Trip Reports - FInish the 55K run and meeting 2 new FTers.

Sitting at CPH now and since my flight at 18.25 has been cancelled and I am now rebooked until 19.25 I have some time to start writing my trip report.

The trip started early on friday morning and as usual I took the red eye flight which left my home airport at 05.55. That means I had to get up at 04AM which is a bit early for me.

Also as usual I was flying non rev down to the Swedish capital. Our flight this morning was a little bit late due to mechanical problem and for a while I thought I would miss my connecting flight which would have been a very big problem since I really needed my two LH segments later that day.

After sitting in the aircraft for about 15-20 minutes we where finally ready for departure and I arrived in Stockholm well ahead of time.

At Arlanda there was alot of people so I choosed to use the self service check in which I think works great, cant believe why not everyone uses them.

After check in it was time for the lounge visit where I got something to drink and had a chance to check my emails once again.

The Scandinavian Direct flight down to CPH was just as expected. Left Arlanda on time and arrived in CPH on time. On board I had my 2nd breakfast for the day(almost the same meal as I got from my home airport). In CPH I headed straight for the lounge where I was going to meet Mr Lounghauler who was going on my trip to complete his 55 run. I was sitting in the Scandinavian Lounge and I couldnt find anyone looking like a Mr Longhauler, so what did I do? About 25 minutes before departure I thought it was time to start going to the gate.

At the gate I saw someone who was looking for someone. We looked at each other for a few seconds and then Mr Longhauler asked me if I was Kempis and I said yes. He had already arranged so we sat next to each other on the samll CRJ jet to Munich.

So what did I think about this flight?
I am used to travel on small aircrafts since most of the flights to my home is this summer operated by small Dash aircrafts.

I did like the aircraft and we got a sandwhich and drinks onboard. Arrival in Munich on time and then it was time for bus transportation to the terminal.

In MUC we headed for another lounge. We thought that we should test the LH Senator Lounge and I was first denied entry since I wasnt a LH Senator, I was only Air Canada Star Gold. I didnt feel like starting the day to argue so I Mr Longhauler took me in as his guest. The lounge where very crowded and we only stayed a few seconds since we couldnt find anywhere to sit so we choosed the Business lounge instead which had a few seats open.

Question about the lounge entry.
Shouldnt I be allowed as Star Gold?

Our aircraft to Paris was also a small one but atleast a bit bigger then the first one. On this flight we where also served a sandwhich with a variaty of cold and hot drinks. Flight also on time and the flight itself was nothing much to write home about.

So what about Paris?
Since this was a pure mileage run trip we didnt have time to see much, but we had planed on atleast se something. Did we do that? More about that later.

Since both me and Mr Longhauler wanted to qualify for the 50K promo that Hilton offers we choosed to stay at Hilton Orly Airport. Maybe not the best option if you arrive to CDG but those points http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

We took a bus from CDG to ORY and before our trip I had read online that the trip was suppose to take 50 minutes. Did it take that? No, the bus trip on friday afternoon/evening took about 2.5 hours..

We finally arrived at the Hilton Orly and while I checked in I asked about if it was possible to upgrade. She said I was already in the Hilton Hhonors room and I said fine.

I was surpries that the Hilton Hhonors room was on the 2nd floor while Mr Longhauler who has no status with Hilton so far got a room on the 5th floor.

So was my 2nd floor room better then 5th floor room?
Yes it was actually. I did have a computer on the room(didnt use it though), a bigger room and some FREE mineral water and wine. First I time I see that Hilton offers free Wine.

Later that evening we wook the bus/metro down to Saint Michel which was an area I almost feel in love with. Alot of nice small restaurants and I got the feeling about the Old Town in Stockholm. We found a nice place to eat, a three course dinner for just 15EURO.

We we had finish the dinner it was too late to go back with bus/metro to the airport. So what did we do? We asked a person at the metro station and he adviced use that we should take the metro/train to a place I cant remember and then take a taxi from there.

Was that really a good idea?
No, when we finally arrived at our final destination(which was in the middle of nowhere, atleast it felt like that) it was dark and no taxi at all. What to do now? We walked for a few minutes and we didnt see anyone around.

After a short walk we find something called Air France industries and finally we saw a living person. We asked him if he could call for a taxi which he did and it arrived a few minutes later.

End of part I since its time for me to get something to eat and the head for the gate.

