Alphabeat

Alphabeat are a Danish pop band established in Silkeborg by singers Stine Bramsen and Anders SG. They signed to the Polydor label. Their single, "Fascination", was a major hit in Denmark during the summer of 2007 and a significant hit in the UK in 2008. The next single, "10000 Nights of Thunder" (or just "10000 Nights" in the UK) saw equal acclaim, and their eponymous debut album went to 2nd place in Denmark's and UK's charts. It has sold over 100000 copies and their three top 20 singles have sold around of 400000 all together.

The band is made up of six members: Anders SG, Stine Bramsen, Anders B., Rasmus Nagel, Anders Reinholdt and Troels Hansen. Alphabeat's sound is mainly retro '80s melodic pop, taking inspiration amongst others from British bands Deacon Blue and Prefab Sprout, with distinctive overlays of male and female harmonies. The band was previously named Sodastar, but this was changed to avoid confusion with a German band.

The band's success in their domestic market attracted the attention of several major labels from larger markets abroad and Alphabeat was eventually signed to EMI's Charisma Records label in the United Kingdom. Their British debut single, "Fantastic 6" was released on 26th of November 2007.

Alphabeat received several positive reviews in major British publications such as NME, The Observer Music Monthly, Digital Spy and Popjustice. On 20th of December 2008, it was announced via press release that the band had been dropped by their UK label Charisma Records. In a statement from the band on 19th of January 2009, it was confirmed that they had chosen to leave the label after being given the opportunity. It was announced on 6th of March 2009 that Alphabeat had signed a new record deal with the Polydor label. The band's manager said "We are thrilled to be signing to one of the UK's most successful record companies, and looking forward to achieving even more success with the band and Polydor in the coming years."

In August 2009, Pop Justice premiered their new single "The Spell" which was set for an October release, with their second album to be released shortly thereafter. The album was released in Denmark as The Spell on 26th of October 2009 (where it reached 6th place on the album chart) and was originally set for release on 2nd of November 2009 in the UK. The UK release was subsequently pushed back until 1st of March 2010 and the album's title was changed to The Beat Is.... It entered the UK Albums Chart on 39th place. On 9th of January 2010 "DJ" was released as the second single in the Danish market, with a UK release, under the title "DJ (I Could Be Dancing)", scheduled for 31st of May. The second UK single, "Hole In My Heart", was released on 22nd of February 2010, debuting on 29th place on the UK Singles Chart.

Alphabeat made their UK debut at Monto Water Rats in May 2007 and later that year embarked on their first UK tour, supporting Palladium. They were offered the chance to play as a warm-up for the Spice Girls during their reunion world tour 2007-8, but declined the opportunity, feeling that it would be "too weird" to suddenly play in front of a very large audience unfamiliar with the band's music. They have often been associated with the Wonky Pop movement - their manager owns the brand name and they have played a number of Wonky Pop events and tours.

During the summer of 2008 they played numerous British and international festivals including T in the Park on "Camper's Friday", Roskilde Festival, T4 on the Beach, the "Summerfestival" (in Klaksvik, Faroe Islands, in early August), and in October 2008, along with many other bands at the NEC in Birmingham for hundreds of young girlguides. During late 2008, Alphabeat began a 22 gig tour of the UK and Holland, with many shows sold out. In the same year, the band was planning to play select shows with American singer Katy Perry on her 2008 world tour. However, in March 2009, Alphabeat cancelled their appearances in support of her US tour. Their management stated that they were instead working on their second album and planned to tour the USA later in the year. They performed a mini UK tour to promote "The Spell" in Autumn 2009 and toured the UK throughout April 2010, on the "The Beat Is... Tour". They also played a support slot for Lady Gaga on her U.K & Ireland leg of The Monster Ball Tour, which took place in February and March 2010. They made their US debut at the 2010 SXSW Festival.

Discography:

DJ (May 2010)

The Beat Is... (March 2010)

Hole In My Heart (February 2010)

The Spell (October 2009)

What Is Happening (November 08)

Boyfriend (August 08)

This is Alphabeat (June 08)

10,000 Nights (May 08)

Fascination (February 08)

Thermal Waters In Romania

Felix spa and resort is very well known among Romanian people. It seems to be the most important thermal resort in Romania. There are a lot of facilities you can find in this place and an excellent infrastructure also. There are a lot of hotels and hostels there, very affordable prices and many restaurants with really great food.

There are only 22 Km to the Romanian-Hungarian border, there is an airport in Oradea (8 km to the west). There are many pubs, night clubs or disco-clubs waiting for tourists. The people in the area is very kind and open to the visitors demands.

The main pool in Felix is open during all the year and has a lot of facilities. There are water slides, a lot of stores, restaurants, and a fast food service. There exists 2 bars right on the pool side. There are many spa services you can have there. And the treatment is affordable and high professional made. The entrance costs around 6 Euro for one day.

There are also another pools, with not so much facilities but even cheaper to get in. The thermal water in this area is very healthy and can prevent or offer treatment for rheumatism and neurological and gynecological diseases. A very good place for sleep is Pensiunea Casa Grande which I strongly recommend. A night in double room with all the modern facilities costs around 24 Euro. There exists an apartment too, you can book for 48 Euro.

