[The Original Nick]

can2 wrote:

The Original Nick wrote:

@can2
Have you read Mileage Maniac?

No, why 🙂

There’s a lot of information on the early days of FT. Well worth a read.

[The Original Nick]

Rob Burgess wrote:

So, here’s the story.

When I joined Flyertalk in 2004 it was a fairly small site and most people used their real names or initials as their username. As the site grew a lot of people became uncomfortable with this.

In my case, whilst I was using my three initials as my username, it actually WAS fairly recognisable because my employer ran on initials (eg every memo you got was from ‘ABC’ to ‘XYZ, EFG’ etc) so it could have been linked back to me.

In the end, the Flyertalk team announced a one-off moritorium whereby you could change your handle without the usual ‘previously known as XYZ’ message, so I swapped it.

I wanted something that still started with ‘R’ but was a proper word. I remember sitting at my desk in the bank writing ideas on a bit of paper. Whilst no-one believes me, the Raffles name was driven by the books and not the hotel chain.

Thanks Rob.

[The Original Nick]

@can2
Have you read Mileage Maniac?

[The Original Nick]

I’ve been in contact with Rob since he started his website but I’ve never asked him directly. I have thought in the past that he may well of been sat in the Raffles hotel in Singapore when thinking of a name. I guess he’s just going to keep us all guessing for a while.

[The Original Nick]

Thanks to all.

[The Original Nick]

I had to upload my e-ticket to VS to get my points credited in the end.

[The Original Nick]

ramsey wrote:

QUOTE

Result.

[The Original Nick]

Thanks Al.

[The Original Nick]

Thanks. I’ll need to change it at the gate then. I’ll then be able to use my ITA Elite status to use fast track and get lounge access I hope.

[The Original Nick]

AJA wrote:

@FearlessTraveller Thank you! I never knew you could fly between LIS and FAO/OPO!!! I have only ever used the train between cities in Portugal. And good shout about a flight between LIS snd MAD. I’m off to investigate.

Fairplay. I gave up. I gave my 11000 miles to charity via my TAP account.

[The Original Nick]

Lula wrote:

I applied on the day it was first publicised here. Very shortly after, I got the request for documents but have been too busy to respond. I completely forgot about it it in fact, until yesterday I got an email saying my status had been matched.

Interesting

[The Original Nick]

Wiseoldman wrote:

yes waiting still. same dates

I have had a reply.

[The Original Nick]

DarrenS wrote:

Can’t these be transferred to Hilton at an effective 50% value?

Yep. But losing the value. Best bet is using them for KLM/AF or Delta west to the East coast.

[The Original Nick]

Metty wrote:

A trip report from our family holiday to Sri Lanka. We’re two 60something retirees and our 20something son and daughter. Last time we were in Sri Lanka for holidays was 31 years ago when we were rather taken with the buddhist temples, monks etc, so decided upon a buddhist wedding ceremony which – as SL wasn’t set up for such things – we did in Thailand a year later. I have been back on Tier Point runs since but only done aviation museum type things.

Day -1 Heathrow to Dublin

Because Qatar released four Avios Business Class seats ex-Dublin to Colombo, but ex-nowhere else I could find, we positioned over to Dublin and the Radisson Blu for the night which was more than paid for by the saving in tax ex-Dublin (£145pp one way) than ex-LHR (£386pp one way).

Day 0 Dublin – Doha – Colombo

An early start for the 0730 departure to Doha. Check in and security were swift, but Dublin Terminal 1 always seems so busy and although Qatar don’t use the average one that BA use, their lounge which is between T1 and T2 was busy too.

I haven’t flown Qatar since Covid-19 seemed to remove all the good Qatar Business Class deals, so it was a very pleasant surprise to be re-familiarised with their attentive service; BA always make me feel like I’m an inconvenience e.g. asking for another bottle of water on an 11 hr flight (‘you’ve had one’ was the best comeback) or in F when they say ‘we have a dine on demand service’ followed by ‘so can I take your order and I assume you’d like to maximise your rest so we’ll serve you straight away’. Both QR sectors were B787-8 so the seat is getting on for 10 years old now and
absolutely fine.

