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Old 18th March 2010, 14:47   #16
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Originally Posted by WindRide View Post
Maybe this deserves a thread of its own - "Beautiful places visited, names of which are too embarassing to repeat".

Imagining returning from Lund, get into a crowded local in Mumbai and cross paths with colleauge... I can image the ensuing conversation ...

He - "Hey old chap, nice to see you back. So, how was Lund"
<Train too noisy>
You - " Errr.. what"
He - "I said how was Lund. Lund. Lund"
You - " Err ... "
<won't this damn train go any faster>

Unfortunate. But unavoidable.
Yes, true. There was this Swedish guy from Lund who was in our office for few weeks. Our lead told him to say his home town as Malmo (Nearest big town to Lund) when somone asks where he is from in Sweden. Seems lead explained the 'complications' involved in telling the proper place.
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Old 18th March 2010, 15:05   #17
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Hey Star,

Good for you, nice place to travel though and all the more nice that inspite of all your busy schedules, you are updating all your team mates here.

Good! Keep it up!
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Old 18th March 2010, 15:13   #18
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Frankfurt is one of the airport that I love to be; the way the announcement is made for "Lufth..hansa" is so nice to hear & that's probably the word you'll hear the most; I also heard that Lufthansa never cancel any of their flights & if they've to, they pay twice the amount of booking fare to the passengers booked on that flight. Is this true?

Keep them coming Starvegabond, its very interesting.
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Old 18th March 2010, 16:08   #19
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Originally Posted by aargee View Post
Frankfurt is one of the airport that I love to be; the way the announcement is made for "Lufth..hansa" is so nice to hear & that's probably the word you'll hear the most; I also heard that Lufthansa never cancel any of their flights & if they've to, they pay twice the amount of booking fare to the passengers booked on that flight. Is this true?

Keep them coming Starvegabond, its very interesting.
Off Topic : But Sorry to disappoint you but none of this is true I have accumulated more then 100,000 miles on Lufthansa 'miles and more' and this does not count the so many journeys where i forgot my mileage card at home so I have enough experience not that I like Lufthansa but that was only option out of Bangalore for Europe before Air-France started.

On 2nd Feb I had to reach Hannovar in morning and that flight was overbooked , They gave boarding pass for FRA - HAJ leg from Bangalore but no seat number stating same will be given at boarding gate . At the boarding gate they kept on ignoring me and 5 others ( One Israili and 4 Iraninians) and finally said you have to go by next flight which will reach in evening so day wasted.
Finally the other flight was also overbooked and I got a train ticket and 125 Euro and my luggage landed next day night at hotel. So much for German Lufthansa.
After traveling a lot to Europe , East Asia and US routes I can safely say our own Jet Airways and Kingfisher are best service provider all over the world as of today.

PS : Never traveled in Emirates and Ettihad as I avoid them as matter of principle.

PS : Most beautiful Airport I have seen is Copenhagen which StarVegabound must have seen in this journey. Most user friendly is Chagi in Singapore and most spacious and modern is Inchon in Korea.

Frankfurt is totally utilitarian yes it is huge but nothing special.

Last edited by amitk26 : 18th March 2010 at 16:10.
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Old 18th March 2010, 16:34   #20
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Great travelogue. I was in Lund working for EMP for some 3 months during 2007 end. Simply amazing place. Hope you were able to go to Ven Island , Copenhagen and all. Were you there during Malmo summer festival?
Yupp Went there on a saturday. Crowd was huge!And there was some concert ongoing too.

I didnt visit Ven Island. But did visit Copenhagen. Infact Covered some nice places in the Skane area(Kraprup, Landskrona,Ahus, Lomma and Bjarred beaches in Lund, Malmo) Got the 48 hours Around the sound(Oresund) Pass and took the trains from Lund to Helsinborg. Then took the ferry to Helsingor in Denmark. Visited the Castle and took the train to Copenhagen. Well, also visited to Oslo.
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Old 18th March 2010, 17:53   #21
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Yupp Went there on a saturday. Crowd was huge!And there was some concert ongoing too.

I didnt visit Ven Island. But did visit Copenhagen. Infact Covered some nice places in the Skane area(Kraprup, Landskrona,Ahus, Lomma and Bjarred beaches in Lund, Malmo) Got the 48 hours Around the sound(Oresund) Pass and took the trains from Lund to Helsinborg. Then took the ferry to Helsingor in Denmark. Visited the Castle and took the train to Copenhagen. Well, also visited to Oslo.
Ok, great. Yes the crowd is really huge for summer festival and its a diffrent experience all together. Well, lomma beach is great. Hope you were able to see the yatches anchored at the left end (oresund) end of the beach (just after nude beach ) . Post your copenhagen pics too, its also a beautiful city. For Oslo did you take cruise of flight?
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Old 18th March 2010, 18:20   #22
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@amitk26 - Oh!!! ok. Thanks for clarification; So I guess no airline has this policy, otherwise all of them bankrupt by now
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Old 18th March 2010, 21:22   #23
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Magic Carpet Experience onboard SAS

We were traveling by a Mcdonnell Douglas 8x series plane. We do not see these aircrafts in India. I read somewhere that most of the original MD aircrafts were delivered to Scandinavian airlines (SAS). I also read that MD was merged with Boeing during 1997. One advantage of these planes is the engine is at the rear of the aircraft and the passengers in the front & middle does not hear any engine noise. It is as if they are seated on a magic carpet.

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-sas-md-82.jpg

We were greeted by a warm welcome by one of the three crew on board.
Once agin think of the fact that about 170 people need to attended by only 3 people, that is what i call the efficiency.

There were three different seating arrangements viz. Business Class, Economy Extra and Economy. As ususal we were seated in the Economy Class, but on the first row.

