Posted by Seth on April 5, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports | 
Back in January during my Euro-hopping week of basically a different city in Europe every night I fell for the EuroStars Berlin. It was a last minute booking – literally booked 30 minutes before walking in the front door – and the property was fantastic. I was smitten and how. So when I needed a stay in Brussels on a similar last-minute basis I was quite happy to see that the chain had two properties in town. One was sold out but the EuroStars Grand Place was available and in my price range. Just a 5-7 minute walk from the train station and Le Grande Place, the location is pretty good, though it is a bit past everything else in the area. I like walking and that didn’t bother me, plus I had a great experience last time, so I booked.
On arrival I was a bit skeptical; the public areas weren’t nearly as nice as in Berlin. But I was on the hook and I hoped for the best as I checked in and headed up to my room. I suppose it was something of a good thing I was distracted by how small the room was. I didn’t expect much, nor did I need much, but it was quite small. Enough room for the bed, desk and loo, but only barely.
It was late and I was jetlagged, plus I had to be out in 7 hours to head back to the airport so I pretty much just passed out. In that regard the room was perfectly functional, though the bed was very, very firm. It was when I woke up the next morning that I noticed some of the greater shortcomings of the room. Like the chunk of wallpaper missing in the corner.
Or, somewhat more disturbing, the part of the floor by the door to the bathroom that was falling apart.
I missed the breakfast, which is fine because the charged far more than I’d consider paying for it. And then I was off to the airport.
It wasn’t a particularly nice property at all. That said, it did serve its primary purpose of being clean and cheap and having a bed available. I cannot complain too much, but I’ll definitely be more cautious when looking at this brand in the future.
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Posted by Seth on March 30, 2012 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
It doesn’t take much to convince me that a city might be worth visiting. In the case of Ghent it took only one word: beer. I love Belgian beers and there are plenty on offer just about everywhere in the country. I’ve visited Bruges a couple times and found it reasonable enough, and Brussels is pretty meh as a place to actually be a tourist so I was looking for a different option. Ghent was it.
There are a few churches and some other great architecture in the very compact city center so getting to see all of it was super easy. But it also wasn’t particularly awe-inspiring on this particular day. Such is life, I suppose.
Thanks to the advice of a certain otter I ended up in a great little pub, De Trollenkelder, which offered up a book full of choices for what I wanted to drink. I only regret that I had a scant few hours and a single liver available during the visit.
As I sat in the pub, enjoying my Trappist Ales, I realized that the "usual" stuff in town really didn’t do much for me. Certainly not as much as the phenomenal beer did. Among the few I tried were the Westmalle dark and St. Idesbald Dubbel. The latter is served (if you’re willing to annoy your bartender by ordering it in the traditional manner) in a ceramic bowl rather than a glass. A bit strange, and I’m not sure that it did anything useful to the flavor, but it was quite entertaining.
Wandering about town, trying to find something more interesting than churches, I stumbled across some great displays of one of the other features the town is known for: graffiti. I don’t know the history of the graffiti walls, but there are a bunch of them scattered about town and some of the works are quite impressive.
As I headed down one of the alleys, checking out the work, the smell of fresh paint and aerosol lingered in the air; some recent activity, apparently. Very cool, indeed.
I found a few different resources planning for my visit and, not surprisingly, the usual suspects were actually pretty useless. The guide from use-it.be was awesome, however, and I strongly recommend starting with it as you plan a visit. There is also a walking guide from the official tourist bureau which didn’t completely suck, but it also misses some of what I thought were the highlights of my visit.
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Posted by Seth on March 23, 2012 under Review, Trip Reports, Wandering Aramean Travel Tools |
The Brussels airport terminals are split into three distinct areas. There is a Schengen zone (Terminal A) and two non-Schengen zones. One (Terminal T) is used for the Brussels Air flights to Africa while the other (Terminal B) is used for all the other flights that are non-Schengen. There are lounges in all three areas, depending on the carrier and its destinations. And, like most airports, the quality of the lounge depends greatly on the airline operating it.
