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Destination Guide – Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a stunning city in which to spend a few days.

I spent three full days in Memphis and could very happily have stayed much longer.

I started my tour on the iconic Beale Street. With its lively bars and soulful restaurants juxtaposed against historical stores, Beale Street truly has something for everyone.

From Beale Street it is only a short distance to the National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.

The distance from Beale Street is a very easy walk, but I chose to ride the Main Street Trolley, operated with historical trams plying the routes between many of the top sights of Memphis. This is a very economical option at $1 per ride or $2 for a day pass.

The tram also passes by the iconic Peabody Hotel with its famous duck pond.

To round off a day in Memphis, I can recommend two alternatives.

One option is a cruise on the Mississippi River with live music and a simple, but tasty and unlimited barbecue.

If, however, you really want to sample an authentic Tennessee barbecue, The Commissary in Germantown is well worth the half hour drive.

I have to say that Memphis is an extremely interesting and thoroughly enjoyable option for a city break and was one of my favourite cities of my 7,000 mile road trip.

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Strikes and travel disruption in Europe

Following on from the German transport strikes last week, travellers in much of Western Europe are now facing disruption from strike action across several countries.

 

UNITED KINGDOM

Security personnel at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 are several days into a 10-day strike, aimed at disrupting travel through the Easter school holiday period.

Members of management and personnel from other terminals have been drafted in to cover for the striking workers, seemingly with reasonable effect.

By all accounts, it would appear that much of the predicted chaos has not materialised, with the vast majority of flights running as scheduled.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that security queues are not much longer than would normally be expected.

From what I can gather, travellers do not need to worry too much about this, unless there is a significant escalation in action.

 

FRANCE

France has seen widespread strike action across many sectors, as well as significant civil unrest in recent weeks, as people take to the streets to protest (amongst other things) government plans to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.

This has significantly affected the travel sector, in particular flights between third countries, which overfly French airspace.

Minimum service regulations, at least theoretically, grant that this should not affect flights to and from France itself. However, overflights between, for example, UK and Italy or Spain are not covered by these regulations and disruptions have been reported.

Indeed, my own flight from Valencia to Zurich yesterday was delayed and then rerouted over Italian instead of French airspace.

In terms of visiting France itself, it would appear that the disruption is significant enough to affect travellers’ plans and reduce the enjoyment of a trip. With this in mind, I would probably choose not to make any new bookings to travel in the coming days.

The only advice I can offer to travellers with pre-existing plans is to monitor news outlets carefully and make your own decision on how much aggravation you are willing to put up with.

 

PORTUGAL

Strikes by border personnel are expected to affect Faro and Madeira Airports from Thursday April 6 to Monday April 10.

I expect the effect to be limited to slightly increased waiting times on entry and exit.

 

SPAIN

Up to 17 airports across Spain are affected by strikes by ground handling agents employed by Swissport.

The strikes are taking place Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursday until April 13.

Again, disruption appears to be minimal. I flew from Valencia Airport yesterday and didn’t notice anything amiss, other than a delay to my flight, caused by the French action referenced above.

 

CONCLUSION

The decimation of the travel sector by government policies during the Great Covid Panic is continuing to cause issues with understaffing.

This, coupled with the intransigence of trade unions and the inability or unwillingness of employers to reflect rising inflation rates in their salary negotiations, creates all the ingredients for industrial action.

I expect these strikes to continue for the foreseeable future and can only hope that the disruptions to travel operations remain as minor as they seem to be so far, with the notable exception of France.

I would certainly not be cancelling any plans, but I do advise travellers to build extra time into your schedules and not to plan any tight connections that you can’t afford to miss.

If you have any questions or experiences to share, please visit the relevant Destination Forum.

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Germany – large scale transport strikes

Anyone who is planning on travelling to or from Germany in the next few days may wish to reconsider their plans.

Several transport unions have announced plans to paralyse the country’s transport networks this coming Monday, March 27.

AIRPORTS

No flights will operate from Munich Airport for two days, Sunday 26/03 and Monday 27/03. Disruption is likely to continue into Tuesday.

Frankfurt Airport will be closed to all regular flights on Monday and it is reasonable to expect sone cancellations starting on Sunday evening.

Stuttgart and Bremen airports have also announced they will be closing all day Monday, with Düsseldorf Airport warning of severe disruption “in the unlikely event” that your flight is actually running.

LONG DISTANCE TRAINS

Deutsche Bahn has announced that there will be no long distance trains running on Monday throughout Germany.

Disruption is expected to begin on Sunday evening and run into Tuesday as trains and crew will be out of position.

REGIONAL TRAINS

Deutsche Bahn is expected to run very few regional trains on Monday and travellers can count themselves very lucky if any services are operating on their intended route.

