This is an online travel journal about the journeys I have taken. I hope you may find in it useful information about airports, airlines and hotels and their products and services. Perhaps you will also find here some inspiration for future places to visit and journeys to take.
– William
The SO/ Hotels are part of the ALL Accor group. The SO/ brand clearly targets hippsters in their mid-thirties in the upper income bracket, which clearly puts me outside their target demographic. So far, I have stayed at Das Stue Berlin, which is also part of the SO/ collection, and at the SO/ Vienna, which was… meh.
Perhaps the most important thing to mention about the SO/ Paris is its location. From Gare de Lyon it’s just a short walk of ten minutes to the hotel. To the Place de La Bastille and the opera it’s merely a short, leisurely walk of five minutes. The closest metro stop is Bastille.
In addition to the suites, there are three different room types: Collection, Rooftop and Paris Skyline. The Collection rooms are located on the lower floors and look either onto a courtyard or garden. The Rooftop rooms are brighter because they are on the upper levels, but look out onto the city, so towards Bastille or Gare de Lyon. The Paris Skyline views overlook the Seine, La Tour Eiffel and Notre Dame.
On this visit, I booked a Rooftop room, but was upgraded to a Paris Skyline room thanks to my Diamond status in the ALL Accor membership programme. I’ll come back to that later.
My room is located on the 13th floor and very spacious, with a large King size bed.
The furniture in the room is simple, unpretentious and very comfortable. When I arrive in the room, there is a small Gugelhupf and a welcome card waiting for me.
Apparently, the hotel has teamed up with a French parfumier to create a unique collection of scents for hotel guests, although I’m not quite sure what the point is supposed to be. Perfume is a singularly personal choice or preference. So, if you wear perfume, I would assume that you wouldn’t rely on your hotel to provide and would simply bring your own.
The minibar is well stocked and all its contents are complimentary for Diamond card holders.
In addition, there are also tea and coffee making facilities. In fact, this is one of the few hotels I’ve recently stayed in where the box of Nespresso capsules actually contained Nespresso, and not some derivate.
The bathroom has a walk-in shower but no bath. Which is all the same for me. The water pressure in the shower is excellent, and unlike many other hotels, you can have a nice hot shower without flooding the place.
Breakfast is served on the 15th floor in the rooftop restaurant. The staff at the restaurant are great, and there is an extensive selection of food available from the buffet and to order from the à la carte menu. But what really sets the restuarant apart, is its spectacular view of Paris. There are windows on all sides, which give you a brilliant, 360 degree view.
And that brings me to the Diamond status with ALL Accor that I mentioned previously. As far as I’m concerned, ALL Accor have one of the best membership programmes currently out there. First, it’s fairly easy to acrue points, and for every 2000 points you collect, you receive one suite night upgrade which entitles you to an upgrade from any room category to a suite. Apart from that, Diamond members receive a complimentary upgrade to the next higher category, subject to availability. In my experience, it very frequently happens that an upgrade is availale. In the case of the SO/ Paris, I certinaly lucked out given the spectacular view from the room. Another interesting feature of the Diamond status is that on weekends breakfast is always included in the rate, and that extends to persons sharing a room.
Today I’m on my way to Luxembourg. Getting to London City airport by public transport is usually quite easy, but I’m also carting around with me a heavy suitcase. Which is why I’ve decided to take a taxi today from my hotel near Victoria to the airport. On a Sunday afternoon, the traffic is fairly light, by London standards at least. The journey takes forty minutes to complete and costs GBP50. Taking a taxi also has the added benefit that the trip will take you past some of London’s best landmarks!
There are two check-in counters open for the Luxair flight, one of them is for Business Class passengers. The queue for Economy is short, and there are only four parties ahead of me, which are quickly processed.
Security is one floor up. The airport is currently upgrading its infrastructure, so that soon passengers will not need to take all their personal belongings out of their bags at security.
It’s been several years since I last passed through London City airport, and sadly, it hasn’t changed much. The place is crowded, and there is hardly any place to sit.
In addition, the’ve also put up a building on the apron, right in front of the main waiting area, which makes the place look very dark and gloomy.
Eventually though, I find a place to sit in relative peace and quiet in the passage that connects the main terminal to the seating area for the gates reserved for some of the larger aircraft operating into City, such as the A 220.
Because space on the ramp is so tight, arriving aircraft are marshalled in using two marshaller. The first one guides the aircraft onto the stand to the point where it has to make a tight right turn. A second marshaller indicates to the crew when to straighten the nosewheel and stop.
My flight is boarding from gate 9. Judging by the amount of passengers in the line, I don’t think it’s going to be a very full flight.
Passengers queue in the stairwell until the doors are opened for them to cross the apron. So I figure I might as well wait upstairs.
