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:
| Helsinki-Vantaa Arrival Shop - Never a Chance to Shop What's up with the Helsinki-Vantaa's arrival shop? It does not seem to be open in the evenings or even during the day. The airport is busy, why not have it open? Full story October 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel | |
| Norwegian MAX After a long period I have once again flown a Norwegian flight. It was significantly cheaper than a Lufthansa option, better timing in this case. And Finnair didn't fly. Quite happy with the experience even if flying on the cheapest possible tickets. Comfortably and safely to the other side of Europe for 160€. Not bad. Full story October 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland; Arlanda, Sweden; Split Airport, Split, Croatia Flying | |
| The Pitsusköngäs waterfall cave Last month Duncan, Jarmo, Kimmo and me did a cave exploration trip to the Käsivarsi wilderness area. Peeking into every hole we could see, combing through areas of limestone, etc. The most memorable for me was the Pitsusköngäs (Bihčosgorži) waterfalls, highest in Finland at 17m free fall. And there was some space underneath, maybe 10x6-8x8m. Can we classify that as a cave? Full story August 2024, Pitsusköngäs cave, Enontekiö, Finland; Pitsusköngäs west side cave, Enontekiö, Finland; Pitsusköngäs east side cave, Enontekiö, Finland; Pitsusköngäs, Enontekiö, Finland Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Erosion, Morphology-Crack); Caving (None, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Erosion, Morphology-Crack); Hiking; Flying | |
| The useful pillow trick Kimmo taught me a very nice travel and hiking trip. It turns out that if you get a box wine, you can drink the contents (this is the useful part) and then reuse the plastic bag inside the cardboard box as a pillow. It is easy to blow up, has already a valve installed. And most importantly, it is just the right size for a nice neck support while resting on rock somewhere hiking, during the night (inflated maybe a bit less), or on an airplane (you may need to drink it before the flight). Thank you Kimmo! Full story August 2024, Pitsusköngäs, Enontekiö, Finland Hiking; Travel; Flying | |
| The New Schengen Finnair Lounge at HEL Finnair has redone their lounge on the Schengen side of the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Long overdue; it was cramped, almost every time quite full. Still, it wasn't bad. Quite nice, good food, enough drinks, etc. The new one is much nicer though, at least the Platinum Wing that I visited briefly before my flight in August. The new lounge is on the highest floor of the airport, where the additional security checks and priority security used to reside. Full story August 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Travel; Flying | |
| Finnair Split Flights I took a Finnair flight from Split recently, upgraded myself on points to business class to try and stay away from the crowds in the back, given the again surging flu and covid infections... and since I need to be at the hospital for an operation soon, I can't afford to get sick. But, I was surprised how the business class service was improved by a very simple thing: after a meal, they served a bun, the "korvapuusti" (a cinnamon roll). And it was massive! Almost the size of the tray :-) Full story August 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland; Split Airport, Split, Croatia Flying | |
| My first HEL-SEA flight A route that I have not flown before, HEL-SEA. Finnair has been flying these on and off for a long time. Travel starts by the traditional praying of the sauna gods in the lounge. Maybe that will help with the short connection on the next leg. Relaxing, at least. Full story July 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland; Seattle-Tacoma Airport, Seattle, Washington, USA; Vancouver Airport, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel; Sauna (Normal) | |
| Dallas - Helsinki in Finnair Business Class I used my last (possibly ever) Platinum voucher to upgrade my return flight from Dallas to Helsinki, as I was coming back from Canada using the Finnair's Dallas flight. Nice experience, particularly when Tero was also on the same flight! Full story July 2024, Dallas Fort Worth airport, Dallas, Texas, USA; Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| 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) | |
This is the 1th set of articles. The next sets are set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, and set 6.