What will be in part II? Our 2nd day in Paris, the near miss on the bus, a cafe in Vienna(what did we do there?), flying Austrian Airline for the first time in a few years, train in CPH, leaving Mr Longhauler, staying at Scandic Malmo and getting back home.

Stay tune and dont miss Part II.

After reading this message, I realized Kempis and I are sitting in the same lounge and I then went on hunting for a target near any computer terminals and I quickly found a match!

The first FTer I met on this trip and I guess a 3rd for Kempis!

Nice meeting you Guava. Have a nice flight back home.

kempis,

Sorry I missed you in Paris - I think that by the time you had arrived in centre ville, I was already too drunk, so perhaps just as well.

maybe next time
Stewie

Thanks kempis for nice trip report, good you can remember it all.

For details about kempis's warm welcome in Senator Lounge MUC please see above link.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum32/HTML/001181.html

By check in at Hilton, the staff saw that I looked with big eyes on Mr. Kempis' flashy and shining Gold VIP Card. and the caring staff told me that "You can also have a card, it's called Hilton Honors" Really ! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Seems like Hilton Orly also added a 4th benefit for their gold customers : Parking Lot View. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
But they did offer a fantastic breakfast.

Looking forward to the second part of this 55555 round trip report...

Thank you very much for a very detailed and enjoyable report. Just a few comments should you (hopefully) come back to Paris http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

- going from CDG to ORY by bus, on a Friday afternoon in July, when so many French people leave for holiday and when so many foreigners go around Paris, well, actually 2.5 hours is not that bad ...

- the ORY Hilton has no Executive floor, so you are upgraded to rooms on the second floor. The nicer and bigger ones are located at both ends of the corridor. You also get turn down service, some chocolates or Calissons d'Aix. On a week-end rate, you automatically get a blue coupon for full breakfast and yes, the 89 Euro rate is hard to beat, especially if you compare it to the CDG Hilton rates. What is not spontaneously offered to Gold VIPs is the brown coupon which gives you, on standard rates, a continental breakfast. But there is no problem if you ask, just some consultation with other staff members.

- going back from Saint Michel to the ORY Hilton, you had two choices, and unfortunately, you were given the lesser one. You obviously took the RER C line without any transfer to the Orly Rail train station, which is in the middle of nowhere. During the day, there is usually a bus to bring you the terminals (walking is absolutely not an option). Had you taken, from the same station , the RER B line, you would have gone to the Antony station and then transferred to the VAL monorail which leads to ORY West.

Looking forward to reading part II http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JOUY31:
Had you taken, from the same station , the RER B line, you would have gone to the Antony station and then transferred to the VAL monorail which leads to ORY West.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

I think we were told that the monorail didn't operate at late hours (23:50) Does it ??

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by The-Longhauler:
I think we were told that the monorail didn't operate at late hours (23:50) Does it ??
</font>

Actually, you are right and you were given good advice, as the last VAL departure from Antony is scheduled at 23:00, although the last train to Antony leaves from Saint Michel at 00:46. Also, the last Orlybus from Denfert Rochereau to Orly leaves at 23:05 and the last Air France Bus from Invalides to Orly leaves at 23:00.

I might nevertheless have tried going to Antony and finding a taxi there, although it might have been more expensive, as I find the Pont de Rungis railway station, at best, bleak, even in daytime.

On request here is the part II of my 55K run. It’s been almost two weeks since the run was completed so I could have forgot somethings…

I woke up on Saturday morning and had a very nice and big breakfast at Hilton Orly Airport before it was time to start flying back to Scandinavia again.

We took the Hilton shuttle to the airport and there we would connect with a bus to CDG airport. For a while me and The longhauler thought we would miss our flight out CDG since we missed the first bus with a few seconds. Lucky the next bus did arrive sooner then we expected and we made it on time to CDG.

On CDG we where surprised when we saw that the flight was a codeshare together with AF. I didn’t believe that OS and AF did have a co-operation but I guess I was wrong. Check in for the Vienna flight was done by Air France and they gave us a very nice seat on the exit room with tons of legroom’s. We did use the business class check in which I think was the reason for those great seats.

The flight to Vienna was nothing to write home about, just a normal European flight. I still haven’t decided if I love or hate the Austrian very red uniforms.

