In September & October 2015, I traveled to Northern Europe & the Baltics. After a day in New York City, I traveled to Glasgow, Scotland to visit friends for a few days, then went to Copenhagen, Denmark via London. From Copenhagen, I flew to Riga, Latvia on Norwegian Airlines, then went from Riga to Tallinn, […]
I rarely write about domestic first class flights because most of them aren’t that great, at least the times I’ve flown. Sure, you get a more comfortable seat and some snacks or perhaps a small meal, but they aren’t worth writing about. This flight was a bit different, as it was the nicest American domestic […]
After landing at Dallas-Fort Worth and easily clearing immigration & customs, I had a couple of hours to kill until my flight to San Francisco. Even though my arrival point and departing flight were not anywhere near the American Express Centurion Lounge in Terminal D, I still had plenty of time to go to it […]
When I’m flying in a premium cabin on an award, I always try to make the main part of my trip as long as possible, so I minimize my time in domestic first class. On my trip back from Europe, I was able to get award availability in first class all the way from London […]
After landing at London Heathrow from Helsinki, I had a bit of a transit to make before I could relax for a couple of hours. London Heathrow is quite possibly one of the worst places on the planet. Security in London is understandably tight, but the airport seems to go out of its way to […]
After visiting the Finnair lounge in Helsinki, it was finally time to start making my way home. My first flight of a long day was between Helsinki and London Heathrow. The sun was rising as I boarded the Airbus A321, treating me to this view. I was sitting in seat 1D (One Direction fans will […]
My time in Europe was over, at least for this trip. I was leaving on an early morning flight from Helsinki airport. Thankfully, the public transportation system was running that early. How early was it? So early that I had a private subway ride from the station near my hotel all the way to the […]
Finland has a strong beer scene, which isn’t surprising since it’s a good place to stay inside & drink for much of the year. Helsinki is filled with fantastic craft beer bars featuring local Finnish beers, as well as breweries from all over the world. While it’s not a huge city, it has a disproportionately high […]
The southern coast of Finland is dotted with thousands of islands. The islands range from small rocks in the sea to larger entities that hold entire towns. Among these larger islands in Helsinki’s harbor is Suomenlinna, which, due to its location, became the home of a large sea fortress in the 18th century. The name Suomenlinna translates […]
Heading to Helsinki, my perception was that the city was fairly large. Perhaps it’s due to my relative familiarity with Finland as a whole compared to other places I hadn’t yet traveled to, including knowing about Finnish stars of sports such as hockey & F1, some familiarity with Finnish technology such as Nokia and Rovio (makers of […]
Whenever I travel and only have a few days in the city, I usually try to stay as close to the city center as possible. For a couple of reasons, I made a slight exception when I visited Helsinki. First, IHG’s Point Breaks promotion was including a Holiday Inn property in West Ruoholahti, an area […]
The easiest way to travel between Tallinn, Estonia & Helsinki, Finland is by ferry, at least for now. There are proposals to build a tunnel between the two nations, but that would take an remarkable engineering feat and many years of construction. Estonia & Finland do have close ties even without a tunnel, so a couple […]
Estonia is a tiny country, but they have a huge craft beer scene. I went there with fairly low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised to find just how many great breweries the country had during my visits to craft beer bars in Tallinn. Here is my guide to the best craft beer in Tallinn: […]
I visited Estonia after having come from Latvia. As I wrote about that part of my trip, the Soviet era was rough for the Baltic states. One gruesome reminder of the Soviet occupation of Estonia is Patarei Prison. Built originally as a sea fortress during the 1800s, Patarei eventually was used as a massive prison by the […]
It didn’t take long for me to start to believe that Tallinn, Estonia is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Upon leaving my hotel, within a 2 minute walk I was in Tallinn’s medieval city center. At times, Tallinn seems almost to pretty to be real. With stone towers, winding cobblestone streets, and […]
