St Paul’s Cathedral Completes £40m Restoration And Celebrates 300th Anniversary
After a decade and a half one of the largest and most impressive restoration projects ever undertaken in the UK has formally been completed. The St Paul’s Cathedral programme of cleaning and repair has cost £40m, taken 15 years, and is the first time in its history that the building has been comprehensively restored inside [...]
Latest Opodo Offers (June 2011): Malaysia and Turkey, 5* Flights, 5* Hotels and Much More
{EAV_BLOG_VER:eff8f8a25b03e986} 5* flights, 5* holidays and prices almost too good to be true. Malaysia and Turkey pack in an amazing variety of sights: take a look at what we have to say about these truly rewarding destinations. Visit Malaysia – Truly Asia Flights to Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur from £530, Kota Kinabalu from £526, Langkawi [...]
Salzburg, Austria: Day Trip to Mozart’s Birthplace
By Patrick Griffin. If you didn’t know that the Austrian city of Salzburg was the birthplace of 18th Century composer Mozart then you soon will as soon as you get there. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born at 9 Getreidegasse on January 27, 1756 and as this just so happens to be the number one commercial [...]
Aer Lingus Business Class Lounge – Dublin Airport – Terminal Two.
By Patrick Griffin. Another Aer Lingus flight and yet another temporary lounge. The Dublin-based carrier has now fully moved into Terminal Two at its home airport but its business lounge is not yet ready to accept fare-paying passengers. Last time I flew with Aer Lingus from Dublin I was critical of their lounge over at [...]
Dublin Airport – Terminal Two First Impressions. March 3, 2011.
By Patrick Griffin. I know I have mentioned this before but I really used to dread having to fly anywhere from Dublin Airport. It looked rather drab, was generally overcrowded and was a place of long queues, security bottlenecks, and a thoroughly unpleasant experience from check-in to departure gate. And given that I was a [...]
Aer Lingus Bag Drop – Dublin Airport Terminal Two – March 3, 2011.
By Patrick Griffin. The Aer Lingus employee on the fast bag drop desk at Dublin’s new Terminal Two was not in the mood to chat, or even to talk for that matter. She signaled me forward from the head of the queue with the wave of an upheld arm. “Come this way now” her wordless [...]
Ready for boarding?…The plane is nowhere near the airport yet!
By Patrick Griffin. Low-cost carriers love to redefine things, to change things, to make things different. They first stripped fares to the bone by introducing a no-frills service in exchange for previously unheard of low cost air travel, then they brought prices back up again with an unprecedented range of add ons, optional extras and [...]
Munich, Germany: football fans, fake candles and pigs’ legs.
By Patrick Griffin. It was a Saturday morning and the 9.45am train from Regensburg to Munich was already packed. The choice was to stand in the corridor or sneak into first class so I chose the first option while others made themselves comfortable in seats they had not paid for. I was not alone. Squeezed [...]
Regensburg, Germany: Sweethearts cross the Danube to lock into love.
By Patrick Griffin. THE rather utilitarian looking footbridge across the River Danube in the Bavarian city of Regensburg is a magnet for local lovers. At first sight, and even upon closer inspection, this rather ugly structure is hardly the city’s most obvious location for romance. It is constructed of horizontal sturdy green metal girders, held [...]
Review – Aer Lingus Gold Circle Executive Lounge at Dublin Airport.
By Patrick Griffin. To be honest I was expecting something a little grander than this…a little larger too, a lot more comfortable come to think about it and with rather more facilities. I was, after all, at Dublin Airport, the home base of this Irish carrier and surely the airline’s best opportunity to scream: “Look [...]