There are five rows of Business Class on this flight, but I’m the only one that seems to have been favoured by the upgrade fairy. Initially, I’m seated on 2D by the emergency exit. Once boarding is completed though, I move over to 1A, which has a better view.
For a turboprop, the acceleration on the Dash 8 is crazy. Because of the very short runway here in City, the crew first spool the engines before they eventually release the brakes, catapulting us forward and into the air.
There are two cabin crew on this flight, although my interaction is only with one of them. There is no service in the cabin while we’re on the ground, which I’m guessing is probably because the taxi time from our stand to the threshold is about two minutes if you’re counting slowly. Once we’re airborne, I am brought a refreshing towel and the menu.
Considering the flight time to Luxembourg is only one hour, the meal service is extensive and varied. The meal is served very traditionally, on a large laquer tray.
For the starter, there is a small pokebowl of smoked salmon with sesame rice, pickles and fruit.
I’m not sure what everything on the plate with the main course is. The meat is stuffed pork medaillons.
Two bread rolls are served with the meal, together with a small dish of butter that has been shaped to look like a flower. The small jar in the picture below is the honey sauce for the pork.
For dessert, there is a small dish of some mango and passion fruit cream and a small box of pralines made locally in Luxembourg.
To finish off the meal, I have a cup of mint tea.
Just before the landing, the crew pass through the cabin with candy.
We land in Luxembourg at 17:00. The ramp is quite busy, but the terminal building seems rather quiet. My suitcase arrives quickly. I then head upstairs to catch the bus line 16 to Kircherberg, where I change to the tram.
Flying Luxair is an interesting experience, in that it feels like taking several steps back in time to a bygone era when flying was still something special. And admittedly, getting upgraded is always nice. I rather enjoyed this short flight!
I’m on my way back to Europe. Not quite on my way home yet, but getting closer. In Abu Dhabi I’m staying at the Doubletree Yas Island, which is close to where I’m giving a course. The car picks me up at the hotel just after six in the morning. The journey to Abu Dhabi airport takes about twenty minutes.
Etihad Airways operates out of Terminal 3. There is a dedicated Business Class check-in area which is segregated from the main part of the terminal.
The place is not at all busy. I’m seen to immediately by a friendly agent, who issues my boarding pass, tags my suitcase and then sends me on my way.
Immigration is very easy these day in the UAE with the introduction of the E-gates for biometric passports. There is a dedicated security screening area for Business Class passengers, which ejects you right in front of the entrance to the First Class lounge in the middle of the dutyfree shops.
The entrance to the Business Class lounge is through a corridor that branches off from the main airside area more or less opposite gate 35. The lounge is very spacious, and divided into separate dining and lounging areas.
There is a good selection of hot and cold dishes. I haven’t had breakfast, so I have the sambar with idli and parathas. I don’t take any pictures though, as it’s difficult to avoid disturbing the other passengers.
The staff in the lounge are a mixed back. There are several attendants standing around. Some of them are helpful and actively assist passengers at the buffet. Others however, obviously have so little of a sh*t to give, it makes you wonder what exactly they think it is they’re getting a salary for.
My boarding pass tells me that boarding will start at 07:20, one hour before departure, which just seems a tad early. When I reach the gate at 07:50, boarding is only just starting. There is a passport check before you can board, and supposedly there is a separate queue for Business Class passengers. But with all the passengers milling about, I don’t see how I’m supposed to get through without coming off as being rude. So I wait in the queue just like everybody else.
On the B 787-10 Etihad has the same seats as on its A 380s, which is different to that on the A 350 in Business Class. The A and K seats are window seats on the evenly numbered rows. On the unevenly numbered rows, the B and H seats are aisle seats and are rear facing.
The seat is comfortable enough, but it has a few drawbacks. First, it has no armrests, which is just a bit odd when seated in the fully upright position. There is a storage compartment large enough for a laptop, but that is located slightly behind the seat, which makes it awkward to use.
This seat does not have any privacy screens, which is a bit unfortunate, because having rear facing seats means that I have 12D and 12G directly in my line of sight.
There are two lavatories for the Business Class cabin, which are located at the front. They’re quite spacious and well stocked.
The service on the ground starts with a welcome drink. There is a choice of lemon & mint juice, orange juice, water, or champagne. Shortly after, hot towels are distributed. The crew come to take orders for the after departure drinks and for breakfast.
The meal service is just plain strange. First, the water & juice I’d ordered for breakfast never materialise. Second, it takes the crew nearly two hours after we get airborne to finally get start serving the meal on my row, which is the last row of Business Class.
For the main course, I have the French toast, which is lovely.
With that comes a small bowl with a croissant and a pain au chocolat. Both of them are hard, and taste like French fries.
There is also a bowl with fresh fruit.
