Spendthrift Shoestring

My (Sort of) Bucket List

The end of the calendar year is good for reflection. On my long flight on Sunday from Schiphol to Dulles I found myself thinking about some future experiences I want to have. Most of these relate to traveling, writing, and/or endeavors that require a little bit of courage. This isn't exactly a bucket list—a morbid prospect if there ever was one—but it isn't a million miles from that idea; like a bucket list, there are several items here that are tough to accomplish without advance preparation or hard work or careful budgeting.

So here it is: my (sort of) bucket list.

1. Publish several books. Start with the current idea I have, which is quite good by the way.

2. Found a destination branding firm. (Anyone seriously into this idea? Email me.)

3. Travel as much as possible with my parents. Priorities include a northern Minnesota road trip with my dad and a visit to Kosovo's Decani Monastery with my mom.

4. Track down my long-lost relatives in Brazil.

5. Strengthen my German.

6. Formally learn Dutch instead of relying on my ability to recognize 95% of the Dutch words I come across.

7. Vastly improve Spanish to advanced conversational state.

8. Achieve conversational Swedish.

9. Learn to cook well.

10. Visit Fish Lake.

11. See the Badlands.

12. Return to the castaway Caribbean island I’ve decided never to write about.

13. Spend a week eating smørrebrød in Copenhagen.

14. Visit Tristan da Cunha.

15. Spend a weekend at an onsen in Japan while snow falls outside. Do the same at Therme Vals.

16. In fact, sample many different mineral hot springs. 

17. Fly Qantas first class long haul once.

18. Stay at these three hotels/resorts: Fasano São Paulo for its aesthetic, Petit St. Vincent for its quiet solitude, and Coco Point Lodge for its dated aristocratic air.

19. Have meals at the handful of Michelin-starred restaurants I’ve identified as particularly appealing.

20. Get the tattoos I’ve been putting off forever.

21. Skydive at least once.

22. Bungee jump.

23. Go zorbing.

24. Take rockclimbing lessons.

25. Become a minor media figure in a country with a population under 10 million, like, say, this one.

European LCCs on Twitter

Check out my airline-by-airline comparison of four big European low-cost carriers on the EuroCheapo blog.

Gol V. Pluna: the Short-Haul Stakes

I flew two local carriers airlines on my recent South American trip: the Brazilian low-cost airline Gol from Buenos Aires to Asunción and the Uruguayan flagship Pluna from Asunción to Montevideo. I knew what to expect from Gol after having flown it from Salvador to Rio in 2006, but Pluna was a new experience altogether.

My fare on Gol was R$279 (US$162 at the time of purchase), purchased through the airline's site. Gol feels more or less like the low-cost carrier that it is. Seats are relatively cramped and the boarding procedure felt vaguely like a cattle-call—though, I should clarify, it had nothing on the frustrating European LCC practice of selling "priority boarding" to passengers and then snaking queues of priority and cheapskate passengers alongside one another for interminable periods of time. Though completely packed—and mostly with passengers flying on to Curitiba and São Paulo—the flight itself was quite pleasant. A snack was offered free of charge, and passengers were encouraged to ask for two drinks. The in-flight magazine is entirely in Portuguese and full of interesting features, like "Em Trânsito," which offers mini-profiles of passengers, and good destination features (one on the Costa do Descubrimento, anchored by Porto Seguro; another on Asunción). 

Pluna, on the other hand, disappointed somewhat. My flight ran $185, priced in dollars and purchased through Pluna's site. Before take-off I picked up the in-flight magazine only to discover the absence of a route map within. The route map is the most important part of the in-flight magazine, as far as I'm concerned. No route map means no idle fantasizing about future jaunts on the airline. The snacks trolley operates on a US/low-cost carrier model, with everything from sandwiches to water available for a charge. I found this disappointing. Every flight I've ever taken in South America has offered drinks gratis. Though I hate buying food and drink on planes, I was thirsty and tried to buy a water with my remaining Paraguayan guaraní, only to be told that Pluna did not accept guaraní. I remained thirsty. Pluses? The plane type (Bombardier CRJ900) is one I like, and the airplane itself was clean and bright and new. Flight attendants were perfectly nice as well.

I walked off the plane into possibly the most pleasing immigration control room I've ever seen, a well-designed space. Modern useability is the key here: A digital display tells passengers which booth to approach. The solitary hue in the space is orange, and it is deployed sparingly. The brand-new terminal, by architect Rafael Viñoly, is beautiful and ambitious throughout. As such, it stands somewhat in contrast to Pluna, an airline that could so easily and with very few modifications provide its passengers with a better experience.

Who Will Benefit from SkyEurope's Demise?

On August 31, SkyEurope went belly-up. After months and months of confidence-stripping events—bridge loans, terminated airplane leases, postponed financial statements, the granting of protection from creditors by a Slovak court, the refusal of several airports to service SkyEurope planes in light of unpaid fees—the airline finally called it quits.

