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I haven't even finished sorting the pictures from previous weeks trip to the US but stuff happend in the meantime. I was supposed to fly Ryanair out of Bremen - a first for me. Instead I ended up in 20cm snow in Tbilisi, Georgia.

I was casually surfing the L'tur Lastminute website when I found a good deal to Tbilisi. Why Tbilisi? A friend whom I went to seconday school with is currently in Tbilisi working for a private company backed by the German Federal Government focusing on development work in those kind of countries. Last year we met again and it was obvious that I would have to come visit. A few teasing photos later I added the TBS airport code to my automatic searches for cheap flights. With a trip priced at half the usual cost and perfect flight times (leaving friday after work, return just in time monday morning for a conference call) I could not resist.
Once I contacted my friend and she confirmed that she would have time (and that I could crash at her place saving some serious money) I booked the flight. Eight hours later I was on board a small Austrian Airlines plane that would bring me to Tbilisi via Vienna.

More impressions and some interesting photos will follow. In a nutshell I had a blast and will be back for sure.

What the Krua Thai website lacks the staff makes up for in service and quality. It an imbiss style outlet where you get your own drinks from the fridge. This thai restaurant was on my short list of places to try while in Cologne. It was well worth the 15 minute walk.





While the sate appetizer (at 4 Euro) was a bit disappointing the red curry I had was awesome. The greens were cooked spot on and still crisp and green. The chef must have quenched them - something you probably don't see at your usual take away place.

The Hardrock Cafe Prague only opened last April ... after I've last been to Prague. I remember that ten years ago street vendors were selling fake Hardrock Cafe t-shirts. Now that there is a real one none of the vendors dares to sell fake ones.

Continental Airlines left the Skyteam Alliance last year and joined the Star Alliance which I much prefer. Thanks to a common bug in the booking process I scored a cheap ticket on the direct Hamburg to Newark, New Jersey flight. I should earn my first frequent flyer miles in 2010 while also spending a weekend in New York City. At first I thought of booking a continuation flight to Washington as I haven't been there for years. When I found out that a group of Flyertalkers meet in New York that particular weekend it was a sealed deal. Another $35 later for a decent hotel room on the Upper Westside I had everything laid out perfectly.

I left quite early Saturday morning as road conditions with lots of snow were unpredictable the night before. In addition the added security meant two security checks instead of one. I made it in time and asked how much a cash upgrade to BusinessFirst (the Continental Business class product - there is no First) would be. I declined when I heard the offer of $1500.

The flight was rather uneventful albeit my Inflight Entertainment system started rebooting constantly after around 90 minutes. Service and food were on-par with Lufthansa and really good compared to my previous experiences on that route.



Although we left with 45 minutes delay the captain managed to get us to Newark on time. I rushed through immigration, picked up my bags and got through customs within 15 minutes. The immigration officer understood the concept of meeting with friends, having steak and earning frequent flyer miles and wasn't bothering me at all. Instead of the slightly cheaper train connection I opted for the bus which would allow me to directly connect to the train (MTA subway) at Port Authority Bus Terminal on 42nd street. When I got to the subway/train station I had to discover that this weekend some trains would not run at all due to constructions and others took different stops. So my carefully laid out plan went AWOL and I had to connect.
Less than 90 minutes after landing I left my hotel - sans baggage - bound to Penn Station to meet with a Flyertalker. The time to kill before the Flyertalk DO (a meeting where people DO stuff) was spent at Times Square. A quick stop at the huge Macy's at 34th and I could confirm that they had indeed the cloths I wanted to buy the next day.



The Long Island Rail Road and JFK Airtrain via Jamaica station took about an hour to get me to the meeting point at JFK - I was more than glad I fueled up on drinks and a Taco Bell taco. Note: The Penn Station food court has a brilliant selection of those greasy fast food joints you would otherwise not find in Manhattan.