In Vienna we had a few hours wait and we where also suppose to meet yet another Flyertalk who had also been on a 55K run. Zhuu (Flyertalker from Riga, Latvia) did meet us by our gate with a big sign Flyertalk. We went to the first lounge we could see and we sat and talked for a while before Zhuu had to catch his flight back to Stockholm. It was very nice to meet Zhuu and I hop he will have time to participate more on FT in the future.

Since we still had a few hours before our Copenhagen flight left we decided we should visit downtown Vienna which we did. We took the airport bus to central Vienna (stops right by the Hilton Vienna) . The weather was just amazing and I fell in love with Vienna right away. A very beautiful town I gotta visit for real one day. We did pass a Ferrari store but since it was Saturday they where closed so I couldn’t ask if they did accept Diners Club J

We also had time to sit in a very nice café and relax for about an hour before it was time to head back to the airport. The bus did only take around 20 minutes if I recall correctly.

In the lounge we had asked about getting those exit seats again but the agent did put us in the wrong row but we didn’t mind since the flight wasn’t so long.

After arrival in Copenhagen I did follow The Longhauler till his departure gate for his GOT flight. He was suppose to travel a few hours later but he manage to rebook his flight at the gate.

After saying goodbye I took the train to Malmö to visit a friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Every time I travel on the new bridge between Denmark and Sweden I think it’s an amazing peace of art. In Malmö I checked in at Scandic ST Jörgen. Nice rate but I didn’t get all those benefits a Hilton Gold VIP card should get but that’s another story.

On Sunday morning I did have a big typical Scandinavian breakfast before it was time to check out from the hotel and meet me friend. After a few hours in Malmö it was time to start getting back to the north parts of Sweden.
Train back to Copenhagen airport where I found out my flight to Stockholm had been cancelled and I was rebooked on the next flight. For a moment I was hoping that they might would need volunteers but they didn’t need anyone L

That’s part II of the trip report. I did earn two times 55555 points and where will I put those? For the moment it looks like NH and AC. NH you might ask yourself? NH=Ana which is the Japanese Star Alliance member.

I hop you enjoyed this report and let me know when you are in Sweden, Stockholm and we could have a FT dinner.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kempis:

That’s part II of the trip report. I did earn two times 55555 points and where will I put those? For the moment it looks like NH and AC. NH you might ask yourself? NH=Ana which is the Japanese Star Alliance member.

I hop you enjoyed this report and let me know when you are in Sweden, Stockholm and we could have a FT dinner.</font>


Kempis, you might want to be careful when earing points with NH. Although their redemption is pretty good, one of the lowest cost ratio among all Star carriers, their points expire after 24 months from the date it was credited to your account unless you retain their top tier status. So if you don't plan on cumulating other miles with NH, you should keep in mind the redeeming power of 55,000 miles is limited despite the somewhat better than average 'buying power' of NH miles.

I enjoyed Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Norway was breathtaking, incredibly advanced and environmental friendly while I felt people in Sweden was among the kindest that I have encountered. I didn't like Copenhagen nor the people there, the city was relatively dirty, a bit chaotic and worse, I had not so plesant experience with locals there, definitely not as friendly as Norwegians or Swedes.

The SAS flights - Scandinavian Direct was pretty good for a one-class service flight. I had a business class ticket booked in D class and SAS told me there is no more C/D class within Scandiavia so they asked me to write to customer relations for a refund.

Oh, I even bought a book called: "Swedish Mentality" After the visit, I become even more curious about the culture and mentality of Sweden and Scandinavia as a whole. My observation is that there are noticible differences in mentality between the 3 countries even though the cultures and histories are tightly interlinked. Stockholm is trully one of the most beautiful cities in Europe that I agree with the tour guides there.

I have a question though - what language is being used on SAS flights within Scandinavia? You can tell I don't speak any of them but I can't figure out what language they use in the cabin announcements when departing from Norway or Sweden and frankly, I was thinking they would broadcast in at least 2 Scandinavian languages other than English but there is only one other than English. That's interesting.

Guava, I'm glad you liked Sweden and Norway! I guess you were unlucky in Denmark. To answer your question: the announcements are made in "Scandinavian", basically the language of the speaker but with an effort to use words and pronounciation that is easy to understand for the rest. Usually, it's no problem to understand.

They usually just use their own laguage. Most people will understand Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. However, some dialects are quite difficult to understand, and people living in border areas tend to understand different languages better. So announcements are made in one scandinavian language and english.