Posts Tagged With: Trip Report

Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden

Posted on November 30, 2024 by 2btravel

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Location

Älmhult is not a large town and the hotel is listed as a four-minute walk from the train station. It may be slightly more than that when wrangling luggage, but it’s a very easy walk and no cobblestones!

We arrived a couple of hours before the official check-in time but fortunately our room was ready. We seemed to be the only people around other than staff, at least for awhile.

How This Stay Was Booked

This hotel does not participate in any points programs I’m aware of and they only accept pre-paid reservations, as far as we could tell. Also, room reservations are not available more than 6 months in advance so we had to wait a few months after the rest of the trip was locked in to make this reservation. We booked a family room which had two sets of bunk beds for $127/night. Continue reading →

Categories: Europe, Hotel, Lodging Review, Other Hotels, Sweden, Trip Report | Tags: Älmhult, Hotel Review, Ikea, Lodging Review, Sweden, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden

Posted on November 29, 2024 by 2btravel

Our next stop was the city of Malmö, Sweden, which is practically a suburb of Copenhagen. We actually didn’t spend all that much time in Malmö itself. After taking the train from Copenhagen (and there are dozens of trains per day) we dropped our bags at the hotel and began exploring the area. We had the rest of the day in town but the following morning we took the train out to Ystad for the day and did not return until late afternoon. We then had the remainder of that second day in Malmö as well.

Malmö

We spent most of our time in the old town (gamala staden) of Malmö. This is an area to the southwest of the train station. While there are streets threaded through the area, there are lots of pedestrian-only areas. There’s lots of shopping and places to eat in this area, both for tourists and locals.

Continue reading →

Categories: Europe, Sweden, Trip Report | Tags: Europe, Sweden, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö

Posted on November 28, 2024 by 2btravel

Story Hotel Studio Malmö

Location

The hotel is super-convenient to the Malmö Train Station. If you come up through the main part of the train station and exit, keep the station behind you and you’ll be facing north. Turn left and walk across a bridge over a canal. Turn right and walk beside the canal (it’s a pedestrian area) and walk until you reach the next street. The Story Hotel is on your left! Once you’re familiar with the area, as you’re heading from the hotel back to the train station you can use the entrance that goes under the street that bridges the canal and enter that way.

How This Stay Was Booked

The Story Hotel is a category 1 Hyatt, which meant I was able to book one night using the free night certificate I get with the Chase World of Hyatt Visa. There were no rooms that allowed for three adults, but it was so cheap that I was fine spending 5000 points per night for two rooms. So total cost was 15K points + one free night certificate for two rooms where the refundable rate was $259/night though I could get a corporate discount for $233/night. If I value Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, it means we got each of the rooms for $75 per night which is quite a bargain! Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Europe, Hotel, Hyatt, Lodging Review, Sweden, Trip Report | Tags: Award Travel, Europe, Hotel, Hotel Review, Hyatt, Lodging Review, Story Hotel, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen

Posted on November 27, 2024 by 2btravel

Next House Copenhagen

As we were planning this trip we’d created a shareable spreadsheet where we plotted out our flights, lodging, ground transportation and things to do in each area. For some reason, when we booked our stay in Copenhagen we (that is, I) ended up booking two nights instead of three. And I only realized this during the flight on the way over, despite the fact that at least two of us had been staring at that spreadsheet for months on end! After arriving at the Fairfield I took the train over to the Best Western Hotel Hebron to try to add another night on to our reservation, but they were completely booked, although they did put us on the waiting list in case of a cancellation. But since we needed a room for 3 people I wasn’t counting on that. I then researched several other places in town but did not book anything until my friends arrived on Monday. Continue reading →

Categories: Denmark, Europe, Hotel, Lodging Review, Other Hotels, Trip Report | Tags: Denmark, Europe, Hotel, Hotel Review, Lodging Review, Other Hotels, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Our Time in Copenhagen

