With our tickets we had to transit through either Sydney or Melbourne. We were booking our flights with frequent flyer points, so the only charges were the tax and extra fees, so there were no differences in the cost of the actual tickets.

Sydney airport tax was about $10.00 more per person than Melbourne for our domestic airfares. We chose to fly through Melbourne because that $40.00 saved will buy us our meals while we wait for our next flight, since meals are rarely offered on flights any more …

This is a relief for a lot of people, but it definately makes sense for the airline to do it, because firstly most passengers are not going to have an extra piece and secondly they would get a lot of hassle from customers who wanted to take these things as extra.

Just remember if you are travelling by air with a guitar to loosen the strings so that you dont have a damaged guitar on arrival!

One important thing that air travellers have to think about today that they did not have to 10 years ago is security and the fact that at nearly every international airport you are likely to be standing with your bags in a line for some time. This can add to the stress of travelling and can make the journey just seem a bit harder then it has to.

Here is a list of the things I recommend for people flying to take in their carry on.

• Laptop (as you are obviously not going to check that)

• MP3 player - to kill time

• Shirt - it is great to have something fresh to change into before landing

• Travel sized deoderant - remember that most airports will restrict you to 100ml containers

• Book / Magazine

• Travel documents - (passport, tickets and information about where you are staying for immigration)

This amount of weight should not be too much even if you have to wait 2 hours in security or immigration (which is likely if you are flying into North America or Europe), yet it gives you enough stuff to be entertained as well as a few essentials.

It seems like more and more people are being told to repack their bags at the check-in desks - don’t be one of these people, think seriously about what you take as it will save you a lot of time and pain.

The last time I went through Hong Kong - I had the priviledge of spending 12 hours in the airport with my family. We were one of the only flights checking in at the new terminal. It is a spacious building with well laid out shops and restaurants. They also have a lounge that you can pay to use that includes shower, internet, lounger chairs and TV. There is also food and drink there - but you will have to cough up about $50 for 3 hours use.

Hong Kong airport are trying to market terminal 2 as a place where you can come even if you are not flying, but to come and shop and use the entertainment facilities as well. And to be honest if my wife had to drag me out somewhere to shop - I would not be too upset, there is plenty to do that does not involve looking around shops! There are some nice places to eat, a cinema showing the latest films and an arcade that has a huge variety of games from golf to football to shoot’em ups.

The only thing I thought was funny is that at 8pm the shops started closing in the terminal, and this is about the same time that the check-in desks open for the flights heading to Europe, which are the only flights that left from the terminal at that time (May).

All of these facilities are avaliable before you go through security to the departure lounge!

I had an interesting experience at security once we had checked in. My bag was X-rayed and then I was pulled aside to find something in it that had caused a stir. Once I opened the bag the security officer took out my deoderant - because it had 10ml more than I was allowed to take on flight. Then once we had nearly landed in London I was looking through the same bag and found a long medical syringe and needle that we had taken while travelling, that security had not taken off me. It makes you wonder about priorities if you can get on a flight with a needle but deoderant is considered a risk!!

Once you go through security and a short train journey you get to the departure lounge. It is a lot more cramped than the terminal building, and again there is a plethora of shops and restaurants  on 3 floors in a central area . Then as you walk out to the gates there is free internet access areas as well as child play areas to entertain the little ones and hopefully get them to burn off energy before the flight!!

All in all it is a great airport (airport of the year for 2007 according to Skytrax), and if you are flying through dont be worried about a couple of extra hours there - you can spend them easily at the airport.

Dubai airport, like everything in the city, is elaborate. When you arrive and have cleared security - the first thing that will get your notice is the size of the ceilings, combine that with the architecture of the roof and you have a terminal building that feels very spacious.  The decor of the buildings are I would describe as over the top and although there is plenty of space - something about the ambience of the terminal is a little encrouching, I think it could be to do with the array of light and ornaments…but that is probably personal taste.