At JFK I met lots of Flyertalkers while checking in for our fake flight to Butte, Montana. American Airlines was a brilliant host for the gathering and created a flight just for us. We all received real boarding passes which we used to pass security. An American Airlines official met us and a short elevator ride later we were inside the control tower where live operations are happening. It was amazingly calm before we got there and there was a total of six people working the entire JFK American Airlines operations. Everything from baggage scanning, flight and ramp operations to mis-connecting passengers were taken care of up there.



After a short snack stop outside the lounge we all boarded trains back to Manhattan heading to The Palm Tribeca where the organizer reserved a private room earlier including free flowing drinks. The meeting had a strong American Airlines background and most of the attendees hold status on American Airlines but they all know a few interesting things here and there beyond their own frequent traveler program. The feast of amazing food started with a Caesar's salad. The 9oz medium-rare filet mignon that followed was spot on but small enough to let some room for the Key Lime pie. The pie was less sweet than the one I had in Key West three weeks earlier which was well appreciated. I did not win anything during the AA trivia that followed. I did not try hard, though.

After dinner we were chatting away and I got to know a few interesting personalities which I would love to meet again. Shortly before midnight I called it a day and hailed a cab back to the hotel - after all I was up for 24+ hours.

I had the offer to see Ground Zero from the 29th floor of an adjacent office building but due to limited time I will probably take up the offer during my next visit. Instead I left my hotel at around 9AM, had some breakfast in the Upper Westside (lots of good joints there on Columbus Ave) and went to the Marriott on Times Square. Why the Marriott? I went to the bell desk and asked them to hold on to my luggage for a few hours until I check in. Of course I never checked in but it was a safe and cheap ($2 in tips) way to store a piece of luggage.

The day was spent walking through SOHO. Shortly after a cheap chinese lunch I went to Macy's for my cloths and the Marriott for my luggage. My 29 hours on the ground in the US were about to end thus I boarded the bus back to Newark where I spent about an hour before boarding my flight home. I picked up a $35 bottle of 15 year old Ron Zacapa which appeared to be a steal. I again declined the cash upgrade offer. Continental was asking $5200 (that is US Dollars and not Argentine Pesos) to upgrade to BusinessFirst on a 7 hour flight.




Monday morning I landed in Hamburg with a bit of delay but was at work before 10AM. I would do this again if I had the chance. The direct flight is much more convenient than the connecting options on Lufthansa. I hope United will keep the route open once the Continental merger goes through.

Since my Transilvania weekend trip was cancelled I ended up with a weekend to spare in February. While on the road in New York I saw an amazing deal popping up on my iPhone. From Istanbul to pretty much everywhere for roughly 500 Euro return in Turkish Airlines Business Class. The best bang for the buck would have been Jakarta; surely a destination I wouldn't fly into directly from Europe otherwise. The few seats available to Jakarta were booked by the time I came back home - I was traveling without my laptop - and the waitlist did not clear. I now hold a return ticket to Hong Kong on a Boeing 777 wetleased from Jet Airways with amazing seats, comparable to the Air Newzealand Business Premier. I went to book a ticket to get me to Istanbul and ended up booking a ticket on Expedia combining Lufthansa and Swiss using a random bug which shaved 50 Euro off the flight and still allowes me to fly Swiss Business intra-European.



Thanks to New Year celebrations in Hong Kong that weekend there will be lots of stuff to see but flights to nearby cities (i.e. Taipei) are rather expensive. I'll revisit Macao during my stay for sure.

Btw: The new Great Circlemapper tool was recently released with lots of fun options to play around with.

2009 has gone by and it's time to renew my Lufthansa status. Well, I could wait another year but with all the offers thanks to the economic downturn I figured it would be cheaper (and lots of fun) this year.

New York
The first January weekend already passed and I am still sitting at zero miles/flights this year. Fortunately this will change this saturday. I'll fly over to Newark/New York for the weekend. A Flyertalk event happens the same weekend so there goes most of the time. I'll visit the American Airlines Club at JFK airport including a backlot tour followed by dinner at The Palm Tribeca.

