Overnight Cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo

It's the first time I take a cruise! (yup, I've not gone for any cruise trip while in Singapore, though it seems to be one of the common getaway here).

This is the boarding ticket that doubles up as the door 'key'.

Indeed, the check-in luggage from the group is very neatly organised and stored while on board.

This is the cruise ship that we took, to sail from Copenhagen to Oslo. The entire trip took less than 24 hours - from 4.30 pm to 9.45 am the next day.

This is how the cabin looked like. Well, it's not as 'miserably small' as I had thought of :)

Innovative Ideas from D-N-S

While I've travelled to many cities around the globe, it's the first time that some designs caught my attention along the way as I travelled from Denmark to Norway, to Sweden. I do wonder if it's because I subconsciously already looking out for interesting designs when I already had the impression that these are the countries known for its 'design' labels.

One brand that caught my attention in the shop at the cruise was Normann (http://www.normann-copenhagen.com). In fact, I had the urge to splurge for some little items; but fortunately, my conscious mind reminded me to be prudence in my spending...

One of them is the silicone "tea egg"

Haha... click at the above link to look at some of those cool designs of everyday items :)

It's the amount of thinking the designers put in to come up with designs that are practical, yet simple.

One of them is the greenhouse corridor that connects the buildings in one of the hotels that we stayed: It not only provided natural lighting; but because of the cold weather (cold though in summer) it provides warmth to anyone who walks along the corridor. Just a stone throw away is a swimming pool housed in the 'greenhouse' too!

 

Simple coffee packaging - just peel off, exposing a whole that is big enough for us to sip the beverage.

Good space saver to rest the luggage!

This is the first time I see such design - an idea borrowed from simple clips; to hold the garbage bag. It's clean and neat!

I thought the Japanese would have thought of this idea but saw none in the hotels I put up so far. (I'm impressed with the toilet bowls that come with "warmer" and "washer" in Japan!).
A simple towel holder that's redesigned not only as a towel holder, but also a towel dryer, and can double up as a heater in the bathroom!

Here's another interesting idea how to create space in the shower area. Ok, something common amongst all the bathrooms-toilets we came across in D-N-S is, all of them are very small; and that's where we noticed interesting ways of 'creating' space. Here's a photo from website:

Click HERE (http://www.dovcorbathrooms.co.uk/blog/view/a-space-saving-shower-design-for-your-small-bathroom) to view more details of the design

Postcards from D-N-S

This is one of the few rare occasions when some of the postcards arrived before I came home :)
On the other hand, it's also one of those few places that I had to pay more for the postage - around 15 krones for postcard, which after converting, is approximately SGD 3 per card, about 5 times what we pay in Singapore to send postcards overseas.


Postcards from Stockholm, the day just before departing for Singapore.

Postcards from Norway - Geiranger Fjord area and Oslo

Postcards from Bergen, an old city and heritage site in Norway.

 This was posted at the border of Sweden and Norway; which was the first postcard from Sweden.

Tickets to Fly...

Finnair
http://www.finnair.com/

First time took Finnair. The impression was it goes by the minimalist approach. Everything's simple - from food to in-air entertainment to no overnight flight toiletries (ok, asked for toothbrush - don't have). Well, only managed to catch 4 movies (very limited choices).

I guess I could live with the minimalist approach. However, the experience on the return flight was no good, when one critical condition was not met! The adjustment of the air pressure!

Can't recall when was the last time that my ears had to endure such great pain and discomfort when the plane descended - the way the air pressure was adjusted.

Almost 20 min when arriving at Helsinki and 10 min when arriving at Changi airport. The discomfort to the ears still lingered after 4 hours.

Probably no more Finnair in the future!