Category Archives: Europe

Evacuation at Heathrow Terminal 3

Thursday, 9 April 2009 Tom

Just when I got to Heathrow for my Etihad flight to Kuala Lumpur the police closed down terminal 3 and evacuated everyone. No one from the BAA staff seems to know more at this point.

Update: Fire engines are arriving but are held back at the holding area outside the Central Bus Terminal.

Update: The terminal has just been reopened. Now hundreds of people are trying to get back in. It looks chaotic!

Update: I’ve now made my way to Kuala Lumpur but nearly missed my plane in London since I had to queue for about an hour for security at Terminal 3 and it seemed as most other passengers of that flight were already through it before the evacuation. Luckily for me the fantastic onboard service from Etihad Airlines made up for the Heathrow shambles.

Airports, Europe, Reviews, Top-X-Things

Geneva Cointrin – not your usual airport

Tuesday, 31 March 2009 Tom 1 Comment

Genève Cointrin (IATA: GVA) as the airport, situated in the French part of Switzerland, is called in the local language, is quite an odd one. Don’t get me wrong it is actually quite a convenient airport as it is small and therefore rather accessible. But from both, an architectural and a usability point of view, it’s not exactly your standard airport.

Switzerland’s second largest international airport after Zurich is comprised of a mix of buildings from various decades. It looks a bit like an unthoughtfully assembled mosaic. Besides, the airport has a French and a Swiss side – so beware of from what “country” you are departing or arriving from. The good news is that if you are coming from France, you do not have to go through customs if you remain on the French side. The following review, however, is based on the Swiss part of the airport.

My first advice is, not to go through passport control until it is absolutely necessary (but of course allow ample time for security checks). The reason is that there are hardly any shops after passport control other than your usual, boring duty free and watch stores. The suggestions below are therefore based on the “outside”, public area of the airport:

Your best option is to go to the railway centre (also called “centre commerce”). There you can check out various stores and restaurants. You will find it right next to the main terminal building. My top picks there are:

Migros – a grocery store and a Swiss institution. They normally don’t have branded products, but trust me, their quality of produce is excellent. Here you can find anything from chocolates, Swiss specialties like cheese or dried meet to a delicious airline sandwich alternative to take on the plane.
Check out the “Manor” shop with a decent range of contemporary Swiss souvenirs for you to bring home.
And finally, if you sadly experienced bad weather on your skiing holidays, go to the centre’s solarium and freshen up your tan.

In case you are just looking for a quick bite before you board your economy flight, go to an area called “Les jardins de Genève”. You will find it on the 1st floor of the main terminal building. There you will find a Starbucks, Upper Crust, Burger King, a Sushi place (Bento), an Italian eatery (Le Sud) a bar and an outdoor area for when the weather is nice (mind you, smoking is not permitted there).

My final suggestion is a restaurant called “Swiss Chalet” which you will find in the arrivals area. The nicely decorated place offers typical Swiss meals like cheese Fondue, Raclette, Rösti and other delicacies. Oh and by the way, Geneva is only about 8 minutes away by train with trains leaving frequently, so if you have a lot of time, check out Switzerland’s second biggest city.

[Picture from Flickr – some rights reserved]

Airport Name	Geneva International Airport
Website	http://www.gva.ch
IATA Code	GVA
Design
Shopping
Toilets
Overall

	CHF 116.00 (£71.10)
	CHF 57.90 (£35.50)

Airports, Europe, In the News

Zurich prepares for Schengen

Sunday, 8 March 2009 Tom

Switzerland officially joined the Schengen zone on the 12th December of last year even though my home country is (still) not part of the EU. The original Schengen agreement was signed in 1985 and it provided for the removal of systematic border controls between the participating countries.

With the Swiss joining the club now, this means you will no longer see systematic passport controls between it and the other member countries. This is straight forward with Switzerland’s neighbouring countries as they are all members themselves, but it’s a bit more complex for an airport as flights, obviously, will leave to both, member and non-member countries. Zurich airport will therefore undergo a change to accommodate for the new system. On their website they write

The most noticeable changes for passengers is that they will no longer have to pass through passport control within the Schengen area, and some transit passengers at Zurich Airport will even be able to transfer to their onward flight without having to undergo another security check.

