swingaling

Belavia
Economy Class
B2 804: VNO-MSQ (Vilnius to Minsk)
27 April 2018
Canadair CRJ-200 (One Class Configuration)
EW-277PJ
Seat 2D
Departure: 08:40PM
Arrival: 09:15PM

The city bus arrived back at VNO without any issues and I was quickly inside the building. The arrivals area of the terminal was formerly the entire airport terminal building. The airport has been expanded in recent years, but they retained the old building and its facade, which I admire. It provides a window into what flying into VNO might have looked like 50 years ago.

The old terminal building was designed in the Soviet style of built in the early 1950s. The new departure terminal was built in 1993.


I had to wait for the Belavia check-in counter to open, as I could not get a BP through their OLCI system. Since I'd purchased my ticket as a one-way, they wanted to verify that I had an onward/return ticket. I told the agent that I did have one, but he did not ask to see it, which was a bit strange. I suspect there aren't many people sneaking into Belarus and overstaying tourist visas.

Boarding pass in hand, I proceeded through security to the lounge. By that time, I was fairly starving, so I made a snack of the various foods in the lounge. Priority Pass came in handy once again. After grazing on snacks, I decided to hunt down something more substantive and I settled on a restaurant near the gate area. Had a ham and cheese panini, which was decent. But a little heavy on the mayo for my taste.


After that, I had to scurry to my gate, which was in the non-Schengen area. Passing through immigration was a breeze and I was in the gate area with time to spare. While waiting for my plane to arrive, I saw this incongruous sight parked on the tarmac.

It isn't often one sees Sky Angkor Airlines plane in this part of the world. Wonder if was here on a charter flight? I can't imagine VNO-REP could possibly be a viable route...


This was my first flight on the fabled and admired Belavia. I'd been looking forward to this flight for years, so you can imagine my excitement when the time finally came to board.

The first glimpse of our mighty CRJ-200.


Did I mention this is a former United Express plane? The irony is delicious, I must say.


EW-277PJ
The interior of the plane definitely showed its age. Looked like it hadn't been refreshed at any point. It still had the English signage common on US domestic regional planes.


Unfortunately, I did not have the row to myself. Seated next to me was a middle aged Belorussian lady who absolutely reeked of cigarettes. Great. Evidently she also didn't believe in an equitable distribution of armrest and leg space. She immediately tried to capture the entire middle armrest for herself, then she manspread her legs into my leg space.

As a seasoned flyer, I've encountered this before. I quickly reclaimed my territorial losses and she behaved herself for the rest of the flight. The remainder of the flight went by without any incidents. We landed at a remote stand and took a quick bus ride to the terminal.

Upon entering the terminal building, I made the mistake of going upstairs to get a visa. Somehow I had it in my head that I needed to get a visa on arrival. That is not the case. Travel to Belarus via MSQ only, is now visa free for 5 days. Pretty nifty!


So I went back downstairs to the immigration area and purchased the requisite health insurance for 2 Euros. I then proceeded to ask the nearby immigration officer if I needed a customs declaration card. She insisted that I did not need one unless I was transiting MSQ to/from the Russian federation. I found that a bit strange, but I heeded her advice and presented myself to passport inspection.

The line was quite short, but the immigration officer scrutinized my passport intensely. In fact, this was by far the most through passport verification I've ever undergone. Aside from the UV light and electronic passport reader, the officer also had a magnifying loupe
which he used to examine my passport in minute detail.

Once he was satisfied that my passport was genuine, we allowed me to enter and I was off to the hotel for the night. I took a cab from the cab stand, which was a mistake. I'd have been much better off getting an Uber instead. I was aware this might happen, but that's the price one pays for convenience in a foreign country. Live and learn.

The BMW X5 taxi had me at my hotel in no time (40 minutes at that time of night).

swingaling

Minsk Doubletree Hotel
Standard King Room

Hotel facade in daylight.


Oligarch Parking Only
I got the distinct feeling that the oligarch class stays in this hotel.


Check-in was a breeze and I was presented with this cookie upon arrival. It was still warm too! Unfortunately, it had clearly been sitting in a warming box for hours and by the time I arrived it was hard as a rock. It tasted fine, but it was way too hard for me.


