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.)

Phill: What’s the point of a clock if it doesn’t tell the time?
Me: I’m sure it does … we just can’t figure it out.

The Astronomical Clock in Prague, located in the Old Town Square, is one of those sights that you look at and just don’t get. It’s colourful and interesting and quirky – but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to read the thing!

According to Wiki (yes I am a Wiki addict), the clock is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; “The Walk of the Apostles”, a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. Phew – that’s a lot of things all going on at the same time!

There was a large crowd gathered at the clock, but they weren’t all there for the same reason – we quickly discovered the clock was a popular meeting place for pub crawl groups.  We saw four or five groups waiting to go to their next pub, and we were offered flyer after flyer inviting us along. It wasn’t just a meeting place for pub crawls either – Phill was offered drugs by a man who “accidentally” bumped into him and muttered, “Wanna joint?” Phill, of course, declined and we both watched as the man moved on to some teens standing near us. Another bump, another mutter, and the three of them walked off together.

I remember looking at Phill and saying excitedly, “OMG, our first drug dealer!!”

Yes, it’s small things that amuse me.

Anyway, back to the clock. It was pretty impressive and we spent a while there trying to figure it out (but with no luck). The clock itself is mounted on the Old Town City Hall and it’s possible to climb to the top to get a birds-eye view of the Old Town Square, so we did that. There was a religious concert(?) being held in the square. I’m not sure which religion it was, but it was quite popular. You can see the yellow shrine in the photo and the stage is to the left, where there was singing and music.

It was very crowded at the top of the hall and very windy too. The walkways around the top are very narrow, so we had to keep squeezing to one side to let people pass. After ten minutes or so, we decided to go back down and look at the clock one last time.

We still couldn’t figure out what time it was, but it was definitely interesting!

There was one very famous building in Prague that Phill and I wanted to see – the Dancing House, nicknamed “Fred and Ginger” after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, because the building, when viewed from a particular angle, resembles a pair of dancers.

Isn’t it beautiful in a strange way? The buildings in Prague were so interesting – at times it felt like we were standing in completely different centuries just blocks away from each other. Fred and Ginger are situated on the end of the building, as you can see in this next photo, so to see the “dancing building”, you need to go to the end and view it from this angle. I remember seeing the building and thinking that I couldn’t see the dancers at all, then we came to the end and turned around – and I saw it immediately.

The top floor is the fancy Celeste Restaurant, which has stunning views of Prague. Unfortunately we didn’t make it up there to eat, as much as that would have been an experience! We crossed the road and headed out onto the bridge, snapping photos like crazy tourists. I love being a crazy tourist sometimes, taking millions of photos of buildings and food and plants and animals. Nobody is going to roll their eyes and say you’re taking too many photos – you’re supposed to!

I love this photo because it shows the contrast in the style of the buildings – in just one photo, you’ve got such a range of design and colour! It was seriously amazing. At this point I was a little addicted to the Dancing House and Phill had to tear me away from taking more photos. I just wanted to make sure I had the shots I wanted, since I wouldn’t get another opportunity to photograph it in a while.

The Dancing House is on the banks of the Vltava River, which is the longest river in the Czech Republic.

Some of our best lunches were simple store-bought food, eaten while perched on the wall running along the river, watching the boats go by. We actually walked along the river one day for hours – it was very beautiful but very long too and by the end of it, we were absolutely exhausted!

I know it’s been a while since we returned from our EuroTrip, but Terri’s comment reminded me that I’ve been very slack in posting about it, so I’ve finally got my act together and started writing up some posts. I’ve only done one so far and already it’s bringing back fantastic memories of our trip! I’m excited about sharing our experiences overseas and I hope you enjoy reading about it.

I love flowers – I think they are absolutely beautiful and whenever I see them on other blogs I get insanely jealous because the most I’ve ever managed to grow in my garden is weeds and a cactus, which is why I was surprised when I found this beauty peeking out from the overgrown grass:

When we were in Bali, we saw beautiful flowers everywhere – mostly frangipanis. Apparently there is a disease in Bali so their frangipanis don’t bloom, but in Lombok they didn’t have the disease, so all their flowers were gorgeous. I tried to take some close-ups to take home with us because I thought it might be nice to get them blown up and framed, to go on the wall. There’s something extra special about photographs if you took them yourself.

I love how the water is speckled on the petals and it pools in the bottom photo. We got some really heavy downpours while in Lombok – it started suddenly and absolutely poured down, then would stop without warning. Very cool, but also too unpredictable! A couple times we’d put off leaving the house only to be relieved when it started raining minutes later, which would have meant we would have been caught in the rain with no umbrella!

This is my favourite “ugly” flower. I think it’s not typically pretty because of all the short, stubby petals happening there, but they curl out softly, forming little points. The bees were active in these flowers – only taking a break when the rain started.

Orchids are beautiful flowers and also a little strange-looking to me. I loved these white ones, with their hints of purple and yellow – so pretty. It makes me wish I had a green thumb, so my garden could always have beautiful flowers, but in this Australian heat, I think you’ve got to really know what you’re doing or your plants don’t survive.

Yes, there will be Puddy posts coming up – she’s been a bit neglected on here for a while!