These changes are becoming effective on 29th March 2009. More information can be found on the airport’s website. I’m scheduled to go back there in May and will report on the changes. Let’s hope Zurich remains as reliable as it was and that my favourite “Luxemburgerli” are available in both zones.

[Picture from Flickr – some rights reserved]

Airports, Europe, Reviews, Top-X-Things

Lucky to get stranded in Amsterdam

Wednesday, 4 February 2009 Tom

Surely you heard about the biggest snowfall in England in 18 years on Monday (news stories here and here). Coincidently I traveled that day from Tanzania back to London through Amsterdam. Not surprising that our connecting KLM flight to London Heathrow therefore received a lengthy delay of almost 6 hours (kudos to KLM though who were quick to organize a Boeing 747 bundling several London flights into one). This was time enough to have a really good look at what Amsterdam Schiphol (IATA: AMS) has to offer.

In summary, Schiphol offers a lot. Of course, you find the usual things like Duty Free Shops, Cafés, Burger joints and bars. But Schiphol goes further, a lot further actually: You can find everything from a full Casino in the main terminal, a branch of the famous Rijksmuseum with a drawing from Rembrandt among the display to one of the Yotel chains that offer affordable, modern rooms for as short as 4 hours.

But even if you are just looking for a quick refreshment, Schiphol has it: you will find shower cabins in the toilets in front of the First Aid on the first floor of the main hall, between the airport lounges 41 and 42. There, you also find comfort seats for you to rest from your busy travelling life. And if you need refreshment for your stomach, try the noodle soup (€15) at “Noodles” next to the T5 transfer desks.

Finally, even the usually from airports banned smokers will like the Dutch version as there is a smokers cell room on the first floor next to the airport lounge 42. However, if you are looking for a typical Amsterdam coffee shop you are out of luck unless you book one of the Holland Tours directly from the airport and make it into the city (disclaimer: I am not suggesting anything here! ;-)).

Now to the tricky part, the Top-5: I really had to think about it hard this time as there are so many things you can do – here are my favourite five:

Visit the Rijksmuseum branch and find the Rembrandt drawing
Eat a pot of pork noodle soup at “Noodles”
Buy some Dutch cheese from the Delikatessen shop (alternatively, buy some famous Dutch liquorish)
Count how many Dutch, blond ladies you see that are over 1.90m tall (6’3″) – trust me you need more than one hand to count them!
Try to find Starbucks (remember, the Berlin task?) – it’s not that tricky here, but you may need some time depending on your destination (this is already a hint)…

Airport Name	Amsterdam Schiphol
Website	http://www.schiphol.nl
IATA Code	AMS
Design
Shopping
Toilets
Overall

	€84.50 (£75.10)
	€32.95 outside the EU (£29.30)

Airports, Europe, Reviews

Guest blog: Venice Marco Polo Airport

Friday, 16 January 2009 Alessandro 2 Comments

At first sight, getting delayed at Venice airport (IATA: VCE) might seem like a boring misfortune.

You should rethink that.

Yes, Venice Marco Polo Airport is small compared to many other touristic destinations, but what makes it interesting is the possibilities it gives you to do a different kind of shopping.

In fact, you will find a wide selection of Murano Glass, one of the most original presents you can bring home from Italy, together with series of Venetian masks, so typical of the Venetian Carnival for centuries.

If your interest is focused on cars instead, what’s one of the first brands to come to your mind, and one of the first people associate with Italy? Ferrari! There you go, a Ferrari store for you to browse between gadgets, car models, toys and clothes, with items from the toddler (future F1 champion?) to the navigate fan.

Last but not least, Marco Polo airport is a heaven for coffee lovers, with espressos served in several tastes and fashions (chocolate, condensed milk, cream; which make you wonder if you should try them all, defying caffeine and the doctors…).

In a globalised world, which often seems a replication of the same shopping centre over and over again, Venice airport is the ideal place to get delayed at (hopefully not for too long though!) for the range of options of “last minute” gifts that will change an embarrassing empty handed return home into an opportunity to show off originality and taste.