For those of us following the ups and downs of European aviation, the airline's demise was no surprise. Most observers of Europe's low-cost airline scene have been predicting a wave of bankruptcies and mergers for a while now. SkyEurope's weaknesses were well documented, and were only exacerbated in the face of terrible market conditions. What was most remarkable was that the airline stuck around for as long as it did.

The bankruptcy comes at a generally really bad time for European low-cost carriers, and there are plenty of commentaries that interpret SkyEurope's fall as the first paragraph of the next chapter of European LCC history—a chapter that will end with three or four big budget airlines battling for the euros, kronor, lei, and hryvni of budget-minded travelers across Europe, with a handful of much smaller specialist budget carriers accommodating underserved regions. (A side-question here, though one not unrelated to the issue at hand: which are the three or four big LCCs that will be left standing? Norwegian, Ryanair, easyJet, Germanwings, Vueling, Wizz Air, and Air Berlin all have either sheer size, customer loyalty, or underserved destinations going for them. But a changed terrain consisting of three to four big players would mean that several of these airlines would be absorbed.)

If only the biggest will survive, then the question of what will happen to SkyEurope's abandoned routes becomes the most crucial one. Who will benefit most from SkyEurope's demise? The buzz so far seems to be that financial gain is Ryanair's for the taking, but Wizz Air has strong links in Central Europe as well.

The most distinctive dimension of SkyEurope's route map was its inclusion of Bratislava, Kosice, and Poprad-Tatry on its route map. Several of the routes the airline flew before folding remain unduplicated.

The biggest gap has opened up at Bratislava, where over two dozen destinations were previously served by SkyEurope. Ryanair has three new routes scheduled for autumn inauguration: Bratislava-Bologna, Bratislava-Rome Ciampino, and Bratislava-Liverpool, while WizzAir has just one, scheduled to take off later this month, a Bratislava-Rome Fiumicino link. Ryanair already flies many routes in and out of Bratislava, and is doubtlessly best placed to expand.

Kosice, a much lower-volume airport, has truly been left in the lurch by the departure of SkyEurope. The airline flew between Kosice and Istanbul, Rome, Manchester, Paris Orly and London Luton. SkyEurope also flew a London Luton-Poprad-Tatry route.

Thus far, an airline called Danube Wings has announced a number of new routes into both Kosice and Poprad-Tatry, though the ground opened up by the disappearance of SkyEurope is still wide open. The biggest and most likely budget airlines have thus far failed to bite. The next few weeks should be interesting.

Germanwings's Half-Million Cheap Tickets

Today through Sunday August 30, Germanwings is selling off 500,000 tickets priced at just €19.99 apiece. This sale fare includes taxes. Not included: checked luggage surcharge & transaction fee. The latter runs €8 per payment.

These fares apply to Germanwings' entire route map, and are good for travel from September 6 through March 27, 2010.

The Germanwings route map is distinctive for a few reasons. The airline serves the former Yugoslavia more comprehensively than any other low-cost carrier. Also impressive are its routes to Turkish cities, Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg.

English-language search engine here.

Nordic Airline Bonanza

I wrote a post for EuroCheapo on Tuesday documenting my airline adventures across the Nordics. Read why I graded Finnair higher than Atlantic Airways. (Spoiler: my heart is accessed through my stomach.)

Cheap SAS Newark-Stockholm Fares

SAS is peddling some incredibly cheap roundtrip summer fares between Newark and Stockholm right now. How cheap? $521, that's how cheap. In July. Insane. The fare is guaranteed through tonight.

November 2008 European LCC Stats

EasyJet and Ryanair had decent Novembers—decent at any rate given the poor economic climate and the difficulties airlines are facing.

EasyJet carried 2.99 million passengers in November 2008 against its 2.89 million passenger tally in November 2007, a rise of almost three and a half percent. Load factor—the number of seats filled by passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available to passengers—also improved, from 80.8 percent to 83.9 percent (+3.1 percent). Ryanair's passenger tally in November rose 11 percent against last November's numbers, from 3.89 million to 4.23 million, while load factor increased one percent, from 78 percent to 79 percent.

Meanwhile, less impressive numbers have emerged from Central European LCC Sky Europe. The airline saw its passenger tally fall in November 2008 against November 2007 by 22.8 percent (to under 220,000 passengers); its load factor dipped 1.2 percent, to 68.4 percent.

US Airways Buzz: Routes to Berlin & Nice

My source at US Airways tells me that Philadelphia-Nice and Philadelphia-Berlin nonstop routes are being developed, and that a Phoenix-Frankfurt nonstop is also under discussion.

All the standard reservations concerning idle chatter apply.

Sterling, R.I.P.

Icelandic-owned Sterling announced today that they are filing for bankruptcy and ceasing all operations. This is the latest development in a bad year for Europe's low-cost airlines.

Check out the airline's statement. Note their depressing refusal to reimburse passengers for booked flights that will now never take off.