During the later phases of the Covid-19 lock-downs in Germany, I had the idea to that posting. Maybe just because I was looking forward to be able to travel again more freely after some one and a half years. I am slowly able to explore some interesting national routes and do trips to neighboring countries. There are so many places, airlines and experiences I still want to make – but I hope you enjoy this list of experiences I made so far. Of course, some of them have been made before 2018 and are thus not reflected in Flyctory.com postings.
The Best Flights Of My Life (… so far)
12. Doha (DOH) – Colombo (CMB, +1) – Male (MLE), SriLankan UL 218 / 101, 16th November 2017
I don’t have any pictures about this trip, unfortunately. Bad luck, as it was just a few months before I finally decided to found Flyctory.com. I flew on a SriLankan ticket from Frankfurt in business to the Maldives on my birthday. The first leg was serviced by Qatar Airlines (on LATAM wetlease). Thereafter, I had my very first SriLankan flight experience with a transfer in Colombo. Great cabin, lovely service and good food – I will definitely never forget the burning hot three styles of SriLankan rice pudding. I flew back the same route shortly thereafter – and absolutely enjoyed it again.

11. Morgantown (MGW) – Pittsburgh (PIT), Southern Airlines Express 9X 403, 22nd February 2019
I generally love flying the small regional airlines in small jets with a bit of odd connections. This flight in 2019 was special in two ways: flying into my ice hockey hometown Pittsburgh with a Cessna 208EX Grand Caravan was absolutely special already. I had four legs on this day, but on the flight from Morgantown, I have been the only passenger. Great flight experience – and a really good regional airline.
Flying with Southern Airways Express
10. Westray (WRY) – Papa Westray (PPW), Loganair LOG 353, 12th June 2015
There are two flights which finally lead to a certificate, which is hanging at the wall of my office room. Funnily, both are Loganair experiences. The flight from Westray (WRY) to Papa Westray (PPW) was a special flight on a day with four flights on the Orkney Islands: this one is the shortest scheduled service in the whole world. I took a hike of some hours on Papa Westray to be sure I don’t miss that opportunity in 2015. Flight time was about three minutes – one of the best three minutes of my life.

9. London City (LCY) – Billund (BLL) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Sun Air of Scandinavia BA 8210 / 8203, 14th June 2019
The planes look like small British Airways ones, but in fact Sun-Air of Scandinavia do an amazing service on their Dornier 328 JET planes. In 2019, I was able to fly from London City to Dusseldorf – with a stopover in Billund (BLL). The ticket was amazingly cheap if you book it on Avios – and the service was outstanding. I am still in love – and in contact with the amazing flight attendant of that trip.
Flying Sun-Air of Scandinavia
8. Cologne/Bonn (CGN) – Miami (MIA), Eurowings / Sun Express EW 182, 15th December 2016
When I asked my wife what her best flight ever has been, she named that one. Yes, we did have Swiss Business Class and other posh ones together – but this flight from my home town airport to Florida was indeed special. At this time, the Eurowings Best Class were Premium Economy seats with a pitch much wider than at Lufthansa. The purser was amazing and gave us all kinds of service. Even though this one was the day flight only, we highly appreciated the service.
7. Paderborn/Lippstadt (PAD) – Sylt (GWT) (return), Green Airlines / PAD Aviation, PVD 531/532, 25th April 2021
I still owe you the review of Green Airlines in general. They change their operations almost biweekly, so that it is very hard to really judge on their services. To me, they have been very good, though – and gave me a PAD Aviation private business jet flight from Paderborn/Lippstadt (PAD) to Westerland/Sylt (GWT). My first experience of that kind. Loved it!
Flying the PAD Aviation Embraer Phenom 300
6. Glasgow (GLA) – Barra (BRR) (and return), Loganair LM 451 / 456, 7th September 2019
I love the small regional aviation experiences, especially the flights from mainland to islands. One of the most special island flying experiences is the flight to Barra (BRR). It is the only airport with scheduled flights, where you touch down and take of on sand – which also means that the flight schedule is altering every day. The flight is scheduled by Loganair – so that the Scottish are the only airline, which if featured twice in this listing. If you want have a look into the Outer Hebrides island, have a look into the guided tour I had on the Barra.
