Another short flight today, from Copenhagen to Amsterdam on KLM.  By the way, for those planning on a European trip, keep in mind that they don't all use Euros.  The exceptions are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Denmark, where it is about 7 Danish Kroner to the U.S. dollar.  Also keep in mind that Norway is not a member of the EU and it is nearly 11 Norwegian Kroner to the U.S. dollar.  Sweden and Iceland use the Krona. The airline lounge was okay, with hard liquor, wines and beers available in the morning.  Neither our Munich nor Copenhagen hotel executive clubs, for example, offered any kind of spirits beyond wine and beer.  We were the only one there for a long while. As we approached Amsterdam, saw tulip fields. One of the advantages of living in Scandinavia is the lack of severe natural disasters.  Sure, a few hurricanes have managed to survive all the up to this far north causing some damage.  Take tsunamis, for example. Only a 2% chance of a

Had a final Westin Grand executive club meal and drinks yesterday.  Red wine, white wine and sparkling wine with snacks, then a chicken dish with salad. We had a hotel credit so ended the night at their bar for Ballantine's and Johnny Walker Black on rocks. The taxi ride from the Westin Grand to Munich Airport cost around $100.  Those red numbers stand for maximum  speed in kilometers/hour.  The 120 thus means 75 MPH.  If there are four thin lines over the number, there is  NO SPEED LIMIT. Airport check-in was swift and easy.  Went to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge.  There is also a Business Class Lounge.  Had just about exactly same meal as yesterday, salami sandwich with a German beer. Our Lufthansa flight took off on time.   Copenhagen Airport, CPH, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, with 31 million passengers/year before the pandemic.  The Daniel Inouye Honolulu Airport only handles 21 million passengers/year. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark with a municipality

Just when you thought that this pandemic might soon be over, scientists have found the  BA.2 virus, another subvariant of the Omicron variant , which could well be a little more contagious and, this is the bad part, more virulent, perhaps in the range of the Delta variant.  Plus, vaccinations are not as effective, even though a booster helps to prevent a person from death even if infected.  Current tests seem not to work as well, and it is possible that this is something new and not directly related to Omicron.  It's too early to tell if all that is true, but be aware. Early signs hint that this  B.2, named the Stealth Subvariant, might be behind the sudden jump of new cases in Denmark.    Early this month  Denmark  decided that the risk of dying from COVID-19 had dropped to a safe level so even while new cases remained a concern, they removed all restrictions to return to normality.  No need for indoor masks, ignore vaccine passports and open up nightclubs.  Not smart: Yesterday,

  Until Omicron, Japan had managed to keep COVID-19 at bay.   However, this pandemic has bitten the country, and new cases over the past few days have been averaging around 100,000/day.   While that is only around 800/million population, the U.S. was #2 in new cases yesterday, but we are now down to 536/million.   Hawaii was once up to 4466/million a month ago, but yesterday dropped to 381/million. The country with the most new cases yesterday was Germany with 212,724, or 2532/million. Denmark is way up there at 8110/million.  As terrible as it has been,  the country began to lift restrictions last month, and earlier this month became the first European nation to say no face masks necessary anymore.  They don't even check your vaccination status in bars and restaurants.   Said Prime Minister Mette Fredricksen,  we welcome a completely open Denmark .  Am I missing something??? However, not as bad as Reunion in the India Ocean at 33,976/million and Martinique in the Caribbean with 22