Prague
The following weekend I'll spend in Prague. I won't gain Miles&More miles but at 55 Euro for the trip I won't complain and instead meet up with a few Prague-based VoIP folks. Last year a Hardrock Cafe opened so that's one place to stop by.

Atlanta
Still in January ... another trip to the US. The only thing on my TODO list (besides lots of flying) is to eat at Hong Kong Harbour in Cheshire Bridge Rd - my favourite chinese place in the area. Walnut Shrimp, General Tso's chicken here I come!

Cologne
A domestic trip ... I couldn't resist booking a cheap two-for-one flight with a voucher. Cologne will be another Hardrock Cafe for my list as well.

Ryanair weekend trip
Some time last year I ended up booking a quick trip around Europe for less than 3 Euro. Bremen, Oslo and London on Ryanair. It's going to be my first experience on Ryanair. Just to be safe I booked this trip twice so if weather sucks or I just don't want to get out ot bed early I won't loose too much.

Tirgu Mures
Tirgu Mures is a small town in Transilvania. I found a 75 Euro roundtrip in February on Malev. For whatever reason Malev decided to cancel the sunday flight ruining my trip. I could cancel the hotel (30E for the best place in town) for free so no real loss on my side.

Barcelona
I've never been to Barcelona before and combined a deal at the Hilton with a Lufthansa sale and 40 Euro off voucher.

Minneapolis, Spokane, San Francisco
Thanks to a very generous First Class fare on United airlines I'll have 17 - yes seventeen - First Class flights for a total of 210 Euro. That's a lot of flying over just a few days but will get me around 40,000 miles closer to renewing my status. I still have to book the flight to get me to Minneapolis, though.

This concludes my travel plans for January, February and a bit of April (the Minneapolis stuff). For the rest of the year I have to get to Tokyo before June in order to use my free night at the Park Hyatt Tokyo. A reenactment of Lost in Translation would be in order but I still need to audition somebody for the part of Charlotte.
Not knowing what exactly will happen workwise after March I am reluctant to book lots of travel although I would fancy another South East Asia trip. I'd hop on any Star Alliance carrier to Bangkok since it's the cheapest destination in the area and then do short roundtrips to Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur (Satay!) and perhaps Brunei (just because). The Lufthansa Business-Class fares ex-Bangkok to Saigon and Kuala Lumpur are quite cheap right now. Other than that there's the 77th IETF in Anaheim, CA and Cansecwest in Vancouver on my radar. Perhaps I'll combine the Kuala Lumpur trip with Hack In The Box.

I finished uploading the photos, so here they are:

• Everglades and Miami Ocean Drive
• Miami Heat game and misc Florida
• Florida Keys

Just before Christmas I've been on a short Florida trip with a friend. We basically only zipped around the Miami area with side trips to Key West and the Everglades (Shark Valley). Here's a collection of the food that we enjoyed.

Before evening arriving in Florida we had some breakfast and a snack in the Hamburg and Düsseldorf lounges followed by in-flight lunch and dinner.




From a few years back I knew that there were two shopping malls close to Miami International Airport. One of them had a Fuddruckers. After some shopping and before the imperative grocery run (Walmart) we stopped by there. It's all fresh and the meat patty was never frozen! You can/have to get your own toppings for the burger.



The next morning we stopped at one of my favorite breakfast spots: Crackerbarrel. The first time we went there I opted for French Toast instead of the more common egg based stuff.




Finally: Five Guys. In my opinion one of the best burger places on the East Coast.


The next morning a certain friend wanted to try something different: the cheap Denny's chain. It turned out to be barely OK food esp. with the alternatives around. But hey, if that's part of the US experience I'm willing to do it again.



Next up was a hibachi/teppanyaki place. It's a japanese steakhouse. In this case an independent place has been just taken over by the Benihana chain. I had to convince my friend to give it a try but it was well worth it.