The meal is quite nice. The French toast is all sticky and gooey, and the fresh fruit are very refreshing. With the meal I have a coffee with milk.
The flight time to London is seven hours. Flying over the eastern Balkans is a lot like driving on an Autobahn. Above us is a whole string of mainly Turkish Airlines aircraft heading East, while we are flying in formation all the way to Amsterdam with a Qatar B 777 next to us and an Emirates A 380 slightly behind us.
There’s only a small hold up for the approach into Heathrow, and we only have to do one orbit before we’re cleared for the approach. Approaches are from the East, but by the time we break through the cloud we’re already past the city.
Terminal 4 is quiet when we land. Right behind us is a Qatar A 380, and luckily we beat them to the gate.
As you exit through customs, the signs to the Undergorund and trains are on the left. First I take the complimentary Elisabeth Line to the stop for Terminals 2 and 3, where I change to a nonstop Heathrow Express train to Paddington.
I still think Etihad is the better airline than Emirates, but probably not quite as good as Qatar. Both flights I took on this trip were pleasant enough and certainly beat what you get in Business Class with most of the European airlines on a flight of similar duration. Apparently, the new terminal in Abu Dhabi is expected to really open this year. I really hope so for Etihad, as the current facility is just a bit too small to handle all the passengers.
My flight to Abu Dhabi leaves at 09:00. At 07:00 in the morning, I exit the Hilton at T4 and take the bridge that connects the hotel with the terminal. It’s about five minutes on foot. Probably a bit less.
Etihad checks-in in Zone C. There are three counters for First and Business Class passengers. Althogh the A 350 does not actually have a First Class cabin with Etihad.
There is a dedicated Fast Track for security right next to the Zone C check-in area. I nearly miss it at first, because I hadn’t realised that the Fast Track sign doesn’t have anything to do with the IHG advert below it.
The Fast Track is empty and quick.
From security I head for the Etihad lounge which is located opposite gate 10, from where my flight will be boarding this morning.
Don’t follow the signs, they only guide you to a pair of escalators to take you down one floor to the reception of the lounge. There is also a set of stairs on the right, and it’s really not much of a schlepp to get either up or down.
Inside the lounge, waiting staff are available to serve you food and drinks. As I only just had breakfast, I merely ask for a cappuccino & a glass of sparkling water.
Eventually though, I get bored and decide to have a look around the terminal. There isn’t much to see in the lounge. In contrast, there are so many aircraft to watch that we don’t get in Switzerland, which to me is far more interesting.
Qatar Airways has a departure to Doha at 08:00, and then another at 08:35. The latter service is operated by the A 380.
There are two separate lanes for Business Class passengers to board. Behind the gate counters the two lanes merge with that of Economy Class passengers. At the end of the corridor there are two airbirdges, and there is an Etihad gate attendant guiding passengers to the L1 or L2 door as the case may be.
On the A 350-1000 Etihad has installed a new seat in a herringbone configuration. I’m not sure if it’s identical to the new seat BA has on the A 350, but it’s pretty close, and that includes the sliding door for some extra privacy. Having said that, during the flight I notice that hardly any of the passengers made use of their sliding doors. But perhaps that’s because it’s a day flight.
The IFE monitor is quite large and is a touch screen.
There’s also an inbuilt charger for mobile devices.
There’s quite a lot of storage space.
There are no overhead bins for the seats in the middle of the cabin, which gives you a good sense of just how wide the A 350 cabin is.
At my seat when I arrive is a vanity kit, a wellness kit, the menu, a pillow and a blanket. The vanity kit contains socks and eye shades, a toothbrush and Colgate toothpaste, as well as hand cream and a sampler of Aqua di Parma perfume.
The crew on this flight are amazing. Right from the start it becomes clear that this is going to be one of those very enjoyable trips where everything just goes right. The crew interact easily with passengers. They’re also very attentive. No sooner have I stowed away my things, I am brought a warm towel and a glass of lemon juice and mint.
The crew ask me to have a look at the menu. They tell me they’ll come to take orders for lunch after take-off. The service is à la carte.
We take off in an Easterly direction, which takes us right over the city of London as we climb out of Heathrow.
And I am totally impressed by what a beast the A 350 is. The aircraft is stable, very quiet and climbs effortlessly.
I ask the crew to serve my lunch at around 12:30 CET. We start with a bowl of mixed nuts and a glass of Bellini, which is just lovely.
First course: leek and pea soup with herb ricotta. The first course is served with two slices of garlic bread, a small breadbasket with both butter and olive oil. To drink I have sparkling water. The soup is flavourful and has a beautiful, velvety texture.
Main course: spinach ravioli with goat cheese. This is again a very good dish. The goat cheese is not at all overpowering, as it sometimes can be, and gives the ravioli a nice twist.
