mike carey

You need not worry. The chances that William will be succeeded by anyone other than George is close to zero, and that all three of William's children, or any future ones, would die or otherwise be excluded to make way for the Duke of Sussex (or his children), is so remote as not to be considered seriously.

The Travel Desk is the default forum for things that don't readily fit into one of the more specific Destinations forums. It's also the place for destinations etc in the US (and Canada) so a cruise from a US port would qualify there as well. The Americas forum could be taken to include everything in the Western Hemisphere apart from the US so technically that includes the non-Hispanic Caribbean, but most people only post topics about Ibero-America there.

It's better to report things like this, and ensure that a moderator sees it, rather than simply comment in the thread and hope that one of them will see the thread, or see your comment, and move it.

Moderator's Note Gentlemen, can we pare the discussion back to the topic of the thread, please. That is, the immigration clearance experience at Montreal. Other ports of entry are fair game as are brief comparisons of the experience entering other countries as a visitor. At a stretch, discussion and evidence of any effect negative experiences might have on Canadian visitation rates qualify. National and international tourism statistics and 'Why would you want to go to Canada anyway' do not.

Pumped hydro! Who knew such a thing existed??

Well, this made the 'odd news' segment on ABC TV news here today.

'Big Airline' will no doubt keep it quiet! It must be worth it for Singapore Airlines as they are still operating daily flights to both EWR and JFK. No economy DVT risk though, they operate A350s with only premium economy and business seating. They have even swapped out the A380s that used to operate to JFK via Frankfurt for the smaller B777. Qantas currently operates the third longest route from Perth to London (B787 three classes [no F]) and it is one of the airline's most profitable. I just flew home on No 4, DFW to Melbourne, 17h20, but in premium economy not economy and it was surprisingly bearable. If/when Qantas start their Project Sunrise flights from the east coast to London and JFK (2025?) they plan a lower than normal seat count on their new A350-1000s and to have a four-class configuration. (They'll be back in NYC before then, joining Air NZ in flying there from AKL next month.)

"Down on the banks of the ..."

Who says Catch 22 is only a work of fiction.

I don't want to go there either, or to Doha, but a good fare on Emirates or Qatar could change my mind. Now, back to the topic at hand.

I dearly wish that you had said that, and that I had been there to witness it. That said, my most recent such withdrawal (of US cash) at the HSBC branch in town, I said was for travel to the US. I didn't say, nor did they ask, why I needed green cash. Nor did I volunteer that some of it was hooker money for a well-known gentleman visiting from the US. But then, the staff were delightful, so I saw no cause to add that particular element of colour about my intentions!

As I sit in the chill of a Canberra morning, I envy you the relaxed drive across so much of the country! Thank you @Oliver for a great weekend, and also to all that assisted and participated in this wonderful tradition.

He may not remember you, but you could have taken the view that hiring him again would in itself be your thanks for his advice, and would give you the opportunity to tell him his earlier advice had enabled you to better understand reactions you'd received from partners on previous encounters.

Hotels in DC were quite expensive when I booked for my stay there last week, but as Unicorn mentioned Crystal City is an option, and both it and Old Town Alexandria (which has more plentiful dining options) cost significantly less at the time (still not exactly inexpensive but that might be just my perspective). As he also said, the Metro is your friend, and both those areas are accessible on the Blue Line, which also takes you to the National Mall area. (The Yellow Line is closed now but is scheduled to reopen before June.) The Silver Line from Dulles is a game changer! Six bux at peak times.

I agree with @Unicorn that AA MCE has quite adequate legroom. I'm not sure I'd say the white wine was anything more than adequate, but hey, it worked at the time! (Booking on AA's AU site - which I had to to use an AU CC - I had to buy it by sector not for the whole trip, so paid the $AUD50 for the three hour sector but not the MIA-MCO one.)

Right, who ever heard of a shark getting hammered anyway?

I must have been eating at the wrong places. No sign at all of any influencers at the diners I was at!

That is true, but it also reflects the general reaction out there that Carlson's firing generated far more interest than Lemon's. Carlson had an agenda that everyone had views on. Lemon did not.

Or to Midway!

Haha, let me count the number of times you've already said that in here! Yet still it sometimes comes as a surprise to people.

Oh, I know all that, but he so completely inhabited the persona of Dame Edna that it seems churlish not to wish that both he and his alter ego might rest in peace and to do so separately. I'm certain that they will continue to coexist and even to clash in the hereafter. And as you suggest, Humphries was no progressive and Dame Edna's snobbery would have come easily to him.

He was. Or She was! Being in Alexandria-on-Potomac, I hadn't heard this sad news, much less whether a state funeral (or memorial service) will be offered. Olivia and Judith were both accorded one.

He was at some forum weekend functions, lovely guy.

You can't discuss whether you agreed with moderation decisions or details of them but there's no problem with talking about whether the moderators can police the forum with the timeliness and in the detail that is needed to keep it on track. Short answer, we couldn't devote one FTE to it, so it wasn't feasible.