In the night you can hear Romanian folk music in one of the open air restaurants from Felix or you can have a great party in discoteque. I can recommend you Club Dark which is really nice and clean. Good music, and very affordable drinks inside. Entrance costs 3 Euro, and the same price you pay for a really tasty cocktail. Have fun!

Munich Airport - Franz Josef Strauss

Munich Franz Josef Strauss Airport is located 28.5 km northeast of Munich, Germany, and is a hub for Lufthansa and Star Alliance partner airlines. It lies in direct proximity to the old city of Freising and is named in memory of politician Franz Josef Strauss. The airport is located on the territory of three different municipalities: Oberding, Hallbergmoos and Marzling. Between 1995 and 2006 passenger numbers doubled from under 15 million per annum to over 30 million, despite the impact of ‘9/11’ in 2001 and 2002. In 1996 it overtook Düsseldorf as Germany’s second busiest airport and now handles almost twice as many passengers as the country’s third busiest airport and is Lufthansa’s second base in Germany after Frankfurt.

Munich Airport is the second busiest airport in Germany in terms of passenger traffic, behind Frankfurt Airport while it is the world's 14th busiest airport in terms of international passenger traffic. In 2009 it was named the second Best Airport in Europe and fifth-best in the world.

The airport started to operate on 17th of May 1992, when operations moved from the former site at Munich-Riem, which was closed down shortly before midnight on the day before. When its construction was started in 1980 a village named Franzheim had to be demolished, its 500 inhabitants having been resettled in other places in the area. The airport was named after Franz Josef Strauß, who played an important role in German politics. Among other Strauß was a long-time First Minister (Governor) of Bavaria (the state where the airport is located). Under his government, the airport was planned. Strauß, having been a private pilot himself, was said to have a particular interest in the aviation industry and infrastructure. Naming the airport by its full name is quite uncommon, even the airport authority is only named "Flughafen München Gesellschaft". In the Munich area, most people prefer the term "Flughafen München" (Munich Airport), sometimes "Flughafen München II" or simply MUC. The company operating the airport brands it as "M - Flughafen München".

Most of the airport's facilities are located in the area between the two runways. The approach road and railway divide the west part into a southern half, which contains cargo and maintenance facilities, and a northern half, which contains mostly administrative buildings, a holiday long-term parking lot and the Visitors' Centre. It is followed by the west apron and Terminal 1, then the Munich Airport Center (MAC), Terminal 2 and the east apron.

The Munich Airport Centre (MAC) is a shopping, business and recreation area that connects the two terminals. The older Central Area (Zentralbereich), which was originally built as part of Terminal 1, hosts an underground shopping mall and the S-Bahn station. The newer MAC Forum built with Terminal 2 is a large outdoor area with a tent-like, partly transparent roof. Next to it is the airport hotel managed by Kempinski.

The airport authorities have set out to cater for visitors and sight-seers by creating a 'Visitors Park' which includes a 'Visitors Hill' from which a good view can be obtained of the westerly aircraft apron and Terminal 1. This is served by a railway station named 'Besucherpark'. There are three historic aircraft on display in the park, a Super Constellation, a Douglas DC-3 and a Junkers Ju 52/3m. There is also a visitors viewing terrace on the roof of Terminal 2 that gives a view of the easterly aircraft apron.

Munich Airport is connected to the city by Munich suburban railway lines S1 and S8. The ride takes approximately 45 minutes. Bus lines connect the airport to the nearby city of Freising as well as Erding and Markt Schwaben. Lufthansa Airport Bus provides an alternative to the S-Bahn, stopping at Nordfriedhof subway station and Munich Central Station. Munich Airport is accessible via nearby Motorway A 92, which connects to Motorway A 9 and Munich's ring motorway A 99, Bavarian State Road St. 2584 connects A 92's exit 6 (Flughafen München) - an incomplete interchange that can only be used by traffic to and from the west - to the terminals. Access from the east is possible via exit 8 (Freising Ost) and Bavarian State Road St. 2580, which connects to St. 2584 in the east of the airport. More informations about Munich here

Julie Maria

Julie Maria was born into music. She is the daughter of singer Mona Larsen and her stepfather is jazz bassist Bo Stief. She was with his parents on tour and soon learned to experience the totality of the music across genres and languages. Five years followed the Danish Radio Girls' Choir, twelve years at the Rudolf Steiner School where she was surrounded by classical music and played violin in the symphony orchestra. Julie Maria has since trained at Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.

Julie Maria debuted in 2004 with the album Beautiful Minor. The following year, she was contacted by TV-2's lead singer, Steffen Brandt, who had heard her disk. He invited Julie Maria in studio to sing the duet "Et Lykkeligt Goodbye", which is on TV 2's album "De første kærester på månen" (November 2005). Since then Julie Maria and Steffen Brandt sang together in particular radio program Café Hack at P4 and P3 live, and the duo also played in a series of events around the country in which they interpreted each other's songs.

