It seems like the average age of female flight attendants has gone up to over 35 in Thai airways and they are now planning to offer voluntary retirement  to flight attendants that are over 45. They will of course offer a generous compensation to the ones that retire but in the end it is all about saving money as senior flight attendants make more money than the junior staff.  You can read the entire article in Bangkok Post.  I did have an older female flight attendant on my First Class flight with Thai airways and the service was great. I wonder what the average age for flight attendants in SAS is like

A British woman got arrested the other day in Dubai when she went to the police to report a rape. It turns out that she was there on vacation with her boyfriend to celebrate her engagement and when she admitted that she had had sex with her boyfriend, she was arrested for having “illegal sexual intercourse”. One should of course respect the rules and regulation to the country that you are visiting but this is no way to be treated if you have been raped. This case shows a bit of the problem that Dubai faces. They do want western tourists to come to the city and country but they still want to enforce their strict rules on them.  So keep this in mind if you are planning on going to Dubai! Here is the article concerning the British woman that got raped.

Maybe old news by now…but just for the record: on January 4th Burj Dubai was opened by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum. At the same time it was also renamed from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa (after United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan). The official height is now 828 meters (about 2700 ft) and the viewing platform on 124th floor is now open to the public Here is an article about the opening containing a video. Visit the official homepage for more information.

When I travel I try to look around to find the best prices on airline tickets and hotels. Most of the time I book directly with the airline or the hotel but from time to time it is cheaper to use a third party (like when we went to Thailand and used Agode.com when booking hotel). But if you do involve a third party, there is always a chance that something can go wrong. Read this blog article about problems when using Travelocity: http://www.futuregringo.com/index.php/2009/12/30/travelocity-last-minute-packages/ . Have you got any experiences (good or bad) with booking through a third party? I have used sites like agoda.com, asiatravel.com, expedia.co.uk etc in the past and I have never had any problems….maybe I have just been lucky

As we are getting close to the end of 2009 it is time to make a bit of summary of the year. How was the travel year 2009? It has been a pretty exciting year for me as I have got to visit new places and I have also revisited places that I have been to before. It has also been an exciting year when it comes to just the flying bit – in total I had almost 50 flights and in total it was over 100.000 km (or 155 hours in the air).

I stopped by Amsterdam in March and I have been there on vacation before. But I have to admit that I had totally forgotten how charming this town really is. This time I did not get to see and do anything more or less but I have been tempted to re-visit this city on vacation in the future.

In April it was time for a brand new experience – a trip with the relative new Airbus A380. Yes, this is the plane with two floors and I had the pleasure of flying it from London to Dubai on Emirates Airlines. I have posted pictures and videos of the flight experience on http://gardkarlsen.com/blog/?p=31 .  On this trip we ended up in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) (see trip report on http://gardkarlsen.com/Ho_Chi_Minh_City_Vietnam_trip_report.htm ) and  Siem Reap / Phnom Penh in Cambodia (see trip report on http://gardkarlsen.com/Angkor_Wat_Cambodia_trip_report.htm ). Both Vietnam and Cambodia was countries that we had not been to before and it was great to experience a new culture, new food, new people. I would love to go back to Vietnam to explore more of the country in the future.

Due to a great offer from Lufthansa we ended up going to Dubai in May. Dubai can offer shopping, insane building projects and beaches but I’m stuck with mixed feelings after the visit. There are many other places that are more fun to visit in my opinion.  Anyway – here is my trip report http://gardkarlsen.com/Dubai_UAE_trip_report.htm

In September I spent a long weekend in London and I have been there several times before. During visit in the past I have not had any great feelings towards the city but maybe I have changed because this time I was stuck with a WOW feeling when I went home. It is an amazing place when it comes to sightseeing, food, shopping, history etc. I have posted some info in the blog on  http://gardkarlsen.com/blog/?tag=london-2009 and I’m also working on a trip report.

In September I spend a few frequent flyer points to fly on First Class to Hong Kong with Lufthansa and back again on First Class with Thai. It was a brand new experience for me and I wish that I could travel like that every time The service was incredible both at the airports and in the air. I have posted photos and videos on  http://gardkarlsen.com/blog/?tag=first-class-experience-2009 . Feel free to visit the link and find out what life on first class is like

And to round the year of we took a trip to Thailand and Phuket. We have also been there before but we were tempted to re-visit as SAS had a good offer. We had a nice hotel on Kata beach but there is no doubt that Phuket is really busy with tourists. And you know that when you get the menu in both English and Swedish, there must be many Scandinavians in the area. I have posted some thoughts about Thailand on  http://gardkarlsen.com/blog/?tag=thailand

That is a short summary of my year. What do you remember best from your 2009 travel year? And where are you going in 2010?

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Nikki and I went to Dubai in May and I have finally gotten around to finalizing the trip report. You can find it on this page http://gardkarlsen.com/Dubai_UAE_trip_report.htm . I have also made this Dubai Google map, posted lots of photos and written about my experiences at Dusit Thani Dubai and Traders Dubai. Maybe I have been a bit too harsh in my conclusion of Dubai and I would love to hear from people that have been to Dubai and how they feel and it would also be great to get some feedback from people that actually lives/works/studies in Dubai – how do you feel about your city? My harsh conclusion is related to the fact that it seems like foreign workers are being exploited on a large scale in Dubai. Well, I hope that you will enjoy the trip report. Get in touch on gardkarlsen@hotmail.com if you have comments or questions.

I read in the news today that Finnair has opened a spa at the lounge at the Vantaa Airport in Helsinki. It seems like the spa is for the passengers traveling between Europe and Asia. Sounds like a great way to spend some time at an airport of course but I’m not sure that I agree that this is revolutionary news as Finnair has it on their site  . There is a spa at the airport in Bangkok and I had the great pleasure of testing that when I flew Thai first class earlier this year. But maybe I will have to try out Finnair one of these days to Asia :-) Thanks to VG for the illustration of how the lounge looks.

After years of planning, building, testing, delays etc I’m happy to inform you that Boeing’s new 787 (aka Dreamliner) plane has successfully completed its first test flight in the US. You can read more about this on BBC  and even see the TV coverage of the event. You can also read more about this on Boeing’s site . According to BBC the Dreamliner project has been delayed for 2 1/2 years due to various problems. When the Airbus A380 it seemed like Boeing were having a field day so I guess it is only fair that their project has also run into some problems. But now, a new plane is born and I look forward to trying it sooner or later. The first customer to get the 787 is ANA and that will be before the end of 2010.

I have uploaded some photos and videos from Dubai in connection with the upcoming Dubai trip report. You can see them all on http://gardkarlsen.com/Dubai_United_Arab_Emirates_photos.htm

Here is a short video showing our room at the hotel Plaza Athenee in Bangkok and also a short scene from the Club lounge.