For my flight to Montreal we were in the B terminal and mostly were set up in the Brussels Air lounge there. The lounge is a bit dated, but not horrible, really. It does get quite crowded in the morning with all the North America departures leaving around the same time. We did manage to find a few seats together and some room to relax, but it took effort. The snack options in the morning are pastries, cereal and juices. There is also alcohol available self-serve. For me, it seemed that the most appropriate breakfast was the chocolate croissant (the one from the grocery out in the terminal was better) and a Leffe Brown. Turns out I was right; the flavors went pretty well together.
Being the inquisitive guy that I am, I also took a look at the other lounges available in the terminal. There are three others, Jet Airways, British Airways and a third party Diamond Lounge.
I didn’t visit the Diamond lounge this trip but I was there last time I passed through. It has showers and a broader selection of snacks than the Brussels Air lounge. It is also the Priority Pass lounge in the terminal for folks who have that access. Nice enough, but nothing particularly special.
The British Airways lounge at BRU was surprisingly nice and quite spacious. It happened to be empty while I was there which didn’t hurt that effect but it appeared to be about the same size as the Brussels Air lounge and they have many fewer potential passengers at any point in time. The décor was reasonably modern and the food and drink selection was comparable to the Brussels Air lounge.
The Jet Airways lounge in Brussels was quite nice. They were apparently closing up as the flights both to North America and to India had all departed (though the hours on the website suggest it is open all day) but I managed to walk through quickly before they locked the doors. It makes sense that it is so nice, given that Brussels is a hub for them and that they focus more on service in many ways than other carriers. It had the best food selection of the lounges in the terminal and also more different seating areas and space than the others.
Finally, while I didn’t visit it this trip, I figured I’d share a couple photos from the Sunrise lounge. This is the Brussels Air lounge newly built in Terminal T for serving the Africa departures and it is quite nice, on par with the Jet Airways lounge in B. Given the opportunity, it is very much worth a visit.
Posted by Seth on March 20, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
Yeah, I wish that all my flights were in the pointy end of the plane, but that just isn’t feasible on my budget. And so, once again, I headed off across the Atlantic Ocean in coach, hoping that I wouldn’t be too annoyed. This time it was Air Canada, from Brussels to Montreal. I’ve flown Air Canada a few times long-haul recently and been rather pleased with the experience so this was mostly a case of hoping they lived up to their previous performances. They did.
The Seat
I never did manage to request a seat in advance for this flight thanks to it being ticketed as a code-share and the phone agents not feeling particularly creative. Still, when I went to check in I found myself assigned seat 18H, a non-reclining exit row aisle seat. Yeah, I prefer the window, but I’ll take the exit row without any complaints. The pitch is tremendous and the center seat area there is actually the galley so fewer people (though the galley part can be disruptive on a night flight).
Upon boarding I started chatting with a few other folks who were also on the same mileage run I was on and one was actually assigned the exit window that did recline and he was looking to swap to my side of the plane to be near his family. No problem at all. Without too much fuss I was in one of the best coach seats available.
One interesting thing about the over-wing exit seats for Air Canada’s 767-300s is that they don’t have an armrest on the exit side. That was definitely a bit strange, though it ends up making the seat feel wider than it actually is, which is mostly a good thing.
The seat cushion didn’t feel quite as soft as I remember of those from the non-exit seats, but it wasn’t particularly bad. I did find that the exit row was VERY cold, even with my thick travel socks on. I actually ended up wedging a blanket between my shoulder and the wall to insulate myself from the chill.
Food & Beverage
The flight, scheduled for 7:30 in the air, included three distinct meal/beverage services. The first was a lunch, served hot, where I chose the chicken over the pasta option. The ginger chicken was pretty good, most notably for actually having the taste and texture of chicken, more than I can say for the last time I ordered chicken in coach (Thanks, United Airlines!). It wasn’t anything special, but it was actually what I was expecting, so that was nice.
