Last week, from Thursday to Sunday, Phill and I were in sunny Melbourne to see Jamie Oliver’s live show. There will be more about that later – right now, I’d like to use this opportunity to do a quick review of Tiger Airways, since there’s plenty of negative stuff out there, but not a lot of positive (or neutral, I guess). So if you’re planning to fly Tiger Airways, maybe this will help you.

The check-in process at both airports was pretty painless – Melbourne was much busier because there were two or three different flights all queueing up in the same line to check-in. This slowed down the process a bit and Tiger staff decided to open an express lane for the earliest flight, which meant everyone rushed to the express lane, leaving people who had been at the front now at the back – I didn’t think that was very fair. Phill and I were about third from the front in the original queue, so we decided to stay put instead of moving to the express line. I think a better idea would be to have the flights line up in different queues, so at least they are all together and not waiting behind people checking in for much later flights.

The staff were all very friendly and polite. I know it’s a budget airline and the level of customer service was not that of international flights – the staff were human, which means if you became angry at them for whatever reason, I think they would not hesitate to give it right back, rather than remain polite and calm. If you check in early (remember Tiger check-in closes strictly 45 minutes before the flight’s scheduled departure) and ensure your bags are not way over, you’ll be fine.

The planes themselves are really nice because they’re quite new. On the way to Melbourne we were offered emergency exit row seats for free, which of course includes more leg room, but on the way back we were in the normal seats. The room was fine for me – Phill wasn’t as comfortable, but it wasn’t bad enough to complain – it’s nothing different from JetStar or EasyJet. There’s a trolley service, but we bought food at the airport and brought it on, since the selection wasn’t fabulous anyway – mostly nibblies like chips and noodles.

The Airways crew were filming at Melbourne airport when we were leaving and I think we might have made it onto television. They were filming us as we boarded the plane and the camera man actually came onboard to film one of the passengers (I assume she had had an altercation with staff), which meant he was blocking the aisle and preventing people from being able to get to their seats. I was surprised at this because Tiger Airways is all about on-time departures, yet they send camera men onboard which disrupts the boarding and seating process.

So all in all, our Tiger Airways experience was positive. I found them the same as JetStar. Of course, you hear of horror stories where flights are cancelled, but both of our flights went without a hitch – we actually landed 15 minutes early both times! A downside is that there is no easy way to contact customer support. I’ve read about people being on hold for over an hour or being transferred from department to department with no resolution.

I think, to sum up, Tiger Airways is a budget airline which can be very cost-effective, but with all budget airlines, you have to be prepared for anything. Cancellations without warning and delays are apparently quite common with Tiger Airways (and remember they have a no-refund policy), although our two flights with them were fine, arriving early at our destination, with friendly staff and nice planes. The tickets were cheap and our luggage free (we were flying with only 7kgs of hand luggage each), so we paid a lot less for our journey than we would have done with another airline.

Have you flown with Tiger Airways? What was your experience like?

(And no, I am not receiving compensation in any form from Tiger Airways for this review.)

Remember how I mentioned Phill and I were going to try to make some cat furniture? Well, don’t get excited … we didn’t. Yet. But there’s a reason for it – on Sunday morning we were at his Dad’s house and I mentioned that Puddy had ripped up her scratching post and we were going to try to make a new one. Phill’s Dad looked at us like we were crazy and said, “Why don’t you just take one of ours? We’ve got heaps.” (It’s true … they have two cats living in the house and a gazillion scratching posts of all sizes and shapes.)

This thought hadn’t actually occurred to me, so I was surprised at the offer. I readily accepted, thinking it would be much easier than making one (okay, so I’m a little lazy!) but I was extra surprised when he pointed out the one we could take.

This one:

The massive, near-new, expensive, gourmet scratching post/cat furniture.

My first reaction was, “Are you sure???” and the second was, “How on earth is this going to fit in the car?”  I could hardly believe it – this thing didn’t exactly cost $20! We managed to get it onto the back seat and we drove it home excitedly, wondering how Puddy would react to it – after all, it’s  pre-owned and it can be very hard to convince another cat that it’s for them when they can smell the old owner all over it.

We took it out in the garage and brushed at it to get all the white fur off. Remember Isha? Yup, she was the old owner. Don’t worry, she’s happy and healthy – she just stopped using it like she used to. Anyway, once we’d got as much of the fur off as we could, we brought it inside and let Puddy investigate.

Sniff, sniff, sniff… what’s this? Who can I smell?

We put a couple of her toy mice on the platform so she’d feel a bit more familiar. The feather toy in the top perch is also hers, as are the treats in the metal bowl attached to the perch. The dangly mouse came with it.

After a little bit (and much more sniffing) she investigated higher…

And higher…

And higher!

