Travel &#038; Photography

Oct 19

Second flight of the day, same-plane-turnaround at #Rome #Airport #FCO, so back to @athairport with @aegeanairlines on the same @airbus #A320 NEO I had just arrived in, but now up front in #BusinessClass.
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The same plane turnaround was very easy at Rome, because there is no border control (Schengen area) and also Rome doesn’t do any health screenings, there were just a few officers in the jetbridge checking the vaccine passports and passenger locator form of like every fifth passenger. So I came out the jetway and could just turn left and get in the boarding queue for the flight back. One agent walked around and checked our health documents and issued paper boarding passes to everyone who had gotten a digital BP like me.
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Once onboard I could enjoy feeling my knees again while sitting, what a difference to flying in the back of the plane. I only had an aisle seat on this flight, so couldn’t take any photos out the window.
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The #AegeanAirlines #aircraft are equipped with an onboard wifi-network which lets you watch the map, read magazines and books in different languages and play some games. But you can’t surf the web or use social media. For an intra-European flight that is okay for me.
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Due to it still being quite early when this flight took off, I got the third breakfast this morning. An omelette stuffed with cheese, ham and veggies, a fresh fruit platter and bread rolls with strawberry marmalade and/or butter.
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Before landing we got a little chocolate bar, which was a nice touch, but it couldn’t really enjoy it, because we had racked up a 25 minute delay and I only had 55 minutes in ATH to connect to my next flight. At least we arrived at a jetbridge, but there was still the health checkpoint coming up! Will I make my next flight? Check out the next post…
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

22 16

Oct 19

First flight of today’s #MileageRun marathon, @aegeanairlines flight from @athairport #ATH to #Rome #FCO in 🙈 #EconomyClass. Another modern @airbus #A320 NEO which still felt brandnew.
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The seat pitch in the back of the plane was horrible though, my knees were constant pushing against the back of the seat in front of me. On the positive side, we got a nice snackbox with Greek rice-pudding and an energy-bar. Also there was a full free drink service. Another positive aspect, all seats have a USB-A power outlet.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

16 5

Oct 19

@lufthansa Lounge at @athairport #ATH. It’s smaller than the Aegean Lounge next door and also the menu is more limited, but it’s also way quieter due to being limited to @staralliance Gold card holders. The staff was also very friendly, reminded me that there are no announcements in the lounge and that I should not forget my 7:50 boarding time. ✅
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So I had a little breakfast here consisting of a very tasty piece of cake, a pretzel, some Orange Juice and Coke. Seating was comfy, too, no reason to complain (which is German for very good experience).
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife #Athens #Airport ...

30 2

Oct 19

Quick visit to the @aegeanairlines Lounge at @athairport #ATH. This one is accessible to #AegeanAirlines Silver and all @staralliance Gold members, so it tends to get very busy. It has the better buffet though compared with the neighbouring lounge run by #Lufthansa and it’s also way larger.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife ...

19 1

Oct 18

And another flight with @aegeanairlines from @berlin_airport #BER to @athairport #ATH on one of their new @airbus #A320 #neo #aircraft. I was in #BusinessClass in seat 1F and had the whole row to myself.
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BER airport was absolutely chaotic, they had all @staralliance Airlines depart from the far end of the A pier, while the lounge operated by Lufthansa is at the far end of the B pier. And the usual jetbridges usually used by the #StarAlliance airlines at the B gates, were all occupied by low-cost airlines. Then after a 15 minute walk from the lounge to the gate, the boarding was handled in an absolutely chaotic way, because only one of the two agents at the gate knew how to operate the computer system. And also because they only realised last minute that they must check the passengers’ documents, when they had digital boarding passes.
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We ended up departing around around one hour late, what was annoying, but at least onboard everything was fine, the crew was great and very attentive. The food was absolutely excellent. Other airlines should take notice, because what I got here is the minimum one should expect to get on European flights in Biz.
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After dinner I slept until the captain announced that we had started our descent into ATH. Apparently the block time of the flight had a big margin for delays build-in and we only arrived 30 minutes late at the gate. We needed to take a bus to the terminal, despite docking to a jetbridge, because we had to ho through the checkpoint where our vaccine certificates were checked. As there was a separate bus for business class and only very short queues at the checkpoint I reached the Airport Hotel just nine minutes after leaving the aircraft. More about the hotel tomorrow on @carst_in_hotels .
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So overall a nice flight. But A3 must improve on the boarding process and get that handling agent in Berlin to perform better. Also there could be drinks after takeoff before they serve dinner. Also the new slimline seats are quite hard to sit on. A3 is great, but there’s room for improvement.
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#flying #instaviation #instatravel #avgeek #travel #aviation #flightblogger #frequentflyer #upintheair #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

