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About a month ago - in the middle of my relocating progress - I flew to Larnaca, Cyprus for a day. Condor runs a plane on a HAM-LCA-HAJ-LCA-HAM giving you more than enough time to drive up to Nicosia for a nice touristy day.

I slept well on the flight and not having any luggage I was landside in Cyprus in no time. The sun was shining and a pleasant 25+ degrees Celsius added to the good mood. The plan was to pick up my rental car and do the one hour drive to Nicosia for a full day of exploring in the last divided capital of Europe.


The car was OK, although sporting some stains and wobbly mirrors. Right hand drive is not a real problem and I did not end up banging my right hand into the door too often.



The drive to Nicosia was - totally unexpected - not bad in terms of driving style nor road conditions. Nicosia felt safe and with only few locals and tourists roaming the streets wasn't too busy to begin with. The deeper I got into the alleged shopping paradise the more the streets were bustling with locals. I went up to the highest building in the area - a tower-like business center with a small museum on top. The views were OK but the windows were so dirty that most of my photos went straight to the bin.





The border separating the Greek from the Turkish side runs straight through the city and fortunately since a few years a mid-town border crossing eases travel between the two parts for tourists and locals alike.





The main drag ends right at the border crossing. I was kinda hoping to get my passport stamped but even with all the opportunities it never happened - and I asked! When crossing the border you receive a small piece of paper which allows you back onto the other side later. The whole process takes merely five minutes.





Leaving the border posts behind you'll be right in the middle of a bazaar area with a few interesting food outlets. Somehow I did not feel like eating kebab that day.

















Finally a restaurant got my attention and I sat down for an amazing lebanese salad with crunch bits of bread sprinkled with lime and oil as well as some chicken.







My time was only limited but I assumed I've seen a good part of the Nicosia attractions. Another hour later I was back in the Larnaca area, topping up my car and stopping by at the main beach drag of Larnaca.





Larnaca is a bit disappointing. I wouldn't like to spend a week there for a beach vacation - but them I won't spend a week at the beach to begin with.
Back at the airport I had enough time to shower in the lounge (I love to be able to shower in the lounge!), grab a few bites of local food and watch a soccer game waiting for boarding to begin. The better part of the flight home I slept - after all I just moved my apartment the day before in some 30+ degrees heat.

Cyprus for a day: definitely doable. Next time I'll drive west and discover some of the coastal towns.

Air Berlin and oneworld announced that Air Berlin will join the oneworld alliance. Press coverage here: International Business Times.
Now that's gonna be interesting. Air Berlin basically moved from a Low Cost Carrier (LCC) focusing on intra-European tourist traffic to a serious international airline which dared to attack Lufthansa on some of the most profitable domestic routes. Every now and then I have to fly Air Berlin instead of my preferred Star Alliance carriers, i.e. when Air Berlin is more than a 100 Euro cheaper on the Hamburg-Frankfurt route for a Business trip. I never started collecting frequent flier miles with them as there are only few benefits. Air Berlin does not have lounges nor short-haul Business Class which might be worth a shot at an upgrade.
Once Air Berlin is part of oneworld customers of other oneworld airlines would expect Air Berlin to offer lounges at their destinations. Most airports I know have contract lounges close to the Air Berlin gates which could be used - Air Berlin would have to pay, though. Personally I hope to be able to credit some Air Berlin miles to my British Airways account (which is also part of oneworld) and bit by bit get closer to my award ticket to the Easter Islands.

I've decided to cash in a few of my hard-earned miles in return for a trip to Singapore and Bali in January in Business Class. I got lucky on the outbound flight and will be flying Singapore Airlines (photo) both to Singapore and on to Bali. On the return leg I wanted to test Thai Airways on the 4 hour leg between Bali and Bangkok continuing on either Swiss or Austrian. Unfortunately I could not get seats on either.