Colombo arrival: we had done Electronic Travel Approvals in advance ($50pp) and also the online Arrival Card. There is a fast track immigration for business passengers and aircrew at the furthest desk from where you enter; only minor amusement was that I’d put my wife down as a Mr but that didn’t delay anything.

Bags appeared quickly. I think someone else mentioned that it’s best to skip the sim stalls/vendors until through customs; although I’d got an Airalo e-sim to preserve my UK number, I had an old phone so bought a sim once through customs and in the arrival hall as 50Gb for £5 from the Dialog shop seemed a bargain. There are ATMs hidden away behind the Bank of Ceylon counter.

Stay: Terrace Green Hotel Negombo; they collected us in a small van and the rooms were clean and acceptable. £60/rm BB

Day 1 Negombo – Anuradhapura

We met Nandika, our guide as recommended by @strickers and @qc in reception at 1200. I’d booked all the hotels and sent a Google Maps route to Nandika 6 months prior with a request for an air-conditioned van as there were four of us and we like to spread out. The van came with a driver, Donald, so Nandika was on full-on guide and question-answering duty on this tour. Nandika’s cost for our 6 day tour was £660 of which I paid £200 in advance to secure the van.

Two points of note here.

Firstly, we were told that the government have banned import of new vans (maybe cars too) to avoid SL’s money exiting the country to Japan. Thus it is important to reserve transport well in advance, as even with tourism at a fairly low % of where it was, vans are a limited resource.

Secondly, although Nandika had, in pre-trip WhatsApp exchanges , offered to book hotels, I didn’t take him up on this. Partly as I wasn’t too sure he’d book the exact same rooms, partly as I didn’t know him and partly as I like doing all the trip planning so booked the refundable rooms already. The downside was that because Nandika had not booked the accommodation, he and the driver had to source their own whereas if he’d booked the rooms, most hotels provide free lodgings for driver/guide. We agreed that in future I’d send him the exact room type and prices and then see if he can get a better rate with his Travel Agent discount or match whatever rate I found.

We drove to Anuradhapura stopping along the way for roadside stall rambutans, bananas and bathroom stops as appropriate, the first of which was at a local version of Tesco, where they have nice toilets and enabled buying of snacks and water. Apple Pay worked here; ATMs everywhere, so easy to get cash if card machines not working.

Hotel: Heritage Hotel. £48/room. This was the only hotel on our trip I’d suggest avoiding. One room had a very smelly bathroom which is consistent with TripAdvisor reviews.

Day 2 Anurhadapura – Dambulla

The hotel provided a box breakfast and we met Nandika at 0645. The main cultural attractions don’t open until 0730 but we were in the Isurumuni Temple completely alone at 0700 after Nandika sweet-talked the security folks. Then on to the other main cultural sights of the ancient city before setting course for Dambulla.

On the way I requested a diversion to see an old An-24 aircraft that had been dumped in the outskirts of town and then after lunch, we did a 2.5 hour elephant safari ($50pp) which was worth it as daughter only wanted to see ‘happy elephants’ in the wild. There were lots of jeeps all congregating to start with, but ended up alone watching the elephants. We didn’t fancy climbing Sigiriya as had done it in 1993 when the kids’ age, so took photos from below and moved on.

Stay: Lake Lodge Kandalama £250/rm/BB; but offered a free evening meal. The 12 room boutique property was lovely and the food fabulous, the sort that I only ever encounter when trying to spend my Amex Platinum credit in a fancy restaurant in London. Originally I wanted to spend two nights here – as I always think that one is a bit of a waste when check in late and check out early – but they could only do one, so left a note when booking to let me know of any cancellations for the next day. When googling reviews of the Lake Lodge prior to arrival I was slightly surprised to see that a couple of sites said it was ‘clothes optional in public areas’, but as nobody had mentioned this in any review and thinking that the conservative nature of the locals would make this unlikely, I ignored this, although the kids were somewhat anxious to find out. Michel the owner is a fairly charismatic chap, so maybe he used to run it clothes optional and found it not so good for business?