So far so good! She’s being cautious, but is obviously very interested in this new toy. Phill was playing with her yesterday, dangling her mice through the tunnel, and she kept bolting through it to get to the mouse. I’ve caught her batting at the dangly mouse, yanking it towards her (incidentally, I wonder how long the dangly mouse will last?) When I got home from work today, there were little bits of fluff all over the ground – telltale signs she’s been scratching at the carpeted posts.

I’m thrilled (and still in shock!) that we managed to get such an amazing piece of cat furniture for free!

We are still enthusiastic about trying to make a basic scratching post, but now those plans have been put on hold for a little bit, since we’ve now got this new addition, plus her old scratching post which she still uses. It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?

In May 2009 I bought Puddy a brand spankin’ new scratching post for her birthday and hoped she’d use it, since she’s so unpredictable when it comes to cat toys. Luckily she did use it – in fact, she used it to death! Within a matter of months, it looked like this:

She’d completely ripped the top bit to shreds, revealing the cardboard underneath. She still seemed content with it for a while, so I didn’t buy her a new one, but recently she’s begun scratching at the lounge suite – something she’s never done before – so I took that as a sign that she’s given up on the scratching post and that means it’s time for a) a new one or b) me to fix the old one.

I figured, why not, let’s try to DIY fix this thing, since a new one will cost upwards of $50. I took it outside and put it on the table so I was at eye level. For the first real time, I took in the complete damage and geez, she’d gone to town on the post! The cardboard was even scratched up a little and I felt a twinge of guilt for not fixing it earlier.

First things first – I grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped off all the ripped material and rope. The top half of the post had actually been covered mostly with fur (the fur you can see up the top) and I think Puddy prefers the rope because it’s easier to scratch, but the rope bit was too far down for her to get a good grip. I decided for this reason, to wrap some rope around the top half instead of replacing the material.

Much better. Pulling off all the ripped material and rope revealed just how scratched up the cardboard was. For some reason, this picture makes me giggle when I look at it – it sort of looks like the post has a bowl-haircut.

I wrapped rope (fluro green, unfortunately that’s all I could find, but I don’t think cats care about colour) around the post, tightly winding it so it would be secure when she scratched. I glued both ends but didn’t glue the middle as I figured the tension would keep the rope on and if I found better rope later it would be easier to remove. And whola – the finished product:

But wait – there’s a cat in the picture! That would be because, the instant I turned away to grab the camera, Puddy jumped up on the table and grabbed the post, claws out. I’d tied a spare bit of rope around the top of the post to keep it in place while the glue dried – this will be removed later (so she won’t actually be able to chew on the rope), but as you can see, the bit sticking out proved to be a lot of fun for Puddy. I love the ears back – she was concentrating very hard!

I guess even though it’s a fugly colour of green, Puddy is pleased with her new and improved scratching post … and hopefully this means the furniture will be saved from her claws!

Phill and I are actually thinking about going out this weekend and buying some wood to make some cat furniture! We’ve been looking online at some simple plans and there’s a few really nice designs that don’t look too hard to make. Have you made your cat furniture? Heaven knows it’ll be cheaper than buying it!

I absolutely feel like Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk right now, because last night Phill came home with a present for me – an amazing magic bean with a secret message! Well, I must admit, it’s a regifted gift – Phill got it from a customer who bought them to give to his clients, but this one’s secret message was “With Love” and, well, that would just be awkward.

Sliding off the (slightly battered) case reveals a beautiful wooden box.

The lid isn’t properly on – WHY don’t I notice these things until after I’ve taken the photo?? Anyway, the first thing I spotted was the secret message spoiler – I thought it would be something that emerges after planting, but evidently the Amazing Magic Bean people want you to know your secret message in advance. I guess that’s a good thing – you don’t want to accidentally give someone an inappropriate message.

Anyway, here’s the contents of the box: “special” soil, bean and instructions.

The bean also spoils the secret message, because written on it is “With Love”. I guess this was never meant to be a secret afterall.

Okay, so the instructions are pretty detailed for something as simple as planting a bean. First of all, you grab the wooden lid, turn it upside down and place the box on top of it. That’s pretty cool – the lid becomes the base. Then, open the special soil and tip 2/3 of it into the box. Next, get your magic bean and put it in the middle of the soil with the black stripe facing downwards. You can *just* see the black stripe at the base of the bean in the above photo.

Cover with remaining soil and whola, the magic bean is planted! The instructions say to lightly water it every two days. You just want the soil moist, not overly wet. In 7-10 days, my magic bean will sprout! I’ve just got to keep it in a well ventilated place, remember to water it and, of course, not let the cat tip it over or eat it.

I will report back on my magic bean’s progress – I don’t exactly have a green thumb, but there’s no way I can mess this up, right? Well … we’ll see.