Posted by Seth on January 18, 2009 under Trip Reports | 
The vast majority of people going to Luxembourg arrive via train. And that means no passport stamp. The stamp isn’t really anything special – a typical EU entry stamp with the “L” for the country code – but it was certainly fun to get it.
The flight from London’s City airport to Luxembourg on VLM was quite pleasant and rather unremarkable. The small sandwich (turkey or cheese) and beverage service on the hour-long flight was nice and otherwise the flight was uneventful. The Luxembourg airport is modern and beautiful, but eerily empty as there isn’t much flight activity through it.
And then there was the border agent. The conversation was somewhat typical right up until he asked me how long I was going to be staying. Apparently a 16 hour holiday in Luxembourg is somewhat unorthodox. The good news is I appear crazy enough to do such a thing, as he eventually rolled his eyes at me, stamped my passport and sent me on my way, though he did make me repeat my itinerary a couple times to make sure he understood that I really wasn’t going to be staying in town very long.
As I noted in my post yesterday, Luxembourg is quite impressive. Walking around this morning on my way to the train station I had a chance to admire the architecture in daylight and it did not disappoint. Some pictures from around town below.
Posted by Seth on January 17, 2009 under Uncategorized |
I knew going in to my stays at hostels in Europe this weekend that it wouldn’t be “normal” nights of sleep, but I never expected quite the level of entertainment that I got on my first night in Luxembourg.
First, a quick review of the hostel in Luxembourg: It is awesome. Clean, modern and really quite nice. The views up the hills toward the ruins of the old battlements were impressive, though a reminder of the hill to be hiked to get up to the city center.
The view from room B101 at the youth hostel in Luxembourg.
They had a shuttle van parked out front but I never saw it in action so I’m not sure what the deal is with that. The doors closed a bit louder than I would have liked, but I was tired enough that I slept through most of that. I skipped breakfast there this morning so I cannot rate that, but the guys I talked to said it was pretty decent the previous day, and it is included in the rate, so nothing to complain about there. They also didn’t charge me extra for not having a hostel card even though they were supposed to so that was nice. Sheets are included in the rates but not towels. They make you buy one if you need it and they aren’t cheap. Or if you are only staying one night you can do as I did and just use the sheets to dry off in the morning as you’re leaving. That worked out pretty well for me.
Now, on to the entertainment. When I got home from dinner I was a bit surprised to see someone laying in the bed I had made up before going out. Apparently one of the guys I was sharing a room with decided that he should use that bed since I had made it up. In his defense, I get the feeling that he had used it the previous night, but it was unmade and appeared unclaimed when I got there, so I’m not totally sure.
And then there was the Finnish guy. He was the last of the six to arrive in the room and he seemed a bit apprehensive about claiming the last bed available since it was a top bunk. Still, it was the only one and he went ahead and made up the bed. I thought nothing more of it as I made my way out to dinner. His somewhat noisy return to the room rather late was annoying, especially when he felt it appropriate to turn on the overhead lights, but I got over it.
At about five in the morning when he fell out of the bed, however, it took the fact that I was still pretty tired to avoid cracking up laughing. He seemed to survive the fall OK, and I know it is not nice to laugh at others’ misfortune, but it really was entertaining to watch him stumble – presumably still drunk – to the bathroom at that point and then try to get back in to bed. He managed to sleep through my departure this morning so I never got a chance to ask him how he was feeling. Hopefully he’s OK.
I certainly got my money’s worth in both the bed and the extra entertainment offered. I hope my hostel in Brussels is a bit more subdued, but I’ll take it either way.
Posted by Seth on January 17, 2009 under Uncategorized |
I planned the first day of this trip to Brussels as a quick tour of other places, namely London and Luxembourg. And with a scant six and a half hours between flights in London I had time to hit a few of the major sites but not much else.
First stop was at the hotel of my friend Chris to drop off his bags and freshen up. Then we were off to Buckingham Palace. I was rather unimpressed by the architecture of the palace, but we happened to arrive during the changing of the guard and that performance overwhelmed any disappointment I was feeling. Sure, it was mostly pomp, but the concert performed in front of the palace, complete with french horns and a bassoon, was impressive, as was the marching about of the guards. The only thing I’ve seen previously that is even close was the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, and this put it to shame in terms of showmanship. Because we arrived a bit late to the party we were stuck rather far back from the fence and couldn’t see too much. I took advantage of the tripod I had with me and was able to get a few shots from above the crowd, and quite a few strange looks from everyone around me.
