Win - Stockholm, a date with

The Swedish capital is looking for visitors and to offer you a unique opportunity for a free trip through their Win A Date With Stockholm Campaign. 

Stockholm is raved as a city that is open, inviting and incredibly gay-friendly, which is why I will be visiting this Stockholm Pride in the first weekend of August.

The competition is especially simple, but engaging.  You can choose between six guys or girls, depending on what you are into (pardon the pun), each being a Stockholm ambassador for a specific theme, such as Arts & Culture, Sports, Outdoor, Fashion & Design, Food & Flavors and Music & Nightlife. Six guys and six girls represent the various themes, and people can choose the guy/girl they want to meet based on the program they have tailored to their specific theme. The Ambassadors hoping to show their Stockholm include the stewardess Malin, the rugby player Daniel, the stylist Magnus and gold-medal awarded sport girl Linda. http://winadatewithstockholm.com/

Win a date with Stockholm will run throughout the month of June and will be found at the Stockholm Gay & Lesbian Network’s Facebook page and blog, which can be found at www.visitstockholm.com/gay-lesbian

The big boys have all collaborated in this competition including Stockholm Visitors Board, Visit Sweden, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and the Stockholm Gay & Lesbian Network.

The problem with airline customer service

There's no doubt about it - customer service on airlines has changed significantly over the past 10 years and none of it for the better.

While young airlines like Emirates. Singapore, And Qartar have been recognised with their new fleet of vehicles and dapper air crew offering superior service to the aging airlines there is still something fundamentally missing - time!

Planes have got larger- just see the size of the new A380. Several hundreds passengers with same old service expectation air stewards dashing around like fairies with no Time to spare. In fact it's so fast moving that it's almost robotic.

No time to decide what meal you want - no time to give the coffee cup over, pressing the Help button takes forever for a response and then items are thrown at you.

Cocktails are canned with no time to actually mix and stir. They limit the number of rounds with their drinks cart and when they can they hide to get some rest before the hectic landing schedule begins.

These waiters, cooks, bar tenders, cleaners and all round comfort providers are required to do more in the shorter time - causing customer service to move fast and furious. Surely this is causing more stress?

Then the budget airlines like to sell everything they can including their own mothers.

Singapore Airlines - a worthy selection

Singapore Airlines was a great choice, it was an incredibly smooth flight on both legs, to Singapore and to Saigon, and the staff were friendly and courteous - if somewhat cheeky!

The cattle class had reasonable leg room and a free seat next to me provided ample room to move around. The multimedia entertainment selection is vast and very easy to use and certainly something for everyone's tastes. There was no waiting for a film either - it just upped and played when you're ready.

The food was actually tasty and filling - a chicken stir fry for dinner, chicken and noodles for breakfast and actually chicken veg and potato for the short HCMC flight. They provided proper metal cutlery which is as amazing as AirFrance Premium Economy.

However the most disappointing part of the flight was the Pre-made canned Bloody Mary! I now praise every steward willing to make one fresh. It was dank alcohol less and boring!

Arriving in Singapore Airport is easy to navigate, and while looks like you're stepping back into the early 1990s with flash carpet and backlit shop signs it is a large and pleasant environment to hang around for 3 hours. On a Starbucks visit I even got a free sandwich! Sorry - complimentary.

HCMC flight was my first journey on an A380, and I was impressed. It was smooth - didn't feel as big as it looks apart from a jumpy landing - plus the seats were perfect. Much bigger than any I have experienced! I hope now to get an A380 back to London!

Well done Singapore - all round a good first time experience!