We are back home in Norway now after our visit to London. Here is a short video from the visit to the Monument.  This column was built between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London and to celebrate the rebuilding of the City. Now you can pay 3£ to climb up the 311 steps to get a great view from about 62 meter above sea level. Read more about it on the official homepage.

It has been a hectic sightseeing day in London. I started out by going to the Monument and I went to the top of it to check out the view. From there I went to Tower of London, I walked across the Tower bridge, went through the HMS Belfast on the river and I tasted wine at Vinopolis (as you can see from this video in my other blog). Below are some shots from London.

There has been some talk about recognition of SAS Eurobonus gold card members on various forums. In the Norwegian way of being I guess there is not a lot of room for recognition of status – maybe due to the Jantelov? When I came to Stavanger airport yesterday I noticed that there was a flight from Stavanger to Oslo at 5.15 PM and I went to the SAS counter to see if I could change to this instead of my 6.30 PM flight. But it did not take long to get the answer…as I had a cheap ticket there was no room for changing this even if I suspect there were seats in economy on the earlier flight. So I went over to check in…back in the old days it was possible to just walk to the counter to check it but now you have to check in on a machine and then go to baggage drop. I did check in on the machine and I followed the sign saying Business class as this normally indicates the priority line for SAS Eurobonus goldcard members. But I guess not…the lady behind the counter told me that the business sign was just for Lufthansa business class check in and she asked me to read the monitor better…thanks for the great guest service lady. So she asked me to get behind the one person that was in the line for baggage drop. Great service indeed.

As I was not able to change the flight I had to wait and of course due to airline controller problems (I hope that you have started the job of fixing this Avinor) my flight to Oslo was 30 minutes late. I think the captain was also a bit pissed off about this as he blamed the delay on the airline controllers several times. So I got to Oslo about 30 minutes late but I did make the connection to London and I guess that’s what matters, But back to recognition for having a SAS Eurobonus goldcard. Don’t get me wrong…I love having the goldcard as it gives me access to the StarAlliance lounges and I can bring more luggage. BUT, I don’t really feel like an appreciated customer with SAS or any of the other StarAlliance members…maybe there is just too many with a gold card these days. But then again…even the ones with a SAS Pandion card complains about recognitions so maybe we are just too focused on treating everybody equally.

The landing in London was pretty exciting as there were strong winds and lots of rain.

We are going to London today Over the years we have been there a few times but it was only in 2000 we got to do some serious sightseeing as you can see from this London trip report. This time we only have from Thursday to Sunday and there is just too much to see and do. But we will do our best to cover some of the main attractions at least On the list at the moment is British museum, London Eye, maybe a London walk, maybe the science museum, maybe a gallery etc. Stayed tuned and I’ll try to keep you updated

I got a copy of the Globetrotter’s handbook a couple of years back and I think it is a fun tool if you are backpacking through lots of countries as you get info on countries, there are maps, you can write down your flights, vaccination register, conversion tables, map showing time zones, pages for notes and a lot more. The book was a lot smaller than expected but I guess it makes sense as you have to be able to bring it along where ever you go. But I have to admit that I have not used it…as a Samsonite suitcase traveler I don’t really have any use for it as I usually bring my laptop and that means that I can find most of the info online. But still…if you are going backpacking this book might be a fun tool for you

I stayed at Radisson Edwardian Berkshire Hotel in London the end of October 2008 in connection with a short trip to London. I booked the hotel in advance and paid 188 GBP. When I arrived, the check in was very fast and I was assigned to room 801 which was on the top floor.  When I first came into the room I found a small room but I was prepared for this based on the reviews that I have read in advance.  But the room itself was quite nice and seemed very organized and tidy at first glance.You can read the rest of the review by clicking the link below.
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I went to Bolivia a couple of years back (see trip report here) and we took a small plane to the national park of ToroToro.  As we were about to land we noticed a cow on the “runway” (it was basically just a field on a ridge) and we had to fly low over it like 5 times before it moved and then we landed on the grass/mud – it was a bit scary as I’m used to (like most people) landing on a proper runway at a regular airport. Here are some examples of airports around the world where landing and take-off can be a bit more exciting that you were hoping for. Do you have any experience with similar “scary” airports?

This is from Gustaf III Airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy

crash SBH from Mo Po on Vimeo.

Another Caribbean island, this time it is Princess Juliana International Airport on St. Maarten in the Dutch Antilles

Next example is from Honduras in central America

Back to the Caribbean – the island of Saba has one of the shortest runways

And here is Lukla airport in Nepal where planes seem to take-off downhill and land uphill

Do you wonder what time it is at the destination you are going to? Or places that you have been to? With ZebraMap you can create your personal map like the one that I have posted below. Notice that you can also get links on the various locations – quite fancy if you ask me

The Swiss investment bank UBS has just relased a “Prices and Earnings” study and Oslo came out on top as the most expensive city in the world…hurrah, we finally won something Well, it is not really news that Oslo and Norway are voted to be expensive – I think all foreigners knows this to be a fact. At least I do get comments and questions regarding this topic all the time. A couple of years back I had visitors from Malaysia and they were quite shocked to see the prices (especially on food) compared to their home in KL. But this means that it is great being a Norwegian when traveling as most places in this world are cheaper….well, getting a drink in Dubai is actually more expensive than in Norway actually. Here is an article about the study.