As an added bonus, drinks are free, even in coach. That’s not to say the wine I had with lunch was any good, just that it was free. My seatmate and I shared a laugh over that fact (he agreed that free was the only redeeming quality of the wine). Also, the flight attendants were offering up the whole can of soda when ordered; I generally have no trouble requesting such if I want it but it was nice to see them being proactive on that front. Also, the meal tray comes with a small bottle of water, in addition to the drink cart, so hydration is not a problem at all.
The second service was beverages plus a snack which was actually just a bag of pretzels. Not particularly filling, but they are pretty good pretzels, with a buttery flavor to them that I quite enjoy.
The third service was a hot snack, presented as the option between a beef or tomato wrap. I went with beef and was presented a box that mostly elicited memories of McDonald’s Apple Pies from many years ago.
It was most certainly hot, and it seemed to have flavors of all the things on the ingredients list at one point or another – mostly beef and veggies – but it was also somewhat difficult to eat without making a complete mess. The filling of the wrap was incredibly hot and reasonably gooey (the corn flour, I’m betting), and biting in on one side meant it would ooze from the other. Not the worst thing I’ve ever had on a plane, but a bit of a let down after the first meal. Then again, I’m not Canadian so maybe I’m missing something there.
In-flight Entertainment
When it comes to IFE systems, the options for coach customers are getting better and better. And Air Canada has one of the better products I’ve seen in that regard. It offers large screens, a good selection of movie, TV and audio titles and one of my favorite moving map interfaces. If none of that suits your fancy there is also USB power at every seat and 110V power in every row, one outlet per 2 seat group and 2 outlets per 3 seat group. The touch-screen interface can be a bit pokey at times in terms of performance and the commercials before the shows are annoying, but both of those are outweighed but the quality of the rest of the product.
Lounge/Ground Services
I had done online check-in the night before but didn’t have a printer so no boarding pass. I decided to get one from an agent rather than the kiosk so I could take care of the passport check formalities as well. Plus I figured with the elite line it should move pretty quickly. I should never underestimate the ability of the more frequent travelers to make for a slow experience. It didn’t help that the agents working that line were also handling calls from the transfers desk and a myriad of other tasks while also trying to check customers in, but it did seem that they were somewhat understaffed.
Air Canada makes use of the Brussels Airlines lounge in the Brussels airport. This makes sense as they are a Star Alliance partner so I cannot really hold that against the carrier. But the lounge is not particularly impressive. It is small for the number of flights and passengers heading to the USA every morning, meaning finding a seat can be a challenge. We managed to find a few in the business center which was empty thanks to the computers being out of service. The snack options in the lounge were OK, with pastries and cereals available, though the pastries weren’t particularly tasty. The croissants I had from the grocery store out in the terminal were much better, even if I did actually pay for them. On the plus side, there is self-serve booze, including Leffe beers. A Leffe Brune and pain au chocolate make for a pretty decent breakfast.
Much like my last experience in Air Canada’s long-haul coach cabin, this one was quite pleasant overall. I managed to sneak in a nap after the first meal and generally was ready to hit the ground running upon arrival in Montreal. At this point I’d say that the Air Canada option is the best coach cabin across between North America and Europe, certainly in Star Alliance and arguably against the others, too. I’m not as huge a fan of the AC business class service as some others are, but if you’re slumming it in coach, the connections via Canada are looking pretty nice these days.
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Tags: Air Canada, Belgium, Boeing, BRU2012, Brussels, Dining, Flying, IFE, in flight, Mileage Run, Photos, review, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on March 19, 2012 under News |
When I arrived in Belgium this past weekend I didn’t get a particularly welcoming feeling. The lines at immigration weren’t too bad, but apparently my frequent, short-duration trips raised a red flag with the immigration officer I was dealing with (more of that story here). It ended up OK and I had a great time, but it was a bit eye-opening to be seen not just as a visitor looking to spend some money and support the economy, but as a visitor that they might not actually want in their country. It was the second time I’ve had that experience and both ultimately ended OK. But it also raised some interesting comments from friends when I posted about it on my FaceBook feed.