Two events will take place in Singapore and Bali: the Flyertalk Singapore (SIN) DO and the Bali DO. Essentially these are gatherings of all those strange Flyertalk folks with some activities. Before the DO I'll have more than a week time to visit a few places in the region that I always wanted to see. Kuala Lumpur is already set but then I'll might head to Bandar Seri Begawan, Siam Reap or Saigon.

finally ... this has been sitting on my harddisk for weeks already.


Get a larger JPG picture: 5000 pixel wide.

Before I even start to sort and post any gorgeous Dubrovnik pictures I should clean up my photo queue esp. the Nizwa trip late last month.

The second day in Oman I got myself a rental car at the airport with the intention to drive to Nizwa which is about 90 minutes away from Muscat in the Omani desert. I got to the airport, found the small Sixt rental booth and waited about 20 minutes for my Nissan Sunny. Apparently there was nothing bigger available. When the helping hand of the agent turned up with the car it had a flat tire. Another ten minutes later he showed up with a new(er) Nissan Sunny. With 54444 km on the clock it wasn't anything spectacular but should be able to do the trip. I kinda was hoping for a nice upgrade as Sixt Platinum. To make things worse the contract had a mileage restriction and showed the wrong meter reading. The fuel tank wasn't topped off. Color me underwhelmed for that experience.

I took the car to the next gas station to get some gas and water (for me). Off I was driving straight into the desert. Roads were much like their UAE counterparts with lighting, speed cams and good conditions in general.





The ride was quite relaxing (as long as the a/c unit was on). For whatever reason the car made itself heard and required a tire change. It's been a few years since I last changed a tire and the heat outside did not help either. I actually burnt my hands in the process but was over with the tedious work 15 minutes later.



First thing to do when I arrived in Nizwa was to find a restaurant to have a local bite to eat. With only few options I turned to the Lonely Planet approved Bin Atique restaurant serving up traditional Omani dishes in a local setting.







I was ready to explore and headed across the street for the fort area. I passed the closed souq bound to the fort museum.





Throughout the entire trip I've only seem some six to eight tourists which made it a pleasant experience.















Before continuing outside I spend the better part of an hour inside the fort reading upon the history and looking at numerous exhibits. Finally I took the long way up the stairs into the tower.













Soon later I started my journey back to Muscat and eventually back home via Istanbul and Berlin. Once at the airport I returned my car but did not get any sorry or whatnot for the flat tire and general bad shape of the car.
I had some trouble getting airside at the airport so many hours before my flight. A Oman Air official checked me in and printed my Turkish Airlines boarding passes, though. Thanks! A few days before the trip I thought about booking a fast roundtrip to a random destination to kill some time in the evening. I should have booked one of the 30 Euro Oman Air roundtrips since that would have gotten me into the airport right away. With a few hours to spare I headed for the lounge which got the better online reviews for the showers but was once more disappointed by the offerings. I started to raid the buffet for something edible.

I spent my leftover Omani money on a pizza and some cheap cigarettes before some lounge-hopping. Eventually I settled into a lounge chair and caught up on Flyertalk, emails and the web in general.

I started off my first day in Muscat with breakfast at the hotel. The hotel got mixed reviews for the breakfast and I found it to be somewhere in between a nice try and mediocre. I left for the harbour area to start exploring.



The taxi dropped me off at the fish market where locals were trading everything from small crabs to huge tuna. While in the front row unprocessed fish was traded an entire section of the covered market was occupied by men cleaning and cutting fish for the customers. Quite interesting to see how fast those men cut down fish.
The fish market is in the northern corner of the small corniche which is lined with merchant houses, a mosque and the famous Muscat souq.



I walked along the corniche towards the souq on the southern end of the corniche.






In front of the souq a sign confirmed what I've already guessed while walking around in the sun. It was already quite hot.








After walking around for almost an hour I got myself some water and a cold mango juice at one of the many coffee shops.



