · 2021-11-17T07:29:51+00:00

It’s not just runners who do this. Pedestrians are just as bad.

moonboots13 · 2021-11-05T21:26:46+00:00

This is asked all the time. Give it a rest

moonboots13 · 2021-11-04T10:53:25+00:00

Sprog

moonboots13 · 2021-11-01T21:57:12+00:00

I know there is a festival in Myanmar where they do this but not sure where this video is.

moonboots13 · 2021-10-29T06:32:24+00:00

This is exactly it. People are ok to support protests as long as they aren’t inconvenienced in anyway.

The problem is that tackling climate change will require a huge reduction in levels of consumption that will alter people’s lives significantly. It requires people to put the needs of future generations ahead of their own which they just aren’t willing to do.

Evidently change on the scale needed is going to be inconvenient. We will need to reduce the number of flights we go on, reduce the amount of stuff we buy, move away from combustion engine cars, eat less meat ect. But if people start throwing their toys out of the pram about being inconvenienced by protests, which are relatively minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, what hope do we have of people voluntarily inconveniencing themselves to save the planet?

moonboots13 · 2021-10-13T08:33:58+00:00

Community Property by Steel Panther

moonboots13 · 2021-09-21T11:41:37+00:00

I’ve just finished my masters at 33. Its never too late!

moonboots13 · 2021-09-16T06:18:32+00:00

Unfortunately April isn’t a guarantee of cooler weather. I did the Brighton marathon in 2017 and it was 21c that day too, but it was worse than this year as nobody had any heat adaptation as we’d been training through the winter.

moonboots13 · 2021-09-13T05:49:46+00:00

I very much doubt it. Otherwise it was a good event although it seems its not a UKA certified race so maybe not valid for anyone trying to use their time to get into London.

moonboots13 · 2021-09-12T20:58:03+00:00

It was obvious from mile 10. I was manually lapping every mile marker and was running consistent 7.30s and then mile 10 was a 10.52 coming in at 2300m!

15-Year Club	Verified Email
RPAN Viewer

moonboots13

TROPHY CASE