After the disaster of the second day my initial thoughts were that Egypt was not a place I wanted to visit again, however the next few days changed my opinion on the matter. In the end it turned out to be an interesting and enjoyable trip.
The second day gave an example of Egyptian scams at work. I thought that the taxi being organised by the hotel concierge would have given us a trustworthy driver but how wrong I was.
Arriving in Cairo presented me with my first experience with Egyptian immigration officers and I was not impressed. First of all we were supposed to have been met at arrival by a driver from the hotel. The driver is supposed to meet you before passport control and help you with the immigration procedures.
April 30th is Queens Day in The Netherlands, a time when Amsterdam turns in to one large street party. The past few years I have been in Amsterdam around the time of Queens Day but with flight connections it was impossible to spend the whole day in Amsterdam this time.
Arriving at Copenhagen airport is always a pleasure, luggage arrived quickly and it’s only a short walk to the train station. The ticket machines don’t seem to work with Amex but it’s a simple matter of queuing at the ticket desk, the train to Copenhagen Central station is fast and frequent.
The hotel was the Radisson SAS Royal, the first five star hotel in the city. (more…)
Due to strike action from Danish SAS cabin crew there’s a higher than usual demand for KLM’s Amsterdam to Copenhagen services. The first leg of the journey was from London City to Amsterdam Schiphol on flight KL1564 which is, as usual, a KLM Cityhopper Fokker 50. The flight was almost full, 42 of the 50 seats were occupied and the flight was delayed slightly waiting for the final passenger to clear security.
We decided a to spend a weekend in Antwerp, however, the Accor website listed our hotel as being situated in Antwerp, it was actually situated in Mechelen. After a brief disappointment at not being able to visit Antwerp, we decided to take a walk around this small and charming town. The centre of Mechelen is very nice with small picturesque churches and houses to small cobbled roads. The weather was very good when we were there and made walking around the town very relaxing. It feels a very laid back town. We passed cafes with people sitting outside sipping coffee, or bars with people inside drinking beer and wasting away the afternoon. After walking around a bit, taking in the atmosphere and working up an appetite, we went around searching for a pub which we could relax in and get something to eat. We passed a pub called ‘The Lord Nelson’ which surprised my friend as this establishment has the same name as a pub he fondly remembers in his home town. We went through the low doors, and into this very traditional style public house. Inside were wood rafter on the ceiling, a wood fire burning at the far end of the bar and various locals talking, laughing, drinking their beers and generally having a good time. We actually spent the rest of day and the night in the pub as it was so relaxing. The food was top class, as was the beer. I started off by sampling the De Konink beer and after a few of these, I moved onto Carlsberg Elephant (ok, not from Belgium, but Denmark, but still a nice beer). The food was superb, I believe I ordered the rabbit with veg.
Mechelen is a lovely town with friendly people and a relaxing place to spend a romantic weekend with your loved one.  I would recommend it to anyone.
A friend and I decided to take a weekend trip to Rome. We booked our flight on Alitalia flight number AZ0209 from Heathrow to Leonardo da Vinci/Fiumicino International Airport (FCO). Unfortunately, I had a little trouble getting to Heathrow thanks to delays on the London Underground and by the time I got there, I felt quite stressed. Thankfully, the queues for security in Heathrow were unusually small and quick and I was glad to be able to relax a bit in the Alitalia lounge and have a beer or two before we left for our flight to Rome. (more…)