I did not take pictures of the shrimp appetizers.

I have yet to sort through the pictures but at least managed to let my laptop do some stitching work. Unfortunately the weather could have been better.

When the ultra-cheap First Class fares popped up a few weeks ago I decided to book two fully refundable US domestic tickets which should earn me a lot of miles.
Now with Continental Airlines joining the Star Alliance there were a few opportunities for mileage runs and cheap deals on flights to the US. In most parts the transition went smoothly for Continental but at least one fare bases wasn't properly updated. That fare happened to be the dirt cheap booking class for trips to the United states. Continental being the only airline with a non-stop US-bound flight out of Hamburg I had to get a ticket. The fact that the return gets me into Hamburg early enough to be at work in time helped as well. As a result I'll be in New York for a night in early January.
Another fare that stirred up the community was an open-jaw on United ticket stock that somehow was bookable without the fuel surcharge. It also allowed a reasonable number of transfers within the US, i.e. seven flights including two transatlantic flights for less than 200 Euro. So you'll find me at the Hong Kong Harbour restaurant in Atlanta on 1/30/2010.

The mileage runs should give me a good start to re-qualify for the Senator status, esp. the First Class stuff. A few bumps, VDBs or missed connections on the way should also earn me more money that I paid for all the tickets.

I recently won a trip to any US destination served by Lufthansa out of Düsseldorf. I could choose between New York, Chicago and Miami. I've just been to the New York and Chicago so I opted for Miami. Tickets were supposed to book into the booking class N which is a class usually used by employees (ID tickets) to travel for cheap. As a result the best dates were already taken and I had to play the waitlist game. I finally got seats for a long weekend before Christmas. I had to buy tickets do Düsseldorf on my own and Lufthansa could not combined paid tickets with the non-revenue stuff. As a friend is tagging along I jumped on a set of reduced tickets on Lufthansa. Combined with a 30 Euro rebate voucher and payment via Paypal I managed to mess up the Lufthansa system and overpaid by 20 Euro. I am still waiting on getting this resolved.

Unfortunately the downside of a free N-class ticket is that I would not be entitled to Senator benefits like seatblocking etc. I made another call to the regular Senator line and they got me the best seats on the plane and even blocked the neighbouring seat so my friend can move there the day before departure.

Now all we need are decent motels and hotels to stay. Priceline wasn't my friend so far.

Yes, you read that right ... I went to Chernobyl.

When I planned the entire trip I made sure I would have time to go to Chernobyl. The trips are not cheap and due to the distance to Kiev they eat up almost an entire vacation day.
After a night out and some preparation I boarded a bus with a total of 12 visitors at Kiev Independence Square shortly before 9AM. We were accompanied by an English speaking guide, an official from the Ukranian Department of the Interior and a female worker who seemed to be living in Chernobyl. The official is supposed to check our passports, get us through security checkpoints and most important of all to keep us all safe from radiation. All he did beside the passport and security checkpoint part was sleeping and radiating off a smell of booze.

Our tour started with a two hour drive through the Kiev traffic continuing on the main roads towards Chernobyl north-west of Kiev. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van was equipped with a TV and a BBC-style documentary about the history of Chernobyl was shown. 30 km away from the plant we reached the first checkpoint. We had to get out of the bus and have our passport numbers and names verified against a list of registered visitors. No problem in our case. I somehow expected to see somebody bribe somebody to get us in but bribes might just already be included in the money streams.



Inside the 30km zone we continued to drive towards the town of Chernobyl. Chernobyl is still populated and among other things houses the base for all tours. We were briefed about procedures, Do's and Don'ts and how to avoid radioactive pollution. Alpha rays seem to be the worst enemy. Luckily it is easy to shield against alpha rays. We all signed the paperwork and were offered to buy a picturebook or russian textbook - now that's how the guards make some money on the side ;) For some reason our schedule was moved around a bit and we would have some lunch right after seeing Chernobyl itself. After lunch we would do the highlights: the reactor #4 and the ghost town of Pripyat.