In that it was the morning in Europe I mostly got responses from my European friends, and their views were not particularly flattering to the USA.
Of course, it hurt me to say it, but when faced with the suggestion that what I was getting was just turnabout for the way the US treats visitors, I had to admit that what I dealt with was, in fact, trivial compared to the "welcome" that they receive.
There was an OpEd piece published in the New York Times last week, one that I read just before boarding my flight to Belgium, that hammers this point home rather pointedly. The author of the piece is Mark Vanhoenacker, an airline pilot. This makes him rather familiar with crossing borders and with the experience of being welcomed – or not – when arriving in a new place. He points out a number of failings of the system, starting with the fact that the USA requires visitors to pay a fee to answer idiotic questions such as whether you’re a spy, have been involved in terrorism or if you’re planning any crimes. Yeah, like anyone is going to answer "yes" on those. Of course, immigration loves having those because it gives more chances for a deportation later due to lying on the form, but they’re still ridiculous questions.
There are also the issues with the Customs process, one that I’m fortunately mostly exempt from thanks to Global Entry, but one that is horribly labor intensive and inefficient at actually meeting its stated goals. Everyone arriving must fill out a form, a rather senseless one. Much like the ETSA application, it seems unlikely that anyone is going to tick the yes box when asked if they are carrying "disease agents" into the country. Worse than that, however, is the fact that the forms don’t really do much good, other than – again – to provide a paper trail leading nowhere.
Just about every other country I’ve visited in recent memory simply has a green lane and a red lane. The rules are published and you go in to the lane that applies to you. Agents still pull passengers aside for spot checks, just like they do in the USA, but without the need for a piece of paper to trigger it. After all, the paper doesn’t actually accomplish anything other than to produce more bureaucracy and waste.
There is no doubt that the border agents have security-related responsibilities. And I am not suggesting that those be limited or done with any less focus or vigilance. But they can be done with more respect for the visitors and with a more welcoming attitude to the vast majority of those crossing the border, the ones who are bringing their money to spend to support our economy.
Inconsistent enforcement of irrational policies is rarely the right way to solve any problem. But the US sure is trying.
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Posted by Seth on March 19, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
I never actually bought the ticket from Newark to Brussels. I didn’t even buy a ticket from United Airlines. And yet, on a Friday afternoon, I found myself sitting in the lounge at Newark airport, watching basketball on TV and waiting for my flight to Belgium in the new business class seats that United has on their Boeing 777-200 airplanes.
I originally purchased a flight on Air Canada, connecting in Montreal. I was going to spend the day out sight-seeing prior to my onward journey across the Atlantic. That plan came screeching to a halt when I woke up to an email alert from AC that my flight was cancelled. Oh well. I made use of their excellent online rebooking engine and scheduled myself out of Newark instead. When I got to the airport the agents were chatting about the flights being overbooked and I offered up that I’d be happy to take the non-stop flight on United, if they wanted to free up a seat. Much to my surprise – and great pleasure – they agreed.
Once I had the ticket pushed over to United I was able to apply an upgrade voucher and so it was that I found myself in seat 10K, a rear-facing window, for the hop across the pond.
The Seat
This was my first experience in the new United configuration and my first time flying facing backwards since the party seats on Southwest 737s so it was a good opportunity to try something different. The flying backwards part didn’t bother me at all. I honestly don’t think I noticed, other than while trying to look out the window (not particularly easy from this seat as there is no window aligned with where you are when upright) and during takeoff/landing. From that perspective I’ve got no issues with the United product. There are a couple areas where I do, however.
