Bucharest Airport. Time for the next trip! 3 flights, 9 trains (of which 2 overnight) are to come in the following days. Passing through 8 countries in total -- if all goes according to plan that is as I'm testing corona entry/transit rules to the limit. Count me excited!
Frequent OTP flyers will be pleased to hear that e-passport gates are now installed and working for EU citizens! I for one was certainly happy to see this sudden improvement.
The #Embraer 175 which will fly me to Warsaw. These little planes (and LOT Polish Airlines in general) have grown on me in recent years. Comfy, spacious 2-2 seating, great customer service, great network across Europe. Not the most exciting airline, but amazingly reliable!
Views over Bucharest Otopeni Airport and the Ploiesti oil fields and refineries (3rd picture) upon take off.
And a not-so-sunny Warsaw.. let's hope the arrivals process will be smooth!
Long line at EU passport control, not at "all passports", so the old trick of just queuing there instead worked. Time enough for a leisurely stroll through #Warsaw's very empty old town!
And by empty I *really* mean empty. The Rynek is completely abandoned, and that on a Friday afternoon!
Some more Warsaw impressions..
Warsaw Gdanska station. Although a secondary station, it is closer to the old town than Warsaw's central station and it does have convenient metro access.
Restaurants and bars in Poland are closed. The exception? The @_DiningCar on trains. So if you think I get some takeaway food in Warsaw you are pretty much mistaken! The train to Łódź and back it is! Żurek and pork cutlet are as tasty as always.
View from the dining car.
Rainbow over Koluszki station.
Despite a 20 minute delay I made my planned train back to Warsaw with seconds to spare. One fun thing about dining cars is mingling with other people, and this ride back doesn't disappoint talking with a fun Polish guy with thick Irish accent who is a model photographer!
And to end day 1: a very decent airport hotel & another beer. Tomorrow the journey starts for real with my final positioning flight, a scenic and sunny city to explore (if the forecasts are right) + a cool overnight train to get me closer to my final destination of this trip!
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Day 2, back at Warsaw Airport. The friendly people at my hotel (Four Points Sheraton Mokotow) were kind enough to make a breakfast bag w tasty sandwiches and even freshly made waffles as I checked out before breakfast service started. Coffee time now in the LOT lounge!
I do like these beautiful @LOTPLAirlines retro posters a lot!
This flight marks my first time ever on board a Boeing 737 MAX 8.
Fully agree. There's a reason why the French only banned a few flights to Paris Orly - and not those to Charles de Gaulle. Improve competition (and thus price) & point-to-point connections, which will automatically earn a huge rail share between city pairs (see Barcelona-Madrid!)
You may not win over all connecting pax - but you don't have to. Those travelling between 2 cities is already a good start & leads to less short-haul traffic. Curious to see how eg. Athens-Thessaloniki traffic will develop now rail is a viable alternative, as fast as the plane.
And frankly speaking, you'd be mad as a domestic passenger to opt for a flight here. Metro ticket to ATH airport €10 extra, check-in hassle, on arrival in Thessaloniki long bus ride in bad traffic to town, while city to city centre will be 3 hours by train! This is way to start.
What I hate most about flying during COVID: no online boarding pass w many airlines. Look at this queue for the @wizzair check-in desk running through the entire airport! Horrible experience, please bring back document checks at the gate where they should be.
This queue is like the old Tell Sell commercials: "But wait, there is more!" Utter chaos as well as the first Wizz flights (Paris, Charleroi) are about to depart and there are still people far out in the queue, w pax from later flights sneaking ahead.
Bizarrely enough, Wizz actually hired two security guards to watch over it all but it's still about the most unorderly queue I have ever seen, with dozens of sneaky queue jumpers creating chaos. And I've been to India..
Egypt, day 10. Back at Ramses station for the relatively short train ride to Alexandria. Why have breakfast in the hotel when you can have one with a view like this?!
The 8am express train to Alexandria is already at the platform 40 minutes before departure.
And the comfy first class carriage. Train is clearly in a better state than my previous one! Seats are comfy and in between the double windows you'll find adjustable blinds. The ticket in 1st class (AC1) is perfectly affordable at 130 Egyptian Pounds (7 Euro).
Egypt, day 9. Everyone knows the pyramids at Giza, w perhaps the Great Pyramid of Cheops the most famous. But did you know that there are dozens more in Egypt and Sudan? The Bent Pyramid (no points earned guessing why the name) for example is just an hour south of Giza. Gorgeous!
The Bent Pyramid is located at Dahshur. Here you can also find another whopper of a pyramid, called the 'Red Pyramid'. This 4th dynasty pyramid is 105 metres (344 ft) high and is built with reddish limestone stones - hence the name.
The step pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser at Sakkara is also worth a visit. Sakkara was the necropolis closest to the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis.
Egypt, day 8. Waiting at Luxor's #railway station for one of the daily daytime trains to Cairo.
For around 10 USD, I'm booked in first class (AC1). Seats are in a 1-2 configuration as opposed to 2-2 in second class. Grubby and old train, but comfy. My seat was broken and in full recline (60 degrees or so!) but fortunately there are mechanics w screwdrivers on hand.
Officially, foreigners are only allowed to take the sleeper train between Cairo & Luxor/Aswan due to "security risks" on day trains. Buying a ticket at the station might therefore not be possible, but I had no problem buying one online and was warmly welcomed by the conductor.