When we went to Berlin in March/April 2010 we decided to try out a Trabi Safari – that means that you get to drive your very own Trabant (read more about the car on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant ) around in Berlin while the guides in the lead car talk about Berlin and the sights via radio as you drive. The special thing about the Trabant is the gear system and in the beginning of the video Nikki explains how to shift gears We did our tour with Trabi Safari (see http://www.trabi-safari.de/ )
In Bergen you can take the cable railway known as Fløibanen to the top of the 320 meter high Fløyen mountain. From there you get an amazing view of the city of Bergen and the surrounding area. Check out http://www.floibanen.no/ for more information. If you are coming to Bergen it is well worth the 70 kroner (about 12 USD) for the round trip ticket to enjoy the view.
We went to Tromsø in the north of Norway for a weekend and we took Fjellheisen (see http://www.fjellheisen.no/) to the mountain top Storsteinen. You get a lovely view from the 421 meter peak. It costs 99 kroner for an adult to take the cable car to the top. Here is a short video to show a bit of the experience – with commentary from yours truly
There are many ways to get around Bangkok. You can take the skytrain, the subway, use a taxi, live on the wild side and use a motorcycle taxi, get ripped off when taking a tuk-tuk etc. But there are also a few canals around Bangkok where you can find a regular “bus service”. The canals (known as klongs) are quite dirty so it is best to avoid splashes. But the view from the boat is quite nice and it takes you quickly from e.g. Golden Mount (Wat Saket) to the Siam area. Here is a video showing a bit of the experience.
I stayed at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in the end of September 2009. The room was booked online at the SPG site and it was 1400 Hong Kong Dollar (approx. about 170 USD). I chose the Sheraton as I’m Starwood preferred guest and as it was located in the same area that I stayed in the last time I was on HK…at Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon. I got to the hotel by taking the airport express train into the Kowloon station (costing 90 HKD) and from there I took a taxi to the hotel and it was only like 5-10 minutes and cost 35 HKD (4.5 USD). Click below to read the entire review of my stay at the hotel and see photos and videos
I’m not sure when I heard about the Lufthansa First Class terminal the first time – I have been to some business class lounges over the years but the Lufthansa First Class terminal sounded pretty amazing. So when I booked my award ticket I made sure to go First Class vith Lufthansa via Frankfurt in order to get access (you can read more about who gets access on Lufthansa.com)
The flight from Stavanger to Frankfurt took longer than expected. I think the flight took about 2 hours and 45 minutes! When I came out of the plane there was a man there with a sign with my name on it and he had a nice Mercedes parked right next to him. So I joined him (he never actually checked my boarding card by the way) and he took me to the terminal building. He was initially planning on taking me to the First class lounge in the B building by I asked about the First Class Terminal so he drove me to the A section and I walked from there. To get to the First Class Terminal you have to walk out of the main terminal building and walk for 2-3 minutes to get to it. When you get there you actually have to ring the doorbell and one of the staff comes to fetch you.
The lady that escorted me in took my passport and boarding card and told me to just enjoy and I would get my passport back later on when it was time to board the plane – it is not that often that I hand over my passport like this but I guess you have to trust them.
When it comes to the lounge….well, I guess there is not that much to say apart from WOW. First of all there are lots of leather chairs spread out in the lounge and there were not many people there so finding a place to sit was not a problem. Each table had a selection of nuts so they have taken the roasted nuts to the next level
The selection of food seems to be pretty amazing…yes, the Emirates lounge in London was not bad either. But in the Lufthansa First Class lounge they have taken it to the next level. Lunch was pretty amazing with a huge selection of antipasti from a buffet (including huge a huge parma ham and a huge Pata Negra) and there were also several warm dishes including Thai soups, Indian food, risotto and so on, And for dessert a wide variety of sweet stuff including tiramisu, chocolate mousse, panna cotta etc. If you can’t find anything good to eat at this food buffet you either have some pretty weird food allergy or are very picky about what you eat.
As a Norwegian I also have to mention the drink menu….which is extensive Here you can choose to drink Bollinger, Taittinger, Ruinart etc champagnes, 8 different red wines, 80 different scotch and whiskey’s !, 7 types of gin etc…you get the picture. It is quite nice to sip some good champagne while having some Voss water to keep saturated Apart from that the First Class terminal has a cigar lounge where you can enjoy your whiskey together with a cigar and they have 4 shower rooms where you can take a shower. I did take a shower and unfortunately the water was freezing. But apart from that the facilities are very nice. There are also a couple of rooms where you can get some sleep if you want to.
The internet is free of course and there are also several small “offices” where you can get access to the internet if you have not brought your own laptop. It does not get much better than this.
We did our tour with Trabi Safari (see http://www.trabi-safari.de/ )