The Chernobyl part of the tour included a visit to the old stadium where a few of the old vehicles used by the liquidators were parked. The huge carpark with vehicles and helicopers used in the first weeks of cleanup is off-limits since early 2008 due to high radiation levels. Instead a few tanks and trucks were decontaminated and moved to the stadium. Hidden in a small forest there were also a few monuments remembering the victims.

First stop: harbourfront (Google Maps link). Roughly a dozen ships were abanonded here after being contaminted during the cleanup.



We continued along one of main roads with a stop in front of the fire department and a small supermarket.





95% of the people walking around the town wore military uniforms. The few other people were walking to or from their temporary hostel-style homes. But then most people would be at work at that time of day anyway - or hopefully far away.
Lunch was served in a separate room in the main barracks. The amount and quality of food was OK but it was kinda awkward to sit there with strangers and not have any real topic to talk about. We've hardly seen anything yet and the only guy with a story to tell was a British PhD. student who has already been on the tour two times and plans on going weekly for five months next year. His PhD. topic: Tourism in Chernobyl.

Finally: the trip to the reactor and Pripyat was about to begin. We stopped on the only road and were shown a few signs indicating that an entire village has been burried here. Radiation levels started to peak ever here and there. A few turns later we had our first look at reactor #4 (Google Maps).





We stopped close to the main entrance of the reactor building where a memorial was built. Photography was not allowed in direction of the reactor as the terrorist treat exists here as well. After all the reactor still draws power and depends support systems. Oh, and we just passed one of the terminal storage spaces for nuclear waste in the Ukraine - a miserably small building next to the road. We walked onto a railway bridge to check out a freak of nature: giant catfish. With no natural enemies nor fishers in the area the fish are growing quite large. We had some bread to lure the catfish to the bridge. A 2 meter catfish looks kinda scary when chugging away a huge chunk of bread.



The next stop would be a short one - right in front of reactor #4 a mere 150-200 meters away from where the accident happend 23 years ago.





It was quite spooky to stand there able to see every intimate detail of the reactor building. The old concrete and steel coffin with all its marks, work on the new casket just began. After a few minutes we were rushed back into the bus and driven off to a junction between the plant and the town of Pripyat. From here a road leads straight through the red forest - an area with increased radiation levels. The geiger counter jumped up to 20mSv. At 3mSv the buzzing noise of incoming rays generated by the counter is replaced with a constant warning sound. That was the only moment the relaxed (and somewhat drunk) official looked at the counter and instructed the driver to turn around and leave the area. The driver pulling up his side window (to protect from the radiation) was another sign that the radiation levels indeed were high.



Once we crossed the so called bridge of death leading into Pripyat we were taken on a tour through some of the streets. We continued on foot
and saw all the major sights: the indoor swimming pool, the school and the huge fairground for the May day celebrations. Radiation levels changed a lot but the area was considered safe to walk around.







The highlight was the towns hotel. We had enough time to walk up to the roof from where one could see the reactor. The higher I got inside the hotel the more stuff was laying around. Furniture, beds, newspapers from 1986 and lots of broken glass and tiles.





Last stop was a school where not so many people have been before compared to other places. More stuff was laying around and the atmosphere was different from some of the more open and public spaces.







Unfortunately every tour has to come to an end and we headed back to the barracks. We cleared the first radiation checks without too much hassle. Our official did not even care about the readings of the old soviet style machine. I guess people have a natural desire to be safe. At inner 10km border the car was checked for signs of increased radiation but we were through there within the minute of getting there. At the 30km border we had to go through another more thorough check. On the drive back I finally got some sleep before being picked up by a friend at a gas station on the way. We headed towards their weekend house outside Kiev for some delicious home made food.