The room


Escape Plans
In case of the need for a self-rescue, the hotel had a handy printed card in the closet. Never seen something quite this detailed. That said, I looked around and I could not find the self-rescue equipment, so I'm not sure how useful this card would be in an emergency anyhow...


The View
A view of a bunch of Soviet era architecture and the former tallest building in the country. Photos taken at night and the following morning.


By this time, I was still hungry again. I hadn't eaten much all day, since I'd been walking around looking at Vilnius. So I decided that I should give room service a try. I went with a burger and the kids fruit salad. Overall, it was quite good. No complaints whatsoever. I did find it strange that they would not add the room service charge to my room bill. I had to pay for that separately with a credit card.


I went to bed shortly thereafter, but had a hard time sleeping because the room was so hot (roughly 77F). The air conditioning was clearly not working. Not wanting to mess around with the front desk and a repairman, I was able to crank open the window and get a cool breeze into the room. Not sure if they hadn't yet turned on the AC for the season yet, or what, but I was extremely relieved that the window opened and let cool air in. I slept quite well after that.

So well, that I overslept my alarm by an hour. That left me with only an hour to get ready, pack and have breakfast before my tour. I got ready in record time and went to breakfast on the 7th floor.

Breakfast
I was really impressed with the breakfast offering here. It wasn't quite on par with what one might get at a large 5-star hotel in Asia, but the buffet was very good. Huge variety of meats, breads, pastries, yogurt, smoothies, eggs, waffles, juices, etc. And everything I ate tasted really good. My guide later told me that the Doubletree was known for the best breakfast in the city. I believe it. On top of that, the buffet was included in the (quite cheap) room rate, so it was quite a good deal. Especially when places like the Hotel Telegraaf in Tallinn want to charge 35 Euros for a breakfast buffet (no thanks).


I skipped the scrambled eggs because they were far too runny, but everything else looked and tasted great. That roll is a Scottish roll. Not sure why it's Scottish; it's just a bun with caramelized onions in the dough.

Checking out was quick and painless and I was out the door at 8:55 to meet my guide for the morning.

swingaling

Minsk, Belarus

Minsk is a huge city, in terms of total area. It's triple the size of Paris and everything is built on a massive scale. Like Paris, the architecture tends to build horizontally instead of vertically. As a result, it's not practical to walk the city. Driving is far more practical and it's a pretty good city for driving.

That said, Minsk appears to have some of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. In any event, my tour guide collected me at the appointed time and off we went to see the sights.



Presidential Palace




Unnamed Wealthy Enclave


Soviet-esque Apartment Blocks
Terrible construction quality. They're already falling apart only 15-20 years after construction. That's cut rate Serbian construction for you...


Trinity Suburb


Island of Tears
War memorial to those killed in Afghanistan in the 1980s.


Memorial to those who came back with PTSD and later died from suicide and alcoholism.




Absolutely hideous monstrosity built by a close friend of the President of Belarus




Former synagogue near Lenin Square


Lenin Square


Stalinist Architecture



Belarus KGB Building
The KGB is still quite active in Belarus




Soviet Cafe near Victory Square


Victory Square


Gorky Park


Residence of Lee Harvey Oswald


Meeting place of the first communist congress




The President's son likes Harleys


National Library
Over 1,000 people work here. It also happens to be one of the ugliest buildings in the world.


Building shaped like a ship




Lenin Taking a Dump?


Example of pre-Soviet traditional architecture
Not much survives, as there doesn't seem to be much regard to architectural preservation in Belarus.


Art Institute Building
Probably my favorite building. This beautiful and evocative facade now sits above a KFC.



Street Art
The street art seems confined to a very small area. Street art that is put elsewhere simply gets painted over. Gives the city a very sterile feel.



Beautiful mosaics on these apartment buildings


Train Station
The tour concluded here at the train station. Afterwards, I had a bit of time to kill before I had to go to the airport, so I made my way to the nearby Galileo shopping mall.