Loganair From Glasgow To Barra Airport (BRR)
5. Taipei (TPE) – Paris (CDG), EVA Air BR87, 25th February 2018
I would say EVA Air gave me the best Premium Economy experience of my life. This was especially helpful as the flights from Paris (CDG) to Taipei and back are the longest flight experiences of my life. The trips were at the very beginning of Flyctory.com – nowadays, I would do more and more detailed postings after a trip like the one to Taiwan. The return to Europe was an outstanding experience, though: I was able to fly with one of their signature Hello Kitty airplanes. The branding includes meals, cabin design – and even a special check-in. Great one – hope to be able to fly with EVA Air in the future again!
Flying the Hello Kitty Jet
4. Mainz-Finthen (QMZ) – Cologne/Bonn (CGN), Lufthansa Stiftung Berlin, LH9814, 7th September 2015
If this posting was about my twelve favorite airplanes (maybe I will do that one one day as well), this flight would be on the top of the list. I feel gifted that I had two Junkers Ju-52 flights with the Lufthansa Stiftung Berlin, before they decided that they do not maintain the old lady any more. The first flight was from Mainz-Finthen to Cologne/Bonn. A very traditional airfield to my home town airport. Sunny skies and a flight along the River Rhine. Not as comfortably as other flights on this list, but definitely memorable.

3. Frankfurt (FRA) – Madrid (MAD) (and return), LATAM LA 705/704, multiple dates
Would you really expect that this one is missing. Already before Covid-19, LATAM already seized their flight from Frankfurt (FRA) via Madrid (MAD) Terminal 4 to Santiago de Chile (SCL). This flight is unforgotten to me. The only flight experience on Flyctory.com with a love letter posting. Hope to do the non-stop flight to Chile with these guys one day.
LATAM 705 – Love Letter to a Flight
2. Singapore (SIN) – Frankfurt (FRA), Lufthansa LH 779, 5th May 2019
The two top flight experiences were definitely both dated as of May 2019. On one ticket, I had the opportunity to enjoy Lufthansa and SIngapore Airlines First Class on the same set of flights. One of the highlights of my Lufthansa legs was definitely to be able to enjoy their unique First Class Terminal. Especially flying in the A380 First Class by Lufthansa was a memory of a lifetime.
Lufthansa First Class Flight Experience
The Favorite Flight Of My Life… So Far:
Hong Kong (HKG) – Singapore (SIN), Singapore Airlines SQ 865, 30th April 2019
Compared to the over ten hour First Class flights with Lufthansa from Frankfurt (FRA) to Hong Kong (HKG) and from Singapore (SIN) back to Frankfurt, the Singapore Airlines leg was rather short. However, the experience was amazing. A fantastic seat, great service – Singapore Airlines is just a unique experience. One day I need to have a shower in the sky with Emirates First. So far, it will very likely be hard to beat this flight.
Flying Singapore Airlines First Class (B777-300ER)
And the Biggest Disappointment?
It was still a nice flight somehow. But on 21st April 2017. I boarded British Airways BA 490 from London Heathrow. I already knew that things might not be that fortunate that day when they asked any passenger whether they have valid passports / visa for Spain as well. The rationale: the flight was scheduled to fly to Gibraltar (GIB). The wind shears were that massive that day that after two approaches at the airport (and some tears in the cabin, as the people were not prepared for it), we in fact what planes from London do when they just cannot make it: they diverted to Malaga – transport to the British exclave from there by bus. In fact that killed my first ever landing on this very special airport. It took me about a year later to finally fulfill the dream of landing on that airport: on 24th May 2018, I landed with RAM Express from Tangier, Morocco – a more rare, but also more reliable connection.
All “classic” blog posts
No reviews – just debating and certain topics – these are my “traditional” blog posts in the categories Just blogging, Just blogging on music and Sports Blogging:
Early summer 2022. After the Covid-19 crisis feels to have come to a certain end, air travelers all over Europe ...
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After my second posting about Food I Had Onboard in mid March 2022, I had a couple of interesting flight experiences ...
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He was ready to make a few people happy. For one evening. Ready to be the star of a luxurious ...
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After I got some quite nice feedback about my first Food I Had Onboard posting, I felt to continue this ...
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I am quite sure I will never forget this 24th February 2022. Like I will know what I did on ...
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The Winter Olympic Games 2022 are finished. I have to say, I am relieved. It may have been the two ...
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Especially for tourists, Dubai rather means entertainment, luxury and posh shopping. Thus, having a boat ride in a swan-shaped pedal ...
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22.4Last week only, I had to cancel or rebook four trip due to Covid-19 related reasons. Three of them included ...