Day 3 Dambulla – Nurawa Eliya

Having checked out of Lake Lodge and en route, I got a message from Lake Lodge to say they’d only just noticed my request sent 5 months ago for another night, which it turned out that they could do. Too late….and a shame.

On day 1 we explained to Nandika that whilst we respected his choice of bathroom stops, we feel bad about stopping at gem shops, batik stalls etc as we were unlikely to buy anything as we are trying to de-clutter and feel bad about leaving such places empty handed but understand that such places tend to have western tourist-friendly toilets. In general we just stopped at random places we stumbled across, but our visit to one of the several herbal gardens was excellent.

We had ‘done’ Kandy before, so weren’t stopping there, save a stop on the outskirts for lunch snacks and for Donald the driver to hand over some cash to his daughter who is studying law at Uni there. Given the perilous state of the economy, it’s good to see that education is still free.

Approaching Nuwara Eliya, we stopped at one of the tea factories; the scenery is lovely and it’s so much cooler.

Stay: Galway Heights hotel, 2nts, £90/rm/nt BB.

Day 4 Nurawa Eliya

We started the day with a walk around a tea plantation, nobody else around save a few tea pickers. Then back to town.

The Grand Hotel now charges 5000 rupees (£12)pp for a visitor entry which is redeemable against purchases on site and seems to keep most casual visitors away. We had a full tour and enjoyed drinks on the patio whilst musing how mad it seems that the Brits brought billiard/snooker tables by ship (and elephant from Colombo which took several months) in Victorian times.

We had a look around the town’s shops, doesn’t take long, but did spend nearly an hour at a fruit and veg stall buying and trying everything we could see. I’m unsure why people rave about durian, but hey ho.

day 5 Nuwara Eliya – Ella

We stopped at temples but also spent a while at the Botanical Gardens. Now I find a visit to Hillier’s (or similar garden centres) in the UK about as exciting – save the cakes – as my wife finds football. It wasn’t the season for the plants to be in bloom, that’s April, but I enjoyed it. The entrance fee was 3500 rupees (£8-9) but they put this to good use, beautifully maintained.

One of the gardeners pointed out a Russell’s viper lurking in a gully. If bitten, we were told, you are likely to be dead in 15 minutes.

Arriving at Ella, backpacker central, we walked to the Nine Arch Bridge where the 5 trains a day stop for people to Insta pose hanging out of the doors in relative safety. We didn’t actually travel on the train but you don’t actually need to, just clamber up, do the pose and dismount. There’s plenty of time.

There are signs banning drones and police telling those off for flying drones. The problem (not well explained on the signs) is that there are some huge wasp nests under the arches and if the drones come too close, the wasps feel threatened and swarm on nearby humans of which there are loads to choose from sat on the bridge dangling their legs within a foot of the nests.

Little Adam’s Peak is apparently a nice viewpoint assuming you are fairly fit and climb in the late afternoon. We tried, felt lazy, gave up and had drinks and an ice cream instead. The access path is through a tea plantation and goes past the 98 Acres resort and Spa which was like something from the Med with a full-on pool party, live DJ etc. Whilst the swish bathrooms appealed to the older generation, it may generally appeal more to the younger folks. And the deaf. A penny for the thoughts of lady tea pickers hauling their huge bags of tea up a hill to loud Balearic Beats with scantily clad babes bouncing around.

Stay: Green Hill, £60/rm BB

day 6: Ella to Mawella

We stopped at a big waterfall, it was impressive, but main entertainment apart from the monkeys involved attempts to retrieve a Russian child’s mobile that had fallen onto the rocks in front of a scoreboard showing a tally showing 37 people killed trying to climb the rocks.