Economy Extra are some 3-4 rows of seats just after business class, the seats are exactly like economy class, but later on we learnt that Economy Extra seats comes with on board meal, where as economy class has an option to buy their meal by making payment.

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-economy-extra.jpg

Business class seats are seperated by a curtain. The seats are broader. ofcourse the passengers get the onboard meals.

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-business-class.jpg

I am sure in future indian air operators would make such differentiation considering major airlines are in red.

We bought some coke and consumed along with the nuts picked up from the Luftansa flight.

On board shopping catelogue consumed some more time, On board magazine was interesting. It showed a picture of the dashboard of MD82 plane. I thought of taking the snap of this picture and share it here.

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-md82-dashboard.jpg

Enjoy the simplicity amid all the complexity of an aircraft dashboard that carries approx 170 plus passengers.

Imagine an India in future, where plenty of people are rich and can afford their own aircrafts, the way we can afford cars now. Imagine the complexity we need to master as a pilot, the discipline needed in operating the same. If we Indians with all our wealth and ignorance (or bliss), continue to operate the way we operate on our highways, i am sure there would be lot of debries around and lot of unclaimed wealth in the banks.

By the time this thought scared the wits out of me, pilot announced that we are descending into Copenhagen airport

Next few pictures are fantastic in my view, i hope you will agree. I will sort and post them in the next post.

Last edited by StarVegabond : 18th March 2010 at 21:36.
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Old 18th March 2010, 21:31   #24
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I've always been bugged, you know - How do those pilots master all the functions, routines, discipline and everything else that's required to ensure safe travel for all the passengers?

I mean, pardon me for ignorance, how many years are pilots trained before they can take these big birds for journeys? :-?
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Old 19th March 2010, 02:26   #25
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I mean, pardon me for ignorance, how many years are pilots trained before they can take these big birds for journeys? :-?

Please refer to this link to understand in a simple way how to become an airline pilot. I do not know how accurate is the info, use it at your own risk.

How to Become an Airline Pilot - wikiHow


As my flight was cruising at ~ 900 KMPH equivalent ground speed, i had an opportunity to exchange seats with my co-passenger. With my phone in flight mode, i started clicking some pictures of the outside world. i have attched some of them here

Magic Carpet flying over the clouds

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-01-riding-clouds.jpg

With some landscape below

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-02-some-landscape.jpg

Some sea shore as well

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-03-some-sea-shore.jpg

With some frozen back waters

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-04-frozen-back-waters.jpg

some more landscapes and backwaters.
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-05-landscape.jpg
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-06-more-backwaters.jpg

Look at the bay area
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-07-bay-area.jpg

Imagine some Air O bridge

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-08-airo-bridge.jpg

Look at some beautiful landscapes

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-09-beautiful-landscape.jpg
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-10-more-beautiful-landscape.jpg

Have a closer look at Frozen Sea
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-11-have-closer-look-frozen-sea.jpg

Have a look at the bay
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-12-have-closer-look-bay.jpg
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-13-panaromic-view-bay.jpg

Windmills inside the sea
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-14-windmill-inside-sea.jpg

Bridge between the two countries viz. Denmark and Sweden. Half above the sea and other half under the sea as it is closer to the airport landing track.

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-15-bridge-between-two-countries.jpg
Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-16-closer-look-th-ebridge.jpg

Island closer to the bridge

Business with Pleasure in the City of Ideas : Lund, Sweden-17-frozen-island.jpg

By this time pilot anounced landing and asked us to shut off all electronic gadgets, We were landing at Copenhagen airport in Denmark.
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Old 19th March 2010, 09:48   #26
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Originally Posted by StarVegabond View Post

Bridge between the two countries viz. Denmark and Sweden. Half above the sea and other half under the sea as it is closer to the airport landing track.
That is Orsand bridge some 21 KM in total and the sea portion was longest before Incheon bridge opened in Korea in 2009 linking Incheon Airport to land over see.

If you are still there and plan to go to Copenhagen visit Tivoli this is first ever amusement park in world and Walt Disney got inspired by this to build Disneyland in USA.
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Old 19th March 2010, 11:25   #27
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....Half above the sea and other half under the sea ...
Pardon my ignorance, but what does "half under sea" mean? Vehicles need to drown into the sea?
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Old 19th March 2010, 11:42   #28
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Pardon my ignorance, but what does "half under sea" mean? Vehicles need to drown into the sea?
A tunnel under the sea bed .
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Old 19th March 2010, 11:42   #29
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Whoa!! the bridge-tunnel looks awesome. Is that a man made island where the bridge meets the tunnel??

Nice write-up & pics Star. Nice of you to pen down your travelogue even on official duty. Just hope that your boss won't see this.

Last edited by addyhemmige : 19th March 2010 at 11:43.
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Old 19th March 2010, 12:32   #30
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A tunnel under the sea bed .
Quote:
Originally Posted by addyhemmige View Post
Whoa!! the bridge-tunnel looks awesome. Is that a man made island where the bridge meets the tunnel??
The idea of creating a bridge between Denmark and Sweden was there for many years. But since there is a ship corridor passing between the island ( where the tunnel emerges/ starts) and Denmark main land the bridge should have been made high from water level so that ships can pass underneath it, but since Copenhagen airport is located adjacent to the sea on Denmark side making a high bridge would had caused obstruction to aircrafts. Hence they came up with the idea part bridge part tunnel.
The island is not man made fully as such, but during constuction they dredged the sea a bit and also made some kind of embankment for safety of the structure. So the island as such what we see now is part man made part natural. You would be intrested to know that the bridge is two tiered. Automobiles travel on top and trains on the level below.


@starvegabound : Sorry for hijacking your travelouge. But wasnt able to resist on seeing pics of Lund / Malmo. Was there for just 3 months but was in love with it ever since.
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