Cheese: After the ravioli come the cheese and crackers with jelly. Unfortunately, no information is given about what cheese it is. The jelly goes very well with it.
Dessert: Sticky Banoffee pudding with strawberry. At this stage I think I really should have stopped. But when the cabin crew asks me what I’d like and adds that both the pudding and the apple crumble are delectable, there is only so much a man can withstand. God, this is good!
After that epic meal, the crew bring me a cup of coffee with a thin Godiva chocoloate. And then I need a little nap.
We arrive in Abu Dhabi at 19:30, after a flight time of six hours and twenty minutes. The new terminal has still not opened, but rumour has it that this will be the year it does. I think it would probably be good if it did, because the current terminal is pretty full.
Just before the landing, the crew pass through the cabin with Fast Track access cards for passengers ending their journey in Abu Dhabi. The card gives you access to the premium queue at immigration, which is a huge advantage and saves you time in the regular queue, wich is quite busy.
Wow! On this flight the starts truly lined up. The crew were excellent, the food was delicious with a good variety of choices, and the hardware on the A 350 is just brilliant. As far as I’m concerned, the herringbone is still my favourite seating configuration in a Business Class cabin. Today’s experience on Etihad blew my other recent trips in Business Class out of the water. Hopefully lightning will strike twice – I’m already looking forward to the return flight…
We’re in week five of the new year, and so far I have spent a grand total of seven days at home. Not seven consecutive days though, I might add. Another two weeks and then the semester starts. And then I’m done travelling for a while.
This year, the Swiss Federation is celebrating 175 years since the constitution of 1848 was ratified. To mark the occasion, the Bundeshaus is offering special guided tours to the public – which is why I’m in Berne today.
The tour ends just after 14:30, which gives me enough time to grab a cake and coffee from Loeb before heading across the square to collect my luggage and catch the 15:31 train to the airport. The journey takes eighty minutes, with the train stopping at Zürich Main Station and Oerlikon on the way.
Once again I am absolutely amazed by just how incredibly ugly the railway station in Berne is. Think brutalist meets dead boring and painfully bland.
The service to the airport today is operated by a Dosto composition. That’s right, it’s the train I mentioned previously that shakes about violently enough to cause disorientation, blurred vision and possibly also concussion.
But at least the First Class carriages are quite nice – and empty.
Speaking of empty, Zürich airport isn’t exactly jumping this afternoon either. Most of the people landside seem to be shoppers, not passengers. Check-in 1, where SWISS checks in, is pretty much deserted.
There is one counter for First and Senator passengers, which is where I head to drop off my suitcase. Something seems to have changed on the Wallet app, because I can open my boarding pass, but I can’t seem to save it.
There is a Senator lounge in the Schengen area, and another on the non-Schengen D concourse. When I inquire with the check-in agent though, she tells me she’s not sure if the lounge on the D concourse is even open and suggests therefore, that I use the Schengen lounge instead.
Just like the rest of the airport, the lounge is quiet. The mute noise and the high ceiling make it feel a bit like being in a church.
There is a hot and cold buffet in the lounge, with a small but nice selection of dishes.
I go for the Älpermagrone, a Swiss dish of pasta with a cheesy sauce, apple compote and fried onions.
At 18:00 I leave the lounge to make my way to gate D 52. I still need to go through passport control. Although I needn’t have worried, because there’s hardly anybody around here either. This is now becoming just a wee bit eerie.
D 52 is a bus gate. I just miss the first bus when I arrive, but it doesn’t look as though the flight is packed. Before boarding there is a document check for all passengers.
Our aircraft is parked on a remote stand. Really the remotest of remote stands at the far end of runway 16, near the old Swissair hangar. On our way, we pass a long line up of Swiss, Edelweiss and Helvetic aircraft that don’t look as though they’ll be heading off somewhere anytime soon.
There are four rows of Business Class on this aircraft. I’m the only passenger in the forward cabin this evening, which means that I can take my pick from any one of the eight available seats. I park myself on 1F, just in case they bring us in for an approach from the East in Heathrow, which would take us right over the Westend.
Seat pitch on row 1 is okay. However, it quickly diminishes towards the back of the bus, and Helvetic really know how to pack them in.
There are three crew on the flight this evening. They’re very young and also very good. I’m quite impressed actually. Straight off the bat they address me with my family name in every interaction they have with me. They are friendly and polite.
The service on the ground begins with a small bottle of still water and a scented disinfectant towel. Just before we reach the threshold for runway 28, one of the crew asks me if I’ll be having dinner and takes my order for drinks after take-off. The flight time is eighty minutes.
The meal consists of a plate of smoked duck with wedges of parsnip, celery and potato mash and red cabbage. I don’t try the meat, but the vegetables all taste very good – especially the mash.
