Flip Byrnes

By Flip Byrnes

More, I just want more. I don’t just want to fly Finnair business again, I want their designers to come to my house and Finnair it. Privacy appreciators, aesthetes and side sleepers (like me) will love the new seat design, some won’t, but the aim to shake up business-class design right down to the hotel-like galley, while championing their proud Nordic roots, is a success.

This article explores the exponential expansion of alpine Club Meds. And uses the opening of Tignes Club Med as the basis for a case study of their new offerings an brand positioning. 'Stay slope-side at the new Club Med Tignes resort, an irresistible lure for avid skiiers'.

Felicity Byrnes discovers one of the most intriguing and luxurious hotels in London: The Londoner.
Dripping with glamour, this ultra-contemporary hotel, six years and 500 million pounds in the making, is the newest London destination. And not just for visitors. The 16 floors (eight above and eight below ground) are attracting the locals in droves.
More urban playground than simply hotel, one can spend a long weekend here without venturing more than a mile radius for world class shows, gastron...

BOARDING PASS

Flight FR1686 Frankfurt Am Main to London Stansted; Boeing 737-80: economy class seat 19E; flight time one hour, four minutes.

THE LOYALTY SCHEME

Most airlines don't charge to join a loyalty scheme, but this is Ryanair. For €199 a free bag and Fast Track are yours. You'd have to fly Ryanair almost every month to recoup the membership cost and that's a lot of Ryanair.

CLASS

As befits the budget airline, the entire plane is economy. There's a class I call Sub Economy, which is the...

Pitch Perfect (Glamping)

Camping is about slow sunrises melting the last tendrils of night; the cicadas’ symphony heralding sunset; it’s the sense of discovery delving off the beaten track and living with nature’s slower rhythm. Unzip your fly net for moments less travelled and set your compass for a direct encounter with Tropical North Queensland nature at its most intimate and beguiling.
Whether your idea of camping is a beachfront cabin with a dose of luxe or a remote wilderness experience, t...

Is Darwin worth visiting? No question, sign up right here.
Utterly unique and steamily seductive, this list of twenty things to do in the Northern Territory’s capital is just a sizzling sample of what awaits in the exotic Top End.
So Hot Right Now
Darwin is so hot right now. And we’re not talking about a recent appreciation for its laid-back vibe, thriving arts scene, and access to natural splendours. It’s literally hot, in winter months leave southern States engulfed in layers to be greeted ...

One of 18 guest spots on Flight of Fancy, a travel podcast by Sydney Morning Herald.

To subscribe to the Traveller.com.au podcast Flight of Fancy on iTunes, click here.
Sometimes when you travel, the entire success or failure of your journey can hang on one simple decision. It can be your greatest travel decision or the most spectacular disaster.
"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Most travellers would surely be familiar with that saying. Or they would at least understand its sentiment. It's a mantra for the travelling life, something you can mutter to yours...

Pandemic Story - Vogue UK

The whitewashed walls, cobalt blue roofs and stunning sunsets of Santorini have long been catnip for selfie-stick toting hordes, leading to over-tourism that threatened to destroy the Greek island. Then along came Covid-19 – and the chance for a fresh start, says Felicity Byrnes.

It’s high summer, and long-time local and tour guide Lefteris (“call me Lefty”) of Blue Shades of Greece is showing me his side of Santorini. We’ve ended up in Megalochori, one of the island’s interior villages, abla...

Content for Hurtigruten magazine (Artctic cruises)

Raw, wild and beguiling, a trip to one of the most remote places on the planet reveals there’s more than meets the eye.

A small boat makes its way through the Ilulissat Icefjord. Photo: Madeleine Glindorf

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Health Writing for Body + Soul

If you’ve been putting your breast check off, now is the time.

The pandemic postponed many routine breast cancer screenings and, as a result, breast cancer diagnoses. Felicity Byrnes investigates the true impact of these delays.

What does breast cancer have to do with the pandemic?

The statistics on breast cancer in Australia are quite startling. One in seven women will be diagnosed at some point in their lifetime, and more than 3000 women die annually from the disease.

Yet, during the pandem...

Cover Story of travel section - Escape (Sunday Telegraph - circ 3 million)

The jeweller and I gasp. From under the table in her whitewashed Mykonos shop, she’s produced a ring. It’s modest, but the stones perfectly mimic the emerald tones of the Aegean Sea and cobalt of the sky. This is a rare adult purchase during a trip so extraordinary, so dazzling, that something tangible is required to solidify the memory.

“I’d forgotten this,” says the jeweller, hypnotised by the hues. For me, it’s a small piece of the Cyclades islands forever on my finger, a morsel of an adve...

Family Travel - The Telegraph UK

Cairo? With children? As it is already saturated with a potentially overwhelming cacophony of sounds and sights, the thought of adding children to the mix frequently tumbles the Egyptian capital into the too-hard-holiday basket. But don’t be so hasty, say the experts – look closer and you’ll find the city ticks plenty of boxes: balmy weather, a child-loving culture, flavour-packed cuisine and the ace cards of pyramids and mummies, destined to set fertile imaginations on fire. The iPad won’t g...