Posted on November 25, 2024 by 2btravel

Københavns Museum

As I’d arrived a day before my friends, I wanted to spend the afternoon doing something I knew would not be of interest to them so that once they arrived we could do something we all enjoyed. So I went to the Københavns Museum (Museum of Copenhagen) to try to get a sense of the city’s origins and history. In retrospect this was probably not the kind of place I should have visited after a night of no sleep and hustling through airports. I confess I didn’t get a whole lot out of it but at least it wasn’t very expensive. Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Denmark, Europe, Trip Report | Tags: Award Travel, Copenhage, Denmark, Europe, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH

Posted on November 23, 2024 by 2btravel

Why I Booked This Flight

This was a continuation of my quest to reach Copenhagen to kick off our annual international trip. To reach Helsinki I’d booked an American Airlines flight from Memphis to Dallas-Fort Worth and, on a separate ticket, two segments on Finnair: DFW to Helsinki and this flight, Helsinki to Copenhagen.

How I Booked This Flight

I booked this flight and the connection from DFW as a single ticket, using 70,000 Alaska Air Mileage Plan miles plus $25.20, which included Alaska’s $12.50 booking fee. If I’d paid cash at the time of booking the two legs of this flight would have cost me $1908. If I value Alaska miles at 1.5 cents each then this 2-segment flight cost me $1050, so I came out ahead using miles.

Finnair E190 (photo credit: Aviation Source News)

AY 953 (HEL-CPH)
Embraer 190
Seat 1F (Business Class)
Depart: 11:55 AM EEST (actual 12:03 PM)
Arrive: 12:35 PM CEST (actual 12:44 PM) Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Finnair, Flight Review, OneWorld, Trip Report | Tags: Award Travel, Finnair, Flight Review, OneWorld, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL

Posted on November 22, 2024 by 2btravel

Why I Booked This Flight

Our big international trip was to Scandinavia and you can’t get much more Scandinavian as an airline than Finnair or SAS. But I’d flown SAS before so I wanted to try an airline I’d never flown. I found award space on a Saturday out of DFW to Helsinki (the Finnair hub) and onward to Copenhagen. It was too bad I couldn’t find it on the same days my friends were flying (Sunday) but if I’d taken this flight on the next day they’d have had to wait around at the airport for a couple of hours for me to arrive. (And as it turns out, the flight doesn’t even operate on Sundays!) I didn’t mind going a day ahead and it also let me review another hotel. Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Finnair, Flight Review, OneWorld, Trip Report | Tags: Award Travel, Finnair, Flight Review, OneWorld, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW

Posted on November 21, 2024 by 2btravel

I typically don’t review domestic flights but thought I’d give it a shot this time. This is a short flight, blocked at 1 hour, 39 minutes so I didn’t expect much above a beverage service and maybe a snack. It unexpectedly became a lesson in trip planning!

AA 2559 MEM-DFW, Aircraft N885NN

Why I Booked This Flight

I’d found business class award space from Dallas-Fort Worth to Copenhagen on Finnair so I had to get from Memphis to DFW. At the time I booked my long-haul flight there was no saver-level award space between Memphis and DFW. When I’m booking separate tickets I always like to ensure there’s a way to get to my international gateway should something go wrong with my positioning flight. That often means I arrive at the gateway more than four hours before my international flight and sometimes airlines will not allow a connection of more than four hours. And then there’s the restriction Alaska Airlines has: when flying on a ticket purchased with their frequent flyer miles, if two airlines are involved, one of those airlines must be Alaska Airlines. That’s tough for me because Alaska does not even fly to Memphis but I found a good price from DFW to Copenhagen using Alaska’s miles. Continue reading →

Categories: American Airlines, Award Travel, Flight Review, OneWorld, Trip Report | Tags: American AIrlines, Award Travel, Flight Review, OneWorld, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia

Posted on November 18, 2024 by 2btravel

Welcome to my next trip report! This year’s big international trip was to Scandinavia, which was the choice of one of my two main traveling companions. We spent about a week in Copenhagen, Denmark and in southern & central Sweden before going to Stockholm where we were joined by our German friend. We spent a few days there before winding up our trip in Oslo, Norway.

We were gone for two weeks and covered a lot of ground so I have lots to share! It was also a lesson in trip planning and how to adjust on the fly.

On this trip I only got to try one new-to-me airline but stayed at several new-to-me hotel brands. I had two positioning flights in US domestic first class, two two-segment international flights in business class and one short international segment in economy.