The width of the seat is pretty tight. The 2-4-2 layout across in business class means that they necessarily have to make the seats narrower to fit that many in. I’d read the specs and understood that, by the measuring tape, they aren’t too cramped, but actually sitting in one it felt like I was. When upright I felt that I was pressed into the side wall of the airplane, with my shoulder resting against it. When in the sleep position the seat was slightly wider thanks to the armrest moving out of the way, but it wasn’t fantastic.
I was somewhat surprised to find that the foot well when fully reclined was a tight fit. It makes sense, I suppose, as when the seats meet each other in the adjacent rows the feet sections can be split between the two sides, reducing the pitch a few inches while still keeping the overall length high. But at the bulkheads, where there is no need to save those 6 inches, the foot wells are still half size, unlike other carriers with a similar product. Probably a few dollars saved on the engineering and manufacturing side there, but a definite loss on the comfort side.
Finally, there is virtually zero storage space available at the seat. The photo below shows my Kindle resting in basically the only place it could. And it was too big to fully fit there. I certainly wouldn’t leave it there longer than a few minutes here or there. Not so great for passengers.
Food & Beverage
Like most business class products, the meal was a multi-course affair. A number of carriers have been stepping things up on the meal service lately (I was quite pleasantly surprised with the Lufthansa meal EWR-FRA a few months ago) and the new United has the advantage of owning the their own catering company with operations in Newark so I was looking forward to trying the meal. The flight attendants took orders by asking for first and second choices, the legacy United approach where they reconcile things in the galley and prioritize by status. In this case it probably worked in my favor as I was one of the last to order, but I don’t know that anyone actually didn’t get their first choice; the cabin was only booked 33/40 so there was some wiggle room.
Like always, dinner started with a beverage and nuts in a warmed ramekin. I don’t get the obsession with this part of the service, other than that some people really love salt. Beyond that, it is really a strange thing to me, I picked out a few nuts and waited for the real meal to begin.
The first course was a salmon appetizer along with a salad. Both were fine, but nothing particularly special. I was definitely missing the Continental version of the appetizers with a few more choices and larger servings offered, especially on the salad.
For my main course I had the Beef Short Ribs. The flavor was actually quite nice, though the meet a tad over-cooked. More sauce would have been useful for helping out with the fact that the meat was a bit dry but no real complaints there. The portion size on the beef seemed quite reasonable as well. The bread basket options were basically white or wheat. No pretzel roll nor garlic bread on offer. Most unfortunate.
Finally, for dessert, the offering was a cheese cart and ice cream. This is a course that I look forward to on most flights. I was rather disappointed. One of the two cheese options (a Manchengo, if I had to guess, and I do because no one knew what they were) was OK. The second cheese was some sort of sun-dried tomato flavored goat cheese-ish spread that seemed more like an Alouette container in the store than good cheese. I like both, but one is for pre-dinner snacks and the other is for dessert with a drink before sleep. This was the wrong one. And the ice cream is just a scoop of ice cream, not a sundae. That was most disappointing. Oh, and seedless grapes, which I like for the convenience, but the flavor of which wasn’t as good. At least the flight attendant was able to find the after-dinner drink I ordered, after initially claiming they don’t stock Grand Marnier on the flights.
Also of note, my seatmate ordered the express meal service. I think he finished no more than 10 minutes earlier than I did. Not that his wasn’t fast but the regular meal service on this particular night was also quite quick, without feeling rushed. I was done well before we cleared Gander, meaning 4+ hours to sleep.
In-flight Entertainment
I was mostly sleeping during the flight so I didn’t play around with the IFE system too much, but I did like what I saw. The screens are large and the movie selection was reasonable. My seatmate watched The Adventures of Tin Tin which meant that I also watched it, though I did so without the audio track. I actually think I came out ahead in that regard, though the animation was pretty good. I’d place the IFE towards the top in terms of relative rankings, though that is also generally pretty low on my priority list. Give me a decent moving map and a plug for my laptop and I’ll stay entertained for hours.
