The Little Words Mean the Most

Best way to acquire a donor under 55?

"Wait until they're 55."

From Sean Triner, Australia, the planet's most analytical philanthropic marketplace. That's him.

Flying first class all the way

First class on United (UA): a welcome "glass" of generic varietal table wine in a logo-embossed plastic tumbler.

First class (FC) on Air New Zealand (ANZ): bubbly or OJ.

On ANZ I never touched anything but glass, real cutlery and linen. Plus my choice of fine New Zealand wines, an open snack and cocktail bar throughout the flight.

FC seats on UA: 2 seats occupy the same width as 3 seats do in economy. Plus there's extra leg room. JUST SAYING: we seldom fly FC, so our expectations are sky-high. Economy's easier on everyone's budget. We deeply appreciate the privilege when we DO fly FC.

I CONFESS

FC is MUCH more comfortable than economy; with UA's wider seats, dozens of new awkward positions are possible.

ANZ FC is completely unlike UA FC.

UA bolts down 2 chairs inside the same space occupied by 3 economy chairs and adjusts the armrests. Eisenhower thinking at its best.

ANZ FC adopts the supreme lab industrial design available on earth. They cocoon you, psychologically.

ANZ "seats" fully recline into beds. Beds with individual TV screens and reading lamps and fold-away mattresses and a staff gracious not seen since the Golden Age of Cross-Atlantic Steam Ships.

who am i to complain about anything 2015 best original song GLORY

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Award for "how you dealt with my boredom factor."

UA west to east coast, like Virgin Airlines in Australia, assumes you've gone "self digital" & come equipped with tablet or smart phone. Free app for those devices stream films, TV episodes and such. Online access costs money. But the app if you know or think of it is FREE!!!

UA has headsets.  NAZ has full-can HD headsets.

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Hydration

ANZ: a bottle of spring water awaits you at your seat, winking: "Welcome!".

UA: buy something before you board, I beg you.

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The meal

ANZ: celebrity chef prepared the 3-course menu

UA: "Your choice of salmon or chicken. SORRY! Salmon's gone. Chicken? OK!"

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Cleanliness (the real deal)

UA: "Hey, the Olympics! Interlocking drink rings on my tray table."

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Graciousness

ANZ and UA crews were both welcoming. Thank you! ANZ crew introduced themselves. They then thanked us by name for flying ANZ. UA plied us with as much mediocre wine as we could stomach.

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Why even have 1st class?

There's no tipping in Australia, unless you're deliriously happy with your service in a restaurant or cab. Why? Because service jobs there earn a living wage.

Is it a duel between adjectives? Tawdry or divine?

On the macadamia farm

"The percentage of good monounsaturated fats in macadamias is nearly double that of almonds." Sean and Christiana once lived on this macadamia farm. Its owner, farmer (and record-setting hot-air balloon adventurer) John, showed us around. "Healthiest nut?" I asked. "Macadamias are the best," he said. John planted his driveway with koala-attracting eucalyptus trees; every sapling was thumped and welcomed into the land with his own hands. Macadamia nuts grow inside smooth green golf balls (photo 3). When ripe, they courteously fall. A ground-sweeping machine collects them like a nanny shooing children (photo 6). Next-to-last photo shows the claw marks left by koalas climbing John's eucalyptus. People walking photo: uphill are John and Sean, downhill are Simone, Christiana, Diana

Double-click any photo to swelter in the sub-tropical air.

Fauna of Australia

Food Australia

Christiana & a heart-shaped coffee. The white fruit is dragonfruit. Tasmanian mussels. That's Sean preparing Sean-tatoes, individually hand-crafted & lined up like a parade. Our first-ever vegan meal. Aging meat at Harvest.

Double-click any image to enlarge & stick in your fork.

Targeting Sean & Christiana Bubbles

Click any image to enlarge & sense the vegan in all of us....

From the "Useful Work-Arounds Dept.": I am changing my first name legally

 

to "Research."

Then I can say, "Research says...." and whatever comes out of my mouth is perfectly valid.

FIA 2015 Brisbane, last night and day

Click any image to enlarge & decipher the secret meanings. The awards gala included a shirtless fire juggler. I gave the closing plenary to this many seats: "I am all that stands between you and the rest of your life." That's Sean Triner, Pareto, awaiting his cue. And young Tom Latchford, 29, CEO of Raising It (UK), enjoying (well, tolerating) his very first martini ever.

You are here

We left Boston with a blizzard on our tails. We're in Brisbane, between two cyclones. Sean Triner, who flew to space in his single-engine to snap this stunning photo, says we are weather bad news.