Vasilki Restaurant
There's a restaurant on the third (fourth?) floor that serves authentic Russian food, so I went there for lunch. I had chicken/pork dumplings, which were good. Though there were a bit bland.

swingaling

Belavia
Economy Class
B2 841: MSQ-RIX (Minsk to Riga)
28 April 2018
Canadair CRJ-100 (One Class Configuration)
EW-100PJ
Seat 7D
Departure: 04:35PM
Arrival: 05:35PM

Airport Arrival
As we approached MSQ, I could start to see how ugly it really is. Although seeing these two old birds on display was pretty cool.



In the foreground, is EW-85581, a retired Belavia Tupolev Tu-154B-2. Next to it is EW-76709, a retired Transaviaexport Cargo Airline Ilyushin Il-76TD. Behind those are a collection of old Russian planes (An-24, Tu-134 and a Yak-40).



About Boarding Passes
I always complete OLCI when possible. Despite that, I also go to the counter to collect a paper boarding pass. Aside from the fact that a paper BP is more convenient than a mobile BP, I also like to have a physical memento of the flight. So, I've been collecting all my BPs for some time now. That said, I much prefer to have the entire BP for my collection, so it irks me when a gate agent rip my BP on the serration and hands me back just a small stub.

On my previous Belavia flight, the GA did just that. She tore my BP and gave me the stub to keep. Well, this time around I vowed that would not happen. So, I went to the Belavia check-in desk and got my BP; I also had a mobile BP downloaded from the Belavia website. I then proceeded through security and immigration. Security, by the way, is quite slow because they only allow one person into the secure area at a time. Everyone else must queue outside the secure area. Luckily, there was no line, so I was through quickly. But it's not the most efficient system. It's also slightly confusing because it's not the normal way things are done elsewhere.

Anyway, after proceeding to the secure area, I bought some duty free chocolate and went to the lounge. The lounge was utterly unremarkable and quite crowded. Food and drink selection were mediocre at best. So I spent some time there then just went to my gate wait for my flight to board.

Boarding
When the time came to board, the GA asked for my BP. It just so happens that the GA was the same employee who manned the check-in counter, so she was fully aware that I had a paper BP. When asked for my BP, I presented the mobile pass. She asked for the paper but I played dumb and it worked! She allowed me to board, even though I did have the paper she so desperately wanted (bureaucratic nonsense, I assume). So I have a fully intact BP for this flight. It's the small things in life that bring me joy. But I digress.

In my boarding pass retention excitement, I was truly unprepared for what would follow. I was on the shuttle bus waiting for the rest of the pax to load for the short drive to the plane. I'm casually waiting when this middle aged Belorussian woman boards the bus and immediately I'm overcome by a powerful stench of body odor. It smelled like garlicky, oniony, haven't showered in three days, then ran 10 miles in a huge overcoat type of body odor. It was horrendous and overpowering. I just hoped she wasn't seated next to me.

Fresh air (for now)!


Drink it in, boys. This is the last fresh air you'll get for the next hour or so.


As luck would have it, the woman in question was seated several rows ahead of me. But every so often her powerfully offensive stench would waft back towards me and I'd be momentarily overcome with the desire to vomit. It was so bad that I started to become paranoid that I was, in fact, the cause of the stench. A ridiculous proposition, but since I'd last showered right before bed the night before, I was understandably concerned that my seat mate would think I was the source of the funk.

In fact, my paranoia go so bad that I hit the bathroom immediately upon landing at RIX in order to assess whether or not I stank. Luckily, I was indeed not the source of the smell. But, wow, what an unpleasant flight. I really hope someone said something to her because it was just awful.

Anyway, we eventually landed in RIX and deplaned without further incident.
Our ex-Mesa Airlines jet in all her majesty.


Aircraft Storage Yard
RIX has a very cool collection of former Soviet military aircraft stored on the airport grounds. Some MiGs and an enormous chopper.


Anyway, I was through immigration in no time and caught a cab to the hotel in Riga Old Town.

bitterproffit

I am enjoying these pictures a lot. I have never seen pictures of Minsk before. Very cool, thanks.

DanielW

A whirlwind trip through Europe, swingaling! Were you tempted to just overland the Baltic countries since they're so close to each other though? Helsinki and Tallinn is connected by good ferry services too.