Lounge/Ground Services
The lounge in Newark is nothing special. Never has been. I like the views, but otherwise just somewhere to sit before the flight. I actually got bored and left early to go walk the terminal before my flight. Not bad, just not particularly good. At least I had a couple packs of carrots to up my vitamin intake for the day.
One thing that I’ve always loved about flying Business Class on Continental was the arrivals service they offer. You get access to a shower or day room at most destinations if you’re flying up front. I inquired about this at the lounge (twice, because the first agent was a bit unconvincing) and was told, as usual, to ask at the gate and then again upon arrival in Brussels, but that the facility was the Sheraton hotel (they were reading this out of the DRS screen). I asked at the gate and the lead agent made a call to operations who confirmed that I should ask the arrivals agent and that the Sheraton was the facility. I asked upon landing and the agent confirmed that they had day rooms at the Sheraton and that I should go to the ticket counter to get a voucher.
Imagine my surprise when I showed up at the ticket counter (after a rather ridiculous immigration experience) and the woman informed me that she had never heard of such a thing and that there was no way it was accurate. Oy. After 10 minutes of calling around and checking on various things they confirmed that assessment, leaving me out in the cold, so to speak, without a shower. A rather unfortunate conclusion to the trip on two levels, both that I didn’t get the shower and that no one seems to know what’s going on. The good news is that I was in Belgium for the day and there was plenty of beer and fun to be had.
Overall, I rate the trip as a pretty mediocre business class experience. The flat seats are nice for being flat, but I would imagine that folks taller or wider than me would find them rather confining. And the meal was fine, but nothing special; with both the appetizers and the desserts I think they missed the mark.
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Tags: Air Canada, Belgium, Boeing, BRU2012, Brussels, Dining, Flying, IFE, in flight, Lounge, Lufthansa, Mileage Run, Newark, Photos, review, Trip Report, United, United Airlines, upgrade
Posted by Seth on March 17, 2012 under frequent flyer, Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
My United Airlines flight into Brussels arrived at a hard stand this morning. I generally find those annoying for any number of reasons, but in this case it gave me the opportunity to chat with another passenger about our trips and share a couple quick travel stories. Among them, I related that I generally enjoy coming in to Europe because the immigration process is so easy and it is such a quick flight from New York City for a day or two. She was ahead of me in line when we got to the immigration desk and made it through with only the slightest questioning. I was not so lucky.
The questions started in the normal manner – what is the reason for your visit and how long are you here for – and my answers were my usual ones, one day for holidays. Apparently this agent was not happy about the one day stay. Thumbing through my passport he noted, "You seem to come to Europe a lot, only for one or two days. I find that strange." Yes, I do. I like visiting. Can I now continue to do so? Not so fast.
Do I have a hotel reservation? Yes, I do. Where? Here’s the email confirmation; I don’t really remember the name as I just made it yesterday. Still not convinced.
I tried explaining the miles angle and he was having none of it. He complained about the taxes on awards and I started to try to explain that those weren’t nearly as big an issue in the USA-based programs but that didn’t seem to be helping my case either.
At this point – about 5 minutes in to my stay at the counter – he leaned over to his neighbor and started talking about me. I only caught a few words but the gist of it was that I’m apparently suspect. He started to fill out a form, one I’ve never seen before, which I’m guessing was sending me to a secondary inspection. He went to make a call to find someone, I’m assuming with the rubber gloves, and then noticed that a supervisor was standing right there. Lucky me.
I explained again that I really do just love traveling, that the ticket was only $350 and that I really like Belgian beer. I figured the flattery might help, plus it is the truth. The supe wasn’t quite as skeptical, but he still wasn’t convinced.
It was at this point that the supervisor noticed the luggage tags on my bag. I’ve got quite a collection and they’re great as souvenirs or to help folks identify me when I’m meeting a new group. In this case, they also seemed sufficient to prove that I really am a crazy travel person, but a harmless one. The supervisor flipped through them, made a couple more comments to the agent and then I heard the magic words: "You seem to have convinced my supervisor."