Next up was a walk through St. James’s park towards the Parliament building and Big Ben. We crossed over the Thames and headed to the London Eye for a “flight” over the river. I was rather skeptical going in to the Eye, but it was definitely a cool ride. Part of the appeal to me was the architecture of the ride itself, but the views were equally impressive. It was a bit grey so not the best scenes of London, but some great views nonetheless.
And then my time in London was essentially finished. A quick tube + docklands light rail ride and I was out at London City Airport (LCY) for my flight to Luxembourg. LCY is quite nice, the way flying should be in many ways. From arrival on the train to sitting in the gate area took me less than 10 minutes, and part of the delay was that I needed to reprint my boarding pass. Security was quite thorough but still efficient and respectful. The departures lounge was quiet and calm – no overhead announcements – and they had free WiFi.
And flying out and directly over London was damn cool. The clouds meant I could only see for the first few minutes of flight, but it was still pretty impressive. On a clear day it has to be amazing. I was very skeptical of BA’s plan to operate LCY-NYC with a tech stop in Ireland, but now having flown from LCY I can understand the appeal. I’d consider flying that routing if I were in London. It was just way easier than the Heathrow or Gatwick experience.
Certainly I need to get back to London to see more, like some of the museums and friends and such. But for a six hour stopover this was a pretty good itinerary.
Also, a couple of logistical notes. The post-9:30am daily zone 1/2 tube pass is a bargain. And it isn’t valid for travel to LCY. There is a GBP 1.60 up-charge for that, unless you beg the conductor not to charge you because you have no GBP currency on you. Whoopsie.
Posted by Seth on January 16, 2009 under Uncategorized |
I certainly took a roundabout way to get here, but it was worth the trip. Luxembourg is rather beautiful, if not a bit expensive.
Arrival was easy at the beautifully modern, though rather underutilized airport. The immigration officer couldn’t understand why I had transited London to get to Luxembourg only to be leaving tomorrow. He rolled his eyes and stamped my passport, as apparently being crazy is not sufficient grounds to deny entry. The bus to the city center was a piece of cake and pretty cheap at only 1.50 Euro.
I walked around town to find my way to the hostel, snapping a few photos (to be uploaded when bandwidth isn’t quite so expensive) and meeting a few other folks on their way to the hostel. I must say that I’m incredibly impressed by the hostel. Immaculately clean and a very nice place. The only problem it has is being at the bottom of a hill, but that gives it a great backdrop against the fortifications above. I had dinner with a guy I met here and now off to bed after a very, very long but entertaining day.
Posted by Seth on January 15, 2009 under Uncategorized |
A US Air A320 en route from LaGuardia to Charlotte has crashed into the Hudson River between NYC and New Jersey. Amazingly it seems that the plane is intact and is seems like door 1L is actually above the surface of the water so they can get it open and get people off the plane.
I guess this is proof that a water landing of a commercial jet is possible without it completely breaking up on impact.
Update (4:30p EST): Everyone got off the plane safely, some through 1L (the boarding door) and some onto the wings. Passengers were rescued by various boats in the area, many of them the commuter ferries that ply the Hudson. Damn amazing.
Posted by Seth on January 15, 2009 under Uncategorized |
No, it isn’t really travel related, but I did use my underwater housing that I travel with to protect my camera while taking this video.
My dishwasher was acting up last night and I couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on inside with the door closed. Camera in a housing, plus a small flashlight, and I now know exactly what is going on – it is broken.
Headed to the airport in a couple hours on my way to Belgium for good beer, via London and Luxembourg. Good times!
Posted by Seth on January 14, 2009 under Uncategorized |
It might not look like much, but Tebaya, housed in this little storefront on 
West 19th Street in Chelsea happen to make some of the best chicken wings I’ve ever tasted.
They are of a Japanese pedigree rather than of the upstate New York persuasion so they are very, very different, in a very good way. Rather than being “wet” and covered in sauce, the wings are super crispy and mostly dry. I could’ve used a wet-nap when I was done, to be sure, but it was a much different experience than a traditional buffalo wing. The sauce recipe originates in Nagoya, Japan. They are double fried to get rid of the fat but keep the collagen intact; apparently that makes them healthy, according to their menu.
They are a bit spicy and there is some garlic. But they also have a touch of sweet in the flavor. Apparently there is a touch of sweet sake in the sauce, and it really accentuates the spicy of the flavor as well as providing a bit of sweet in the aftertaste. And sesame seeds sprinkled on top. Delicious.
