Travel

How to open a French bank account without RIB

France has a peculiar baking system where everything revolves around a RIB (relevé d'identité bancaire). Normally, I wouldn't mind eating some ribs, but, what the French term RIB stands for, only has a taste of bureaucracy. RIB is a document you get from your bank, but in order to open a new bank account, you need a RIB from your current bank. This might not be an issue for a French person, but if you are not from France, you will soon face the absurdity of the chicken-egg problem. 🐣 Luckily, I have just the solution for opening a French bank account entirely without an existing RIB. ☺️

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Experiencing Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge in Doha

During my transit at Hamad International Airport in Doha, I had the opportunity to visit one of the fanciest lounges in the world, Qatar Airways Al Mourjan lounge. I did travel on an upgraded Qatar Airways business class ticket, which unfortunately, does not include a lounge access. However, I am on a sapphire level in the Oneworld program (Finnair Plus Gold), so I had the right to get in anyways. 😊 This is by far the fanciest lounge I have ever visited, however, looks can be deceiving, so let's break it down.

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Plaza Premium Lounge in Helsinki - a Pleasant Surprise

I wanted to visit the Emirates recently, and I had to find flights. As a loyal Oneworld customer, I was disappointed to see that Finnair had cancelled their Helsinki-Dubai flights until the fall season. My only natural alternative was to go with an airline I had never experienced before, namely Qatar. After booking my tickets, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that while Finnair has their Oneworld lounges closed due to the Covid-19 virus, Qatar had gone an extra mile and ensured their customers had a lounge to enjoy at Helsinki airport. This is how I became acquainted with the Plaza Premium lounge. 😊

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Aspire lounge in Helsinki - is it worth it?

Now that Finnair has their Oneworld lounge closed, I had to seek for an alternative lounge access in Helsinki. The only one open during the pandemic was the Aspire lounge. In addition to Aspire, I have previously visited Finnair lounges, the SAS lounge and Plaza Premium lounge at Helsinki Airport, and I must say that Aspire was the most modest one out of the options that would be there without the Covid-19 situation. 😅

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Free corona test for travelling in Finland

I decided to go for a trip to Dubai, but my travel plans were almost stopped by the expensive prices private health care services charge for their corona tests. I am not going to pay the price of my flights just to get my nose poked! 😣 Luckily, in Helsinki and Uusimaa region, it is possible to get a coronavirus test (COVID-19 PCR test) for absolutely free of charge! On top of that, you will get your negative coronavirus test certificate that is completely accepted for travelling abroad. ☺️

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an airplane flying over the buildings

This year I have had the chance of experiencing the business class a bunch of times for free as free upgrade and even one self paid vacation. Traveling in business class is probably a dream of every traveler, but what should one consider before throwing a bunch of money in for a business class ticket or an upgrade? 🤔

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sunset behind an airplane

This year I have had a chance to travel all around the world in the name of science publishing a great deal of papers and having a chance to attend conferences of so many different fields from NLP and computational creativity to a video game conference. ☺️ As Finland is a bit remotely located, there's often only one option for an airline with the least number of layovers: Finnair and its one world partners. As a result, I ended up gaining sapphire status and an access to airport lounges. In this post, I will share some ideas of a lounge access.

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Why everyone should visit Japan

I have been to many countries, also outside of my home Europe, but there's one above all of them: Japan. This is a claim I make and people tilt their heads a bit and ask why. Because it is so different to what I have used to… In a positive way. When you go to Japan, you have to forget everything you know about the world. What you know is not valid there, for the Japanese do things differently. A thing as simple as going to the bathroom isn't quite the same in Japan. Press the wrong button to flush and you will get a spray of warm water directed precisely to your butt hole. 🤣 Book a traditional inn now!  (more…)