During the meal, the crew make two rounds with the breadbasket. I have one roll with the cheese and a packet of Darvida biscuits with butter. To drink I have a Coke Zero.
Throughout the meal, the crew keep close tabs on me – checking regularly to inquire if they can get me anything. Once I’m done with the food, the tray is quickly removed and I am brought a mug of mint tea. And then shortly after that, the crew hand out the chocolates and we start our descent.
Cool. The approach does indeed bring us in over London. We break through the cloud abeam London City airport and then continue past the Shard, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace towards Heathrow.
There’s a bit of a hold up for the luggage to be delivered. But other than that, the arrival in Heathrow is fairly smooth.
Tomorrow, I’ll be departing from Terminal 4. That’s why I decide to spend the night at one of the hotels near T4. Getting there from Terminal 2, where my flight from Zürich arrives, takes a while. First, because you walk quite a bit and have to go up and down many flights of stairs. And second, because trains from the central Heathrow railway station to Terminal 4 are infrequent and only run every thirty minutes in the evening.
The trip between terminals is complimentary. However, you’ll still need a ticket to get through the barriers to reach the platform. There is a dedicated vending machine that prints tickets to that end. They’re really hard to miss.
The journey time is about five minutes.
There are several hotels airside within the terminal complex at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. All of them are located in the non-Schengen area. Apparently, even if you’re only travelling between Schengen countries but need to spend the night at the airport, the immigration officers will let you pass. However, I haven’t ever tried that myself, and I’m not sure I would want to either unless I had a viable plan B.
Last summer I tried the Yotel Schiphol airport, which is located above the non-Schengen departure lounge 2. I guess it was okay, but it’s not like I’m gagging to return there any time soon.
The Mercure Hotel in the non-Schengen departure lounge 3 is a much more appealing alternative. Admittedly, it’s also quite a bit more expensive, but it feels more like a proper hotel.
The Mercure chain of hotels belong to the ALL Accor Group. I am a Platinum member, and usually the app works really well. However, trying to book this facility online is impossible. It’s even impossible to book through the ALL Accor call centre. If you want to make a booking, your best option is to call the hotel directly or send them an email. They reply swiftly!
When you make the booking, specify as closely as you can your arrival and departure time, because this will influence how much you end up paying. It’s an hourly rate.
The front desk staff are very friendly and very helpful. I don’t know if they’ve been trained specifically, but they seem to understand that the people staying at their hotel are tired and wary from their long travels and just need a place to sleep in peace and quiet and without any hassle. And that’s what you get.
There is a small fridge next to the reception desk where you can buy soft drinks. Slippers can be purchased at reception for EUR3.-. There is no restaurant attached to the hotel.
I have a room at the end of the corridor, which looks slightly bigger on the floor map than the others. I suspect that may have something to do with the Platinum status. Or it could be a coincidence.
Obviously, the room has no windows as it is located inside the terminal building. Instead, the wallpaper on one side is this huge black and white photo of a typical canal scene. Or rather, what tourists probably think is typical for Amsterdam.
The bed is comfortable and large enough for two adults to sleep comfortably.
Also in the room are a television and tea and coffee making facilities. The bottle of lemon flavoured water in the picture below I bought at reception. However, two complimentary bottles of still water are available in the room. The receptionist was kind enough to point out that there would be water in the room.
The bathroom is well lit and quite large. In my room there is only a shower and no bath – which serves its purpose perfectly.
Next time I need to spend the night at Schiphol airport, the Mercure Hotel will certainly be my first choice. The staff are great and the room was quite nice and very clean. I should also add that because the hotel is right in the middle of the terminal building, it’s also very quiet. As a result, I manage to get an exceptionally good night’s rest.
Today I am on my way to Luxembourg for work. As you may already have guessed, I have this little idea in my head to try to use the train as much as possible this year and see how it goes. Today I am on my way to Luxembourg. There are no flights between Basel and Luxembourg, so the train is really a no brainer. There are no direct trains either, but there is a convenient connection via Mulhouse, with only ten minutes to wait. So that is what I am doing.
The regional or commuter trains to France depart from the French sector of the main railway station in Basel. The hall in the picture below connects the Swiss station to the French sector.
In the old days, passengers used to have to go through customs and immigration to access the plattforms, which was done in the cavernous hall in the picture below. Since Schengen, the ugly offices that used to occupy the space have been removed, and passengers can move freely between the two sectors.
For the first leg of my journey, I take a local express train bound for Strasbourg. The journey to Mulhouse takes 23 minutes, with the train only stopping once in St. Louis on the way.
There is only one First Class coach on the train, and five Second Class coaches.