My only concern is that Tebaya is not open on Sundays, meaning that I can’t have the wings for my Super Bowl watching festivities. It is a major bummer.
Special thanks to Audrey for the tip on this place; I know I’ve walked past it dozens of times and almost certainly would have continued to ignore it without the push from her.
Posted by Seth on January 13, 2009 under Uncategorized |
If you have a sale and no one notices, does it really count? It seems that Continental is trying to find out.
For the past few years they’ve run a sale on their BusinessFirst cabin a couple times a year, trying to build up loads during the traditional slow periods of business travel. They usually pair a bit of promotional effort with those sales so that they can actually sell some of the seats. This year, however, they seem to have started the sale very quietly.
There are fares loaded in the $1800-2000 range for travel from Newark to various European destinations in BusinessFirst. It isn’t quite as cheap as last year, but it is still a pretty good deal for summer travel to Europe where coach tickets are often over $1000.
If you’re considering heading to Europe this summer and were hoping for the sale fares to come out, take a look now. They may not be advertising them, but the discount fares are out there on a lot of the routes.
Posted by Seth on January 13, 2009 under Uncategorized |
How much do 3,000 loyalty points weigh? About 60 pounds, give or take a bit.
The US Mint continues to try to get dollar coins into circulation. They last a lot longer than the bills and over their lifetime are way more cost effective to produce and keep in the market. They’ve tried various different approaches to get them out there; the most recent is the US Presidents series along with a Native Americans series. They are releasing four different presidents each year and one new Native American coin each year.
What does this have to do with points? Everything. In their effort to boost circulation of the coins the Mint is selling them – 500 per issue per customer – at a cost of one dollar each. And they are waiving all shipping charges. And you can pay with whatever point earning credit card you choose. The points are free and all you have to do is drop the coins back off at a bank to pay your bill.
I’ve actually been using some of mine for my everyday expenses, trying to get them into circulation and justify the points I’m earning this way, but that isn’t strictly necessary. Besides, carrying 60 pounds of coin into the bank to deposit it is a sure way to piss off the teller.
Posted by Seth on January 12, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Last week I had the great fortune to fly on a Gulfstream IV to Europe and back. The flight was great in both directions and actually pretty comfortable overall, but having flown a few long-haul flights in Business class, I have to think that flying commercial is a better option. Yes, I might be crazy, but I have my reasons.
At full capacity a G IV holds somewhere around 13 people. I know that we had that many on our flight. For a daytime flight it was fine, but on an overnight there was really not all that much space there. It was on par with a domestic F cabin in the USA. Yeah, I can sleep just fine in that seat and it beats the hell out of flying in coach, but I would expect something better in a private jet. With fewer people on board you can do something better in the arrangements, but that would really throw the cost analysis off.
The G IV is also a bit slower than commercial planes. We got passed on the flight home by a couple different wide-bodies headed in the same direction across the pond. That didn’t add too much time to the trip overall, and I suppose I should have just savored the time, but there was enough strange going on that I wasn’t really in the mood to stretch out the final segment.
The food was just OK and I’m sure better could be had if they catered us better. Ditto for the booze, though we didn’t get any of that on the flight thanks to limits issued by the drug company paying for our time.
One of the things that private planes are supposed to be able to take advantage of is access to smaller airports closer to city centers. That doesn’t seem to be such a great benefit for New York City. The main private airport is Teterboro, but we didn’t use that. We used Islip. That is the farthest of any “local” airports to NYC. We had to use Islip because Teterboro is stuck in the middle of the JFK/La Guardia/Newark air traffic control mess. That means they seem to get plenty of delays there, just like flying commercial. I understand that things are better in other cities, such as Orlando, Kansas City and the like where there are airports right in downtown, but that one doesn’t work so well for NYC.
It was nice to have the Immigration officer come to see us rather than the other way around.
And then there is cost. Hiring a G IV from NYC to BSL costs somewhere in the range of $150,000. That would cover a lot of paid first class seats.
Finally, I had to submit to four nights of sleeping with all this crud attached to my head to get the opportunity:
It wasn’t actually all that bad, and the high from the drug I was testing made it pretty much completely worthwhile, but that stuff all over my head sure did make sleeping annoying.
Don’t get me wrong – I won’t say no to another offer – but I also won’t assume that private is always better than commercial.
