Some of you may have noticed that this page is a little short on updates. While I still love travel, it’s fair to say that writing about each trip (especially with the amount I waffle on) is time consuming! That combined with a real day job, a spare time hobby of the My Flights app and...

Introduction and Planning Late last year I was chatting with my friend Will about his recent move from London to Chicago. He was saying how much he loved the city and how great the view from his apartment was. Around the same time BA were running a premium class travel sale and with World...

Introduction “Fancy a trip to Munich?” The question from my colleague had me interested, I was pretty sure that this wasn’t to be a work trip. His plan was that we visit the BMW World factory and museum over a long weekend. As a car fan, and relatively recent BMW convert I...

>No, not me, but my sister-in-law is currently flying to one side of Greenland, and then setting off with skis and dogs to the other side.The expedition’s website is here and you can follow their progress on the Blog page

IntroductionI’ve had more requests to get this report written up than any other! Possibly because nobody thought I’d actually go through with it… or possibly because people like to read about me being in pain… either way, here it is :)It was any other day at work, and...

Good news! In around a week I’ll be travelling to Cincinnati with work… having not been on business travel in a while, it’ll be nice to get back on the road. Only, with my new company… I’ll be travelling… in Economy. I have flown 282 times since my last...

Planning After my second honeymoon last September I didn’t expect that I’d be travelling for a while. My mileage balance was low and my remaining 2for1 voucher was likely to expire unused. But one day on the train to work I got a text from Schofs to say that BA were offering a...

>In less than a week, I’m off with Mrs. Schofs to Tanzania… and you can come too!As well as my normal report (which you will have to wait patiently for), I’ll be posting live updates and photos at each stage of my travels, whether I’m in the Concorde Room… or...

>Introduction Around 15 years ago, my sister spent a year on the Greek island of Zakynthos (Zante) as part of her Zoology “degree” studying sea turtles. Now I know what you’re thinking… it’s another story of Shirley Valentine going off to a Greek island, meeting some Greek guy and...

Back in July of last year, British Airways introduced a new service called You First. This was basically a team dedicated to assisting BA First Class passengers, rather than the usual hassels we all know and hate when we need to make urgent changes etc. to our flights.Another gimmick...

In an attempt to stay in touch with my youth, I’ve finally gotten around to getting Schofs’ Travels on Twitter! Of course, I still have no idea what the point of it is, other than stalking people… maybe someone can enlighten me! Either way, you can see my twitter thing by...

>The third instalment in my travels to New Zealand and I’ve finally arrived… if you haven’t already read them, Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.Sydney – Auckland in Qantas EconomyWe drove to the airport in the car we‚Äôd hired for the Blue Mountains. We‚Äôd hoped to...

Introduction Predicting the success of our honeymoon this summer we decided that it would be a good idea to burn some more miles and a 2-for-1 voucher and have a second honeymoon. The criteria for the destination were as follows: somewhere vaguely warm, good value for miles, good redemption...

The last time I saw myself published in Business Traveller, I was sat in First Class on the way home from Brazil. This time… I was about to board a First Choice Airways flight. But let’s skip over that one very quickly!If you happened to catch October’s Business Traveller...

>IntroductionThis report comes more than 2 years after I actually took the trip. Annoyingly I’ve forgotten some of the detail, but maybe that’s helped to give a better view of what you really take away from a trip; the lasting memories.A year after my parents moved to New Zealand, I had a...

>The second instalment in my travels to New Zealand takes me to Sydney… if you haven’t read Part 1, go and read it now.Bangkok to Sydney in British Airways FIRSTThis was a flight I was very much looking forward to; having flown with British Airways more than 100 times in the...

Introduction It’s a brave man that reads a random report on a travel blog and thinks “forget where I was going to take my new wife on our honeymoon – I’ll go there”, but that’s exactly what Alex did when he paid a random visit to Schofs’ Travels...

>IntroductionMy jollies this year had landed me 40 Points short of renewing my BA Gold Card this year, and with my renewal date fast approaching, I needed to make a quick trip somewhere to avoid losing my shiny companion.I’m somewhat skint at the moment, so my requirements were simple. I...

>If you’d like to know when new reports are posted here on Schofs’ Travels, please send an email to updates@schofs.com.

>Congratulations to Schofs’ Travels’ guest writer Alex Kimber and Kathryn who got married on 9th August 2008!

IntroductionAs you get older, the number of opportunities you get to do something spectacular for the first time falls like flies in a microwave. For me, visiting South America was way up on my list of things to do before I’m 40… But for my sister-in-law, it was an even bigger...

>On my flight home from Sao Paulo on Monday I was very happy to be reading a little prose by my own fair hand in the June 2008 edition of Business Traveller! Recognition at last!The book tour starts in the summer…

  The number ‘5’ is often associated with rubbish. The Jackson 5, the robot from ‘Short Circuit’, Channel 5 and the boy band ‘Five’ have all had their problems (Michael, stairs, Eldorado and everything respectively). However, none of them at a cost of...

>Planning the tripIn November 2006 I dabbled with the concept of status runs in Bahrain. Back then it was not through need, but simply a jolly at a price I couldn’t refuse. However, a change in job has meant twice-weekly flights are a thing of the past for me, and if I’m going to keep my...

>A quick update on plans for this year…In February I’m off to Muscat (via Barcelona, Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi!) for another Middle East jolly and a few status hops on Lufthansa First, Lufthansa Business, BA First and BA Club Europe.In May… well I’ve had to keep this one...

“What is there in Verona apart from an amphitheatre and a balcony?” a friend asked just before my weekend away. It was a good question, and I didn’t really have a good answer. I had only booked it because I fancied a romantic yet inexpensive weekend away somewhere with my...

