Posts Tagged ‘Lufthansa’
So I’m really leaving…
This Friday for Athens (at the Grande Bretagne – Deluxe Suite), Istanbul (W Istanbul – Fantastic Suite), Zagreb (Westin Zagreb – Westin Guest Office), Ljubljana (day trip from Zagreb), and Riga (Monika Centrum – Deluxe Room).
Good to finally lift off to Europe after several months of grounding 
Flying Thai, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Croatia Airlines.
Updates soon! Tatas!
Road trip! Europe in February…
So it’s that time of the year again, the first of my (foreseeable) many trips to Europe in 2009.
I’m quite excited, it’s been quite some time since I flew long haul – unfortunately it will still be winter in these cities. New cities I will be visiting this time around will be Athens, Istanbul and Zagreb.
I’ll be flying the TK (Turkish Airlines) and OU (Croatia Airlines) for the first time. Wish me luck! And I’m not flying Singapore Airlines this time round due to their prohibitively expensive airfares.
Lifting off on 6 February and back about 17 days after, here’s what’s in store…
TG418 KUL (Kuala Lumpur)/BKK (Bangkok) 2100/2205
TG920 BKK (Bangkok)/FRA (Frankfurt) 2340/0530+1
LH3380 FRA (Frankfurt)/ATH (Athens) 0920/1305
TK1846 ATH (Athens)/IST (Istanbul) 1055/1210
TK1449 IST (Istanbul)/ZAG (Zagreb) 1400/1505
OU410 ZAG (Zagreb)/FRA (Frankfurt) 0655/0830
LH3244 FRA (Frankfurt)/RIX (Riga) 1100/1410
LH3245 RIX (Riga)/FRA (Frankfurt) 1440/1555
TG923 FRA (Frankfurt)/BKK (Bangkok) 2055/1305+1
TG417 BKK (Bangkok)/KUL (Kuala Lumpur) 1640/1950
what this year has brought…
Okay so here’s a recap of this year’s travels so far. I’ve done a total of 55 flights, and a little over 95 nights in hotel rooms, wasted almost 2 weeks of my year on board aircraft’s developing DVT (deep vein thrombosis – economy class syndrome hehe); and a little over 5 days in airports transiting. Travelled across 3 continents and a thousand time zones, stretched my mental sanity and physical fitness to the limit with the legendary whole month of March spent in frigid wintery Europe. The passport is now left with a few pages – which is due for renewal only in 2010.
Also flew Scandinavian Airlines (SK) for the first time. I think that the aircraft livery of SK is quintessentially Scandinavian – minimalist clean lines, almost Ikea but I like the simplicity. But the interior leaves much to be desired. Furthermore, if you’re flying intra Europe in economy (which I always do), you have to buy your snacks and drinks (big BOO BOO compared to LOT Polish or Lufthansa).
The boarding passes
On the good side, I’m a little over 1k miles shy of re-qualifying for the Krisflyer Elite Gold frequent flyer (lounge access, priority check-in, priority tags on baggage and that most important extra 20kg baggage allowance – that should be taken care off with my Bali trip), and about 7 stays shy of the SPG Platinum (which enables club floor access and automatic suite upgrades in Starwood hotels).
SPG Gold
I think that this year would be the last year that I travel to Ukraine (since I stopped going to Moscow and middle east last year). Next year will see me travelling to new destinations – Turkey, Italy, and possibly more to Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and Netherlands.
How did I achieve all this? Try a year on year increase of sales about US$ 350,000
My favourites remain as follows.
Airlines:
1. Singapore Airlines
2. Lufthansa
3. LOT Polish Air
Aircraft:
1. LOT Embraer E170
2. Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER
3. Lufthansa Airbus A300-600
Hotels:
1. Le Meridien – Budapest, Hungary
2. The Ritz Carlton – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3. Hotel Monika Centrum – Riga, Latvia
Airports:
1. Kuala Lumpur International (YES! believe it!)
2. Singapore Changi International
3. Riga International
Restaurants:
1. Li Yen – The Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur
2. KaDeWe Champagne, Oyster and Caviar Bar – Berlin
LOT Embraer 170
LOT Embraer 170 Cabin Crew Stewardess, originally uploaded by tarotogati.
its 1800hrs and i’m on board LO 0267 enroute Amsterdam from Warsaw. i’m rather pleased with the way things are going right now.
the aircraft that i’m in is an Embraer 170. from the condition of the aircraft, i’d say it’s definitely less than 5 years old.
i’ve come to take a liking to these small aircraft’s playing the regional routes within europe. partly because it’s a one-class configured aircraft with massive leg room and perhaps the thought that you needn’t share the aircraft with 400 other strangers make the experience a little more intimate (friendlier crew, shorter boarding / disembarkation time).
between the ATR’s (propeller planes) and Embraers, flying around europe is indeed a charming experience especially on LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa and its regional subsidiaries.
