Category Archives: Travel Tips & Advice

Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 7 Comments

My experience flying Hop! for the first time

My experience flying Hop for the first time - Travel for a Living

Seems this year is a series of firsts when it comes to flying. I’ve extended my knowledge of different airlines quite a bit. Flying LOT Polish Airlines for the first time at the start of the year. Followed by my first ever Lauda Flight back from Vienna. More recently my first two flights with Vueling. And today I’d like to share with you my experience of flying Hop for the first time.

Hop is one of those airlines that I vaguely heard about before, but I never really used them before. Probably because they mainly do inland flights within France. And I don’t travel to France that often (yes, I know this does sound a bit weird, given that I just returned from a holiday in France a couple of days before the trip). However, I did have a business trip to Marseille and Toulouse. And whilst the flights to Marseille and back from Toulouse were both British Airways, the inland flight between Marseille and Toulouse was operated by Hop (although it was actually booked on Air France and we only realised afterwards that it would be operated by Hop).

So, what can you expect, when flying Hop for the first time?

How about, I just tell you about my first flight on Hop?

Read more My experience flying Hop! for the first time
Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 3 Comments

What to expect flying Vueling?

What to expect flying Vueling - Travel for a Living

I am a frequent flyer and am boarding at least one flight pretty much every single week of the year (six flights in seven days might well be my personal record). As such the whole booking, check in and boarding process has pretty much become second nature and I don’t lose much sleep over it. That being said, every now and then I will find myself on board a new airline that I have not flown with before. And although the overall process is the same for all airlines, it is the finer points that change. Such as hand luggage allowance or on-board catering. As I was recently flying Vueling for the first time (and in case you wondered, it is pronounced something like ‘Welling’, not quite how I would have pronounced it… but then, I don’t speak any Spanish), let me tell you what to expect flying Vueling. 

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Travel Tips & Advice, Germany 11 Comments

12 Things to Know about Germany

12 Things you need to know about Germany - Travel for a Living

As you might know, I grew up in Germany. And although I have lived in the UK for over a decade now, Germany is where I spent most of my life. But the longer I live abroad, the more I stumble across little peculiars. Nothing major. After all, life in the UK and in Germany isn’t a million miles apart (language aside obviously) and you can adapt fairly quickly. But same as the Brits have their own ways of being, so have the Germans. So, if you are considering a trip to Germany anytime soon (Berlin for example), let me share with you 12 things to know about Germany. Some might be obvious, others not so much. But if you want to avoid sticking out like a sore thumb and being instantly recognised as a tourist, try and memorise at least a few of those things.

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Travel Tips & Advice 4 Comments

What you need to know when driving in Switzerland

As I just spent two days travelling the length and width of Switzerland by car, I noticed that a few things are rather different. And I am not referring to the most obvious compared to the UK. Yes, Switzerland drives on the right side of the road. But so does the rest of Europe and I am used to that. It is more the subtle differences that set Switzerland apart from its neighbouring countries. Therefore, should you be heading to the Alpes soon, let me tell you all you need to know about driving in Switzerland.

Read more What you need to know when driving in Switzerland
Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 4 Comments

What to expect on an eleven hour flight

What to expect on an 11 hour flight from London to San Francisco - Travel for a Living

We’ve just come back from a week in San Francisco. And what shall I say, it was amazing. We’ve been looking forward to the San Francisco trip ever since we booked it. If only it wasn’t for the rather long flight from London to San Francisco. I mean an 8-hour flight from London to New York is bad enough. But an eleven-hour flight from London to San Francisco? How on earth were we meant to survive that. With Mr T being bored to death after about two hours, I was preparing for the worst. And since this was our first 11-hour flight, I also didn’t know what to expect in terms of food. Would it be one meal shortly after take-off and then starve to death until the end of the flight? Or would it be a main meal and a snack? Two main meals? Eleven hours is a long flight, especially if you are stuck in a small metal tube with nothing to do than watch movies and eat. But enough of the introduction, let me tell you what to expect on an eleven hour flight in economy.

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Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 6 Comments

What to expect when flying Eurowings

What to expect when flying Eurowings - Travel for a Living

Although Eurowings isn’t my usual Go To airline, for certain routes it is the only option I have or the more convenient route / time. So every now and then I end up booking Eurowings for flights to and from London. Like last week, when I took connecting flights via Dusseldorf and Cologne for a trip to and from Dresden. To be honest, albeit low-cost, Eurowings is a decent airline. Therefore, I thought I’d share my knowledge and tell you what to expect when flying Eurowings.

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Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 7 Comments

What to expect when flying LOT Polish Airlines

My recent trip to Slovenia saw me fly LOT Polish Airlines for the very first time. In my mind, this was just another budget airline and I feared the worst. Especially since I was pushing my luck with my hand luggage allowance. But gosh was I wrong. LOT Polish Airlines actually turned out to be a decent and modern airline. To save you from the same misperception, let me tell you what to expect flying LOT Polish Airlines.

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Frequent Flyer, Travel Tips & Advice 12 Comments

Security at Tel Aviv Airport – is it really that bad?

I have already giving you some travel advise on how to prepare for your first trip to Tel Aviv. And my ‘Top Things to do in Tel Aviv’. But the one thing I only briefly touched on yet was the ordeal we had actually leaving Tel Aviv during our first trip. So now is the time to tell you all about our experience with security at Tel Aviv airport.

When flying out to Tel Aviv, we expected questioning and tighter security and the works. And were a little surprised when realising that it was pretty much business as usual. Yes, we were asked two quick questions at border control in Tel Aviv, but that was it. No extra security check or interview before boarding in Heathrow.

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Travel Tips & Advice, London 5 Comments

London in the Rain – Things to do in London when it rains

With summer well and truly over, it is time to come to terms with the idea of autumn. But what a summer we have had, surely we can’t complain … other than that it was far too hot obviously and the grass was all brown and burnt because we didn’t have any rain – I mean we wouldn’t be Brits if we weren’t moaning about the weather. So, for the coming weeks we will have to deal with London in the rain.

Back to the topic on hand. Autumn is coming and with it comes the inevitable rain. This last weekend was a prime example of that, as we pretty much had constant rain from early Saturday until Sunday afternoon.

Yes, I hear you say, doesn’t it rain in London non stop anyway? Well, while this seems to be common knowledge to EVERYONE and no one is ever tired of pointing it out to me, let me tell you that London averages 106.5 days of rain a year. And whilst this is quite a lot, it is less than New York with 122 days and even less than Orlando Florida that comes in at a whopping 117 days. Who would have thought?

But anyway, who are we to let a little rain dampen our mood? There are lots of things you can do in London in the rain. So get your wellies on, grab your brolly and off we go.

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