Inspired by the collaboration with Steffen Brandt, Julie Maria started to write in Danish, and resulted in the album "På kanten af virkeligheden", issued in 2007 and featured the singles "Også om dagen" and "Hjerteløv".

Julie Maria sang also distinctive song, "Without each other" for DR TV Christmas Calendar 2009. Her records company is Playground Music.

Air Berlin

Air Berlin is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers. The airline operates an extensive semi-low-cost network including holiday destinations in the Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands and North Africa as well as intercontinental destinations in South East Asia, the Caribbean and the United States.

Air Berlin concentrates on serving major German and European cities to attract business traffic. A total of 23 German cities are served, more than any other airline. The airline is headquartered in Building 2 of the Airport Bureau Center in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Berlin. Its largest hub is Berlin-Tegel Airport. Other hub airports are Dusseldorf Airport, Nuremberg Airport and Son Sant Joan Airport, Palma. In January 2010 Air Berlin's fleet, including those of its subsidiaries, consisted of 146 operational aircraft.

In contrast to pure European low-cost carriers like Ryanair or easyJet, Air Berlin offers free (at the point of consumption) in-flight snacks and drinks. Full meals are available for purchase on short haul flights longer than 90 minutes, on flights over six hours they are complimentary. One can order gourmet meals, which are, according to the airline, created by chefs at "Sansibar", a famous restaurant on the island of Sylt. The airline also offers free newspapers, assigned seating, and guaranteed flight connections. On flights operated by Airbus A330-200 aircraft, a dedicated business class section is offered. On most flight, Air Berlin offers movies and tv shows.

Like many other airlines, Air Berlin has a frequent flyer scheme. Air Berlin's frequent flyer program (called topbonus) is operated jointly with Niki. Points (“miles”) can be collected on all flights, and these can be redeemed later for free flights (award flights) or for an upgrade to business class. In addition to the “topbonus Card Classic” there are cards with Silver and Gold status. A Service Card, for which a charge is made, available. I must mention here, the personal is very kind and gentile with the passengers. It may happen that some planes to delay but this is because they are waiting for all the passengers to be on board.

A flight from Dusseldorf to Palma de Mallorca costs minimum 270 Euro for one adult
A flight from Copenhagen to Dusseldorf costs minimum 154 Euro for one adult

Copenhagen Airport

Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark and the Oresund Region. It is located on the island of Amager, only 8 kilometers south of Copenhagen city centre, and 24 kilometers west of Malmö city centre on the other side of the Oresund Bridge. It is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, and one of the oldest international airports in Europe.

The airport is the main hub out of three used by Scandinavian Airlines and is also a hub for Cimber Sterling, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, Norwegian Air Shuttle and for transavia.com. Copenhagen Airport serves nearly 60,000 passengers per day. 19.7 million passengers passed through the facility in 2009, making it the busiest airport in the Nordic countries, with a maximum capacity of 83 loadings/hour and with room for 108 airplanes. It is owned by Københavns Lufthavne, which also operates Roskilde Airport. The airport employs 1700 staff (excluding shops, restaurants etc.).

Copenhagen Airport was originally called Kastrup Airport, since it is located in the small town of Kastrup, now a part of the Tårnby municipality. The formal name of the airport is still Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, to distinguish it from Roskilde Airport, which formally is called Copenhagen Airport, Roskilde. Locally it's still known as just Kastrup among people. The opening of service on Kastrup was on 20th of April 1925 and it had a grass runway. In 1939 it was built by architect Vilhelm Lauritzen the first terminal of the airport and in 1941 the first hard-surface runway was ready to use.

Copenhagen Airport has three terminals and a new one is set to open in 2010. The new terminal, CPH Swift, is intended to be used by low-cost airlines. Terminal 1 is used for all domestic flights. Terminals 2 and 3 handle international flights (both Schengen and non-Schengen) and share a common airside passenger concourse as well as the arrivals section - which houses customs and baggage claim and is physically located in Terminal 3.

The airport can be accessed in various ways:

Rail - the airport's station is located underneath Terminal 3 on the Øresund Railway Line and is served by Øresundstogene, the main way to get into the city centre, and to Helsingør, to Malmö, and other Swedish cities. Danish intercity trains terminate at this station, going to places in Denmark such as Esbjerg, Århus, Frederikshavn and Padborg, where connections are available for trains to Germany. Also, SJ operates X2000 high-speed trains to Stockholm and to Gothenburg.

Metro - Line M2 of the Copenhagen Metro links the airport with the city centre.

Bus - Movia buses 5A, 35, 36 and 96 N and Gråhundbus line 999 all stop at the airport; bus 888, express-bus to Jutland, also stops at the airport. Movia bus 2A stops near the airport. There are long-distance buses to Sweden.

Motorway - the E20 runs right by the airport. The E20 uses the Oresund Bridge to Sweden. The airport has 8,600 parking spaces. Customers can pre-book their parking space online by visiting the Copenhagen Airport website: http://www.cph.dk.

With almost 20 million passengers per year, Copenhagen Airport is the largest airport in the Nordic countries. More about Copenhagen here.