What I really like to do in this airport is make my way to the Transit hotel (located one level above the shops and restaurants) where for a nominal fee of around $5 you can use a lap pool and jacuzzi. I usually pass on the lap pool and spend my time relaxing in the Jacuzzi which is perfect after sitting on an 8 hour flight and before doing another one of equal length!

The shops are the same as anywhere else - and I destinctly remember being underwhelmed at the choice and “savings”- although the prices are helpfully listed in the local currency as well as dollars and euros - and helpful touch to help to separate with your cash! There are plenty of places to eat and the resturants are round the back of the shops separated from the main walkway so there is a little more peace there. so you can have you McDonalds, or Chinese food overlooking the runway through a huge wall of glass!

Dubai is a nice airport - and I use the word nice because of its obvious ambiguity. The shops are nothing special, the food is the same choices you would have in London, Brisbane, Atlanta or Reykjavik, the architecture is good and the transit hotel has good facilities. To conclude would be that this could be an airport anywhere in world just with a hint of elaboration that is becoming so common in the United Arab Emirates!

This happened to me at Brisbane airport and I had a pretty uncomfortable nights sleep there on a small two seater couch in the international terminal upstairs. I was thinking it would be nice to be able to find out in advance if someone else had experienced this before and how could I find out. Well now that is possible at www.sleepinginairports.net. This site is great - people rate the airports in terms of how much of a nice place you can find to sleep (for free) - and you can find out if it gets happy faces (approval ratings) or skull and cross bones (bad ratings).

One of my friends is currently in New Delhi airport for 23 hours and he used this site to see where he could nap and unfortunately for him there was nothing but bad ratings for the airport….unlucky Dan!!

There is also a list of favourite airports (singapore being number 1- read my review about why I agree), and airports people would pay more to avoid… have a look it is definately a good site to take in before travelling!

You know you have travelled too much when you get excited about visiting certain airports. My wife’s family live in the pacific so when we go to visit we always stop in Singapore airport (mostly by flying singapore air) - and if possible we try to get a flight that gives us at least 3 hours stop over. That may sound sad - but the reality is that the travel time to get to our destination is at least 24 hours so breaking for a few hours in the middle is not a bad idea.

The layout of the airport lends to a fairly relaxed feeling, big wide open gangways and open areas give the impression of a shopping mall rather than an airport. In the middle of the airport there is an Orchid Garden (pictured left) with a decent sized fish pond. This is so unusual to have in an airport, but whoever thought of it was a genius. It is lovely to just sit by the water, smell the flowers and watch the fish - such a stark contrast to 12 hours of economy class!!

If you make your way over to the transit hotel you can get a shower room (towels, shampoo, condition, soap and wash cloths included!), for about $5 - and it would be a bargin at twice the price, especially given that it helps you feel normal again! If you have a little more time to kill there is a gym where you can really stretch your legs before flying again - but for the sake of your fellow passengers I recommend showering after the workout.

If none of that takes your fancy - there is always what I call the “TV sections”, they are areas of comfortable seats set up in a circle facing massive flat screen TVs - but the clever bit is that the speakers are built into the head rests of the seats so as to not add to the ambient noise of the airport! There are different sections for news and sport - I have enjoyed some golf, ATP Tennis and football (soccer) games here!

If you are an email or facebook junkie - there is free wifi and free internet terminals - so plenty of opportunity to connect with the outside world!

There are loads of shops selling the usual airport junk from technology to perfume to clothes and there are some nice little cafes and bars -but one of my personal favourites is Auntie Anne’s Pretzels (we dont have this is the UK - so it is one of the only times I get to have one!).

Before I shut up about an airport that I clearly have an unhealthy attachment to - I wanted to leave you with one thing I find amusing …the immigration booths (that the officers sit in to stamp your passport) have a sign that says:

“Drug trafficing carries the death penalty in Singapore, Have a nice day”

At least it gets to the point…