Friday, September 29, 2006

Autumn fruits...

... from my parents garden...

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Sleeping in airports...

Well, most of the travellers spent at least a few hours sleeping some of the hourse in the airport terminal. Some strive for the most comfortable, others for the most silent place. Its not easy always to find the best and the safest place.

If you plan to spend a night in the airport, here is one useful page... http://www.sleepinginairports.net/

Sleepinginairports.com's top five
1. Changi, Singapore: Free Internet access, reclining chairs in designated snooze spots, a luxury spa and lounge so quiet that students visit just to study for exams.
2. Amsterdam Shiphol, The Netherlands: Comfortable chairs and a casino to while away the hours.
3. Auckland International, New Zealand: Few announcements, couches and a mini-theatre.
4. Helsinki-Vantaa. Finland: Showers, couches and Internet.
5. Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong: Overstuffed chairs, children's play area , courteous staff.
Top of the pops at the worst end is Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea), an airport in which one of the contributors for Sleepinginairports.com witnessed 7 seven being killed in a gang shoot-out. When in Port Moresby, be sure you're wearing your bullet-proof vest and run. Others getting honorable notion are Bombay and Delhi (India), Cairo (Egypt), Boston and Chicago (USA).

My experience is... Munchen was a place where i spent long hours this year... And it was fine... safe and quiet (ok, mind the occasional "echo of high heels" due to the echo friendly structure). In Frankfurt you can also find nice benches to sleep on. Dubai is also popular with sleeping... though it can get really crowded, and the best places are taken early... I remember there were also nice comfortable chairs in Manaus (Brazil) airport - unfortunately i had to spend most of my time on the toilet... damn... On the other side, i would pass Ljubljana airport to sleep... small, nothing to do and not really comfortable chairs. Probably at least Dar es Salaam should be added to a negative list... where a traveller doesn't feel to safe, but ok, if you don't fell asleep, it could still be a nice night... An award for the smallest place that looks like a small bus station (ok, i heard that they enlarged it recently) in opinion goes to the Treviso airport (Ryanair calls it Venice airport - yes, if only it wasn't some 40-50km away).