I had, indeed. Everyone else in Germany had heard too; it was front-page news.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine called him "one of the greatest adventurers of the twentieth century", and added:In New Zealand, where Hillary was revered as a national hero, people reacted with distress to the news of his death."He's on your money, too, right?" asked Hans. "Yes," I said, rather proudly. Of course I don't want to give Germans the impression that New Zealand goes in for apotheosis -- but by all accounts he was a wonderful man.
Moving from the international news on to the very very local, I had my first experience with the famous European low-cost air carriers this week: I booked a weekend trip for late January on Ryanair. As I'd been warned, the original FIVE-EURO FLIGHT!! steadily accumulated extra charges for return trip and taxes and baggage and check-in, finishing at 80 € on the actual credit card bill. Still, it costs more than that for a trip home from Auckland to Christchurch.
And where am I going on this 80 €?
Rome.
3 comments:
What *are* you blotting out in the upper left corner of the Frankfurter Allgemein? Inquiring minds want to know ...
Er, I know you like maths and stuff. BUT, I would have assumed that you could correctly work out the cost of flights between Auckland and Chch. I have recently travelled between the two twice return - that's four times. Grand total cost = $310. That's four flights, right.
That would make it less than $80 per flight, which is less than your rant about 80 Euro flights, and that is before you factor in the exchange rate.
Pedantically yours, James
Google says that 80 EUR is NZ $151.81, which as a rate for two flights beats than your rate for four. My self-congratulatory remark still holds, just.
Pugnaciously yours, ....
PS I'm still impressed by your obtaining of $155 round trips, though. Good bargaining. And I'm still a little bamboozled by your apparent need to island-hop so frequently. Interesting life choices.
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