Welcome to the Planetflyer website, with flying-related stories from being a passenger to being an aviation nut and geeking out in museums. You can also click on the map below to see where in the world they took place.
The Planetflyer articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, swimming, and saunas.
All flying-related articles:
| Ballet, airports, and trains I was traveling home from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, by train. And it was such a wonderful experience. First off, I made the exit from the plane to the train in fifteen minutes, and caught my other train by running with luggage. But, I also admired the smooth concrete in the new airport underground train station, along the ballet video they were display on it. Nice! Full story May 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| FEX The Flughafen-Express, or FEX for short is a train between Berlin's new Brandenburg airport and the city. The train stops in five locations in the city, but does not do any additional stops on the way to the airport. Pretty convenient! And cheap, the standard fare is just 4,40€ where a similar taxi ride would cost easily 60-80€. Full story May 2024, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Berlin, Germany Flying | |
| Too early at the airport yawn This was way too early to be past security at the airport, 3:59 AM. (Falls asleep...) Full story April 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel | |
| Hot in HEL Go against the flow - from HEL to SIN this time. On my way to the IETF meeting in Brisbane. First row seat on this first leg at the appropriately hot lounge in HEL. Full story March 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Sauna (Normal); Flying | |
| Takeoff from HEL Wonderful views from the Finnair A350-XWB's windows as we took off from Helsinki to Singapore. Full story March 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Qatar Lounge at SIN Singapore Changi is such a nice airport. Potentially the *nicest* airport, to be exact., winning the best airport in the world titles left and right (link). Full story March 2024, Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore, Singapore Flying; Travel | |
| Flying Qantas from Brisbane My flights from Brisbane back to Helsinki went via Qantas to Singapore and then onwards with Finnair. It was nice to visit the Brisbane airport, and Brisbane area overall as well of course. I had not been in Brisbane or anywhere in Queensland before! Full story March 2024, Brisbane International Airport, Brisbane, Australia Flying; Travel | |
| Bromma lounge I travel less than I used to. Good for me, good for the environment. However, sometimes I get to travel, and it is to see new places, go skiing, or work with your colleagues. After a long pause I visited Sweden for work, and on return flew through my local airport, Bromma. Full story January 2024, Bromma Airport, Stockholm, Sweden Flying; Travel; Skiing (None) | |
| SKP Primeclass My first time in North Macedonia. My first time at the Skopje International Airport (SKP). By some luck of draw, I had won a Lufthansa upgrade bid with the minimum bid (70€) and was flying out on business class. So.. one should be able to visit a lounge, right? Full story December 2023, Skopje International Airport, Skopje, North Macedonia Flying | |
| Mavrovo skiing North Macedonia North Macedonia. I have to confess I did not much about it beforehand, almost anything. We had attempted to arrange a ski trip there once but did not find enough information or people to talk to. So let it be known to everyone: North Macedonia is a major ski destination, with massive mountains with well-organized large ski resorts and specialty services like cat skiing. Much recommended. Full story (TGR version) December 2023, Mavrovo ski resort, Mavrovo, North Macedonia; Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland; Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt, Germany; Zagreb Airport, Zagreb, Croatia; Skopje International Airport, Skopje, North Macedonia Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Flying | |
| Rats... Frankfurt I had been consuming the food at the Lufthansa Business Lounge in Frankfurt (T1) for hours while on a layover from my flights from North Macedonia to Finland. Then I saw it. And now running back. Grabbed my phone, but it was too quick. Definitely a mouse, but I think too big for that actually. I'm semi-confident it was a rat. Full story December 2023, Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt, Germany Flying | |
| Prague lounge shower Good basic lounge, and with a shower cabin & with towels. Nice. Full story November 2023, Prague international airport, Prague, Czech Republic Travel; Flying | |
| Go-Around from HEL It did wake me up! The Finnair A320, OH-LXD, was landing late in the night. Suddenly the engines were turned higher up and the plane started rising. A few minutes later the captain announced that due to unexpectedly high tailwinds, they could not slow down quickly enough to land. So around we went... Full story October 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Second-hand clothing store at my airport! I don't fly as much as I used to, so it was the first time I saw the Helsinki-Vantaa airport new shops. These include a nicely decorated and expanded Moomin shop and a second-hand clothing store. Very nice! Nothing for men / sports, however.. maybe next time. Full story September 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel | |
| The Njiellalanjávri expedition Last week I went with Jarmo Ruuth and Duncan Simey to look at Njiellalajävri lake and surroundings in the Käsivarsi wilderness area. This is a far-away area almost at the Norwegian border. We saw no one in the area except for a few reindeer. There are not even common hiking paths. The Internet knows very little about this lake, not even a picture. Despite the incredible beauty of the lakes and the rock! We knew the area only through satellite images, geological surveys and maps. Full story August 2023, Njiellalanjávri, Enontekiö, Finland; Toskaljärven maanalainen joki, Enontekiö, Finland Caving (None, Research); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Researching); Hiking; Flying | |
| Flying the Marimekko 350 lying again Finnair's Marimekko-decorated A350, OH-LWL. Nice. Full story July 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
This is the 1th set of articles. The next sets are set 2, set 3, set 4, and set 5.