Posts under ‘Travel & destinations’

Who: Myself, EuropeanaLocal colleagues

What: Sightseeing in Umbria and Marche, meeting in Ancona

Where: Gubbio and Spoleto (Umbria), Bolognola, Monte Sibillini, Macerata, Numana, Monte Conero, Ancona (Marche)

When: March 2009

Farmlands in the countryside in the western part of Marche

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Who: Evaluation Working Group, EuropeanaLocal

What: Project meeting with a hint of sightseeing

Where: Veria, Greece

When: September/October 2008

These gentlemen may look innocent enough but combined with sufficient amounts of Tsippouro they proved to be quite sufficient to kick-start our evening out.

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A brief visist to London in the end of June to attend the kick-off meeting of the EuropeanaLocal project at Regents College.

On the negative side:

• Etihad was considerably less nice on this leg than I’ve become accustomed to from my previous flights with them travelling from Brussels to Abu Dhabi. Any basket is likely to have one rotten egg. Etihad’s seems to be the check-in attendant at Heathrow.
• The chairs at the conference venue were targeted more at efficient use of space rather than a comfortable sitting experience.
• The taxi drivers in London likes to rip me off.

On the positive side:

• The project kick-off was a success.
• The kick-off dinner

I have never cared much for flying for a number of reasons, all of which I’ve dealt with in previous articles. However, my dislike for flying doesn’t take away the necessity of it. Today therefore, I find myself at Brussels Airport for the sixth time this year, waiting for my flight to depart destined for Abu Dhabi.

My flight is operated by Etihad, an airline whose existence I was unaware of until January this year, when I flew with them for the first time. The first time I heard the name mentioned was by a clerk at Widerøe’s ticket office at Oslo Airport who enthusiastically declared that my flight was not, in fact, operated by Brussels Airlines, as I had thought, but by this fantastic luxury airline where the customers were not named passengers – rather they were named, and cared for as guests.

I was immediately sceptical; a feeling which was further strengthened when I sat down in my seat and found that they had managed to mount an entire remote control on the inside of the armrest, resulting in my thigh constantly pressing random keys, more often than not calling on the cabin attendant as a result. However, as I removed the remote control from it’s armrest socket and put it on my knee things took a definite turn for the better.

Now, having flown with Etihad on five occasions I am looking forward to the experience; I am looking forward to my seat; I am looking forward to the in-flight entertainment system (which is available for every seat in every seating class); I am looking forward to the pleasant cabin personell – and – I am even looking forward to the food.

Antoher of Etihad’s treats of is the good mood of it’s employees. Office staff, ground crew and flight crew have been remarkably happy and helpful in all my dealings with them. I asked a guy whether they were extremely well-paid or if there was some other explanatio for their constant cheerfulness. To this he replied that they were all people who had left established airlines and who wished to achieve something more, something different, in a new company. Then he gave me a more spacious seat.

Go fly Etihad!

Girl walking on beach in front of Emirates Palace hotel on the south-western tip of Abu Dhabi island.

Following centuries of hardship, living of what little the desert and the pearl diving could offer, the Emirati of today like to indulge in all kinds of luxury. The Emirates Palace is Abu Dhabi’s response to neighbor emirate Dubai’s world famous seven-star hotel Burj al Arab. The hotel grounds alone covers about two square kilometers of land and the hotel has 400 well-equipped, luxury rooms – including suites with separate elevators and access ways.

A fountain, typical to Abu Dhabi, in front of Emirates Palace hotel.

Detail of fountain on a backdrop of the dome of Emirates Palace hotel.