Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Sonthofen - Tulum
Door to door a 20h journey, leaving home around 7:40 to catch the 8 o'clock train (25€) to Munich's airport, arriving there three hours later as planned. Check-in, passport-control & security-check. Slightly delayed take-off and landing about 12h later, a little after 6pm local time in Cancun, after a rather long flight w/o personal entertainment system. Immigration stamp, luggage pick-up & customs control. Uneventful shared shuttle transfer (60$) to Tulum in about two hours.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Online flight reservation
Booked myself a flight from Munich to Cancun with airberlin (902€ return). Not as easy & stress-free an online formality as it should be, requiring an additional 15' phone call to clear an unexpected 40€ seat-reservation surcharge in my bill, despite this being a free service for "topbonus Service Card" members (79€/year) - which I applied for so as to be allowed an extra 32kg of dive luggage free of charge, besides 30kg of check-in and up to 8kg of carry-on, including laptop.
Flight details:
PS: A month ago I could have booked direct flights both ways for 965€ return, but today those same flights would have cost me 1435€!
UPDATE: Having received my "topbonus Service Card" by mail, I dutifully registered my dive bag & lights online as required, only to once again get an extra bill of 150€ despite this being a free service.
UPDATE: Finally got an email from airberlin apologizing for any inconveniences possibly caused and blaming a faulty registration. Supposedly the erroneously charged 40+150€ will be reimbursed.
UPDATE: Looks like both surcharges have been booked back.
Flight details:
| 06.03.2012 | AB7414 | 13:05 | München | Cancun | 18:05 |
| 02.04.2012 | AB7417 | 19:40 | Cancun | Düsseldorf | 12:25+1 |
| 03.04.2012 | AB6031 | 14:50 | Düsseldorf | München | 16:05 |
PS: A month ago I could have booked direct flights both ways for 965€ return, but today those same flights would have cost me 1435€!
UPDATE: Having received my "topbonus Service Card" by mail, I dutifully registered my dive bag & lights online as required, only to once again get an extra bill of 150€ despite this being a free service.
UPDATE: Finally got an email from airberlin apologizing for any inconveniences possibly caused and blaming a faulty registration. Supposedly the erroneously charged 40+150€ will be reimbursed.
UPDATE: Looks like both surcharges have been booked back.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
thin air - Sonthofen
Typical uncomfortable flight through various mind unsetting time zones, loosing seven hours of sleep along the way, but miraculously emerging in another world where a new day's already half-way through. 12:00+15' (German time), Touch-down. 12:35, Thorough but expedient German immigration control. 13:00, Got both my bags, but where are my two dangerous looking lights? After a while most people have gotten their stuff and have left. Only a couple of lone unwanted bags keep turning around on the luggage belt. I'm about to search for a lost baggage counter when I suddenly notice a small pack lying all by itself on the floor at the far side of the belt. My precious torches!
13:22, Airport train to Munich's main station. 14:21, Regional train to Buchloe, where I only have 4' to catch a connecting train departing from another track. To make matters worse I misunderstand the loudspeaker info and find myself on the wrong track... For your information: Rushing with 50-something kilo feels like running in slow motion but getting exhausted as when sprinting up a steep mountain! Nonetheless I just manage to step onto the train, using the controller's still open door before he closes it :o) After that I slowly wheeze my way back to Sonthofen, where at 16:33 Petra picks me up and drives me home. Door to door a 22 hour time & space challenging journey.
13:22, Airport train to Munich's main station. 14:21, Regional train to Buchloe, where I only have 4' to catch a connecting train departing from another track. To make matters worse I misunderstand the loudspeaker info and find myself on the wrong track... For your information: Rushing with 50-something kilo feels like running in slow motion but getting exhausted as when sprinting up a steep mountain! Nonetheless I just manage to step onto the train, using the controller's still open door before he closes it :o) After that I slowly wheeze my way back to Sonthofen, where at 16:33 Petra picks me up and drives me home. Door to door a 22 hour time & space challenging journey.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Tulum - thin air
12:15, Señora Lourdes drives me to Tulum's bus station, where I wait in vain for my 12:40 bus to Playa del Carmen. Luckily I'm allowed to hop on the 13:00 ADO bus in stead (44 Pesos), arriving in Playa around 14:10, just in time to catch a Riviera bus to Cancun's airport (80 Pesos), another 70' ride. Having been dropped off in terminal 1, I take a free shuttle bus to terminal 3, only a short, as in 1', distance away.
