PLANETFLYER

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:

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.
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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?
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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.
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(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.
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December 2023, Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt, Germany
Flying

Prague lounge shower
Good basic lounge, and with a shower cabin & with towels. Nice.
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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July 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland
Flying

Ljubljana Airport
What a wonderful airport and mountainous approach!
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July 2023, Ljubljana Airport, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Flying

Walls of Piran
Piran is a medieval town on the coast of Slovenia. A wonderful town, clearly retaining its historic parts. The protective walls of the city date back to the 7th century, and can be toured for a nominal fee. Much recommended.
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July 2023, Walls of Piran, Piran, Slovenia
Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Castles); Flying

For once, a nice airport cart
Saw an interesting passenger assistance cart at Heathrow today. Actually, would have wanted that service, given my troubles with my feet...
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July 2023, Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom
Flying

The HOT lounge
No, HOT is not a new low-cost airline. It is literally the hottest airport lounge anywhere, ever. True statement! Finnair's Platinum lounge at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport sports a sauna. A dark colored, nice proper sauna. Respect!
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July 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Flying

May 1st at the Finnair Lounge
Wow. Munkkeja (donuts). Traditional May 1st delicacy.
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May 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland
Flying

Finnair's European A350 routes
I've occasionally ended in a wide-body A350 flight flown by Finnair, on an intra-European route. Turned out that this week I got two experience two of them in different cities: Brussels and Amsterdam. The third route that they regularly fly is London Heathrow.
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May 2023, Brussels Airport, Brussels, Belgium; Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Flying; Travel

A Certificate for Visiting the North Pole!
Finnair gave me a certificate for being on their flight over the North Pole! When I asked the flight attendant about the coordinates (which are not exactly at North Pole), she promised to check with the crew. When she came back, she said that the captain says he doesn't know what coordinates were on the certificate, but that it was probably the marketing department's idea of the location of the North Pole :-)
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April 2023, North Pole, International
Flying

This is the 1th set of articles. The next sets are set 2, set 3, set 4, and set 5.