Arrivals & Departures Weekly Travel News & Views 12 November 2024

SWIFT UPGRADE

London Heathrow Airport has increased its forecast for passenger traffic this year — and the team there reckons it’s partly because of people coming to see Taylor Swift and going to Paris for the Olympics. It is now expected that 83.8 million passengers will pass through the airport in 2024 (up from the previous prediction of 82.8 million).

PAYING UP

In Australia, most flight attendants are employed by airlines but some are given work through “labour hire”. They can earn quite a bit less than their “directly employed” co-workers, despite doing the same job. But from November 1800 of them have been awarded pay rises of up to 28 per cent to bring them up to par under the powers given to the Fair Work Commission under the Closing Loopholes Act.

INTERNATIONAL NORTH

It’s surely a source of State pride that we’ve actually had international flights in and out of Broome International Airport. The inaugural season of Jetstar Asia’s successful flights between Singapore to Broome ended on October 26 — and it is committed to resuming them on April 1, 2025. During the past dry season, Jetstar Asia flew twice-weekly flights and added nearly 13,000 additional seats into Broome. Broome International Airport CEO Craig Shaw says: “We have welcomed visitors from nearby in Singapore and much further afield from China, Europe, the UK and North America.” Flights between Broome and Singapore in 2025 can be booked at jetstar.com.

FLY FOR FREE

Classy Australian outback adventurers Outback Spirit have a “fly free” offer for travellers who book its 2025 flagship tours by December 20, 2024. Along with complimentary flights to and from the destination, the offer can be combined with other offers that amount to savings of up to $2990 per couple. Outback Spirit has trips from the Kimberley to Arnhem Land, and an interesting itinerary in the footsteps of Ludwig Leichhardt along the Gulf of Carpentaria. The 15-day Leichhardt’s Savannah Expedition from Cairns to Darwin is from $11,395 per person, saving $1600 per couple, plus guests get to fly free. Its benchmark 13-day Arnhem Land Wilderness Adventure from Cairns to Darwin is from $13,295 each, saving $2990 per couple plus fly free. outbackspirittours.com.au

LEICHARDT EXPEDITIONS

In 1844, Ludwig Leichardt set out from Sydney, headed north-west to the Gulf of Carpentaria, then trekked across the coast of the Northern Territory. He recorded the plants, animals and geology that he observed. In 1848, Leichardt set out on an expedition to cross the continent from east to west, and his entire expedition party disappeared and was never found.

Leichardt was a thinker. He wrote: “One can be deluded in favour of a proposition as well as against it. Reasons are often and for the most part only expositions of pretensions designed to give a colouring of legitimacy and rationality to something we would have done in any case.” (As true today as it was then.)

EXPLORER PEN

I still use a fountain pen every day. There ... it’s out there (and it feels good). I have three fountain pens ... and I might just add another. Pen company Pilot has just added the Explorer Fountain Pen ($53.45) to its range. It is lightweight and a Pilot insider tells me the Explorer is good for “adventurers and frequent travellers” because it has an airtight cap that prevents ink from drying out or leaking. (And we all want one of those.) There’s a gel ball pen, too — the Explorer Rollerball ($42.75). They are both available in matte black, gloss white or clear (fountain only). And the team at Pilot is proud that the Explorer comes in a gift box that’s good enough to be reused as a pencil case, travel pack for toiletries or charging cables. pilotpen.com.au

SUPERSTAR DEAL

Sir Tim Rice wrote the lyrics of Jesus Christ Superstar, and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music. And the musical is returning to Sydney for its 50th anniversary tour this November. It will be at the Capitol Theatre, and the PARKROYAL Darling Harbour Sydney is the official hotel partner. As part of its JCS package, guests get accommodation in the heart of Darling Harbour, full buffet breakfast at Barkers restaurant, and a sparkling wine and cheese platter before heading off with A-reserve tickets to see the show. The package, valid from November 17, 2024, to January 19, 2025, is from $499 per night. Numbers are limited. Call (02) 9296 5707.

OUTDOOR GLASS

Reader Gwen, who kindly follows us closely, has written to point out that Adelaide Botanic Gardens has an exhibition by world-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly until April 29, 2025. Dale makes epic glass sculptures and this is the Australian debut of his Garden Cycle exhibition. It’s all free, outside and, of course, as the light changes, the sculptures change. Gwen adds: “I await a coffee table book from Boffins as my ‘armchair travel’ of his colourful pieces.” We love our readers travelling in every sense, and using every sense. (And I’ll keep her surname private.)

MORE VEG SERVED

I might be the only person in Perth that thinks the yet-to-open new $100 million (probably $140m) double cycle and pedestrian bridge over the Swan River at the Causeway is a clumsy monstrosity. We aren’t good at elegant, I think. But I’m pleased to know that new vegetation around the site will include 90,000 shrubs and 690 trees. All the new trees will be native species, including peppermint, paperbark and eucalypts.

COMO ADDITION

The elegant Lake Como EDITION hotel is due to open in the northern spring of 2025. It will have 142 guest rooms, a lobby bar, pool and several restaurants and bars overlooking Lake Como and the Bellagio mountains. The hotel is in a restored 19th-century building on the western shore of Lake Como, a short drive from Milan.

ROSEWOOD COMING

And the Rosewood Amsterdam hotel, due to open in 2025 in the capital of the Netherlands, is in the former Palace of Justice. It is an elegant building of great architectural, historical and social significance. The hotel will overlook the Prince’s Canal in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Amsterdam Canal District. Rosewood Amsterdam will have 134 guestrooms and suites, with views across two adjoining canals, internal courtyards and iconic townhouse rooftops.

GREAT EDITOR

And finally, I’m only here, writing this, because of former editor of The West Australian Don Smith, who died last week. Don, an ethical, decisive, well-humoured newspaper editor and a great West Australian, offered me a job when he was recruiting in London, and out I came. I still have the typed letter that Don sent me by airmail. It begins: “Welcome to The West.” While Don was alive, I expressed my thanks to him for giving me “this new life”, and repeat it now, in tribute.