Thanks to Twitter vouchers giving a nice rebate on Lufthansa flights and a two-for-one deal I bought tickets to Budapest in November. The timing is perfect albeit we have to drive to Hannover to catch the flights (Openflights HAJ-MUC-BUD). The Best Western Premier Hotel Parlament for less than 60 Euro sounds like a good deal, too.

A few weeks ago I got my hands on an amazing fare between Minneapolis (MSP) and Spokane, Washington (GEG) in First Class. I booked a trip Minneapolis-Chicago-Denver-Spokane-Seattle-San Francisco-San Diego-Charlotte-Minneapolis with a redeye flight (over night) back home. At eight flights in slightly more than a day even First Class might become annoying but heck ... it would be amazingly cheap miles at roughly 105 Euro.
For whatever reasons a few flights are not operating anymore and I got rerouted so I'd never reach Spokane nor fly through Denver. My trip now looks like this:



Spokane: gone, Denver: gone. Layover time in San Francisco: 15 minutes. I wonder how I would be supposed to fly that trip at all. Whatever fails on the way I should get all the miles accredited to Lufthansa's Miles&More program - which is the main point for the entire ordeal anyway. If everything works out fine I might get stranded overnight with a free hotel and some cash compensation.

I left work as usual on thursday and drove the Hamburg airport. After a beer in the lounge and a short hop to Frankfurt I was on board the flight to Kiev. Shortly before arrivial the purser approached and informed me that my luggage did not make it. After immigration I went straight to Lost&Found. I did not receive on-spot compensation nor an amenity kit. As I rented an apartment for the time in Kiev I won't get a toothbrush, shampoo etc with the room. My friend who picked me up found us a 24/7 supermarket in downtown close the the Arena nightclub. So, first impression of Kiev: nice highway into town (well, it's supposed to be the best in the country), clean downtown streets and an interesting town to begin with.



After some sleep in my huge apartment I headed to the nearby Independence Square while my friend was still stuck in traffic.



I used the time and walked towards the St. Michael's Cathedral.



The weather was sunny and at 20 degrees just perfect to stroll around. I've only seen the cathedral from the outside but the russian orthodox style and bright colors left an impression. Soon later my friend arrived and we started our tour. First was the Andrew's Descent, a cobblestone road leading down towards the river Dniepr. Lined with lots of small shops selling everything from cheesy soviet-style souvenirs to painted pictures.



I did not have breakfast so we decided to stop at a local restaurant chain (Puzata Khata - belly hut) and have a few local treats. It ended up being quite tasty and I had the chance to try Kvas (a drink made from bread) for the first time.
Eventually we took a cab to Pe?erska Lavra which unfortunately was party closed for renovations.



We continued on foot towards the 'Mother' Motherland Statue and the attached museums. The open air war museum was interesting as it featured one of those mobile nuclear rocket launchers that were the centerpieces of various russian military parades.



We shelled out some serious cash (around 4Euro per person) to be taken on a personal tour into the statue. At roughly 37 meters height the view was okay but nothing near what it would have been from the top of the statue. Old russian music playing playing in the background of another WWII display added to the atmosphere. We headed to yet another restaurant - this time an upscale place with white table linen and waitresses dressed in traditional cloths.



We hailed a cab to the nearest subway station. At this point I was happy to have a native friend who successfully negotiated the price for every trip.



Escalators down into the subway stations are known to be long. Although not really that long in our case it was still worth snapping a picture. We alighted near the Hydropark on island in the Dniepr river. The entertainment park looked like it wasn't updated for the last ten or twenty years.

We returned shortly after arrival and walked through a rich district of town towards the parliament buildings. Next stop was an underground shisha bar were we got some well-deserved rest.



In the evening we met some of my friends friends who certainly had a different drinking speed. Instead of going to an openair festival we went to the Arena nightclub. The club was crowded and expensive thus we went PaTiPa close to the Independence Square.
At around 2:30 we called it a night - I was supposed to leave for Chernobyl at 8:45.