LOCAL TRANSPORT

Unions in seven of Germany’s 16 federal states are involved in strike action, affecting services in Bavaria, Baden Württemberg, Saxony, Lower Saxony, Nordrhein-Westphalia, Rheinland-Palatine and Hesse.

CONCLUSION

This is the largest scale transport strike action in Germany for some decades and will cause extreme disruption to transport networks.

Travellers should expect to be unable to reach their destinations using flights or trains.

Flixbus services may be an alternative, but are likely to be very heavily in demand. I tried several searches for connections between several major German cities and found that many are already showing “almost full”.

My recommendation is that if you absolutely must travel in Germany on Monday, a rental car is going to be the most reliable option.

In all honesty, however, if you are in a position to postpone or cancel your visit, or to choose an alternative destination, my advise is to do so.

If you have any questions or further information on the upcoming strike action in Germany, please visit the Germany forum.

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Destination Guide – One Day in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan is a city with a turbulent history and not one which many tourists would think to consider.

This however is a shame, because I visited a good friend there in October and found a vibrant and fun city, teeming with old world charm.

The autumn weather was still pleasant enough for a stroll along the Riverwalk, where our day started.

As a natural segue, we joined a lunch cruise on the Detroit Princess with live music and views of both Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

The $59 ticket price included live music, a very good buffet lunch, coffee and nearly 3 hours on the water. I considered this to be excellent value.

After the cruise, we headed over to the historic Eastern Market for a drink at a couple of the German style beer halls.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my day in Detroit and having a local person to show me around proved invaluable, as the city holds many hidden gems.

I can definitely recommend exploring this underrated city if you find yourself in Michigan.

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Destination Guide – One day in Chicago

Chicago is a very popular choice for travellers looking for a USA city break.

I started my 10-week USA road trip there in October and took a day out to enjoy the city.

As my friend and I only had one day to explore the city, we chose to take the Big Bus tour in order to see as many of the main sites as possible in a short time.

At $45 per person this is an expensive option, but for a one-day visit to the city we considered it worth the price for the convenience and time saving.

We started our tour at Millennium Park, with its famous art and architecture.

This last photo of “The Bean” sculpture was taken by my good friend Stefan later in the year.

Nearby is the beginning of the famous Route 66, running all the way through to Santa Monica, California.

Although I was not planning to drive any of Route 66 on this particular trip, it was nice to see the starting point.

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Following this, we moved on to Navy Pier for a pleasant stroll and some views of the city skyline.

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For a slightly different perspective on the city, we took a 90 minute river cruise through the central Riverwalk area of the city.

Rounding off our day in Chicago, we headed for the 360 Chicago observation deck on the 94th floor of the John Hancock building.

As the name suggests, the deck provides a 360° view of the city. I recommend visiting at sunset for the best views.

Obviously there is much more to this city than can be experienced in a single day, but I feel that we had a good experience of what the city has to offer.

Chicago is definitely a very good choice for a USA city break.

If you can suggest any improvements to this one-day itinerary, please visit our USA forum and let us know.

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Flight review – LOT Business Class, Warsaw – Chicago

Finally it was time to get into the long-haul phase of my travels, starting with a 7,000 mile US road trip.

But first, there was the small matter of crossing the Atlantic.

I managed to pick up a reasonable deal with LOT Polish Airlines, coming in at a little over €1,600 (£1,400) for the Business Class round trip from Stockholm to Chicago.

After my short connection from Stockholm it was time for the transatlantic leg.

Business Class seats on LOT’s 787-9 are in a 2-2-2 configuration. As a single traveller, I chose 4D in the centre pair, to avoid the climbover factor in the window pairs.

As my seatmate had already settled in by the time I boarded, I snapped a quick photo of the inoperative 3C-D pair in the next row, which are identical.

Shortly after take-off, the meal service began with a choice of drink and a small amuse-bouche, while meal choices were requested.

I chose the onion soup, which was tasty and came with a side salad.

For the main course I chose the pork neck, which was nicely presented, tender and tasty.

The meal was rounded off with a selection of fruit and cheese, followed by a well presented latte macchiato and a couple of sweet, but delicious cherry vodkas.

After lunch, the effects of my early start began to show (or maybe it was the cherry vodka) and I settled down for a short nap.

LOT’s Business Class seats recline to a fully flat position and a “short nap” turned into four solid hours of undisturbed sleep.

Shortly before arrival in Chicago, a second meal was served, this time all on one tray rather than course by course.

The pasta dish was accompanied by salmon and meat appetisers and fresh fruit.

Overall, this was a pleasant flight and certainly felt shorter than the 10 hour block time.

LOT’s Business Class is a solid product and offers a civilised way to cross the Atlantic.

At the price I paid, I would definitely not hesitate to book it again.