LOT Polish Air - Embraer 170
Europe for a month.. (updated)
3 March 2008
Singapore Airlines SQ119 Kuala Lumpur-Singapore (184 miles)
Singapore Airlines SQ026 Singapore-Frankfurt (7984 miles)
4 March 2008
Lufthansa LH176 Frankfurt-Berlin (338 miles)
Apartments am Brandenburger Tor
8 March 2008
Lufthansa LH221 Berlin-Munich (386 miles)
Sheraton Munich Arabellapark Hotel
12 March 2008
Lufthansa LH977 Munich-Frankfurt (194 miles)
GHOTEL hotel & living Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen
15 March 2008
Lufthansa LH3446 Frankfurt-Budapest (648 miles)
Le Méridien Budapest
19 March 2008
LOT Polish Airlines LO534 Budapest-Warsaw (420 miles)
The Westin Warsaw
25 March 2008
LOT Polish Airlines LO751 Warsaw-Kiev (560 miles)
President Hotel Kiev
28 March 2008
Lufthansa LH3237 Kiev-Frankfurt
Singapore Airlines SQ325 Frankfurt-Singapore (7984 miles)
29 March 2008
Singapore Airlines SQ118 Singapore-Kuala Lumpur (184 miles)
Anyone flying the same flight / staying at the same places as I am in these periods? Let me know!
38 hours of flying, 18,882 miles on 11 flights in 27 days across 6 cities… *makes mental note to stock up on Valium*
Fancy a cup of bubbly?
On board flight LH 3944 Frankfurt – Riga hehe!
From Warsaw with love…
Did you know that Warsaw was the birthplace of the infamous pianist / composer, Frédéric Franciszek Chopin? His seemingly impossible to play pieces remain the pièce de résistance for many aspiring pianist worldwide. There’s even an international piano competition named after him.
This post may be a tad boring to you guys, but this is what I do on a work day when I’m travelling. I am writing this while Chopin’s Waltz No. 1 in Eb is playing on my computer.
To those of you who don’t already know, I am working with a leading travel group in Malaysia, focusing in inbound tours (bringing foreign tourists into Malaysia). And no, I am not a tour guide! My portfolios include product and business development, marketing, public relations and communications.
The trip starts way before I actually board the plane to my destinations, approximately 3 – 4 weeks to be exact.
My trips are always planned before or after a major trade show(s); usually in the first, third and fourth quarter of the year. In this trip’s case, it was the ITB in Berlin and MITT in Moscow. In these trade shows, we meet up with existing and prospective outbound tour operator clients. As there was a 1 week gap in between the shows, I had a discussion with my boss, Mr. Italian CEO to decide on new areas that we should develop business from. It was thus decided Eastern Europe was the new frontier.
So I planned Estonia and Poland. The purpose of this trip was more on fact finding and I am to submit a feasibility study on developing these new markets. This is done by meeting major outbound tour operators in the respective countries and gauge Malaysia’s popularity and potential as a destination to sell.
Next, I proceed to search for information on these tour operators through various channels like the Tourism Malaysia offices in charge of these countries, airline friends, and other tour operators in competing countries like Thailand.
I then decide on the dates that I will be in each country and make appointments with the respective tour operators.
I wake up in the morning to a sumptuous breakfast (in this case at the coffeeshop of my hotel).
On the logistics side, I have to liaise with my associate in the sister company doing outbound tour operating (bringing people out) to book my flight and get the best available connections. Taking into account the flight time (it is always the best to take a night flight to Europe out of Asia, so you leave at night from Kuala Lumpur and arrive in Europe in the morning to avoid the highly dreaded jetlag). In my case, I usually take the Star Alliance (Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa combination) due to its wide network in Europe. Visa requirements are taken care upon issuance of my ticket.
Next – the hotels. I would usually book online as it is averagely more cost effective to book European hotels online. I also do read up on the new cities that I visit to find out more on the culture, places of interests, learn common phrases like greetings and how to get around. I try to select the best possible places to stay in this order – location, quality of the hotel and last but not least, price.
Being an ex-hotelier, I am still suckered by nice little touches like these turndown chocolates, and tomorrow’s weather forecast.
Then there’s calling the credit card and mobile companies to notify them of my travels.
The actual travelling itself is rather mundane, I must say. 21 days away from home, alone and in the cold most of the time takes its toll on the spirit.
Yes, I do get to travel a big deal, however in this trip; it is 4 countries, 3 different time zones, in and out of airports 10 times, in and out of hotels 8 times. Not so fun after all? You bet.
It is a tedious job, but hey someone’s gotta do it!