23 0

Oct 18

#Lufthansa #Lounge at @berlin_airport #BER, back here now the fourth time this year. And finally the open #buffet at this @lufthansa lounge is open! And the food was amazing! They had #egg #buttons (egg based #pasta) with #pork #goulash! So good! I also gobbled a small glass of #popcorn and had some @cokezero …
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #businessclass #firstclass #airportlounge #loungelife ...

23 4

Sep 12

Final flight of this trip, with @lufthansa from @frankfurtairport #FRA to @berlin_airport #BER on the same @airbus #A320 I had on my previous flight and of course with the same lovely crew. I was again in #BusinessClass and had seat 7A this time, which offered way less legroom than 4A of the previous flight. It’s clearly more an economy than a business seat.
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Crew was great again, a little more rushed of course, because we only had 55 minutes between takeoff and landing, but overall still a good service. Drinks come in plastic cups on these short domestic hops. I don’t like this. The little dinner meal was quite good again; we got some Roastbeef-style meat with a garlic sauce, plus bread rolls, butter and another sweet dessert.
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Approach and landing had some nice #sunset moments, yet a thick cloud-layer took a little bit of that magic away. But you can’t have it all…
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It took nearly 30 minutes for the bags to come up on the belts at baggage reclaim, which was more than annoying. So typical for @berlin_airport and its totally inept baggage handling companies. Or do the airlines not pay enough? I think all airports should be able to deliver the bags within 15-20 minutes at an absolute maximum.
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Luckily I could at least spend some of the waiting time talking to @niklas.flight who basically awaited me at the gate and filmed my aircraft taxiing in from the LH lounge, before his flight back to Munich.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

19 4

Sep 12

Quick visit to the @lufthansa Business Lounge at @frankfurtairport #FRA, Schengen Area, near gate A26.
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I had only 20 minutes between flights, so I didn’t went all the way to the Senator / #StarAlliace Gold lounge which is located in the hub between the two piers of the A-gates. This lounge here is towards the end of low-numbered A-gates and thus convenient to use, when you are in-between flights within a short connection time.
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The offers are more limited obviously compared with the Senator lounges, but you get some cold snacks and I just had two pretzels which is totally fine for a short 15 minute lounge break.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife @staralliance ...

23 3

Sep 12

@lufthansa #flight from @aeroporti_di_roma #FCO to @frankfurtairport #FRA onboard one of their @airbus #A320 aircraft in #BusinessClass.
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Super friendly crew, comfy seat with enough legroom (seat 4A) and the first time getting the new LH catering concept “Tasting Heimat” with more home sourced food. This time it was potatoes with ham, a bread roll with butter and some sweet dessert. It was okay, nothing special though.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

16 6

Sep 12

It’s time to go home and after a @sixtde ride limousine service from Civitavecchia Port to @aeroporti_di_roma #FCO I’m now in the @plazapremiumlounge which @lufthansa uses here at #Rome #Airport.
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Very large and beautifully designed lounge. Due to COVID there is no food buffet, but instead you can order your food with a QR-code and and then pick it up from the window to the kitchen. A good solution to the current situation. Only downside it that this lounge is more a case of function follows form, because the seats look good, but are very uncomfortable. Some architects still must learn about the magic called form follows function…
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife ...

