StringGrrl sees the World

My new friend at the hotel CitizenM  Eric selected the hotel for two reasons Close to the airport, walking distance to the terminal.  Easier to make the 8 AM flight It is pretty cool and not too expensive Eric wrote another post a while back making a review of the Hotel. Here is a link if you would like to see that previous post. http://stringgirl.blogspot.com/2012/08/citizenm-hotel-amsterdam-schiphol.html  This is an American made all electric car. AutoForm is used for this cars engineering also. More Houseboats The view from the Cockpit of a KLM Fokker 100 Jet Windy at the Airport right now

Having logged hours locked securely airside in the airport.  It is genuinely refreshing to be able to step outside.  Delta Airlines and the Atlanta Hartsfeld Jackson Airport offer that rare opportunity. Aviation geeks can get their fix watching the take offs from here. One of the busiest Air ports in the world. Chef Andre! The austrian chef and his wife pose with StringGirl and Amber Lots of comfy seats to soak up more vitamin D a nice view of the planes even grass

As seen on the WEB from: Creative REVIEW  and  clearly also EXPEDIA.co.uk this advertisement leaves me with a huge feeling of "now why didn't I think of that?" feeling.   Like the creator of the ad campaign, I too had noticed the FUK (Fukuoka, Japan) tag on others bags and had my little giggle. But never had given it enough thought to look at the directory of codes and piece together the clever phrases here. 

StringGirl and Amber running into family and friends at the Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) Somewhere over Utah Salt Lake City Airport not a bad view behind Grandma and Gramps house View Larger Map Job's Peak out the living room window Amber and StringGirl  Bald Mountain and Oreana Peak in the distance A b it more snow accumulation on Job and Job's Sister At the Carson Valley Clay club Snowing over Job's Peak and Heavenly Valley

Making our way to Europe via Amsterdam. This flight we have made dozens of times these past years. We have over our time started to make some friends in the airport. Today we hit to see one if our friends, one of the few we have been able to rely upon. Cane (a delta red jacket, customer service rep) i have been able to see more often than I have seen some of my colleagues, and only aside at the airport. He has helped me or with seating issues in the past, always looks in on my flights to see if we can get an upgrade, and been there with a smile when things were not working out. Today I was happy that I could do anything nice for him. It's just a small thing but it made him smile and i hope he enjoys it. A new NCAA official football. Embossed with the logo of the company that posts for all this travel. Thanks Cane again you set the bar for courtesy and service at Delta.

The sleeping berths of Yotel When traveling Trans-Atlantic or intra continental eventually you will be stranded in an airport for an interminable length of time. For folks traveling to US-Europe or US-India I have seen plenty of 6-10 hour layovers. Sure many non-travelers have mooned over the chance to slip out the city from the airport; however leaving the secure area to chance a train or taxi is to the jaded business traveler a risk not always worth the trouble. Often all i want is to rest without the restless concern over bags security, lack of privacy, and maybe even sleep soundly in relatively sanitary environs. StringGirl in the Yotel standard room FTW (for the win) is Yotel in the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport . Nestled in the secure area of lounge 2 above terminal D is the dutch interpretation of the "pod" hotels common in the far east. Much larger than a Japanese pod the Yotel rooms provide perhaps the most comfortable 7 square m...

After a long day of traveling, to sit in a comfy spot to relax before running to the next flight has become one of the few respites during this last few years of travel. However, on occasion the lounges are lacking. The visit to the lounge of MUC (Munich) airport is perhaps one of those let downs. Only Marseilles-Provence Airport is worse from my limited experience (the have no Air France lounge at all, go figure). Upstairs over looking Terminal 1, the lounge is small and to put it mildly a bit tatty. The microfiber chairs were thread bare and a bit run down. In my college days at the Fraternity they would have been deemed second floor chairs; first floor chairs having been made pretty after retrieval from the neighboring Sorority houses curb or dumpster. The air in the lounge was stifled and stale, maybe to get us ready for the canned air of the plane; an unfortunate situation as the highly audible AC was apparently not doing anything. Lighting in the lounge was low to the point of ...

As a frequent business travelers with "elite" status on a major carrier, we are wooed with ever more alluring bids for our business. For the longest time I had looked at such "perks" as empty and shallow ploys at getting my loyalty (read dollar) into the coffers of this airline or that. Customer service superstars from Delta However, recently I have seen the light. Elite status is nice; access to lounges, upgrades to business (on domestic flights mostly but that's a different topic), free bags, etc. The perk that has meant the most is getting to know some of the professionals that keep the airline running. Most recently this was reinforced for me when i recieved a call from my friendly neighborhood "Red Coat" (disclosure: I fly Delta) on a Sunday afternoon as I raced through Costco. He wanted to see if I could drop by the airport a speak to the other Delta service reps at DTW about my experiences as a Diamond Medallion member. Give my feedbac...

Flying out of the airport on the early flight is never easy; checking out early, getting the shuttle to the airport, checking in, and then flying out. Rarely have i managed to feel rested after such a night. That is all different now when StringGirl flew out of Dusseldorf Flughafen (Airport). First of all, the Maritim is smack dab in the middle of the Dusseldorf Airport campus (not airside but just outside the concourses). So if you want you can sleep until the last minute and just take a short walk to the airport. The hotel is one of the nicest i have stayed in on a airports premises. It has a large sweeping lobby nicely appointed and modern. Directly you see that their are multiple restaurants inside the atrium-like lobby, with seating in the atrium or their dining rooms. StringGirl opted for the Sushi place for a bowl of Udon with tempura and a few spicy tuna rolls. One might not expect to find reliable sushi in Germany but the Dusseldorf Sushiso restaurant did not disappoint. A ...