Airport Name	Venice Marco Polo airport
Website	http://www.veniceairport.it
IATA Code	VCE
Design
Shopping
Toilets
Overall

[Picture from the airport’s official website.]

Airports, Europe, In the News

Final Call for Berlin Tempelhof

Thursday, 30 October 2008 Tom

Every now and then I write about airports that are currently in the news for one or another reason. For your convenience, I have now also created a new category exactly for these kind of posts.

Today, Berlin’s city airport, Berlin Tempelhof (IATA: THF) sadly made it into the news. I write sadly, because the airport will close down for good today after having been in the service for 85 years. The last scheduled plane will take off for Mannheim (IATA: MHG) today at 21.50h local time .

Berlin Tempelhof was probably one of Europe’s most famous airports, mainly because of it’s importance in history. Originally opened in 1923, the later built airport halls and neighbouring buildings, intended to become the gateway to Europe and a symbol of Hitler’s “world capital” Germania. They are still known as the largest built entities worldwide, and have been described by British architect Sir Norman Foster as “the mother of all airports”. After the end of World War II, the airport became the main hub for the airlift operations into Berlin.

After Berlin decided to focus on the extension of Berlin Schoenefeld (IATA: SXF) as the main hub into Germany’s capital, it soon became evident that the days of Berlin’s “City Airport” will be numbered. Finally, on 27th April 2008 the failed referendum for keeping the airport open sealed its fate.

Unfortunately, I only landed at Berlin Tempelhof once and that was years ago, so therefore I cannot provide you with the usual ratings (not that it would matter much now anyway). Wikipedia, however, mentions that it had the “world’s smallest duty-free shop”.

[Picture from Flickr]

Airports, Europe, Reviews, Top-X-Things

Lower Rhineland airport Weeze: worth a visit?

Saturday, 13 September 2008 Tom

I’m sure you have all seen various types of airports in your lifetime. There are tiny grass or dirt based landing strips that function as airports on remote locations, small huts with paved runways in rural areas, airports that serve as regional hubs and then there are the big and bigger international airports like London Heathrow, JFK and the likes. But there is a new set of airports out there: converted military airfields transformed to regional hubs for low(est) cost airlines. The Lower Rhineland airport Weeze (IATA: NRN) fits into that description.

50 kilometres northwest of Dusseldorf and 30 km southeast of the Dutch town of Nijmegen, Weeze airport used to be the military airbase RAF Laarbruch. According to Wikipedia, the airport serves 6 airlines but its main customer clearly is the Irish run Ryanair with a fairly good selection of flights to various destinations in Europe.

My flight back to London Stansted (IATA: STN) that day was slightly delayed, but other than that operations at the airport were efficient and I passed through the security checks fairly quickly only to discover there was absolutely nothing on the other side. Well, okay, nothing is a strong word. There was a bar and a small kiosk but that was about it (it did find my price checking items though, see below). So, what can you do in such a situation? Here are 3 suggestions:

Find your next destination through the selection of available Lonely Planet guidebooks at the small kiosk (the selection actually was pretty decent!)
Look through the magazine offerings and find the one magazine with the weirdest freebie (in my case it was an inflatable sword added to a children’s magazine called “Benjamin Blümchen”)
Flick through your iPod and find the song of the day (I went for “Hellsongs – Symphony of Destruction” although not because of the lyrics or the title, simply because I like the tunes and it’s funny)

Airport Name	Airport Weeze
Website	http://www.airport-weeze.de
IATA Code	NRN
Design
Shopping
Toilets
Overall

	€87.00 (£68.80)
	€34.90 (£27.60)

[Picture from Flickr]

Airports, Europe, Reviews, Various

Make good at London Stansted

Monday, 25 August 2008 Tom 2 Comments

On Friday I returned to the airport where I had the initial idea for this blog: London Stansted Airport (IATA: STN). Last time I wasn’t very lucky when my Friday evening flight to Copenhagen was delayed by over an hour and on the way back I went through an even bigger pain (see my very first post).