15:35, LTU's counters are manned but they're totally ignoring the waiting queue of early passengers until 15:50, i.e. exactly three hours before departure. After that it goes pretty fast, leaving me enough time for an overpriced Starbucks coffee, before heading to security.
As expected I'm required to open my backpack and show them my dive lights, as these inevitably get the X-ray machine to black out, a sure way to get a lot of attention from paranoid security people. In this case however they are unwilling to let me through and, not wanting to take any responsibility, actually send me back to check-in, as it's apparently not allowed to carry suspicious batteries on board? Thing is, I wouldn't have tried to do so, if LTU hadn't specifically told me to.
18:40, Boarded. 18:50+25', Take-off into thin air as the night falls, enveloping everything into darkness...
15:35, LTU's counters are manned but they're totally ignoring the waiting queue of early passengers until 15:50, i.e. exactly three hours before departure. After that it goes pretty fast, leaving me enough time for an overpriced Starbucks coffee, before heading to security.
As expected I'm required to open my backpack and show them my dive lights, as these inevitably get the X-ray machine to black out, a sure way to get a lot of attention from paranoid security people. In this case however they are unwilling to let me through and, not wanting to take any responsibility, actually send me back to check-in, as it's apparently not allowed to carry suspicious batteries on board? Thing is, I wouldn't have tried to do so, if LTU hadn't specifically told me to.
18:40, Boarded. 18:50+25', Take-off into thin air as the night falls, enveloping everything into darkness...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Sonthofen - Tulum
Travel details: 04:45, Early wake-up. Luckily, yesterday evening's new snow did not stay and the road's clear to go. 05:00, Petra drives me to Sonthofen's Bahnhof. 05:22, Train to Kempten. 06:05, Connecting train to Buchloe. 06:52+5', Connecting train to München Hauptbahnhof. I get off 7' earlier however in Pasing, from where I take the 07:49+2' train straight to the airport. Arriving there at 08:40, well in time for my flight.
I could also have taken the 06:10 train in Sonthofen, in which case I should have arrived at the airport around 9:30. But with only 5' in Kempten to make a connection, that would have been risky.
Walking from the airport's train station to terminal 2 takes 15'. 09:05, Being early I don't have to queue in order to check in my two trolley bags, which indeed weigh in as 26 & 16kg. 09:35, After a short drink-up-all-forbidden-liquids break, I walk through security. Of course they make me open my backpack to check & sniff both my gun-like camcorder and X-ray challenging dive light batteries.
11:15, Boarding. 11:55+35', Take-off. 24:00-25', Touch-down. 15' later we're let out of the plane, immediately finding ourselves in a queue towards immigration. 24:10, Officially stamped into Mexico. 24:15, My two bags are sliding in just as I arrive at the luggage belt. Only to get stuck in another unorganized queue to get through customs. Which I luckily clear without getting the red open-up-all-your-bags light. 24:35, On the way out I get myself a shuttle bus ticket for 50$. 24:50, Six other tourists and I ride out towards Playa Del Carmen and Tulum, where the driver finally drops me off at 03:30 (German time).
Señora Lourdes from Villa Matisse is waiting for me and immediately makes me feel at home. I get a nice upstairs room with private hot-water bathroom, double bed, hammock and fan. Perfect. While for me it's 04:20 by now, here in Mexico it's only 21:20 yet, i.e. seven hours earlier, but late enough for me to fall straight into bed after a refreshing shower :o)
Currency: 1 Euro = 14.80 Pesos , 1 USD = 10.30 Pesos
I could also have taken the 06:10 train in Sonthofen, in which case I should have arrived at the airport around 9:30. But with only 5' in Kempten to make a connection, that would have been risky.
Walking from the airport's train station to terminal 2 takes 15'. 09:05, Being early I don't have to queue in order to check in my two trolley bags, which indeed weigh in as 26 & 16kg. 09:35, After a short drink-up-all-forbidden-liquids break, I walk through security. Of course they make me open my backpack to check & sniff both my gun-like camcorder and X-ray challenging dive light batteries.
