Mondays mean travel news on FREEDOMtravel, and today we can tell you about blacklisted airlines, about Stockholm being popular in songs and about new baggage rules on Ryanair. In addition, we can tell you about some news here on the blog - namely about all the maps and weather tables we are about to add. Now we're curious, what are your comments on this week's news?
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Blacklisted airlines
The European Commission has revised its list of airlines banned from flying to and from Europe, reports TravelNews. The list now consists of 178 airlines, up from 193 a year ago. One new airline on the list is Venezuelan Avior Airlines. However, Mustique Airways from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Urga from Ukraine were removed from the list due to improved security.
Finnair expands
Finnair is in an expansion phase and presents, among other things, a new connection to Lyon for the 2018/2019 winter season. Finnair will also fly more frequently to destinations such as Osaka, Hong Kong, Phuket and Delhi. Due to strong demand, the new routes to Puerto Plata, Havana, Puerto Vallarta and Goa will continue. "Finnair is currently in the biggest expansion phase in its history," says Robert Lönnblad, Head of Scandinavia at Finnair.
More Norwegians are holidaying in Sweden
Sweden is the most popular country for Norwegian tourists to holiday in, reports TravelNews. Between January and September last year, Norwegians made 497,000 holiday trips to Sweden, an increase of seven per cent compared to the same period in 2016, according to figures from Statistics Norway. A clear trend, according to Visit Sweden, is that Norwegian tourists are increasingly travelling to Sweden all year round, not just in the summer.
Stockholm is popular in songs
The global search engine and comparison site www.holidu.se has researched which cities are most frequently featured in songs, and it turns out that singing about Stockholm is popular. Capital of Sweden is the clear leader in the Nordic region. Paris, London and Rome top both the European and global list.
American cities shine in the world ranking. The ranking was created by looking for exact matches for each city in song lyrics or song title using Musixmatch, the world's largest database of song lyrics.
New baggage rules on Ryanair
As of 15 January, Ryanair's new baggage rules will apply, reports TravelNews. Under the new rules, passengers are no longer allowed to bring two pieces of hand luggage into the cabin. Passengers with a standard ticket, if they have two pieces of hand luggage, must leave the larger one at the gate at no extra cost. At the same time, Ryanair is increasing the weight allowance for checked baggage from 15 to 20 kilos and reducing the price of checked baggage from €35 to €25.
Maps and weather on FREEDOMtravel
At FREEDOMtravel, we are currently adding maps to all pages of the travel tips and all pages with car parks. The idea is to make it easier for you as a reader to quickly and roughly see where in a country a certain city/attraction or car park is located. We are not quite ready yet, but it will certainly be ready within a week. On the same pages you can find information on weather, both for a week ahead and approximate weather for the whole year.
Did you miss last week's travel news? Read the Cleaning the oceans, flights to Bilbao and free train ride
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Lena - good for the soul says:
Wow, I am impressed with your level of ambition with maps and weather info! Great, what a service!
Have a great start to the week!
Hug Lena
15 January 2018 - 6:17
Helena says:
Glad you like it Lena! Have a great time!
15 January 2018 - 16:11
Lena in Wales says:
Have heard about Ryanair's new baggage rules, but haven't read it in detail. Didn't realise you could still have two pieces of hand luggage and leave one free of charge at the gate, thought only one applied. Good for me to still be able to have two...
Take care!
15 January 2018 - 8:53
Helena says:
Yes, but in that case it is important not to have anything in your hand luggage that you need. But in that case it is possible!
15 January 2018 - 16:12
Marina says:
I enjoy reading your Monday posts with travel news (I enjoy reading your blog on other days too, even though I've been in some kind of week-long blog hibernation so I have to read again) and am really impressed with your travel maps - really good travel encyclopaedias.
15 January 2018 - 9:34
Helena says:
Glad you like our Monday posts and our maps Marina! And thank you for saying so!
15 January 2018 - 16:14
Ditte says:
It's great that Finnair is increasing its route network! Modern planes, good comfort and direct from Helsinki have made us choose them for travelling to Asia for a long time.
As for Ryan, I think it is quite ok with changed rules. We have travelled with them a lot and I have clearly seen on the route to Alicante that people bring more and more and that it delays boarding and possibly new slot times must be obtained.For only 50 sec you can choose priority boarding. We always do that if we travel with Ryan as well as choosing seats and then we will still bring a cabin bag and a handbag. See this with a lot of hand luggage also at SAS and Norwegian and it takes time for people to stow and fit everything.
Fun with your maps! Great!
15 January 2018 - 9:50
Helena says:
Agree that it can take time if there are too many bags to be stowed inside the plane. I myself prefer to have only one backpack. But we have had small cabin bags as well ....
15 January 2018 - 16:16
snort says:
It's important to choose the right company when booking your trip!
15 January 2018 - 10:09
Helena says:
Yes, and it's not always easy...
15 January 2018 - 16:17
Ama de casa says:
I have been thinking about how much hand luggage is dragged on board the aircraft, and how full it gets. It's always a battle for space in the hat racks, and it's often the airlines' "fault" that this has happened, with the expensive fees for checked luggage.