I wanted to walk back through the souq to the waterfront where I wanted to grab a cab back to the hotel for a nice break. After all Muscat proper is quite small and I would have enough time for more exploration later in the day. I ended up chatting to a spice vendor in front of his shop for an hour. He had amazing mixes of roasted spices. Not only did I taste and buy a lot of things but we also traded a few recipes. I told him about my figs with feta cheese creation (baked in the oven with fresh ground pepper and some honey) which he loved and wanted to try asap. I've asked him for some pointers on what to see in Muscat and Oman. He got me interested in the Nizwa region which I looked up on the Internet and in my Lonely Planet book. Later that day I put in a reservation for a small car the next day.

Next to the hotel one of the few large Lulu Hypermarkets just opened offering an amazing array of fresh cooked food as well as prepackaged local salads and fresh fruit. I did some shopping and took the loot to my hotel room.



In the evening I hailed a cab to take me to the old town area. The driver dropped me off in a region that somehow matched the destination but then wasn't. It was one of the few rip off things that do happen. Well it happened which means I'll be safe for the rest of the year. In the end I walked a bit and took another cab ... I might have lost 2 Euro but did not care too much.

Relatively few people live in the palace area and as I was a bit early for sunset most of the tourists (not that there were so many) had yet to arrive.

My Oman trip was about to happen and I headed for work early with my small suitcase and camera bag in tow. My plan was to grab lunch with colleagues and hop on the subway bound to the airport. Lunch did not happen so I took a late train to the airport. On the way I came up with the idea of trying the Cindy's burger restaurant inside the plaza. Without further ado ...



Now that is a crappy burger with simple ground beef in the shape of a meat patty. One of the sauces was clearly a regular thousand islands dressing. Pricewise it wasn't that bad for an airport but from a quality perspective any Burgerking meal is better. I went upstairs to the lounge, grabbed a cold one and sat outside in the sun waiting for boarding to begin.



On the flight a full meal was served and Do&Co did not let me down. I rate the meal being better than most transatlantic offerings that United, US Airways, KLM and Delta dare to serve passengers.



In Istanbul I had little time on the ground, barely enough to transit, stop at the lounge for a water and head to the boarding gate.



It got dark just the moment we taxied to the runway. As we were gaining altitude the sun rose again giving us a mere 10 minutes of sun - right in time as we were passing downtown Istanbul for some photo opportunities. During the four hour flight we passed the oil fields of Northern Irak which in the night are clearly marked by the towers burning excess natural gas - a byproduct of the oil production industry.

We arrived on time and with hand luggage only I made a dash to the visa counter to buy my visa on the spot. The cab ride through the night was a pleasant one although the driver tried to overcharge a lot before even asking where to go - a reoccurring theme for the entire weekend.



The hotel was good with brand new Samsung everything: A/C unit, flatscreen TV, fridge, microwave, ... Even the toaster and coffeemaker were Samsung-branded. Unfortunately they came with the wrong power plug and have never been used. I turned on the A/C to cool down the room a bit before getting some more sleep. Some 40+ degrees at night are not too pleasant to sleep.

Quite a few things happened over the last two weeks and I decided put the bank holiday next week to a good use and fly somewhere fun. The good last minute deals were already taken and with the ash cloud looming on the horizon it was clear that I'd stay in Europe or fly east. Miles&More award tickets were booked like I haven't seen it in months ruling out that option (although I'd love to sample the new Swiss Business and First long-haul product).
After some research Tallinn ended up on my radar due to a good weather forecast and interesting/affordable routings. It's off the beaten track meaning accommodation wouldn't skyrocket over the weekend. But then I figured the very flights I am interested in will be rescheduled in a few weeks for more time at the destination.

Thanks to my own flight searching tool I discovered a cheap Hamburg to Muscat, Oman fare. I've been waiting for a few days and finally saw availability drop so far that prices increased. The segment that increased the overall price was the last leg home from Istanbul. I tried a few diversions - i.e. through London - and was hoping to enjoy a long-haul Boeing 777 instead of a regional jet but failed to find availability on the London-Hamburg leg. A few seconds later I got back to the Tallinn deal. What's amazing about the Tallinn trip on Estonia Air is that they actually fly Hamburg-Berlin-Tallinn - most likely so that they could pick up passengers in both Hamburg and Berlin to make the route profitable. With less passengers on the German domestic leg I knew I could score a cheap ticket. I altered my Turkish Airlines routing on the way home from Muscat so that I'll be in Berlin with a few hours to spare before my short hop to Hamburg.