I’ll settle for the fact that the guys think I’m crazy – they’re not wrong – so long as I can also go get my beer.
Posted by Seth on August 12, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I’m in Brussels right now waiting out the 4ish hour delay on my flight to Philadelphia on US Airways. So far they’ve mostly done things badly, but perhaps the worst part is that in order to actually speak with someone useful required clearing immigration and going to the ticket counter. Yes, they have an agent near the original gate who is handling rebooking of affected passengers. But she is unable to answer simple questions like “Is a 60 minute International to domestic connection in Philly legal?” or “Why can you not provide access to the EU-mandated phone call that I am permitted to make?” Her two comments were, “Go to the ticket counter,” and “That is not my job.” Funny thing is that she’s sitting at the counter with a US Airways name tag on and “helping” passengers who are affected. Seems quite a bit like it is her job.
So off to immigration I go. I relate my reason for passing through to the officer (“Apparently that is where the only competent employees are”) and he laughs a bit as he stamps me in. I make it to the check-in counter where I’m told by someone else that I really should go to the ticket sales window since I’m not checking bags. At least there was no line over there. The guy refused to consider any reroutes (“We don’t do that on this sort of ticket” but no explanation of what “this” is) but was kind enough to show me the documentation in my record for the cause of delay (mechanical) and that I’ve been protected on another flight tomorrow morning. Oh, and he also suggested I write down his name since this is his last day on the job and I cannot do anything to him. Classy. At least he was willing to have a conversation as opposed to the single agent US Airways assigned to deal with the 40ish folks in line when I finally left the air-side part of the terminal.
If everything works out perfectly I won’t be needing to take advantage of the protected booking. Given the operations so far, however, I’m not betting in my favor.
Posted by Seth on June 24, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I travel a decent amount, but apparently not particularly broadly. I thought my list of 40+ countries visited so far was pretty decent but with my most recent booking I’m also realizing that perhaps I’ve visited as many as I have because they have been relatively easy. And then along came a deal that I couldn’t say no to.
I needed to be in San Juan, Puerto Rico in mid-August. Airfare was running around $300ish round-trip. Not great but reasonable for the route. I was pretty close to booking that trip until I noticed that there was, perhaps, a similarly priced deal that would get me a ton more frequent flyer points. Instead of just flying to San Juan and back I’ll be flying in via San Francisco, Chicago, Brussels, Accra and Philadelphia.
Yeah, I’m going from New York City to Puerto Rico via Ghana.
This won’t be my first trip to Africa – I visited Egypt over Christmas last year – but it certainly will be the first trip into what I consider a “hard” country to visit. Among other things, the list of vaccinations required is pretty significant. Typhoid, Tetanus, Hepatitis A & B, Meningococcal Meningitis and – the big one – Yellow Fever. So on Tuesday I found myself hopping between clinics, getting vaccinated and giving blood to test antibody levels for some vaccines. I’m guessing that I’ll need a few more shots in a couple weeks when I get home, but the big one has been taken care of. I got my Yellow Fever vaccination and the certification card that will serve me for the next 10 years.
I’m not a huge fan of needles, but if this is what it takes for me to explore Ghana, Benin and Togo in August and other more adventurous destinations in the coming years, so be it. My obsession with travel is much, much stronger than my aversion to needles.
Tags: Accra, Belgium, Chicago, Egypt, Flying, frequent flyer, Ghana, New York, New York City, Philadelphia, points, Puerto Rico, San Francisco
Posted by Seth on November 25, 2009 under News |
There was a somewhat surprising announcement out of London this morning from regional airline bmi: they’re making some rather significant cuts to their fleet, destinations and staffing levels. There will be a loss of nine aircraft in total – over 25% of the fleet. Two of the planes beign removed from the fleet are A330s. This essentially kills any chance of longhaul service coming back to the bmi fold.
