Today I’d like to give you a bit of information about what I think is the best railway website on the internet.

The Man in Seat 61 covers the entire world of railways. I personally found this website very useful when I travelled through Vietnam by railway a few years back. The website gives a lot of information about the trains, the timetable and the journey itself. Fortunately it doesn’t get caught up writing about the destination because this would be a mistake.

The website is the absolute first place you should go if you want information on train trips.

It is particularly good at giving information about not so travelled lines and the information about train travel in Asia is first class and is generally somewhat difficult to find elsewhere.

The website is run by Mark Smith who worked for British Rail managing a number of railway stations. What information he hasn’t written has been provided by other travellers who have travelled the route and have provided Mark with the information.

Trains are my favorite form of transport so I’ve spent a fair bit of time having a look around on this website and I would thoroughly recommend using it to research your railway journeys through the world.

If you are interested in rail journeys in Europe I’ve added a couple links where you are able to buy Eurail cards or Interrail cards.

Eurail Cards

Interrail Cards

If you’ve been in Australia for any length on time you would heard the word swag or a swagman.

Its a historical term because a swagman was an itinerant farm worker – these guys used to walk around to farms looking for work and swagmen were very common in the 1890’s recession in Australia although I heard a few stories about my grandfather in the depression in the 30’s riding a bike 120 km into the countryside looking for work which is kind of the same. A story that used to be conveniently peddled out to me when I didn’t have work.

Anyway a swagman would have a swag which was a bed that they would roll up on their back and they would store their belongings in the rolled up pack.

So where you most likely heard the term swagman would be in Waltzing Matilda a poem (then song) written by Banjo Paterson which was written in 1895 about a swagman that was walking through the bush and finds a sheep that he slaughters for food and ultimately is caught by the police.

The first line is “Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong” and this is where you have likely heard the term.

So the swag eventually became a staple of the camping industry in Australia because its ideal for the conditions.

A swag is lightweight (historically you’d have it on your back) and designed for warm nights but to keep water off you if it does rain. In Australia you gets all types of climate and a swag is designed fir any type of climate because you can change the type of bedding in the swag if you wish.

Swags are great if you want to camp under the stars and enjoy the outdoors while still being safe from snakes and insects.

Swags today are a little different with modern design and build quality it provides a great alternative to a tent and is particularly  good  for motorcycle riders as they could easily store the swag on the bike or if you are in a car and want to travel light.

Is it better than a tent? Difficult question I’m not sure its better or worse but is just different. But the benefit of a swag is it’s very easy and quick to setup and pack up.  There are not as many parts as well so no issues with missing tent pegs.

Earning Frequent Flyer Points with Agoda Max Points

When I travel in Asia I nearly always book a part, if not all of my accommodation with Agoda.

I find that you get a pretty good rate and they also have a wide range of accommodation types and budgets.

I’ve never tried to get points on Agoda because I never realised I could get them however I would get points on my credit card only.

Agoda Max allows you to obtain points on your Hotel stay in a large amount of airline schemes. You choose which account you would like the points sent to.

You are able to send points to the following partners:

Aer Lingus AERCLUB, Air China Phoenix Miles, Air Asia Big Loyalty, American Airlines AAdvantage, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Asiana Airlines, Avios, Bonus Link, British Airways Executive Club, China Airlines, China Eastern, Etihad Guest, Eva Air, Bangkok Airways Flyer Bonus, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Air India Flying Returns, Sri Lankan Airways, Hainan Airlines, Garuda Miles, Cebu Pacific GetGo, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Fortune Wings Club, Iberia Plus, Japan Airlines, Jet Privilage, L Points, Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles, Malaysia Airlines Enrich, Meridiana Club, Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles, Oman Air Sindbad, Philippine Airlines, Pins, Plus, Qatar Privilege Club, Reward U, Royal Skies, Singapore Airlines Krisflyer, BDO Rewards, Thai Royal Orchid Plus, The Card, TudoAzul, Milage Plus United, Velocity, Waon Point.

So you can see that there are a large number of partners to send your points to. When you book your points you need to look at the price and sometimes you will see options of a higher price with higher points or lower amount of points with a lower price, you can choose depending on how much you want the points.

Create Your Account

Qantas Frequent Flyer Points Hack

If you have a Qantas Frequent Flyer account you may or may not know that you need to make at least 1 transaction that increases your point balance every 18 months to keep your account active.

If you don’t do this you will lose the points you have earned in your account.

My housemate was relating his story to me. He was given 50,000 points as a part of a sales incentive where he worked and the points were parked in his account – I doubt he knew the password to get access to this account. Where he works he gets a few of these incentives normally its mobile phones.

Anyway after a year or so he decided to check out his account and do something with the points – well the points were gone because the account had not been used for over a year.

Accumulating Qantas Frequent Flyer Points with eBay

So what is this hack that could have saved his points – well it’s ebay.

All he needed to do was log into Qantas Frequent Flyer Account go to the Frequent Flyer menu – Earn Points then – Shopping. That takes you to onlinemall.qantaspoints.com. You then find the ebay link which will say that you can earn 1 point for each $1 you spend on ebay.

All you need to do is find a book or a DVD something cheap and then you will get the points in your account and the account stays open for another 12 months.

You need to be aware though that you need to have cookies enabled in your browser otherwise your sale won’t be tracked by Qantas Frequent Flyers.

Qantas Well Being App

Another free way to be able to keep your account active is to download the Qantas Well Being App. You also need to download a fitness app that tracks the amount of steps you’ve done. There are daily sleep challenges where you need to have a specific amount of time where you don’t use your phone.

The amount of points can add up. I’ve accumulated over 1000 points in this way although I’m really only using it to keep my account active. You can also accumulate 150 points for each friend who signs up to a maximum of 3000 points