But the worst examples I've seen with a lot of hand luggage was in the mid 80's when we first (and only) travelled with aeroflot from Singapore with the mandatory stopover in Moscow. People brought so much electronics back to the former Soviet Union that they couldn't get their feet on the floor where they sat in the seats.
Then it was even worse when we flew from Kirsch - an island in the Strait of Hormuz which is (was?) a free trade area in Iran - to Esfahan. Jesus Christ. In the check-in queue, virtually every single person had refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, stoves and so on. How on earth they got all that stuff into the plane, I still don't understand. But it was not hand luggage anyway 😀.
Have a great start to the week!
15 January 2018 - 10:52
Helena says:
Ojojojoj fridge and freezer!!!? I myself have been travelling with a huge suitcase INSIDE the plane. My mum and I flew domestically in China and our host (a Chinese scientist who had never flown before and barely knew English) missed that we should check in the bags. (We tried to say "not in plane" but she thought we were weird for not wanting to take the suitcases with us). It ended up that we had to have them in the aisle. No problem apparently ... ?
15 January 2018 - 16:21
Ama de casa says:
Haha! Sometimes the flexibility is a bit more than usual. I flew from Skellefteå to Norrköping in 1978 with a fairly large flower table as hand luggage. I had also only managed to unscrew three legs out of four so it was quite... unwieldy, you could say. It also went well, even though it was a small 20-seater propeller plane between Bromma and Norrköping 🙂.
Another time we were going on a charter to the Alps and travelled with a small cute airline called Busy Bee. They probably didn't expect that everyone would have skis with them, so one of two toilets was closed off and turned into ski storage 😀.
Ooops! Sorry for the spamming, but I got a bit nostalgic here 😀.
15 January 2018 - 17:17
Helena says:
Haha, what stories! Trying to see both the flower table and the skis in front of me ... 😉.
17 January 2018 - 18:58
Renate's travels says:
Sounds okay that Ryanair arranges a little on their luggage rules. I think some people drag a little too much luggage onto the plane itself, haha. When it becomes cheaper to check in luggage, it will probably be better for everyone.
And what fun that travel traffic from Norway to Sweden is increasing! It's absolutely right that we Norwegians like our neighbour to the east. 😀
15 January 2018 - 11:15
Helena says:
Agree that it gets a little too crowded with too much luggage on board. And nice that you Norwegians like to holiday in Sweden! 🙂
15 January 2018 - 16:23
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
Nice that Finnair is expanding. Have flown with them a few times to India and been super satisfied.
Then it is probably appropriate with stricter rules regarding hand luggage, but if you charge more to check in a bag than the ticket costs, I can understand to some extent that it can be so.
We have been trying to avoid flying with Ryan Air since it became clear what conditions their staff work under.
Great initiative to add weather and arrows to campsites etc. to your travel tips (but what a job)!
15 January 2018 - 11:50
Helena says:
Yes, it is of course the prices among other things that have made it so much bags on board, so good that they do something about it. Glad you like the maps! And yes, crazy much work ...! 😉
15 January 2018 - 16:26
Veiken says:
We always fly with the Finns if there is a possibility...... Great that they are expanding.
That day will never come when I fly with Ryanair, so they can have whatever rules and oddities they want without me having an opinion!
I like geography and thus also maps so I can orientate myself!!!
15 January 2018 - 13:46
Helena says:
I'm glad you like the maps. I'm a bit like you, I want to look at the map to be able to orientate myself.
15 January 2018 - 16:27
Lennart says:
Currently have no plans to fly.
Got enough during the active period when it was almost every day...
15 January 2018 - 13:57
Helena says:
Wow, have you flown so much ...? Understand that it can be hard then!!!!
15 January 2018 - 16:28
Goatfish says:
What a great blog you have, it is so informative and so much work is put into everything worth seeing and knowing! Praise 😀
15 January 2018 - 15:20
Helena says:
Thank you so much for the great feedback! 🙂
15 January 2018 - 16:28
BP says:
I understand that Norwegians like to holiday in Sweden. Everything is so much cheaper here.
Now we boycott Ryan Air iofs, but just as most others say - people bring too much into the plane. It's not just suitcases that have to be squeezed into the hatches but everything you've bought in the duty free shops. So I understand Ryan Air to some extent.
The level of ambition of your blog is getting higher and higher. Praise!
15 January 2018 - 17:15
Helena says:
I agree that people generally carry too much in the plan. Personally, I think it's nice if I don't have to have so much ... And yes, the level of ambition has been raised. Fun if it is appreciated! 🙂
17 January 2018 - 19:00
Role o Carina says:
We mostly fly with Thomas Cook or through TUI!
Nice you add maps and upcoming campsites too 🙂 .
Enjoy the wind....
15 January 2018 - 19:14
Helena says:
Glad you appreciate the maps! 🙂
17 January 2018 - 19:00
Mr Steve says:
You are constantly taking new steps in the development of your blog. Impressive!
Now I'm not travelling anymore, but I still find the map function really good as I can orientate myself more easily.
16 January 2018 - 5:55
Helena says:
Glad you appreciate the maps! 🙂
17 January 2018 - 19:00
Ann-Louise says:
Great job with the maps and weather information!
18 January 2018 - 22:16