Hezu

The actual explanation is that this plane belongs to Lithuanian airline Small Planet and they have been (wet?) leasing some planes to Sky Angkor Airlines and apparently this particular A320 has just recently returned from Asia. Some hints about this are that despite the airline livery you don't expect to see in this part of world, the plane has Lithuanian registration code and also the tail painting looks also pretty similar to the tail of the other plane next to it which has Small Planet's own livery.

And no, I did not know this in advance, but reading this part of the trip report triggered my need to investigate and after few simple Internet searches I found the information and decided to finally turn from a FT lurker to poster...

swingaling

During my research for this trip, I also struggled to find much information on Minsk. I didn't have much of an idea what to expect either. My grandfather went there about 10 years ago, but he's since passed so I couldn't ask him about his experiences there. Ultimately, it wasn't too hard to figure stuff out and getting around was probably only moderately difficult. The language and alphabetical barrier is the hardest aspect of it.

I did find that Minsk and Belarus in general is really not setup for tourists. The people were perfectly friendly, but the tourism industry there is nascent at best. For instance, buying a bus ticket to the airport using an electronic kiosk is pretty difficult. The kiosks are in English and Russian, so should be a breeze, right? Well the problem is that when you switch to English, and search for your destination, the word "air" or "airport" yields no results. Basically, you'd need to use the Cyrillic to buy a ticket unless you're bilingual and know how they call the airport in the English translation of the Russian.

Luckily, the ticket counter agents know the word airport, so it's manageable.

I considered it, but the rail and bus lines are not so fast and I really do like to fly. Additionally, frequencies are excellent on many of these short routes, so flying is quite convenient. The one exception would have been Vilnius to Minsk. Belavia has fairly poor frequencies and their flight schedules don't really match up with other carriers very well. I would have seriously considered a train from Vilnius to Minsk, but I couldn't do that without a visa. The Belarus visa free travel scheme is valid only to/from MSQ airport. Complicating it further was the fact that I could not enter Belarus by transiting Russia either, as they are a common customs area, so flights between Russia and Belarus are considered domestic (which would require a transit visa). When AY begins its HEL-MSQ service next month, connectivity into Belarus will be MUCH more convenient.

That said, I seriously considered travelling from Tallinn to Helsinki via ferry. In the original trip configuration, I was going to Tallinn at the end of the trip and would then take a ferry to Helsinki. I was all set to do that, but then C space with AA filled up on TATL flights (via FRA instead of ZRH), so I had to move the entire trip one week earlier to find the appropriate C space. This threw off the flight schedules, which open up a bit in May, and so I had to rearrange the order of countries to make the flights work. That meant no ferry to Tallinn. In addition, the fast ferry to Tallinn is currently not running (down for maintenance, I think), so the ride would have been roughly 3 hours each way.

I did strongly consider a trip to St. Petersburg via ferry, as one can enter Russia there without a visa (via the St. Peter Line only from HEL or TLL). It was very tempting, but a bit pricey and ultimately I would've had to drop 1-2 other countries. Luckily, BOS-HEL tickets tend to be really cheap, so I'm planning to go back and take the cruise to St. Petersburg at some point in the future. I'd like to see Moscow and Kaliningrad as well, so I may just end up going through the hassle of a visa anyway.

As a US passport holder, I've heard the process can be incredibly painful. When my grandfather went to Russia 10-15yrs ago, he wanted to take photographs inside some architecturally interesting government buildings and it was an enormous hassle arranging the visa for it. Even with the assistance of a Russian fixer. Pakistan, in contrast, was far easier for him to get. Although, it did make him a little uncomfortable when some of the employees at his hotel addressed him as Mr. Jerusalem...

Thank you for that tidbit! Seeing that plane at VNO was quite the incongruity, but your explanation does make sense. I didn't even think to check the tail number of the plane, so kudos to you for that bit of sleuthing! Welcome to FT!

swingaling

Hotel Bergs Riga
Standard Studio

This hotel is consistently highly rated, so when I found a very cheap rate with HotelQuickly, I decided to give it a shot. There are a number of good chain hotels in Riga, but the location of Hotel Bergs seemed ideal for my purposes. Overall, I was quite happy with my stay here.