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It is time for the final posting of the years, simply named The Best Ones 2021. After looking into my ...
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2021 definitely lifted Flyctory.com to another level. The community is steadily increasing - days with less than 2,000 page hits ...
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Year-end is the time to look back to all the stuff what happened to you. Ideally you rather remind the ...
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Christmas is approaching really quick now. While I traditionally do a festive edition of my Country Music Picks, I also ...
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Even though I do have a couple of airport reviews on Flyctory.com, I so far missed a lot of the ...
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Okay, I give in. In the world of country music, Christmas starts in early September. That's when the first song ...
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In October 2021, on a flight from Munich (MUC) to Keflavik Airport (KEF), I decided to go for a new ...
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Summer feels to be over - Fall 2021 is coming. Finally, I had much more - and better - trips ...
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This is a posting I am aiming to write since ages somehow. I visited so many hotels - not just ...
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The Summer Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo are over. Two weeks of intense sports coverage are lying behind us. Definitely ...
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After the 2018 PyoengChang Olympic Winter Games, I already felt urged to do my very own medal count of the ...
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Are you currently also fascinated (or disgusted) by the Olympic Games? This posting is about cool sports - even though ...
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I studied maths. This almost certainly means that I am weird. Or, at least, that I tend to have weird ...
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I got introduced to Smooth McGroove by a friend some half a year ago. At that time, the YouTube music ...
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At first sight, this is rather a blog posting for people outside Germany. At the time of reading, German residents ...
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Covid-19 has influenced our lifestyle in a historic way, indeed. A lot of things we did love to do are ...
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During a dinner concert in June 2020 of a Cologne local band, Cat Ballou (who will be part of my selection), I ...
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It started on 27th July 2018 with Talk of This Town by Catherine McGrath. Last weekend, I reached another milestone: with Immortal ...
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If you are on a city trip, you likely fancy to buy a multi-attraction ticket. There are global companies like ...
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I already introduced you to Feli, the German Girl in America, now Feli from Germany, in my Flyctory.com posting about her ...
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I am back. After five days in the United Arab Emirates metropolis, I came back to Germany. My Covid-19 test ...
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After praising my favorite songs of 2020 and the favorite albums and EPs in 2020, the final posting to do ...
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292 Media Review postings - looking into new music (and a few other) releases was definitely some sort of core ...
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2020 is about to come to an end - and the last three posting of the years re about to ...
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The critics hated the movie - the cinemas loved it (as it really cashed in a bunch). As a sequel ...
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Weird Al Yankovic is not only one of my most favorite artists, who I follow for some twenty years now ...
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While I have a couple of "PCR professionals" in my circle of contacts, it took me until December 2020 until ...
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In addition to the very personal new Songs of My Life category, I feel like having a bit more blogging contents on ...
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Just about one month left until we are facing our very first socially distanced Christmas. Especially after hard times in ...
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A typical scene at the bett1HULKS tennis tournament during the last two weeks at Cologne's LANXESSarena: Alexander Zverev (who swept ...
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During the last years, October has been one of the big months for European country music fans: being already "traditional" ...
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Starting Flyctory.com as a travel and sports blog some 30 months ago, I wouldn't have imagined at its beginning how ...
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After Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open 2020, charts like the one by below by the German Data Journalist Felix ...
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2020 is just halfway done - but if I was to choose a German person of the year, regardless whether ...
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I was originally working on a posting about key challenges that Nashville and the country music industry will face in ...
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I absolutely loved to follow Olivia Lane on social media and listen to her music after I happened to run ...
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Country music rarely makes it to German media - especially the major US acts, which are typically rather unknown in ...
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Many Germans did it - and I did it as well: travelling again. The Whitsun weekend was not only a ...
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They did it: the German Women Soccer Bundesliga (Flyeralarm Frauen-Bundesliga) re-started a few days ago, on 29th May 2020. I ...
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Covid-19 has a huge impact on the music industry. My home town Cologne's local country music heroes, Mrs. Greenbird, were ...
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Saturday, 16th May 2020, 15:30 hrs German time. The point in time at which the German Soccer Bundesliga was intended ...
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Kenny Foster, one of the Featured Artists of Flyctory.com and one of the most friendly people I met in the ...
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A friend of mine recently asked me how the current Covid-19 situation is affecting myself personally and of course also ...
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My Country Music Playlists on Amazon Music and Spotify are one of the most popular elements of the Flyctory.com music ...