This time my fate changed for the better. On the way out to Düsseldorf Weeze (IATA: NRN) we were only slightly delayed because of some minor baggage and cargo loading problems. Luckily Ryanair was able to make up the delay and we arrived with the usual punctuality fanfare at the Lower Rhine (Niederrhein) airport.

So I guess, I have to admit that Stansted usually is quite a nice airport. It’s certainly not that close from London (it takes 45 minutes from Liverpool Street station) and it costs a staggering £26 return, but once you are there it’s quite pleasant. The terminal is big and roomy, there are lots of good shops (e.g. Reiss) and plenty of eateries and coffee shops. No wonder is Ryanair eying to purchase this airport once it will be split off from the current owner BAA.

But let’s get to the fun part. This time I decided to play a little game: I wanted to find the best and worst looking, women’s perfume flacon at the large duty free store. Here’s my decision:

The Winner: Valentino – Rock ‘n Rose

The Loser: Anna Sui – Dolly Girl

Airport Name	London Stansted
Website	http://www.stanstedairport.com/
IATA Code	STN
Design
Shopping
Toilets
Overall

	£57.70
	£28.25 (incl. ice jacket)

[Pictures from Flickr: Stansted (some rights reserved), Valentino, Anna Sui]

Airlines, Airports, Europe, Reviews, Top-X-Things

London City Airport: Small but efficient

Thursday, 14 August 2008 Tom

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a flight from London’s smallest commercial airport, London City airport (IATA: LCY). The airport is conveniently located in London’s docklands, east of the financial district and can be accessed easily by Docklands Light Railway (DLR). It is even in London Transport’s zone 3, so it won’t cost you much to get there either.

So what is the catch? There of course is one – as always. The airport is small, has only one runway which is not very long (1319 m) and therefore is restricts to STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) airliners. Its operating license says, aircrafts have to be capable of a 5.5 degree or steeper approach. Plus there is a strict noise regulation in place. Therefore only small planes are predominant, particularly the BAe 146 aircraft which means the number of destinations offered are limited.

So, how does the airport terminal rate? Even though the airport is small, a lot of people are passing through on a daily basis. In 2006 2.3 Million people travelled through the City airport according to Wikipedia. Particularly on week days, the airport is at its full capacity affecting the limited space in the terminal. But its not all bad, they have recently increased seating space and anyway, with low delay rates, you can expect to be in and out of the terminal faster than you can say “delay”. In the rare occasion where you do get delayed, here are my Top-X-Things to do:

Check out the 2 big bars and mingle with the business men who enjoy their evening beer
Sit at the north side of the terminal and count the number of BAe 146 aircrafts taking off
Guess the nationalities of the business men and women rushing to the gates
Find the biggest TV screen to watch the Olympics coverage
Count the number of destinations you can fly to from the departure screens

Airport Name	London City Airport
Website	http://www.londoncityairport.com/
IATA Code	LCY
Design
Shopping
Toilets
Overall	(Because of its convenient location)

	£58.40
	£49.99 (cellar box vintage 2002)

[Picture from Flickr – some rights reserved]

Airports, Europe, Reviews

The Quest to Find Starbucks at Berlin Tegel

Sunday, 10 August 2008 Tom 3 Comments

A couple weeks ago we were all challenged to find the Starbucks shop at Berlin Tegel (IATA: TXL). I then even commented that I was totally unaware of a Starbucks at Tegel. In fact, I was very surprised to hear there was one since I’ve been to this airport dozens of times in the past and have never spotted the coffee shop. So, is it really that well hidden? Well, watch the video and see for yourself as I went on “The Quest to Find Starbucks at Berlin Tegel”.

LateDeparture.com

Category Archives: Europe

Evacuation at Heathrow Terminal 3

Geneva Cointrin – not your usual airport

Zurich prepares for Schengen

Lucky to get stranded in Amsterdam

Guest blog: Venice Marco Polo Airport

Final Call for Berlin Tempelhof

Lower Rhineland airport Weeze: worth a visit?

Make good at London Stansted

London City Airport: Small but efficient

The Quest to Find Starbucks at Berlin Tegel

Airport reviews, news and stories from around the world