Cab ride to the hotel


Entryway
Yes, that 25L Tom Bihn bag is my only piece of luggage for a week long trip. And, no, it's not even nearly full (5.5kg total weight).


Bathroom


Hallway


Dining Area and Wetbar


Living Area and Bedroom


View
This is the courtyard abutting the front entrance to the hotel. It's part of Berg's Bazaar, a collection of shops all housed within a single city block with an interior courtyard connecting them.


Welcome Biscuits and Cookies
Delicious!


The room was not at all what I was expecting. By European standards, this room was absolutely enormous. When taking the room size into consideration, the price I paid is just a steal. For context, this room was roughly 20% less expensive than the Scandic Helsinki and a huge step up in nearly every regard.

The one aspect of the hotel I did not like was the breakfast. The room rate included the breakfast buffet. Given that the hotel restaurant is highly acclaimed, and probably deserving of a Michelin star, I was expecting breakfast to be quite good. The truth was a completely different story. The selection of foods was quite small and the food was just average at best. However, the part that really got to me was they had a much more extensive (and expensive) a la carte menu I could order from. An espresso for €4? Or just have a free one in my room? Luckily I'd made other arrangements for breakfast, so all was not lost. But I'll get to that later.

In any event, the stay here was perfectly nice and the service was excellent. Aside from my minor annoyance with breakfast, I'd certainly recommend Hotel Bergs to anyone looking to visit Riga.

andersonCooper

GREAT TR! This is extremely helpful to me personally as I have similar trip coming up in two weeks. THANK YOU OP!

swingaling

Riga, Latvia

After checking in to the hotel and ditching my bag, I went straight back out to wander around the Riga Old Town and the adjacent areas. The days are pretty long this time of year, so I had at least 3-4 hours of sunlight to work with.

Street Art



Brivibas Bulvaris


Riga Nativity of Christ Cathedral










Art Nouveau Architecture
A huge amount of effort and money has been devoted to the restoration and preservation of these buildings. Many were still undergoing renovations when I visited. It's always heartening to see the preservation of these outstanding works of art for future generations.

Baby Dragon



10A/B Elizabetes Iela





33 Elizabetes Iela
Amazing Detail and Excellent Restoration




2 Alberta Iela




4 Alberta Iela




8 Alberta Iela





13 Alberta Iela








4 Strelnieku Iela




12 Alberta Iela



Traditional Latvian Architecture




This facade
Yes, I have a puerile sense of humor










Riga Castle
aka Chinese Tourist Magnet (apparently)




St. Saviour's Anglican Church








Our Lady of Sorrows









Riga Cathedral Square









Three Brothers
Oldest dwellings in Riga






St. James Cathedral







St. Peter's Church














House of the Blackheads
Excellent restoration work completed in 1999.







By that point, it was late in the day and I'd done a lot, so I decided to walk back to the hotel. I considered having a meal at a restaurant along the way, but I really just wanted to take off my shoes and relax. So, I decided upon room service. Luckily, Hotel Bergs has an excellent restaurant in the hotel, so dinner was very tasty.

Gnocchi in Oxtail Consomme



Ham and Emmental Panini


Apple Tart with Caramel Sauce




Dinner complete, it was time for bed, as I had an early start the next morning. I decided to get up early and go to the Riga Central Market to stroll around and get something to eat for breakfast. This turned out to be a good plan, as I was at that point unaware of how pitiful the complimentary hotel breakfast would be.

swingaling

Riga, Latvia
The Continuation

Hit the post limit, so I'm breaking this up into a second post. Here we go...

Early morning wake-up achieved with minimal difficulty, I got ready and was out the door by 7:30AM.


Area near the Central Market
I had a little time to kill before the main market opened at 8AM, so I took a stroll around the area. Much of these buildings had been recently restored or were in the process of being restored. I love seeing the reuse of these old buildings.