18 6

Sep 5

So after 32 months I was back on @singaporeair today flying on their intra-European “5th freedom route” from @copenhagenairport #CPH to @aeroporti_di_roma #FCO.
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For those of you who don’t know, airline traffic is still very much regulated and usually airlines are often only allowed to fly between their home country and another country, but not between two countries where the airline is not based at. This comes from old times when countries still wanted to protect their national airlines. Today within the European Union and the EEA countries we have an Open Skies agreement, so airlines could theoretically fly wherever they want. But this is only valid for airlines from the EU and EEA countries. An airline like #SQ might still be allowed to operate between two foreign countries (in my case between Denmark and Italy), if it applies for a so-called 5th freedom permit to to fly between these countries. If you Google it, you can find out about all the different “freedom rights” that exist to make exceptions to the rule. But now back to today’s trip…
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My flight was operated by an @airbus #A350-900. The regular version in 3-class configuration (Business, EcoPlus & Economy), not the 900LR (with only Business & EcoPlus) which I flew between Singapore and New York in January 2019. I was in #BusinessClass on this flight.
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Because the aircraft was parked at the non-Schengen international pier after its arrival from Singapore, we were bussed and boarded the aircraft from the rear stairs. The few passengers from SIN already had passed passport control at CPH and thus we could fly as a Schengen flight to Rome, without the need to pass passport control after arrival. Smart!
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I’ll continue below in the first comment… ...

34 1

Sep 5

This morning I visited the @flysas @staralliance Gold Lounge at @copenhagenairport #CPH. This is the Schengen Area lounge for flights within the European Schengen zone, so before passport control. The lounge is really large and offers everything you need. A quiet zone, an area to relax, a dining area, a business zone and has okay food offerings for a Schengen lounge. Nothing to write home about, but at least I got some breakfast.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife #sas #StarAlliance ...

22 6

Sep 4

My unspectacular first flight on @vueling from #Barcelona #BCN to @copenhagenairport #CPH operated by one of their @airbus #A320 #aircraft. Can’t say much about this, except that I slept for 1.5 hours after takeoff, before doing some work in the remaining hour until we landed in Denmark. As I had booked myself some extra space in row 1 and even had empty seats in 1B and C, I can’t complain about legroom, too. Service is all buy onboard, classic LCC style…
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

19 6

Sep 4

Time to fly again! My cruise is from #Barcelona is over and I’m heading for #Copenhagen today. This the #Schengen Area #Lounge at @aena.es #BCN #Airport named #SalaVIP Pau Casals (after famous Catalan musician). Due to Covid19, you can’t pick food from the buffet, but you tell staff what you want and they pick it from the menu and hand the plate to you.
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The lounge is very nice and quite large. It has Lounge and work areas, a dining area and a quiet zone.
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The lounge is used by most airlines with inter-Schengen flights, but can also be entered with @prioritypass …
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife ...

18 2

Aug 29

@airdolomitispa flight from @frankfurtairport #FRA to #Barcelona #BCN operated by new LH Group #LCC @eurowings #Discover with a @lufthansa #flightnumber. 🤯
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Discover uses older/used @airbus #A330-200 aircraft from other LH Group Airlines with the standard LH #BusinessClass seats. One of the worst BizClass seats out there in the whole world. The crew was super pro-active though, wanted to refill my glasses, asked if I needed a pillow and tried to make it a real nice flight for me and the other passengers up front. Of course this was also quite easy, because the load factor of that flight was at 20% or so. The meal was more a snack than a real lunch. Just some small pieces of chicken breast with risotto. No bread rolls, no dessert, nothing beside that small plate. Not really appropriate for a business class lunch service. And even if this is Discover/#AirDolomiti, LH group does operate this flight instead of a regular LH mainline flight, so they should also offer full LH service on that flight.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

33 6

Aug 29

@lufthansa A-Gates Schengen-Area #Senator #Lounge in @frankfurtairport #FRA. Just a 25 minute pit stop, grabbed only a banana and some gummy bears, but there was also hot food available, Schnitzel and some soup from what I could see. So quite good catering for a Schengen area shorthaul lounge.
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Around the time I was there, the lounge was rather empty (read not totally overrun like in the mornings and evenings). That was a plus. One of the lounge-dragons was on a power-trip and asked me to delete my photo from the entrance-area with the large LH sign. That was weird.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife ...