11:15, Boarding. 11:55+35', Take-off. 24:00-25', Touch-down. 15' later we're let out of the plane, immediately finding ourselves in a queue towards immigration. 24:10, Officially stamped into Mexico. 24:15, My two bags are sliding in just as I arrive at the luggage belt. Only to get stuck in another unorganized queue to get through customs. Which I luckily clear without getting the red open-up-all-your-bags light. 24:35, On the way out I get myself a shuttle bus ticket for 50$. 24:50, Six other tourists and I ride out towards Playa Del Carmen and Tulum, where the driver finally drops me off at 03:30 (German time).
Señora Lourdes from Villa Matisse is waiting for me and immediately makes me feel at home. I get a nice upstairs room with private hot-water bathroom, double bed, hammock and fan. Perfect. While for me it's 04:20 by now, here in Mexico it's only 21:20 yet, i.e. seven hours earlier, but late enough for me to fall straight into bed after a refreshing shower :o)
Currency: 1 Euro = 14.80 Pesos , 1 USD = 10.30 Pesos
Monday, March 3, 2008
Packed!
While 2x 30kg check-in allowance is more than enough, the 6kg hand-luggage limit is only half of what I actually need. The problem being that I'm required by LTU to carry my two heavy dive lights onboard, thereby forcing me to stuff more fragile photo/video equipment into my check-in bags, just so as not to exceed the limit too much...
Final weigh in: 16+26+10 = 52kg!
Final weigh in: 16+26+10 = 52kg!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Luggage allowance
26/12/2007, LTU's online ticket reservation system not having informed me as to how much luggage I'm allowed to travel with, I called their service desk and got told I could check-in one anorexic bag of maximum 20kg. With a Top Bonus Service Card, costing only 40€/year, I would however be allowed a meager 10kg extra.
31/12/2007, My flight ticket seems to say I'm allowed 30kg, and that without having applied for the Top Bonus Service Card?
14/01/2008, A second call confirms that I can indeed check-in 30kg and have up to 8kg of hand-luggage, because I'll be gone more than 29 days. While that's good news, it's still not quite good enough yet. Technical diving gear weighs a lot, e.g. I had 43kg last time and want to bring even more this time!
Internet research indicating I could get a special allowance for dive gear, I sent two emails to LTU's service desk, requesting precise information regarding resp. check-in allowance and packing rules for dive lights. Hoping to get clear written answers to two simple questions, ten days later I got a rather confusing reply about my gear having been registered, together with a new but unchanged bill?
28/01/2008, Another call, another answer. This time I'm told I can check-in a healthy 30kg of normal luggage and an additional 30kg of dive equipment, besides 6kg of hand-luggage. Now we're talking :o) Heavy dive lights however must now be carried disassembled in the hand-luggage. Not only that, they must be declared before hand, separately from the dive gear. I even had to say how much they weigh and how big they are. So now my problem is that I've got more than 6kg of hand-luggage (2 lights @ 2kg/pc + 2 cameras @ 0.5kg/pc + 1 laptop @ 2.5kg). But if I read the rules correctly I think it should be possible to board with 8kg of hand-luggage when carrying a laptop, not counting small stuff like a photo bag?
— LTU luggage allowance
31/12/2007, My flight ticket seems to say I'm allowed 30kg, and that without having applied for the Top Bonus Service Card?
14/01/2008, A second call confirms that I can indeed check-in 30kg and have up to 8kg of hand-luggage, because I'll be gone more than 29 days. While that's good news, it's still not quite good enough yet. Technical diving gear weighs a lot, e.g. I had 43kg last time and want to bring even more this time!
Internet research indicating I could get a special allowance for dive gear, I sent two emails to LTU's service desk, requesting precise information regarding resp. check-in allowance and packing rules for dive lights. Hoping to get clear written answers to two simple questions, ten days later I got a rather confusing reply about my gear having been registered, together with a new but unchanged bill?
28/01/2008, Another call, another answer. This time I'm told I can check-in a healthy 30kg of normal luggage and an additional 30kg of dive equipment, besides 6kg of hand-luggage. Now we're talking :o) Heavy dive lights however must now be carried disassembled in the hand-luggage. Not only that, they must be declared before hand, separately from the dive gear. I even had to say how much they weigh and how big they are. So now my problem is that I've got more than 6kg of hand-luggage (2 lights @ 2kg/pc + 2 cameras @ 0.5kg/pc + 1 laptop @ 2.5kg). But if I read the rules correctly I think it should be possible to board with 8kg of hand-luggage when carrying a laptop, not counting small stuff like a photo bag?