Destinations being cut include Kiev, Ukraine; Tel Aviv, Israel, Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Brussels route will be picked up by Star Alliance and Lufthansa Group partner Brussels Airlines. There is no indication that the other destinations will see service restored via a partner or other means. Most of these cuts take effect in the second week of January 2010.
And then there are the job cuts. The carrier expects to trim about 600 employees from their ranks and did not rule out additional cuts in the future. Not good at all for those affected by these cuts.
Looking past the cuts there is a rather glaring question out there: What is left of bmi? Sadly, the answer seems to be not all that much. They still hold a ton of slots at London’s Heathrow airport but even the value of those is dropping lately. Still, with the carrier now quickly rolling into the fold of the Lufthansa group (the new CEO either just started or is starting very soon) it makes a decent amount of sense to shift what few viable assets there are around in the organization to places where they make the most sense. Sure, bmi still offers a reasonably competitive regional network around the British Isles and Ireland, and they also have some decent coverage into the Middle East and former Soviet states. And they’ve got pretty decent connections from Heathrow to other Star Alliance partners. But they’re still a small fish in a big pond and having trouble remaining competitive.
Could the carrier remain as a holding company for the slots, slowly doling them out to other airlines in the Lufthansa group (or selling them for real money)? Few to zero direct operations but most of the routes would still be covered and customers would still have options within the alliance.
Things aren’t looking particularly great over at Donnington Hall. They haven’t been for a while now and it doesn’t seem that they’ll be turning a corner anytime soon. Not good at all.
I’m not panicking about my stash of points in their program. Yet. But I am looking at cashing in a couple redemptions sooner than not just to hedge my bets on their rather advantageous reward chart. The points won’t just disappear but the Miles+More scheme isn’t as rewarding for me.
Posted by Seth on January 21, 2009 under Uncategorized |
When I told a friend that I’d be in Belgium over the weekend he mentioned that he would be going a little bit later this year and asked if I could, among other things, recommend “architecture, historical, Jewish, or cultural spots in Bruges.”
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| The Bruges train station. |
Well, I was in Bruges, and the closest I came to any of those things that I think was truly worth visiting is a bar. Does that count that as a cultural spot?
Bruges actually has some great architecture. It is a small town (no more than a 30 minute walk end to end) and it seems to be stuck in the 1700s architecture-wise. The whole town has a great, quaint feel to it that makes it a lot of fun to wander around and try to get lost in. And getting lost isn’t too hard thanks to the many small streets and complete lack of anything resembling order in the street plan.
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| The architecture in Bruges is more or less stuck in the 1700s. |
Looking out on the canals of Bruges. |
A quiet conversation and smoke on the canal. |
And there are a couple squares in town with lots of people and beautiful buildings surrounding them.
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| Guy on a bike. Typical for Belgium. |
So the architecture and history parts are easy. But what about looking for culture? I am pretty sure that the chocolate museum doesn’t count (and it really is just “meh” overall as an experience). But as the afternoon started to wind down we managed to find our way to ‘t Brugs Beertje.
The place is more than just a bar really. It is a truly local watering hole – far more locals than tourists were inside. And the beer selection was out of this world while remaining wholly Belgian. They have well over 100 beers from 60 different brouerij (breweries) across Belgium. I think that the Delirium Cafe has a similarly broad selection, but it is way more of a “scene” than a place for relaxing conversations with good friends and good beer. By the time we left, 90 minutes after they opened on Sunday afternoon, the place was packed.
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| Inside ‘t Brugs Beertje, a phenomenal bar in Bruges. |
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| Mmmm….beer. |
There was also the Wall of Beer that we saw. Maybe that is more cultural?
No? Certainly a statue has to be considered cultural, right?
Who knew that the Belgians were such fans of Harry Caray.
A few more photos from Bruges here.