16 3

Aug 29

@lufthansa flight from @berlin_airport #BER to @frankfurtairport #FRA in #Business Class, operated by an @airbus #A321 in #Lufthansa’s #retro #livery.
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Boarding was a mess again, the food quality was a bit of a mixed bag, service was good, very well organised crew, which did manage a full service for nine rows of business class within 20 minutes or so.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

26 3

Aug 29

@lufthansa #lounge at @berlin_airport #BER today before my flight to Frankfurt. It was quite busy, but yet felt very quiet and serene. I think LH did a good job with this lounge, but I wish that the buffet gets extended a little bit more, when corona is not relevant anymore.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife ...

10 0

Aug 13

This is a @flyswiss flight from @zurichairport #ZRH to @berlin_airport #BER in #BusinessClass onboard one of #Swiss new @airbus #A320 #neo #aircraft.
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Boarding was a chaos, because the gate agents didn’t like some oversized baby-stroller from people in the priority-boarding queue. So instead of processing the other people from the priority queue first on the e-gates, they did let us wait, while labelling the stroller as gate-checked baggage and opened the e-gates for the economy class queue. So when it was my time to get my boarding pass scanned, half of the pax from economy had already gone through the e-gates and were clogging up the aisle of the plane and the jetbridge, resulting in a long wait in the very hot jetty. Absolute fail by the #Swiss gate agents.
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The flight itself was quite nice, again I had a very proactive queue that kept refilling our drinks and I was very pleased with the #champagne they had onboard. The meal though was quite a disappointment, especially compared what Edelweiss had offered on the earlier flight that day. As I dislike cold cheese, vegetables and salad, I basically could only eat the bread roll with butter. Unlike Edelweiss, not even marmelade was offered. The little dessert was quite tasty though.
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Overall the Swiss experience was okay, but I wish they would take some queues from Edelweiss on how to do boarding and catering.
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More photos on the @carst_in_the_air Facebook page.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

29 10

Aug 13

Between flights I had time for a short visit to the @flyswiss #Senator #Lounge at @zurichairport #ZRH. I found the lounge a little bit too crowded and food options were very limited. It was okay, because it’s just a #SchengenArea Lounge, but generally as a passenger I’m opposed to this concept of reduced lounge service just because a lounge serves the Schengen Area with its rather short flights and not the mid- and long-haul international flights.
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I had #mashedpotatoes and some #sweets, plus @cokezero . That there was no softdrink machine, but that you had to pour the coke into glasses from large plastic bottles wasn’t so nice. But the potatoes were tasty, as was the bread and so I won’t complain too much.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #airportlounge #loungelife ...

14 1

Aug 13

This was my @flyswiss flight from #Mallorca #Airport #PMI to @zurichairport #ZRH operated by @flyedelweiss in #BusinessClass operated by one of their @airbus #A320 #aircraft.
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The flight was very enjoyable, with an excellent breakfast, a superb crew which offered repeatedly to bring me new drinks, movie streaming via wifi to your own devices, a flight deck crew which informed us about points of interest over the Swiss Alps before our approach to #Zürich and a comfy seat. Nothing to complain about usually means it was an excellent flight.
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More photos on the @carst_in_the_air Facebook Page.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #alwayschoosethewindowseat ...

15 0

Aug 13

On Thursday it was time to return home to #Berlin from my #golf-trip to #Mallorca. (More on the golf courses I played soon on @carst_on_the_road .) After checking in with @flyswiss and dropping off my golf-bag at the oversized baggage drop-off, I headed to the #lounge #Swiss is using at #PMI #Airport. And compared to the busy airport with the usual queues from shops and gates into the main hallways, the #SalaFormentor lounge was a welcome quiet oasis.
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Due to COVID they had found a very convenient solution for the closed buffet. You could go to the buffet, shielded off with plexiglas and choose what you wanted to have. Then a lounge agent would pick up your food and drink orders and bring them to your seat or table. I liked that setup.
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#flying #instaviation #flyingislife #amazing #instatravel #avgeek #travel #travelgram #aviation #flight #flightblogger #travel #travelblogger #frequentflyer #flyer #upintheair #ontheroad #wanderlust #businessclass #firstclass #lounge #airportlounge #loungelife ...

25 4

Aug 9