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Mlada Bolesav - a 44,000 people city in Czech Repiblic, some 65 kilometers Northeast of Prague. Though the city's history ...
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Due to the late cancellation of the C2C festivals in London, Dublin and Glasgow and all the organizational trouble caused ...
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While I am writing this blog posting, I am sitting in London. The C2C: Country to Country has been cancelled ...
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My third and final issue of stories around the C2C in Berlin - time to finish the days of country ...
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Saturday in Berlin is over. A lot of good music has been played on several stages - but some stories ...
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The German Country Music Scene is having their highest holidays - The C2C in Berlin started on 6th March 2020 ...
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While I so far made an semi-annual look back in time, the "Very Important Postings", I decided something with my ...
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Due to my passion for Weird Al Yankovic, I know Jim "Kimo" West for a couple of years now. Kimo ...
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I decided to split the "Best music" postings of 2019 into two parts: while I already published my personal Best ...
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2019 has come to an end - and music has been one of the key topics of Flyctory.com in 2019 ...
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You may have visited Flyctory.com the last days hoping to have some coverage of the Neuchatel World Floorball Championships this ...
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I am constantly aiming to improve your user experience on the website. I always felt that drilling down the list ...
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Usually, I am reviewing albums at the time of release. Luke Combs This One's For You has been released on 2nd ...
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Leo Moracchioli sounds very Italian, but in fact, the metal musician and producer is Norwegian citiizen. Despite his Youtube has ...
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Some ten weeks weeks ago, I added another feature to Flyctory.com: the Country Music Playlists on Amazon and Spotify allows ...
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During the London Country Music Week, Country 2 Country traditionally presented the lineup for the festival. Every year, fans pray ...
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Quite surprisingly, there seems to be a quite sudden competition about the promotion and management of country music concerts in ...
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I try to improve Flyctory.com steadily and enlarge your visitor's experience. I felt that there is so much music on ...
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After my posting in April, which was already speculating about a country music boom in Germany and Central Europe, a ...
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June 2019, time for the third semiannual summary of the website. Quite a lot has changed and improved compared to ...
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During the CMA Fest 2019 in Nashville, I did quite a lot of Meet & Greets. I just felt it ...
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The beginning of June was a very flattering moment to me. After I got more and more into country music ...
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CMA Fest 2019 was just massive to me. So many artists, so many new people - I was just overwhelmed! ...
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Facebook, Instagram and all other kinds of internet sources nowadays allow you to (sometimes by chance) find, follow and support ...
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The closer CMA Fest 2019 came, the more I became aware of all the side events, which are not happening ...
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Country music in Germany has a hard standing. It is still not played in most radio stations - or declared ...
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I have to admit that Germany is likely the largest music market, in which the amazing duet "Shallow" of Lady ...
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The beginning of March 2019 was a country music powerhouse to me. The Country 2 Country (C2C) debut in Berlin, ...
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The "Road to Neuchatel 2019" - as only the Swiss team is qualified for their home World Floorball Championship in ...
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You have them on almost every flight. They are located in the seat in front you? The airlines try to ...
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No floorball competition is changing that frequently like the Champions Cup. While previous season, six men and women teams each ...
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Another six months have passed - the first full half year of Flyctory.com's existance. After I did the Very Important ...
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As blogging on music became a quite frequent category at Flyctory.com, I felt to look back to 2018 and introduce ...
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Similar to frequent flying, there is a straightforward option to become a status member in all major hotel chains: frequent ...
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Though I am a huge opponent of the Davis Cup reformations becoming active in 2019, I have to give in ...
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1st July 2018 - we start counting down the days to christmas already. In this posting I resume about what ...
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With Miles & More, Lufthansa Group's widely used loyality programme, introducing the concept of Mileage Pooling to their program just ...
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There have been so many discussions about Rio 2016. Not just about whether the country itself is able to stand ...
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Tianjin, China. Tennis Davis Cup, one of my most beloved sports competitions. He was intended to be the hero, the ...
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As you might have seen in the other blog entries, I have been attending Europe's major country music festival, the ...
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I typically have some notes of the major currencies I am frequently using at home. I just feel it is ...
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Yeah, I have to give in: as a German, you just hated when there has been a race with our ...
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Some of you may ask: Why did I choose Wordpress for this site? First of all, my wife Sarah had ...
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Lounge Reviews on Flyctory.com
Here are all Lounge Reviews on Flyctory.com:
New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is not regarded to be the nicest way of air traveling in and around the ...