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LOT Embraer 195

Flight review – LOT Business Class, Stockholm – Warsaw

After my summer tour of Scandinavia, it was time to head off on my long-haul winter travels.

But first, there was the short connection to Warsaw in LOT Polish Airlines’ Business Class.

LOT Embraer 195

LOT uses the SAS Norrsken Lounge in Stockholm. However, as this was an early morning flight and I had already had breakfast at my hotel, I decided to skip this in favour of a quick transit through the airport.

Boarding was swift and efficient and I soon found myself settled in.

Business Class on this Embraer 195 was economy seating in a 2-2 configuration, with one of each pair kept free. I found this comfortable enough for the short flight.

LOT shorthaul business class seating

Although this flight was only 90 minutes, there was time for a pretty well varied breakfast selection.

LOT Short haul business class breakfast

On approach to Warsaw, we circled over a blanket of very low and heavy cloud for around 15 minutes.

View out of plane window

Fortunately we were able to land in Warsaw on time and in plenty of time for the next leg of my winter season, which sees me heading to Chicago and a 7,000 mile US roadtrip.

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Bavaria drops masks on public transport

As of yesterday, the German state of Bavaria has finally dropped the mask mandate on local public transport, after two and a half years.

Along with Spain, Germany has been the most mask manic country in the western world and has continued to enforce the slavish dogma with an iron fist while every one of its neighbours has tacitly admitted the futility and failure of the measure.

Bavaria now joins Saxony-Anhalt in once again allowing freeface travel on buses and local trains.

It must be noted, however, that long distance trains fall under the remit of the federal government, which is still stubbornly dragging its heels and insisting on FFP2 beaks being religiously worn.

Fortunately for libertarian travellers, there is a very simple workaround to this.

All buses, trams and city U-Bahn and S-Bahn services are now freeface.

Trains are split into regional services (coded RB or RE), on which gag rags are no longer required.

Forced muzzling still applies on InterCity, EuroCity and InterCity Express services (coded IC, EC, and ICE).

Just like travelling on a cheap LänderTicket, avoid anything with a “C” in the train number.

With all this in mind, a simple city break in Munich and a trip to the Christmas markets should once again be back on the menu for non-adherents of the mask cult.

It is good to see this positive move in Bavaria. Germany is a country I have been very fond of for many years and I have been dismayed to witness first hand some of the disgraceful behaviour that has taken place there in the last few years.

Hopefully this belated outbreak of sanity will quickly spread to other states and sufficient pressure can be put on the federal regime to finally put an end to the misery.

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Flight review – Nordic Seaplanes, Copenhagen – Aarhus

Whilst in Copenhagen, I was presented with an interesting opportunity to try out a new style of flying – a 45-minute flight with Nordic Seaplanes to Aarhus, one of the oldest cities in Denmark.

At a one-way price of around €95, this seemed too good to turn down.

Unfortunately I was advised 24 hours in advance, that my planned 8:45 departure was cancelled and offered a seat on the afternoon flight.

As this was only a day trip, I opted to take the following day’s morning departure instead and I was quickly rebooked.

The flight departs from the company’s city terminal, a short distance from the iconic Little Mermaid statue.

The experience started with check-in 20 minutes before departure and a coffee in the small, but comfortable, lounge a very short distance from the boarding area.

The cabin is laid out in a 1-2 configuration and on boarding I was pleased to be assigned to one of the single window seats towards the rear.

Flying by seaplane certainly gives a different perspective from flying by jetliner and it was nice to experience the take-off over the city of Copenhagen.

The landing in Aarhus, with a steep nose-down angle was even more exhilarating.

The arrival was at the small terminal a short taxi ride from the centre of Aarhus.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and time efficient way to travel and involved none of the usual annoyances of air travel, such as time consuming check-in procedures, long security queues and extra travelling to and from airports.

My flight from Copenhagen to Aarhus was an enjoyable and trouble free way to travel and I would definitely use this service again.

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Destination guide – Gothenburg, Sweden

Sweden’s second city of Gothenburg is often overlooked in favour of the country’s capital of Stockholm.

In my view, this is a shame because Gothenburg is a very pleasant place to spend a relaxed city break.

I started my visit with a one-hour sightseeing cruise.

Gothenburg has a rich nautical history and a cruise along the Göta Älv river showcases the city’s past and present.

I followed that up with a visit to the Horticultural Society Gardens and a pleasant riverside stroll.

Gothenburg is a very easy city to navigate. I do not recommend renting a car, as parking is very expensive and the public transport is efficient and economical.

I chose simply to walk nearly everywhere, as the city is very compact and has some very scenic walking paths.

In conclusion, Gothenburg is a relaxing and picturesque option for a short city break, or to combine with a visit to Stockholm or Copenhagen.

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