Travels in my shoebox.
I have a cupboard full of shoeboxes. But they’re not filled with shoes. They are filled with mementos from my travels. Inside are maps, coasters, matches, restaurant and hotel receipts, napkins, badges, stickers and… well, all kinds of crap. I’m so organised (or have a good dose of OCD) that I even have allocated separate boxes for certain items including beer coasters, bank notes and boarding passes. There’s all kinds of interesting bit and pieces in my boxes, so I’ve decided to do a semi-regular blogisode on the contents of my travelling shoeboxes. And I’m starting with my boarding passes. Yes, it may be a little sad, but I collect my boarding passes and I have a rather impressive collection even if I do say so myself. I won’t show them all (the Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Sydney isn’t that exciting), but these are either interesting airlines or have interesting stories that accompanied that flight…
I flew Business Class (or the rather flash-sounding ‘Club Class’) with Uzbekistan airways and the only difference between Cattle Class was that we got a linen tablecloth with our ham and salad roll.
My name may have been Bryn Thacker and Indonesia ranks as one of the worst countries for air-safety records, but boy are they cheap. And at least Merpati have been around a while and they haven’t run out of planes yet. Oh, and ‘Say No To Drug’ – they just don’t specify which one!
The ‘Treasure of Myanmar’ was actually very nice. The plane was relatively new, we departed right on time and the very full plane landed in Bagan (from Mandalay) to let just two of us off, while the rest flew on to Yangon.
This was one of the most surprising flights I’d ever been on. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much from Ethiopian Airlines, but the plane was brand new, the food was excellent and the service was impeccable. They could teach a few other well-known airlines a thing or two (not mentioning any names United Airlines).
Pan Am. Remember them? I took this flight from London to New York in October 1989. The flight number was originally PA103, but they changed it to PA103 after the Lockerbie bombing in December 1988. I’d always wanted to fly Pan Am because I had a Pan Am board game where you raced each other around the world. It was that game with all the exotic place names that got me interested in geography and travel.
It’s always a worry when the whole plane breaks into rapturous applause when the plane lands. The plane may have been a little old, but hey they did do a lovely pasta salad and chocolate mousse.
I do have about another 200 boarding passes, but I won’t bore you any further. There is, however, just one boarding pass that I really want to add to my collection. It’s this….
Eva Air in Taiwan have Hello Kitty planes where everything, and I mean everything, is Hello Kitty themed – from the fuselage to the flight attendants, cushions, check in, baggage tickets, and even the food is Hello Kitty themed (I’m talking pink spaghetti and kitty shaped buns). Here’s what to expect…
The interior of the plane.
The scary Hello Kitty food (although the Hello Kitty hosties are cute!)
And what’s even scarier is that this is the pilot!
Coming up next on ‘Travel in my Shoebox’ is my beer coaster collection!
