I have stayed at Traders hotel in Dubai a numer of times and I have been very happy with the hotel. So when I went to Dubai in April I decided to stay at Traders Hotel to see if the hotel could be compared to the hotel in KL. I booked the room online on the the Traders hotel website and it was 540 AED (about 150 USD) excluding breakfast. I only stayed there 1 night in connection with a meeting in Dubai.
more…

This is a trip report from when I went from Stavanger in Norway to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I used SAS and I went via Copenhagen and Bangkok on my way to KL. I used my Eurobonus frequent flyer points to upgrade to business class and that it always a treat Normally I travel with a colleague but this time I traveled alone.
more…

One question that comes up from travelers is: what kind of plugs and sockets are in use at the destination that I’m going to? Will I have to buy a converter? Luckily most gadgets like cell phone chargers, laptop power supply etc can handle both 110 V and 220 V but sometime you do need a converter in order to get the plug into the socket. Well, here is a page that shows you which plugs and sockets that are in use in the various countries. Check it out on http://www.interpower.com/icl/guide.htm .

Do you wonder what the weather will be like in Tokyo in April? Or how hot it will be in NYC in July? Well, it is of course impossible to predict the weather several weeks and months ahead but we can look at statistics to get an idea of what the weather should be like. I normally use the site Weatherbase for this and here I can check out average temperature, average precipitation etc. But you should also check the weather forecast right before you leave for your destination to check what the weather is like at the moment

In February 2009 I went to Kuala Lumpur for work and I used SAS to get there. On the way to Kuala Lumpur (or KL as it is also known)  I was able to upgrade to business by using my SAS Eurobonus points but on the way home the flight was completely full and I had to stick to economy class. Even if I am a SAS Eurobonus gold card member this was actually my very first trip with SAS in economy class on a long haul trip. Here are some of my thoughts as I was going home…
more…

I have to admit that I haven’t used KLM that much in the last few years as I have gone over to StarAlliance and after I had a horrible flight with them from KL to Amsterdam (see KL trip report)- but I used them quite a lot to start with as they were a Braathens partner (when that airline existed), as the connection from Stavanger to Amsterdam was very good and as they were quite cheap. So over the years I have been to Schiphol about 40 times and it is a lovely airport. Anyway, KLM has made some destination guides that might be worth looking into. I’m not sure that it gives you the ultimate guide to each place but at least it gives you a good overview of the places to start with as it covers stuff ranging from eating out, weather, how to get around etc. You can check out the KLM destination guides here.

I like to get an idea of where I will be seated before I travel – maybe you have been assigned to a seat that is not ideal and maybe you can change it to a seat with better legroom. There is of course a website for this kind of information and it is called SeatGuru . On this website you can check out how the various planes for the various airlines are configured, which seats that are good or bad and get lots of useful information. There are also other websites with similar information and one of them is SeatExpert. Good luck with grabbing that perfect seat on your next flight

On July 4th the crown of the Statue of Liberty was opened for the first time in 8 years. So now you can climb 156 steps to enjoy the view from the top. We did go to the Statue of Liberty when we went to NYC in 2007 (see our NYC trip report) and the view from the top of the pedestal is also spectacular . Well, you can read more about the news in this article.

Over the years I have stayed at quite a lot of hotels in Bangkok and it is always fun to try new ones in different locations in the city. As a new SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) I decided to try out Plaza Athenee Bangkok, A Royal Meridien Hotel on Sukhumvit when I went to Bangkok in April 2009. If you want to read more about Bangkok feel free to check out our Bangkok trip report from 2007 – and if you want to read the review of the hotel please continue reading 
more…

So this is what Norway is like? Well, I wouldn’t say that Norway is this picture perfect all the time but we can brag about some beautiful scenery here. The western fjords of Norway are beautiful and I do get amazed every time I go to places like Preikestolen (Pulpit rock) or Kjerag – at the latter place you are about 1000 meter (about 3000 feet) above the fjord so the view is just spectacular. Well, enjoy the video of Norway