— LTU luggage allowance
Every passenger has a baggage allowance of 20 kg (or even 30 kg for journeys exceeding 29 days) together with one piece of hand luggage (EU-rules) (max. 55x40x20 cm) weighing up to 6 kg (8 kg for Laptop) which is not included in the baggage allowance, as well as small items needed during the flight (photo bags, something to read, etc.). All other baggage is subject to the excess baggage rates. ...
— LTU special luggage allowance... Scuba diving equipment up to 30 kg, belt w/o weights, tanks emptied. Please pack diving equipment separately. Light sources need to be disassembled and transported in hand luggage. ...
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
boot 2008: DAN
My diver insurance having expired, I renewed it on the spot at DAN's rather uninteresting boot stand: 68€ for a year's basic coverage and peace of mind. Because, well, you never know.
Insurances make a lot of money out of peoples insecurities & worries, but at least DAN puts part of its membership fees into dive research.
Insurances make a lot of money out of peoples insecurities & worries, but at least DAN puts part of its membership fees into dive research.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Online flight booking
Booked myself a direct LTU flight from Munich to Cancun! (1228€ return, incl. the train ride from Sonthofen to Munich and back)
The online reservation was click easy & straightforward, but failed to inform me as to how much luggage I'm allowed to bring with me.
Flights towards America usually are surprisingly generous in this respect compared to ones bound for Asia. But, taking nothing for granted, I called LTU's hotline to check. To my dismay I was politely told I could check-in up to 20kg.
Twenty kilo only? My cave diving gear weighs more than that just by itself! In 2004 I was allowed 2x32kg, in 2006 2x20kg, and that with stingy dutch Martinair. And now only 1x20kg?
With a Top Bonus Service Card, costing only 40€/year, I could however get a meager 10kg more. Either that, or risk 10€/kg/way for any overweight upon check-in. Considering I had 37kg last time I flew to Mexico, not counting 6kg carry-on, that's not really an option. And I was actually already planning on bringing more gear along...
The online reservation was click easy & straightforward, but failed to inform me as to how much luggage I'm allowed to bring with me.
Flights towards America usually are surprisingly generous in this respect compared to ones bound for Asia. But, taking nothing for granted, I called LTU's hotline to check. To my dismay I was politely told I could check-in up to 20kg.
Twenty kilo only? My cave diving gear weighs more than that just by itself! In 2004 I was allowed 2x32kg, in 2006 2x20kg, and that with stingy dutch Martinair. And now only 1x20kg?
With a Top Bonus Service Card, costing only 40€/year, I could however get a meager 10kg more. Either that, or risk 10€/kg/way for any overweight upon check-in. Considering I had 37kg last time I flew to Mexico, not counting 6kg carry-on, that's not really an option. And I was actually already planning on bringing more gear along...
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Back in Tulum
The journey from Copenhagen to Tulum took about 24 hours for my body. My mind however is still lagging behind somewhere over the Atlantic.
I'm staying at Villa Matisse, a 3 stories house with 6 rental rooms in Tulum pueblo. At 350 USD/month it's an economic and homey solution compared to the beach resorts. I've got a private bathroom with hot water and there's a common area with kitchenette.
Tulum hasn't changed much over the last two years. A new bus station, some new restaurants, but nothing drastic. The beach, just a short 35 Pesos taxi ride away, is vast and seemingly endless. And though windswept this time of the year, it's still a great place to hang out.
Today I plan on checking out some dive centers, as it won't take long before the need to submerge will just be irresistible.
I'm staying at Villa Matisse, a 3 stories house with 6 rental rooms in Tulum pueblo. At 350 USD/month it's an economic and homey solution compared to the beach resorts. I've got a private bathroom with hot water and there's a common area with kitchenette.
Tulum hasn't changed much over the last two years. A new bus station, some new restaurants, but nothing drastic. The beach, just a short 35 Pesos taxi ride away, is vast and seemingly endless. And though windswept this time of the year, it's still a great place to hang out.
Today I plan on checking out some dive centers, as it won't take long before the need to submerge will just be irresistible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)