Wishing everyone a happy and safe end to 2009 and looking forward to many great adventures in 2010!!

I can’t travel without my iPod but no matter how I pack or wrap them, my earphones are always a mess when they come out of my bag. These retractable earphones keep your cord knot and tangle free!

$14.85 Magellan’s

For those of you who have wondered what it would feel like to be a hamster, I present to you La Hamster Villa. It’s a theme hotel in Nantes, France that treats its guests like the cuddly rodents. You can eat grain, sleep on a pile of hay or even run in a giant wheel all night long. Personally, I’m not really feeling this concept…although the wheel might be kind of fun.

La Hamster Villa – Website in French only.

This month Will and I will head to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park to recharge and reconnect with nature. I’m looking forward to long walks surrounded only by windmills and Joshua trees!

I’m working on the Lisbon stuff….I should have it up by the end of the month.

A lot of people will be flying over the holidays and many of us will be carry gifts which means more luggage. It’s hard to keep up with which airlines charge for bags and how much it costs but luggagelimits.com is a great resource to keep you well informed. Just type in your airline, departure and arrival airports and the site will list the baggage rules for your flight and any applicable fees.

I’m giving away the vanity kits Will and I received in TAP Portugal’s top executive class. They come in a cool bag that you can hang from the seat back in front of you and contain everything you need to give yourself business class treatment next time you fly. These are brand new as we never used them.

2 Winners Will Receive:

A TAP Portugal Top Executive Vanity Kit as Pictured Above.

To enter, just tell me how you give yourself business class treatment when you fly economy.

Type your answer in the comment section below by 11:59 EST Sunday, December 13, 2009. The winner will be selected at random.

You must be 18+ and live in the United States to enter.

One comment per person per giveaway post. Duplicate or additional comments will be discarded. Comments are subject to approval so please be patient and leave only one comment. Winners will be notified by e-mail.

Good luck!

Official Rules

One comment per person per giveaway post. Duplicate or additional comments will be discarded. Comments are subject to approval by a moderator. Please be patient and leave only one comment. Winners will be contacted by e-mail so be sure you give a valid email address.

Winners must claim their prize within five business days after the date of notification of such prize. A winner’s failure to respond to the prize notification within the specified five business days will be considered such winner’s forfeiture of the prize and an alternate winner may be selected from the pool of eligible entries. If an entrant is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may also be selected from the pool of eligible entries.

To enter, you must be age 18 or older and live in the United States. Entries generated by scripts and other automated technology will not be accepted. When applicable, the winner may be required to execute and return within five business days an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Liability and Publicity Release to be eligible for the prize or an alternate winner will be selected.

All prizes will be awarded. No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except that Follow Alena reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of their prize. Winners list will be posted on followalena.com after verification.

Date: November 2009

Route: Newark-Lisbon Round-trip

Check-in: Although we were able to select our seats in advance by phone, there was no online check-in so we had to get to the airport early and do it in person. Since we were flying business class, we had a dedicated line and there was no wait but the coach lines weren’t crowded either. In Lisbon, we had access to a special security line and the TAP lounge which had a nice food spread but was crowded and noisy. TAP has no lounge in Newark, but we were given passes to the Virgin Atlantic lounge which was quiet but sparse with no food offered other than bags of pretzels and chips.

Plane: Boarding was fast and easy, even in Lisbon where we had to board by bus. Executive class was given a separate bus and entrance onto the plane which was very efficient as it allowed economy to board simultaneously on another staircase. The business class seats were comfortable to sit in but hard to sleep in. They are cradle-style seats that don’t lean back but slide forward and are angled flat so your head is up and your feet down. It was like sleeping on a hard seesaw with no back support. The cabin temperature was all over the map, sweltering one minute and freezing the next. Although I love being up front, I’ve definitely slept better in a coach seat. We had two bathrooms set aside for business class which meant we rarely had to wait for a turn.

Service: The attendants on both flights were cheerful and attentive. We were given great vanity kits that could hang from the seat back in front of you and were filled with lots of useful things to use during the flight like eye shades, socks and lotion. We were given plenty of drinks, bottled water and a meal service consisting of an appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. The food was bland and only slightly better than you would expect in coach.

Verdict: Although the TAP employees try hard, top executive class feels more like premium economy than first.

Grade: C