I’ll review Finnair’s A350-900 long-haul business class as well as their Embraer 190 short-haul business class along with Lufthansa’s A320-200 short-haul business class and long-haul B787-9 business class. I’ll also review a short SAS A320neo economy flight.

As far as hotels, we were all over the place on this one. We ended up using points for some hotels and paying cash for others due to various factors.

I had intended to review five lounges on this trip but that did not work out as expected and I’ll have just one lounge review.

Why Scandinavia?

I have a couple of friends I often travel with and we have a deal that whoever has a birthday ending with a “0” or a “5” gets to pick the destination for that year’s big trip. This year’s birthday girl picked Scandinavia as the destination. Our next task was to narrow down the things we could reasonably see in a two-week period. We realized that we wouldn’t be able to see all of the region so unfortunately we’ll have to save Finland for another trip. As we plotted things out we realized that Copenhagen and Oslo would be our starting and ending points, we just had to figure out which direction to travel. And that was based on finding award space. Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Denmark, Europe, Trip Report | Tags: Denmark, Europe, Norway, Scandinavia, Sweden, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago

Posted on January 6, 2024 by 2btravel

Trip Report: Athens and a Mediterranean Cruise
Lounge Reviews: The Club CLT and Centurion Lounge Charlotte Airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A340-600 Charlotte-Munich
Lodging Review: Academias Hotel, Autograph Collection, Athens
Our Time in Athens, Part I (Acropolis and Museum)
Our Time in Athens, Part II (Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora)
Our Time in Athens, Part III (Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium)
Our Time in Athens, Part IV (Restaurants and Observations)
Ship Review: Viking Neptune
Our Time in Ancient Olympia (Katakalon, Greece)
Our Time in Corfu, Greece
Our Time in Kotor, Montenegro
Our Time in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our Time in Zadar, Croatia
Our Time in Venice, Italy
Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago

Booking the Flights

While I have preferred airlines and like to try ones I’ve never flown before, often I find that the best airline to fly is the one with award space for what I consider to be a reasonable price. To that end I booked an early morning flight from Venice to Chicago via Madrid on Iberia for just 49K British Airways Avios + $181.65 in taxes and fees. It’s possible I could have transferred the Avios from BA to Iberia and saved a little on the taxes and fees but I was lazy and didn’t even consider it.

Ordinarily it would have made sense to try to connect with an American Airlines flight to get me from Chicago to Memphis but often there’s no award space on that leg except for the first flight of the day. As United is generally my airline of choice I decided just to purchase a cash ticket for the final leg and I won’t be reviewing that here.

Iberia 3249 VCE-MAD A330-300
October 28, 2023
Boarded at 0540 for a flight at 0625
Registration: EC-NTO
Seat: 3A (Business Class)

Venice to Madrid

My return trip started very early in the morning with a 2 AM wake-up call as Viking wanted to deliver us to the airport by 4:30 AM for my 6:30 AM flight from Venice to Madrid and we were docked in Chioggia, which was about an hour by motorcoach from the airport. I was a little confused when we arrived at the airport as our luggage was unloaded from the bus but was then loaded on to a smaller van. From what I could piece together, the large buses are not allowed up close to the terminal. To make it easier for us, Viking arranged to have our luggage put in some vans and brought right up to the curb across from the terminal, where we picked it up after a 3-4 minute walk. I’m not sure it was entirely necessary but given the average age of Viking cruisers it was probably a good idea.

The day started very early…

Continue reading →

Categories: Award Travel, Flight Review, Iberia, OneWorld, Trip Report | Tags: Award Travel, Flight Review, Iberia, OneWorld, Trip Report | Leave a comment

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Posts Tagged With: Trip Report

Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden

Location

How This Stay Was Booked

Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden

Malmö

Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö

Location

How This Stay Was Booked

Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen

Our Time in Copenhagen

Københavns Museum

Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH

Why I Booked This Flight

How I Booked This Flight

Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL

Why I Booked This Flight

Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW

Why I Booked This Flight

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia

Why Scandinavia?

Flight Review: Iberia A330-300 Madrid-Chicago

Booking the Flights

Venice to Madrid

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