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Old lounge, new lounge: after Lufthansa decided to terminally close down some of their lounges, the company Global Lounge Network ...
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I have to admit that I did not become too much of a friend of Malta during our four night ...
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Flying back in the Finnair Business Class from Dubai International, Terminal 1, to Helsinki Airport (HEL) has not been the ...
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Before heading to the United Arab Emirates in February 2022, flying with Finnair from Helsinki Airport (HEL) to Dubai (DXB) ...
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When I flew Finnair from Stockholm-Arlanda (ARN) to Helsinki (HEL) the last time in 2019, the Finnish airline has been ...
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What has started as Stuttgart 21 - the refurbishing of Stuttgart Main Station including changing the main travel direction and putting ...
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There are a couple of LOT intercontinental flights from Warsaw Airport (WAW) in my flight log. Based on that, I ...
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In late August 2021, I flew back from Salzburg Airport (SZG) to Dusseldorf Airport (DUS) with Eurowings. My BizClass ticket ...
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While Lufthansa operated their flights from the Emirates Terminal 3 during the Covid-19 flight reductions, I was quite happy to ...
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As Munich Airport (MUC) is one of my most traveled ones, I know the business lounge situation there quite well ...
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As part of my Condor Business Class experience from Toronto Pearson (YYZ), Terminal 3, to Frankfurt (FRA), I also had ...
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In August 2021, I finally visited a place which has been hidden from me for so long. I had so ...
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I recently reviewed the DB Lounge / German Rail Lounge at Frankfurt Airport. I could somehow copy and paste major ...
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For years, if I would have wanted to deeply bash the Deutsche Bahn (German Rails), there would have been a simple way ...
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In April 2021, I finally had my first flight connections to/from the new Berlin airport, BER - Berlin / Brandenburg ...
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It is still uncertain when there will be regular touristic travel between the United Kingdom or Europe and North America ...
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After visiting so many German Rail lounges in my life, I was really looking forward how the more exclusive waiting ...
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With British Airways' decision to move all short-distance connections including the one to Cologne/Bonn airport to Heathrow, I unfortunately will ...
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Though they really seem to put in quite some effort to improve the situation, I am not too much a ...
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Right before the United Kingdom left the European Union, I headed to Jersey for a short mileage run. The Channel ...
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While my Lufthansa Senator Status typically grants me access to the SAS Gold Lounge next door, a Eurowings BizClass flight ...
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If you fly a non-Schengen flight from Terminal 1 (the non-Lufthansa one) at Munich Airport and depart from the B ...
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The reviews I found so far are quite clear: 9 out 9 users assigned a 1.0 to the Eurowings Lounge ...
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In contrast to the significantly more fancy Flagship Lounges (here is my review of the JFK one), the American Airlines ...
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Flying from Stockholm to Helsinki with Finnair in early August 2019 gave me the opportunity to visit a lounge I ...
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I have to admit that American Airlines Admiral Club Lounges are not really my favorite place. Some are functional, some ...
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Flying intercontinentally from Europe via Helsinki, especially to Asian destinations, became more and more popular the last years. One key ...
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After I mentioned the Air Canada Lounge at Frankfurt Airport already in my love letter posting to LATAM flight 705, ...
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Starting my trip to the United States on my Weird Al & Grass Court Tennis trip 2019 was the second ...
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On my trip with Sun-Air of Scandinavia, I had the opportunity to visit Billund Airport. My stopover time there was ...
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For customers flying on Lufthansa's top notch First Class product (and HON Circle Members), the German airline offers a very ...
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During my trip to Singapore and Malaysia, I chose Malysia Airlines for my return from Kuala Lumpur International to Singapore ...
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During my April/May 2019 stay in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, I used Malindo Air flight OD 808 on 3rd May ...
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The Lufthansa Lounges for Senators and Business Class customers are tending to be too crowded, especially in peak times. Thus, ...
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Spending the second weekend of October 2018, I was very curious on my first flight with Aegean and also with ...
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Manchester is the busiest non-London UK airport. As I travel Manchester for several reasons, also for transferring, I decided to ...
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Belgrade is Serbia's largest airport. The capital's connection to the world named after Nikola Tesla is also the homebase of ...
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After a long time of renovation, SWISS re-opened their Senator and Business Class Lounge at the A Gates / Schengen ...
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If you travel to the Azores, you very likely do your first steps on the archipelago in Ponta Delgada airport ...
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