The cabin of the First Class carriage is very old school. I mean, this thing even still has curtains! The seats are plush and soft, and the stripe design is kind of retro and very funky!
My only grippe is that the seat pitch is not very generous. But it does not really matter. The train is nearly empty anyway.
I know I say this everytime I am here, but good heavens! The station in Mulhouse is just so, so ugly. It looks like it was last updated in the sixties, when it was molded out of a large, unsightly blob of concrete. But it does not matter. I am only changing trains here.
At 11:21 the mighty TGV from Montpelier pulls into Mulhouse station, and as usual I am smitten by how sleek the train looks. I am seated in coach 11, which is right behind the engine in the direction of travel. There are three First Class coaches, which are separated from Second Class by the dining car.
I am seat on 112, which is on the upper deck, at the very front of the coach. Behind me is only the luggage storage area. 112 faces backwards on this journey.
The seats are mostly in what I call an airplane configuration, with twin seats on one side, and single seats on the other side of the aisle. Half the seats face the rear, whereas the other half face forwards.
Leg space is excellent, and the recline is also exceptionally good. The seatback is reclined electrically, using a button in the arm rest.
The tray table is large enogh to place a laptop, the power socket is conveniently located right next to the unfolded tray table.
The train continues from Mulhouse to Colmar, Strasbourg, Metz Ville and Thionville. It is nearly full up until Strasbourg, where most people alight, but hardly any new passengers board. By the time the train is on its last sector from Thionville to Luxembourg there is just me and another passenger in the entire coach.
At Luxembourg station I change to a local train for one stop, to Pfaffendal. This train seriously looks like it belongs in a museum.
At Paffendal I alight and take the escalator one floor up to the station of the funicular railway that takes you up onto the Kirchberg plateau, where all the offices are.
And then from there I take the tram for one stop to get to my hotel.
I arrive at the hotel just before 15:00. The journey has taken me four hours and 15 minutes door to door, which is slightly less than it would have taken me by air. It is certainly a lot cheaper than flying though, especially given that the level of comfort and private space on the TGV is unrivalled by any bog standard European short-haul airplane seat! However, The down side is that trains are infrequent. As a result, I will have to spend an extra night in Luxembourg simply to catch a train in the morning.
Part two of the experiment is now to see how long it takes me to get back to Zürich by plane. I have a late breakfast and then take a last walk through the misty streets of Milan. At 11:20 I check out of the hotel and walk the short distance to the metro station. This time I catch a line 1 train to Cadorna railway station, three stops down the line. From there I catch a Malpensa Express to the airport. From Cadorna trains run every thirty minutes and take 37 minutes to make the journey to the airport.
The Lufthansa group has quite a presence at Malpensa. The group checks in on row 6 of Terminal 1. Security is swift and oddly efficient, and unlike any other airport I have visited recently, the staff are friendly and polite.
Lufthansa even has its own lounge in Malpensa. It is a fairly big too, and has a surprisingly good selection of food and drinks. And it offers some decent views of the apron.
I have to laugh though, because apparently this lounge does not have toilets but, and I quote, „premium restrooms in cooperation with Villeroy and Boch“. I mean, it is still a loo, you know…
Originally, the flight today should have been operated by a Helvetic Embraer 190. But there seems to have been an aircraft change, and instead the flight is now operated by an A 321 CEO. A rather empty A 321, I might add.
I am seated on row 27. I booked the absolutely lowest possible fair on this route, which means that even with my Senator status I would still need to pay to sit further up front. Given that the aircraft is nearly empty, it makes no difference. Other than that, the CEOs are a lot more comfortable than the NEOs, it seems to me.
The cool thing about sitting so far back in the aircraft is that I have a perfect view of the movements of the wing!
The flight time is announced at forty minutes. There is twenty minutes delay pushing off stand, because apparently Zürich is very busy with all the WEF traffic.
On such short sectors SWISS does not offer buy on board. Instead, every passenger gets a bottle of water and the signature Swiss chocolate.
Just over 24 hours after my last landing at Zürich Airport coming from Muscat, I am back again. As we approach the airport, the weather starts to clear up. We make a short taxi to one of the stands on the A pier, and with that, I am finally back home again after three weeks of travel. Shame I shall be leaving again tomorrow.
With only hand luggage on me, I manage to catch the 16:31 train from the airport, which stops in Oerlikon and Hardbrücke on the way. I alight at Zürich Main Station at 16:45, five hours and twenty minutes after leaving the hotel in Milan. It has taken me 80 minutes longer to make the same journey I did in reverse yesterday. Of course, one could argue that the additional hour arose from the wait of one hour I had at the airport until boarding. But while that may true, I see no reason to subtract that hour from the overall journey time. Having to take a metro, a train, a plane and another train is hardly efficient either. And even though I have rarely had such a pleasant safety screening as the one at Malpensa, not having to undergo screening when you travel by train is always much nicer. So in the sum of all things, I would say the score is train: 1, airplane: 0.