Latvian Academy of Sciences Building
Called Stalin's Birthday Cake or the Kremlin by locals, it was built in the 1950s with "voluntary donations" deducted from the salaries of the Latvian rural population.
My first view of Stalin's Birthday Cake








Closeup showing the hammer and sickle emblems



Central Market
Time spent, I made my way to the Central Market for some food and photos. Plenty of meat on offer and a huge amount of pickled everything. Since I knew absolutely zero Russian or Latvian, and the brusque Russian pastry counter ladies knew as much English, I resorted to the tried and true point and gesture method of ordering my pastries. My order wasn't 100% correct, but I didn't complain and took what they gave me.










The Way Back to the Hotel
Breakfast sorted, I made my way back to the hotel to eat breakfast and make preparations to check out. On the way back to the hotel, I hit a few more places for photo ops.





Holocaust Memorial











Casinos and Soviet Architecture




Breakfast of Champions
The result of my non-verbal pastry negotiations. Cost me a whopping €0.85 for all three. Now that's a good value. And it was delicious. The same cannot be said for the hotel's buffet.



KGB Museum
I still had a bit more time before I had to leave for the airport, so I hopped a quick taxi ride to the KGB Museum. Unfortunately, I didn't get to tour the prison cells in the basement, but I did score some excellent Soviet propaganda.












More Art Nouveau plus a church!
The church was in the midst of Sunday mass, so I couldn't go inside.












Let's find a taxi
I decided it was about time to catch a cab to the airport, so I made my way to the Freedom Monument to take some photos and hopefully find a cab to take me to the airport. There were plenty of cabs around, so it didn't take me long. Photos taken and cab found, I headed to RIX airport to catch my onward flight to Helsinki.

swingaling

Sure thing! Care to share what you've got planned?

andersonCooper

I read through the first page and found out only the 1st half was similar:

Positioning flight starts with JFK - PHL, then AA92 (I want to try the 763, SWU pending at the moment)
ZRH, Bern, Interlaken, Lucerne back to ZRH for about 3 days
Liechtenstein for a day trip before heading to FRA for business
And FRA back to U.S. with PEY on AA (first time as well, if my miles upgrade doesn't clear).

So mostly a SBB train mixed with AA (disappointing) J (right after fancy CX J) trip.

swingaling

Air Baltic
Economy Class
BT303: RIX-HEL (Riga to Helsinki)
29 April 2018
Boeing 737-300 (Two Class Configuration)
YL-BBS
Seat 4D
Departure: 12:20PM
Arrival: 1:25PM

The taxi to the airport was uneventful and reasonably priced. I believe it cost around €13 each way to the airport. Not as cheap as public transport, but I had a bit of a time crunch and didn't want to mess around for the sake of a few bucks.

Home Converted to a Cafe


As I was already checked in, I headed to the ticket counter to have them issue a paper BP to add to my collection. A few short minutes later, I was through security and inside the duty free shop. I should mention that this was the fourth time during the trip that I'd been "randomly" selected for the explosives wipes. As usual, they swabbed my hands and crotch/belt area. And, as usual, I was cleared to proceed.

As luck would have it, Primera Air was launching their RIX-AGP (Malaga) service the day I was there, so there were festivities in the gate area and sound guided tours for groups of VIPs.


In any event, I made my way to the lounge for a quick Coke Zero and rest stop. After about 15 minutes in an extremely crowded lounge, it was time to go to the gate. Made it to the gate about 5 minutes prior to boarding, so perfect timing as usual.

Anyway, RIX is a pretty nice airport overall. Relatively modern and it's very busy. It's so busy that there are nowhere near enough jetbridge equipped gates to accommodate the traffic. So, despite the fact that we were flying a 737, and not a puddle jumper, we had to load via a remote stand. It was a nice day, so I really didn't mind at all.

YL-BBS
Our bird for this flight began her life as a workhorse in the BA intra-Europe fleet. These days she's wearing a much brighter livery, though the interior still screams BA. The shiny exterior belies her true age, but the ride was comfortable enough for the short hop to HEL.

Interestingly, the J cabin was completely empty. Not one seat in J had been sold. BT could learn a thing or two from US carriers on this front. I didn't even bother looking at J fares for this flight, but I can only surmise they are crazy.


The flight was otherwise uneventful and we found ourselves in HEL in no time at all. I made a beeline to the hotel to relieve myself of my bag and make the most of my day in HEL.