We made a stop at a family making pottery by the road and then Nandika suggested that we routed via Mattala Intl Airport (HRI) as he knew I’d be interested. 150 rupees pp (40p) for entry. This is a vanity project of the previous President who was from the area; it’s a bit of a white elephant (1-2 flights from Eastern Europe/Russia a day) rather appropriate as a customs officer who we chatted to asked if I’d heard of the ‘peacock problem’ (engine ingestion, yes recall the incident reports), as now it’s worse with elephants getting through the security fence. The airport is served by fabulous access roads like Hanoi and many in China and, like the airport, deserted.

We arrived at our airbnb La Maison de Mawella on Mawella Beach (west of Tangalle, 90min drive east of Galle) and said goodbye to Nandika and Donald. Rather pleasant here in the garden looking at the mostly deserted beach, rolling waves, cooled by a strong breeze! There are some beach shacks for beer o’clock, the Sea Dragon even prefers that you WhatsApp a menu choice and time as they have limited resources, but no shops here, you have to tuktuk.

Other guides are available of course, but our family all loved Nandika. His preferred contact is by WhatsApp +94 71 386 1590.

Excellent. That’s the longest trip report I have ever seen on Headforpoints and I have been reading Rob’s website since day 1. Well done Metty.

[The Original Nick]

Excellent. That’s the longest trip report I have ever seen on Headforpoints and I’ve been reading Rob’s website since day 1. Fairplay to you Metty.

[The Original Nick]

jek wrote:

The Original Nick wrote:

Cool. The reason why I was asking about hotels near the airport (SJO) is that I am arriving there Christmas Day at around 4pm and my parents arrive around 8pm so I am wanting them to get to the hotel in good time for a shower and a drink for the evening. Then on Boxing day I was thinking of getting a shuttle/taxi for a day trip to get back for tea time/early evening and then head for Monteverde or Puerto Viejo. We love wildlife but planning is a lot more difficult than I thought. Galapagos was easy to plan for our trip last November. Thanks for eveyones help so far.

Do you plan to leave for Monteverde on Boxing Day after your day trip? That’s unlikely to work. If you have a car, you’ll drive in the dark. There are usually no shuttles after early afternoon.

Better to plan a day trip and go to the next destination the following day.
Hi Jek
I was planning on going somewhere like the Cloud forest at Monteverde on the day after boxing day. We would like to stay in that region for the hot springs too for around 3-4 nights. Then head to the coast somewhere for New Years and get back to near SJO on the 3rd January as we fly back to Madrid on the evening of the 4th. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks for your help.

The typical day trip is to a coffee plantation, Poas volcano, and the waterfall gardens. The only thing I enjoyed was the waterfall garden from the three.

[The Original Nick]

Cool. The reason why I was asking about hotels near the airport (SJO) is that I am arriving there Christmas Day at around 4pm and my parents arrive around 8pm so I am wanting them to get to the hotel in good time for a shower and a drink for the evening. Then on Boxing day I was thinking of getting a shuttle/taxi for a day trip to get back for tea time/early evening and then head for Monteverde or Puerto Viejo. We love wildlife but planning is a lot more difficult than I thought. Galapagos was easy to plan for our trip last November. Thanks for eveyones help so far.

[The Original Nick]

Can anyone recommend a hotel at SJO or nearby the airport?

[The Original Nick]

I’ve never tried paying my water bill at Paypoint locations. I’ve been paying my council tax at paypoint using my Amex card for donkeys years. I’m going to look into this.

[The Original Nick]

freckles wrote:

You don’t normally earn points with hotels on their programme if you have booked through a third party like booking dot com. However, no harm in adding your Marroitt number when you check in – you may earn on any direct hotel spending such as restaurants etc.

I agree. I would call the hotel and see what they could offer.

[The Original Nick]

Thanks. Yes BA is over double the price.

[The Original Nick]

Thanks to you both.

[The Original Nick]

QR usually credit on a Wednesday. Check this Wednesday.

[The Original Nick]

Thanks JDB.

[The Original Nick]

Via HKG on CX? Just remember that transferring MR points to FF programs can take a while on your first transfer.