Today I am on my way to Milan to see Salome at La Scala. To be honest, I find Salome more than just a little disturbing, but I have been meaning to see an opera at La Scala for a long time, and now seemed like a good time. I figured I could also use this as an opportunity to run a little experiment of my own and compare journey times between the train and airplane on the route between Zürich and Milan.
I catch the 14:48 train from the airport to Zürich Main Station. Trains are frequent, and the journey time is usually about eight minutes give and take. At the Main Station I have nine minutes to make my connection.
Direct trains between Zürich and Milan run every two hours. Alternatively, there are trains to Lugano with a good connection to Milan, which is what I am doing today. Strangely, the connection via Lugano is even slightly shorter. The departure from Zürich is at 15:05, with an arrival in Lugano at 16:58.
The services to Milan are operated with rolling stock belonging to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). The Giruno is a fairly new addition to the fleet that was introduced to replace the highly unreliable Pendolino trains that previously ran on the line. Like its predecessor, the Giruno has tilting capabilities that allow it to travel at higher speed through Switzerland’s mountainous terrain. The Giruno is built by Swiss manufacturer Stadler.
There are four First Class coaches, one dining car and six Second Class coaches that make up a unit. Today two units have been coupled together. The First Class cabin is spacious and comfortable in a 1 + 2 configuration. There are plenty of seat options available depending on whether you are travelling on your own, as a couple or in a larger group. However, if you are planning to work on your laptop, take note that not all seats have a tray table suitable to place a laptop on. Some seats do not have a tray table at all.
Every seat comes with a coat hook and a power outlet, with separate plugs for European and Swiss standards.
The journey from Zürich to Milan is interesting and scenic, as it takes the train past Lake Zürich, Lake Zug, and Lake Lucerne. The route also passes through the world’s longest railway tunnel, the Gotthard, with a length of 57 kilometres. The journey through the tunnel takes about 20 minutes. It is the only time the train speeds up to 200km/h on the journey.
The dining car serves a wide selection of hot and cold dishes that you can enjoy in the dining car or that can be taken away to eat at your seat.
I have four minutes to make the connection in Lugano. And from what I am told, they usually wait if there is a bit of a delay. The trip from Lugano to Milan is operated by a Swiss regional train. There is a First Class section at the head of the train, but reservations are not possible. Seating is arranged in facing pairs. The only difference to Second Class is that the pitch is slightly better. The train leaves Lugano at 17:02, to arrive at 18:15. However, we pick up a delay on the way, so that the train does pull into Centrale until 18:28.
In Milan I am staying at the Room Mate Giulia Hotel near the Duomo, in walking distance to La Scala. It is four stops by metro from Centrale. Eventually, I arrive at the hotel at 18:45, more or less four hours after I departed from Zürich Airport.
The journey from Zürich Airport to Milano Centrale is easy and straightforward. The Giruno is a very nice and comfortable train. It is also very nice that the hotel is only four stops away by metro, which is very convenient. The only negative aspect of the journey is the regional train for the last sector from Lugano to Milan. Not only is that train not very comfortable, it was also incredibly crowded from Como onwards and all the way to Centrale. I think next time, I would make sure to catch one of the direct services instead.
The main advantage in taking the Edelweiss Air flight back to Zürich is that it is one of the few flights that leave Muscat bound for Europe as a day flight. Most of the other flights depart in the dead of night, which is not at all pleasant. With a flight time of only seven hours, a night flight is usually not long enough to get a good night’s rest. The Edelweiss Air flight however, departs Muscat at 09h20, to arrive back in Zürich at 13h40. Previously, Muscat was served from Zürich as a tag-on to SWISS’ daily Zürich to Dubai service. Since the flight was taken over by Edelweiss, it only operates once a week on Saturdays.
I’ve spent the whole of the last week in Sohar, which is Oman’s second city in the West of the country. From Sohar to Muscat it’s a little more than 200km. There is the old main road and what looks like a recently completed six lane motorway. I would recommend taking the motorway, simply because it’s a much more pleasant drive and the scenery is quite beautiful. Just watch our for the goats that have a nasty habit of walking into the middle of the motorway like they own the place…
I spend my last night in Oman at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is roughly 15 minutes away by car from the airport terminal. The close proximity to the airport is great if, like me, you forget your passport, ID, and wallet in the hotel safe and have to return to get them – because you only remember as your car pulls up at the curb outside the terminal that you didn’t take them out of the safe.
At As-Seeb airport there is a segregated check-in area for First and Business Class passengers. Even if you’ve checked in online, I would still recommend you pass by the Business Class check-in area, as it gives you direct access to a dedicated queue for immigration and security.
