Last light of the day – sunset
Thought for the day….”Success is more aptitude than attitude”
“Heaven on Earth is a choice that you must make, not a place that you must find.”
As part of my job, I get to travel a lot, and you tend to notice the differences between countries. At Singapore Changi (code SIN, and possibly the best airport in the world) recently the drinking fountains were closed for maintenance. Being Singapore, with its fantastically well run services, the airport managers had thought to provide bottled drinking water at the water fountains so that passengers were not inconvenienced. Travel further up to Norway, which you would expect would also be a well run country and things are the opposite. In the Scandic hotel in Bergen, the orange juice machine was out of order, but nobody had thought to provide juice in jugs next to it. Next hotel (again a Scandic hotel) and the coffee machine was out of order. Just a handwritten sign on the machine saying that it was out of order. Again, nobody had thought to provide a thermos of coffee to make up for the failure. And as part of the ‘improvements’ to standard rooms, they do not now provide tea/coffee facilities in the standard rooms. Gone also are tissues in the rooms, individual shampoo and conditioner and soaps.
And as if that was not enough, the Scandic hotels in Bergen (not cheap, as nothing in Norway is cheap) have decided that they will not put cutlery, cups or serviettes on the tables. It is the same as the airlines, customer service is disappearing. Scandic hotels may be happy to ask high prices in order to stay in their hotels. The prices rise, but the service levels fall. There comes a point when you say that enough is enough. Why pay high prices for less service?? Perhaps they should let Singaporeans run the hotels in Norway??
And to end the day, a photo of the sunset near Alesund on the 18th July 2016….wonderful end to the day..
and another photo from the archives…..happy boys in Albania
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Queen of the Skies – the Boeing 747 400
Thought for the day….”Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”
A photo that is history now….a Singapore Airlines 747-400 taking off from Zurich airport in Switzerland. Known as the Queen of the Skies, almost 400 tons lifting off for the 11 hour flight to Singapore. Zurich (code ZRH) is a great place to take aircraft photos, as the authorities there actually encourage people to take photos, and even organize special photo tours. Great that the managers there have seen the value of photographers, and make it easy to take photos, rather than trying to prevent it like so many airports do today. Not only that, but Zurich is actually a good airport to fly into or transit, run with the usual Swiss efficiency. The photo below was taken during one of the organized photo tours, although even from the normal viewing decks, it is easy to get some great photos.
and some faces from the harbour market in Helsinki, Finland……
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Finals to Land – Funchal, Madeira
Thought for the day….”If the world seems cold to you, kindle some fires to warm it”.
” When something is ” new and improved” , which is it?”
Did you know that until recently, the longest scheduled flight was the flight by Singapore Airways from Singapore to Newark, USA, a trip of 18.5 hours? One of the longest flights now is the Delta Airlines flight between Johannesberg, South Africa and Atlanta, USA, a trip of some 17 hours non-stop. And for distance, Qantas has a flight from Sydney to Dallas, a distance of some 13 600km/8500 miles. For short flights, the scheduled service between the Scottish islands of Westray and Papa Westray is scheduled to take just 2 minutes, although a tail wind can reduce this to 90 seconds. And did you know that a Boeing 747 is made up of around 6 million parts, and has a top speed of 955 km/h? The photo today is of an Airbus A320 arriving at Funchal, Madeira. This airport is famous for its often windy approaches due to the surrounding mountain, although no sign of any turbulence for this Monarch Airlines flight.
and another photo from the archives….a market stall in Helsinki, Finland.
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6 Billion variations on a theme……
Thought for the day…” You will never find a rainbow if you are looking down”s
” Go to Heaven for the climate, and to Hell for the company”.
It is amazing the variations that are possible with just 2 eyes, one nose and one mouth. And add to that emotions and the variations become endless. The English language has more than 400 words which describe emotions and sentiments, and studies have shown that when people are trying to conceal emotions, that they subconsciously show ‘micro emotions’ very rapidly. For smiles, there are around 18 different types of smile, ranging from polite to cruel and false. And body language also reflects our emotions, for instance, touching the nose often indicates that the person is hiding something. Studies have estimated that the human face can make over 10 000 facial expressions, although most are too small to notice. Few people are said to posses the perfect face, that is where both halves of the face have perfect symmetry, yet there are some 6 billion faces worldwide. 6 billion variations on 2 eyes, one nose and a mouth……here is one of them, a few years ago in Pakistan….
and another photo from the archives…
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Crossing to Tibet – A portrait in colour
Thought for the day….” Never ask a barber if you need a haircut”
” If past history was all there was to the game, then the richest people would all be librarians”.
Sometimes it is open, and sometimes it is closed, so getting into Tibet is a bit of a lottery. Around 3 million people live in Tibet, which is officially regarded as a Chinese autonomous region. And to complicate matters even further, the ‘borders’ of the Tibetan kingdom are much larger than the official Chinese autonomous region’s borders. It contains the world’s highest plateau (at over 4000m), and includes the Himalayas. Tourism is controlled by the Chinese government, and a special permit is needed to visit, even if a Chinese visa is held. Trains to Lhasa started in 2006, with the trip from Bejing taking around 48 hours. Interestingly, the train is said to be the highest railway route in the world, and due to the altitude on the trip (up to 5231m altitude) then the trains are provided with an oxygen supply. They also have windows with special protection against the strong ultra-violet rays at the high altitudes. And having enjoyed the train trip, then travellers can look forward to yak meat and the (salty) butter tea, and perhaps a photo like the one below……
And another photo from the archives…..a black and white photo from the old town in the centre of Tallinn, Estonia.
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Smiling Samoa – Not the Quality Spa Resort Hotel, Norefjell
Thought for the day….” The man who asks a question is a fool for only a minute. The man who does not ask a question is a fool forever.”
“If you want to feel rich then just count all the things that you have that money cannot buy.”
Smiling Samoa for the photo today and a woman from the Samoan capital, Apia. Great light for this photo, and despite being taken by a cheap Panasonic camera, the results were impressive. Great place for a holiday, with wonderful sandy beaches, lots of local culture and some interesting Pacific Island scenery, including active volcanoes. The people from Samoa (of which there are around 190 000) are known as happy people. Until 1962, it was under the control of New Zealand. It is made up of 7 main islands, and, interestingly, recently changed sides on the International Dateline so that it is now on the same day as Australia and New Zealand.
and a photo from the archives…..summer reflections in Norway. 
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Faces 4 + 1, Not the Quality Spa Resort Hotel, Norefjell.
Thought for the day…..” To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail”
A photo from the harbourside market in Helsinki for the photo today. Nice comparison between the real face and the plastic models. Even in the depths of winter (when temperatures can easily fall to below minus 20 degrees C) and when the nearby sea is frozen, the harbourside market is still there. Finland is number one in the world for coffee consumption per capita, perhaps helped by the long, cold winters. Around the harbour in winter, people sit for coffee in heated tents, and occasionally fish through the ice using a saw. In the depths of winter, daylight is scarce (around 5 hours, although it remains gloomy all day) but around the middle of June, it is light almost 24 hours a day.
And one from the archive……sunset over the Baltic Sea.
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