I just love it when things come together like this; a nice weekend and a few aviation highlights on the way.

While leisurely surfing the usual travel sites I noticed that I failed to scout out a decent last-day-of-summer-schedule trip. Usually the cheap summer tourist airlines sell off the seats on their last service of the year cheap. Who would want to fly out to a Mediterranean beach destination in the end of October without a chance to grab a seat back a week later? Well, I happily grab that outbound seat and find myself another cheap seat back home. In this case there were several opportunities on Germanwings/TUIfly to Croatia due to the way they rotate their aircraft (i.e. flying Hannover-Split-Hamburg-Split-Hannover).
I was too late to grab a cheap (as in 19.99 Euro) daytrip to and from Split (SPU) I decided to give Zagreb and Zadar a try. It turned out that I could fly home out of Zagreb late night. In addition Croatia Airlines has a dirt cheap (37 Euro) fare between those cities connecting in Dubrovnik.


For a total of 87 Euro I'll have a day in Split and a few fun flights around Croatia. I could resist booking Business Class (just a 50 Euro premium) on Croatia Airlines, though.

Now there are already at least three folks from one airline geek website booked on the Hannover-Split flight.

With the mileage run needs satisfied for the next two years I started looking for interesting intra-European weekend trips. Thanks to pricing errors, 40 Euro off vouchers, rebate codes and sometimes pure luck I've been able to secure myself a few flights.



Bologa
Wikitravel calls Bologna the nation's food capital and beautiful - only second to Venice. So two good reasons to fly there for a weekend.

Dubrovnik
A few days ago I came home and did my usual scouting for cheap fares when I found a 249 Euro trip to Dubrovnik. Sure, that's not cheap at all but I got interested in the flight times for a weekend trip and went to the Austrian website. There, the same route with perfect flight times was advertised as a 154 Euro deal. I continued to Expedia where I would save the ticket service charge (yet another 10 Euro off) and receive some cashback. In the sub-150 Euro range this trip moved into the worth doing range, esp. since weather should be amazing in June.

Basel
Late in the year this is somehow a I wanted to fly that route at some point trip while also visiting Basel. With Basel/Mulhouse airport being a low cost carrier (LCC) hub I might find myself hop on one of those less-than-10-Euro deals to an odd destination, though.

Yet another day of mileage running. This time it is a bit more compressed with a redeye (overnight) flight back from the West Coast to the East Coast. I should be in Minneapolis before 10AM the next morning leaving me enough time to relax and prepare for my return to Germany.



My scheduled flight to Chicago was delayed due to bad weather in the Chicago region. About an hour after we boarded we were allowed to deboard the plane if we promise to be back 20 minutes later. Lots of people rushed out to fix their connection issues. With the ticketing desks flooded with people I turned to the Red Carpet Club where there was no line. Since Minneapolis has a direct Denver flight I jumped on that. Instead of connecting to Denver in Chicago I would simply fly the direct route.



I arrived in Denver just in time to board my flight to Spokane, Washington. Scenery-wise this was the most impressive flight as we left the high plains in the Denver area, crossed the Rocky Mountains which were still covered with snow and eventually made it to the Pacific Northwest region. In Spokane the plane was turned around with an hour and I flew straight back. The crew was changed so they did not give me strange looks for turning around immediately.