Summary OK, another long report. If you don’t have time to read the latest Schofs’ Travels epic, then just trust me on one thing; go to Bora Bora. Do it now. Quit your job, sell your kidneys, and take out any savings that you’d put away for a rainy day. Bora Bora is quite...

Purple Parking (Drop off) We’ve recently moved a little further away from Heathrow, meaning a return taxi trip would have cost over £100, so I thought I’d try out some Heathrow parking. After pricing up a few alternatives, Purple Parking came in cheapest at £69 for the 14 nights...

Tokyo – Tahiti in Air Tahiti Nui Business ClassThis was a flight I was looking forward to, because I was finally on my way to one of the most beautiful places on the planet; Bora Bora.Another trip on the Narita Express saw us rolling up to Narita Terminal 2, where Air Tahiti Nui fly...

Bora Bora – Tahiti in Air Tahiti Economy The boat took us right to the airport, and as we went into the terminal we grabbed a few last minute presents for family from the small selection of shops. We then checked in our bags, collected our boarding passes, and went to the bar opposite...

Tahiti – Tokyo in Air Tahiti Nui Business Class The check in desks were immediately in front of us as we entered the terminal. There was no queue at the Business/First desk for Air Tahiti Nui, and the whole process was as simple as it had been in Tokyo. I did ask how much it would cost...

Tokyo – London in British Airways FIRST Class With our bags already waiting in the hotel lobby area, we climbed into a taxi and our bags were loaded in. We’d be flying out of Narita Terminal 1 back to London, so the hotel staff explained this to the driver, and we were off. It was...

>Here’s a video clip from the Skiing in St. Anton… it seemed so much faster when I was on the slopes!

>Planning The TripIt was 1st April 2006, and Alex and I were sitting at a blackjack table in a casino on the Isle Of Man. It was approaching 2am, and Alex was all out of chips (having lost a huge £10). I on the other hand was £43 up, and a small crowd was gathering; this is big money over...

London Stansted – New York JFK on EOS I’ve done the trip from London to New York a few times for work. Company policy gave me the choice of Premium Economy in BA or Business Class in AA, so I always chose AA. I even earned a few miles along the way that I’m saving for a...

>…but don’t worry – I’ve got a few trips planned before the end of the year…August – Flying in BA FIRST to LA with a mate, hiring a fast convertible, driving across the desert to Vegas, winning loads (that’s the plan anyway) over the 3 nights...

>IntroductionFirst things first… this Bonanza was a lot crammed into a little time. The write up however is a lot with no cramming… sorry! So rather than the usual single post write up, I’ve split it up into days.Select which section you’d like to see:All SectionsIntroduction /...

>London Heathrow – Boston in British Airways First ClassFollowing a clear run in the taxi to Heathrow Terminal 4, I met Phil in the First Check In area, and we went to collect our boarding passes from the desk. As always, we’d checked in 24 hours before hand online, and had secured the...

>Boston – San Francisco in American Airlines First ClassThanks to the 5 hour time difference, getting up at 5:30 am felt more like having a lie-in. As our eager taxi driver sped into the drop off zone, a guy was about to step onto the crossing just in front of us, but then thought better of...

>The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, HonoluluAs we’d booked 5* hotels for the rest of the trip, we thought we’d stay on a budget when booking the Hawaii nights (so long as we got miles or points for the stay!). Most of the hotels in the area were fully booked, or extremely expensive. However...

>Honolulu – Los Angeles in American Airlines First ClassAt 5:30am we checked out of our hotel, and drove back to the airport to return our car to Avis, and then took the courtesy bus to the main terminal.To be honest, the time wasn’t really a problem because of the time difference… in...

>Still Out in San FranciscoOur flight back to Boston wasn’t until 1pm, so when I got up I decided to hire a taxi to go to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was about 20 minutes drive from the hotel, and when we reached the bridge we drove over it and pulled up at a look out point.While the lookout...

>Out in BostonWe went down to have a chat with the concierge about Bus tours, and he recommended Old Town Trolley Tours. There’s also a tour on an amphibious bus/boat, but that didn’t cover nearly as much. We bought our tickets from him for $26 each (he convinced us we looked like...

>I wasn’t really expecting to be faced with a bill for $1000 on check out, but there it was. I calmly looked over the bill and said “That’s great, but could you just remove the mini bar and film for me as I’m a Royal Ambassador”. A few seconds later a new bill...

>New York – London in British Airways New Club WorldAnd there it was… the early alarm that said “Holiday’s over”. Well… not quite. Normally when I fly back from the US, I take an evening flight and make use of the flat bed to get a good night’s kip....

>Planning the TripWell, this is the first time I’ve been able to say this… but every last bit of the organising, from the location and accommodation to the flights – was done by someone else. Consider that a completely unnecessary disclaimer, because it worked out to be a...

The morning after I used my AA miles to book Hong Kong – Tokyo – Tahiti – Tokyo – Hong Kong, I received a 1 liner email from AA saying “Please contact AA regarding a problem with your booking”.I should point out that at this point that I had already booked...

Yup – I’ve made a few calls, and hey presto, Option 4 has now been booked!The route is:London – Hong Kong (BA First)Hong Kong – Tokyo (JAL Business)Tokyo – Tahiti (Air Tahiti Nui Business)Tahiti – Tokyo (Air Tahiti Nui Business)Tokyo – London (BA...

OK, so that’s not always strictly true, but today it is. Flying from Manchester to London this morning was a bit of a rollercoaster, but at least I arrived. Turning up for the return flight this afternoon at about 3pm, I thought I might see if I could get on an earlier flight which I...

>There comes a point, when all the miles and hotel points have to mean something… and that something is to be as far removed from home life as possible… just for a little while.So realising that I could throw a load of my Priority Club points towards an Overwater Bungalow at...