The only lounge other than the Oman Air lounges is the Prime Class lounge, which is located one floor up from the duty free shopping area. This is also where you’ll find the entrance to the airport transit hotel.
The lounge is large and has many comfortable seating options. It also has wifi, and showers are available too.
The food options look interesting. There is a good choice of hot and cold dishes. Behind the buffet area is an attended bar where you can order alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Given that I had to go back to the hotel and then hurry back to the airport, I don’t spend all that much time in the lounge.
The new terminal uses a closed gate concept. There is only one queue, and there is no priority for Business Class passengers to access the gate area, so that by the time I enter the gate, boarding has already started. I figure I might as well wait for the initial scrum to settle and busy myself taking photos of my aircraft instead.
The cabin layout of Edelweiss’ Business Class is a bit strange. The Business Class cabin is sandwiched between the forward Economy Class cabin and the rear Economy Class section. As you enter through the L2 door, the Business Class section is to your right. Which basically means that the Business Class cabin shares two loos with the entire forward Economy Class section.
There are seven rows of seats in the Business Class cabin. Row 11 is the bulkhead row. On rows 11, 14, and 16 the seats are configured in a 1+2+1 layout, whereas on the other rows they are in a 2+2+1 layout. The port side seats 11A, 14A and 16A are the throne seats that offer some additional storage space compared to the other seats. 14A also has a larger foot well, which come in handy with my size 11s.
The Business Class seat is essentially the same one that SWISS has installed on its long-haul fleet. The main difference being that the Edelweiss seat is covered in a light blue fabric.
The seat is comfortable enough, and being able to sit on your own is nice. But it doesn’t offer much in terms of privacy.
The crew on this flight are excellent. They’re very friendly and hard working. Being a day flight, most passengers stay awake, and the crew make sure they have everything they need, passing through the cabin regularly offering snacks and drinks. It’s also noteworthy that the number of crew who actually speak Swiss German is much higher than it is on SWISS.
As soon as I take my seat and stow my luggage, one of the cabin crew comes to offer me a choice of orange juice, champagne or water and a packaged cold towel.
The amenities (socks and a tooth brush) are packaged in a cardboard box for “maximum impact”. I kind of like the idea. But I’m not sure how effective that box is in mitigating the CO2 emmissions being produced by the aircraft’s four engines.
In any case, at 09:35 we push back from our gate. One after the other, the four engines come to life with a quiet murmur and we slowly make our way to the active runway. The flight time is seven hours.
The main meal service is breakfast. There is no menu, and there do not appear to be any choices either.
The crew set the table with every dish individually. The downside of that, of course, is that it means you cannot get out of your seat unless you remove every item individually.
The meal consists of a very tasty bircher müsli and small fruit salad.
A plate with a slice of Emmental, some smoked cheese and some revolting looking slice of cold cut that I don’t touch.
The hot meal is an omelette with peppers in a tomato sauce with creamy spinach and potatos.
With that the crew serve a wide selection of breads, which are served with butter and a variety of HERO jams or honey. The crew makes several rounds with the bread basket, which may account for how I end up having five slices of buttery Zopf…
At 11:00 the remains of the meal are cleared away. And I am mightily impressed. Just 80 minutes after wheels up the meal service is over, and passengers can kick back and relax. I fire up my laptop to work on my thesis.
Ninety minutes out of Zürich, the crew pass through the cabin with sandwiches. There is a choice of roast beef or grilled peppers with cream cheese. And they’re very tasty. For dessert passengers are served a Biberli, which is a kind of honey and gingerbread sweet filled with almonds.
Shortly after, our A 340 dips its nose and we begin our descent into the murky Swiss clouds. It’s so much greener here than in Oman. Eventually, we touch down at 13:40, exactly on time, and make our way to the parking stand at the E pier, which is the satellite terminal. From there I catch the SkyMetro to the main terminal. There’s quite a queue for immigration, but at least it moves quickly.
I have to say that I rather enjoyed this flight with Edelweiss. I’m not even sure what I was expecting exactly, but this was certainly better. The crew was excellent and very friendly and the food was adequate for a flight of seven hours. The only thing I didn’t like that much was the seat, because you’re quite exposed in it. Other than that, it was good to get another flight on the A 340, as these aircraft are becoming increasingly hard to come by.
As for my trip to Oman, it was really great to be back. The one thing that always impresses me about the Omanis, and that I think really sets them apart from many of the other Gulf states, is just how incredibly friendly, down to earth and hospitable they are. There is something very dignified in their pride for their country. They make you feel welcome from the very first step you take off the aircraft when you arrive. And the ruggedness of the landscape is stunningly beautiful. I hope I’ll be back one day!
knightofmalta 