Once again I was in Denver, heading upstairs to the lounge for a minute before boarding the next flight. This time I would be flying to San Diego. The flight was long enough to warrant dinner service - yet another steak salad for me. In San Diego I had plenty of time to go landside, change terminals and find out that there is no usable lounge in the US terminal. With free WiFi the situation could have been worse but as the jet lag kicked in I was happy to hear the boarding announcement. I planned on trying out the in-flight WiFi on the way to Charlotte but since I just served the web for two hours I simply slept for most of the flight. The US Airways First Class service has nothing First Class about it thus all I really missed was probably a few runs with the snack basket. Some four hours later I woke up when we approached Charlotte.
With only one flight to bring me home to Minneapolis my mileage runs were coming to an end. I was well rested but simply wanted to shower. I Minneapolis I took the shuttle to the Holiday Inn Express where I've been staying before. I left my bag there and was hoping to get a decent rate for a dayroom (as promised by the night staff). The best they could offer was $139 plus taxes for around five hours. I declined, popped open my laptop and fired up Hotwire hoping to score a cheap deal for the Holiday Inn. After all for the last days I was paying $49 for the very same place through Hotwire. I ended up calling the nearby Comfort Inn which offered me a $59 rate including taxes and allowed me to check in at 10AM. I took a shower and slept for two hours before preparing for my journey home. I thought about going to the Mall of America again or raid the Walmart next door for cheap DVDs and candy but decided to skip those options.

As mentioned before I was crazy enough to spend the better part of three days on planes zipping across the continental United States. The only purpose of the trip being to collect frequent flyer miles. As First Class earns triple miles it was only reasonable to do this in style.



The first day I left my hotel in the Minneapolis airport area at 5:30AM and was in the United Red Carpet Club lounge at the airport well before the scheduled flight to Charlotte. On board a few drinks were served along with a few snacks from the snack basket ... that's what they call a First Class breakfast at US Airways.



In Charlotte we were delayed on the ground due to a mechanical problem. A cover on one of the exit doors in Economy Class was missing. They could not find a spare part in Charlotte. Luckily a passenger found the cover underneath a seat and we were off to Phoenix with a delay of about two hours. This meant that lots of people would miss their connection - as would I. At the last minute a gate agent gave a stack of boarding passes to one of the flight attendants. During flight the flight attendant distributed those roughly thirty passes to passengers who have been rebooked. I did not not receive anything.

Lunch was served during the flight and I went with the chicken salad option. Basically it is a salad topped with a huge chuck chicken with a bit of BBQ sauce. As a personal touch the flight agent emptied a bag of the US Airways snack mix over the salad. Adding a bit of crunch it wasn't bad but then I wonder what happens to people with allergies to nuts.





Once we arrived in Phoenix I went to the transfer center to sort out my connecting flight issue. My flight already left and they proposed to rebook me on two Southwest flights via Las Vegas to bring me to Spokane at around 10PM. My original routing via Seattle wouldn't have brought me there faster but then I'd also have a 5+ hour connection in Seattle which would have allowed me to revisit the Pike Market. Adding Southwest to my ticket with a 45 minute connection in Las Vegas wasn't something I was looking for. I already feared that US Airways would act up when it comes to rebooking situations on my United Airlines tickets so adding another low cost carrier to the mix surely won't make it easier. I told the agent that I have to intentions of ever arriving in Spokane as I am on a mileage run. She well understood the situation and rebooked me on a direct flight to Denver. I'd miss out on my Phoenix-Seattle-Spokane-Denver flights but could pick up the mileage run in Denver the next day. It would also allow me to get some sleep in Denver. I was hoping US Airways would issue a hotel voucher right ahead but the Phoenix agent was not allowed to do that for Denver. In Denver I could not find an agent at 11PM and thus decided to take matters into my own hands. I called various hotels inquiring about the United Airlines distress rates and found the Crowne Plaza (great hotel!) at $54 (which I'll get back from someone).

In Phoenix I was lucky (if you want to call that) to experience the earthquake that hit the Baha California region. It was barely an earthquake that far away but at least something to talk about for the next few hours.

Well rested I arrived in Denver the next morning for my flight to Tampa, Florida. The moment I entered the First Class cabin the flight attendant Connie greeted me and offered a drink pre-departure. This would become the best flight on the trip. Before lunch Connie came by thanking me and my seat mate for our business. She greeted us with our names (and remembered them throughout the flight!) and asked for our meal choice to make sure that we as important 100K (United Gold Status) and Star Alliance Gold (me as Lufthansa Senator) members would get our first choice.



