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 [...]
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 [...]
Adventure Network International: New Blue-Ice Runway In Antarctica.
By Patrick Griffin. Here is an easy question for all of you travel fans. What is a runway? That’s easy I hear you shout. It is one of those long flat pieces of concrete or asphalt found at an airport upon which planes take off and land. Well yes that is correct…except when the runway [...]
When a Forgetful Celebrity Found His Inflight Magazine Was Simply No Cover At All.
By Patrick Griffin. So I found myself settling down with mug of mint tea and the morning newspapers at the Aer Lingus executive lounge at Dublin Airport’s Terminal One. There is a wide selection of Irish newspapers available in the lounge and no matter which one I looked at there was only one story getting [...]
Hotel Review: Park Inn Heathrow – Bath Road, London Heathrow.
By Patrick Griffin. The Park Inn Heathrow, is a four-star hotel located on Bath Road just 1.6km from the Heathrow Airport and accessible via the regular Hotel Hoppa bus service. It has 895 rooms, a conference centre with several meeting rooms, fitness suite and spa, high speed internet access, a choice of restaurants and bars [...]