The salad is one of the most common staples on United flights I believe. I'd consider it healthy and quality-wise it's quite OK. It could be a bit more pink inside, though. Upon arrival in Tampa I was hoping that Connie would also be the flight attendant for the next flight but she wasn't. The flight to Chicago couldn't be more disappointing. The flight attendant did his job but that was about it.

Just like on every long United flight a bowl of hot nuts was distributed along with a first round of drinks. My usual choice was a Diet Coke with a slice of lime. In this case I didn't get ice nor a lime.



For dinner (yes, the flights were planned so that I'd get a maximum number of meals) I again had the option of a steak salad which I declined in favor of horrible cheese tortellini.



My last flight would take me from Chicago to Minneapolis - usually a 50 minute hop. The moment we were about to push back from the gate lightning struck the terminal building and all working personnel was ordered inside to sit out a thunderstorm that was unfolding above the Chicago airport. United planes have a nice feature which allows passengers to listen in to the communication between the aircraft and Air Traffic Controllers (ATC). Over that channel 9 it soon became obvious that the airport came to a halt. We sat on the tarmac for about an hour before we were pushed back. I could see lots of planes passing us. Every one of them basically means another two minute delay while lining up for take-off. The female pilot asked ATC if she could take another runway to get around a bit of weather. She was allowed to do so and turned around on a taxiway and probably saving us 15 minutes or more.
Throughout the flight we experiences some mild turbulences and had a nice lightning show going on outside. Soon we arrived in Minneapolis and I called the courtesy shuttle to my hotel where I'd spend the next four to five hours before heading out for the next set of flights.

I had my last day on the old job the day before and checked in for my flights on Lufthansa to Frankfurt and connecting to an overbooked United flight to Chicago. I quickly grabbed an exit row seat and followed the online check-in process throughout the day. When the opportunity came I gave up my seat by canceling my check-in. With all seats assigned what should United do to a Star Alliance Gold member? Sure, if somebody is a no show I might end up with a bad Economy middle seat but I was willing to gamble. I arrived at the gate asking for a seat assignment and simply received a departure management card. When boarding started I was called to swap that card for my Business Class seat.

I ended up in a middle seat between to Americans. On the ground I enjoyed some champagne but wasn't satisfied with the quality. I'm not sure that was champagne but could have well been a sparkling wine. United lists a Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs NV Carneros sparkling wine in the handed out menu.




Shortly after take-off a quick stuffing breakfast service was offered. My pancakes were missing maple syrup, though. The entire service including a second coffee run was done within 90 minutes after take-off.



Other breakfast choices were a Swiss cheese omelette with tomato garlic sauce or a chilled deli plate with gruyere cheese (smoked salmon, honey ham, salami, asparagus, egg wedge). My seat neighbors went with those options and both were happy with it although I'd favor the deli plate after I've eaten the pancakes.

The 777 IFE was old and to make things worse had movies loaded that were not listed in the IFE magazine. I got a few hours of real sleep before waking up to a drink service with hot nuts. For lunch I got my first choice: cod topped with a honey ginger sauce and herbed rice and creamed spinach as a side. The spinach was a bit too creamy for my taste. Most passengers went with the filet mignon. At first I was surprised to find my cutlery deep-chilled. Unfortunately the salad was partly frozen with ice crystals on the cucumbers. Appetizer and bun were OK but nothing outstanding for a Business Class product.









The dessert should have been a cheese plate or a passion fruit white chocolate mousse cake. What was shown in the aisle was either some partly pre-packaged cheese or ice cream. The presentation of the ice cream was sub-par and I wonder what happened to the chocolate mousse cake.



Arrival into ORD was a few minutes late but I made up a lot of time on the ground. There was no line for immigration. I made it to the luggage belt only to see that my bag was the first one there. Gate to curbside in less than 15 minutes. Wow! At the Park Hyatt I had my keys within another two minutes but did not score an upgrade there. I won't be spending much time in the room anyway. Outside temperatures were in the low 70ties with a bright sun - just a perfect day.