Greek Complexity

This is what a good day feels like

I'm travelling for work in India at the moment and just ended what was pretty much a perfect day. (This isn't so much an announcement to the world as it is a Note To Future Self.)

I flew from Bombay to Bangalore this morning for a day trip, which meant that I had to lurch out of bed at 4 am. That was the one and only thing about today that I would change.

Maybe.

The rest of it was just perfect.

My flight to Bangalore landed five minutes ahead of schedule.

I got through not one or two but six great meetings during the day, each with a smart, passionate and engaging entrepreneur. SIX! I learned a lot today. This is hands down the best part of my job.

There was even spare time in between meetings to make follow-up notes on each meeting and get other work done. I love it when things move to plan.

I met a friend quite by chance whom I haven't seen in ten years.

Old friends passed on some great news about the company they co-founded.

The drive back to the airport from Bangalore city took a mind-bogglingly short 50 minutes in peak hour. The drive is usually an uncomfortable, stop-start two-hour affair.

Checking in and getting through security at Bangalore airport took about seven minutes all in. Smooth as silk. Even with the airport undergoing a renovation, it's really a joy to get through now and even manages to look good. There, I said it.

The seat next to me on my return flight to Bombay the same evening was perhaps the only one on the plane that wasn't occupied. And to top it all off, the flight landed a full 40 minutes ahead of schedule.

Yes, my day lasted over 20 hours but tell me that isn't a good day!

Travel for the truly lazy

Ok, you know I'm just kidding. Sort of.

The NYT reported some weeks ago an airport innovation: the winter coat-check. Quote:

With passengers stowing all those coats on jam-packed airplanes, it’s more difficult than ever to claim space in the overhead bins for carry-on bags. But one international airport has come up with an idea that in a small way addresses the question of what to do with that bulky coat. Check it, just as in a restaurant.

Meh. We can do better than that, thought the guys who started Singapore-based company Packnada. As they say in this Vulcanpost article:

The idea was born in a long queue at the end of a business trip at the Hong Kong airport. Packing, queues, and laundry were the last thing Jonathan (my co-founder) and I wanted to deal with during a trip that was focused on work. I thought about cloud storage and how we had our files available to us wherever we went, and I imagined how much simpler travel would be if clothes and essentials were always waiting at our destination. We’re both passionate about efficiency and productivity, so Packnada’s goal was really to simplify business travel by taking clothes out of the equation.

Amazingly, astoundingly, that actually makes sense somehow. At least for the lazy+productivity-obsessed among us (UPDATE: I should have added, "i.e., people like me") . How Packnada executes its service is going to be the crux of its success or failure.

Funnily enough, the NYT article about the airport winter coat-check service ends with the words:

Will it spread? “Well, it’s an interesting thought, but a very limited market,” said Michael Sommer, a technology consultant who travels frequently. But like any seasoned traveler, he also saw some potential bumps in the road. “What if you’re leaving from Frankfurt to Miami in February, but you get diverted to Boston?” he asked. “Or Moscow?” Still, he agreed that it showed the value of innovation at airports. And he had an idea, too: “Why can’t they also offer you dry-cleaning service at the coat check?”

Mr. Sommer, you need to sign up to the Packnada beta user program.

The frequent fliers who flew too much

Excerpt: "There are frequent fliers, and then there are people like Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom. Both men bought tickets that gave them unlimited first-class travel for life on American Airlines. It was almost like owning a fleet of private jets."

More here: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/05/business/la-fi-0506-golden-ticket-20120506

This is an auto-generated post from my reading list courtesy IFTTT. See http://ifttt.com

Munich Day 3 and back to Singapore

I had planned yesterday to go buy some more food and beer to take back with me to Singapore. But it’s 8 am now and I’m not going to have time to go to the shops AND the BMW Motorrad Zentrum before taking the train to the airport. Dilemma: beers or bikes? Oh, callous fate, what a position to put a boy in.

By 8.30am, I’ve decided: beers it is. Saw plenty of bikes yesterday and it’s not like I'm going to buy one now. I hope the shops are open.

It’s 9am and I’m at the train station wondering which ticket to buy off the vending machine that'll allow me to go to the city centre and then to the airport. I seem to have more than one choice, the cheapest being 5 euros and the most expensive being 10.80 euros. Only one must be valid surely. I'm examining the info board to see whether I can get by being a cheapo when a passer-by stops of her own accord with "Do you need help?" She tells me which ticket to buy (the expensive one) and then runs off to her train. I continue to dither when she comes back worried that I hadn’t understood, but my ticket pops out just then. Very nice of her especially since she almost misses her train coming back for me. Get on the train and realise, ah, I forgot to take a picture of the hostel!

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I’ve got myself some food, beers and wine but lost track of the time. It’s 10.30 am now and I panic. Hope Munich airport is as organised as Changi or I'm in trouble! Almost certainly no time for the shower and shave I’d planned to take in the lounge. There’s nothing I can do about it now though. Que sera, sera.

That’s me panicking

I take stock of myself on the train. Think I've lost a little weight over the holiday. (When I get home later, I learn that this was just wishful thinking.) I've also managed to lose that cold I had when I left Singapore, so that's good. But my lips feel like they were produced in a tannery and sewn onto my mouth. Not so good.

Munich Day 2

I’ve decided that today is a day for museums but not the usual art or history sort.

I first take a tram and a bus to Olympiapark. So peaceful. It’s a massive park with an Olympic stadium and a lake with swans in it. Massive yet smaller than the English Garden, another park in Munich, which is supposed to be the world's biggest urban park. The English Garden came highly recommended too but I don’t have the time and don’t prioritise it.

Olympiapark

So many jet trails in the sky all over Europe. Counted nine in the sky at one point while at Olympiapark.

Then a superb three hours spent at the BMW Museum and BMW showroom! Too many dream bikes to pick a fave. When I tell one of the salesmen at the showroom that I’m visiting from Singapore, he says that lots of people visit from Singapore, and all very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about bikes. Guess I’ve passed a test! Might go to the dedicated motorbike showroom tomorrow, the BMW Motorrad Zentrum.

Dream machine!

Now to the Beer Museum.

Munich Day 1

I wake up on the train slightly panicky. We’re scheduled to arrive at Munich soon and I have to take a long phone call for work in a few minutes. How am I going to unload my luggage one-handed while participating in a long and complicated discussion?

Then I find out the train is delayed by more than an hour! In Germany! Can it really be? The attendant bustles around cheerfully with a hey-such-is-life manner and hands out free coffee to whoever wants it. I’m already one-handed so find it hard to stir some sugar into it, but my new Singaporean friend helps me. I also find out that we’re entitled to collect some compensation for the delay after we arrive. Gotta love it! The delay actually worked in my favour but I get some money to boot.

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I get to the hostel and check in. More Japanese! Remember what I said earlier about Japanese being great travellers? One of the Japanese guys in the room isn’t just a great traveller, he seems almost European.  Lived with a Germany family for a while last year, studied the language, seems to know Bavaria and Austria quite well… Somehow, I've always seen lots of similarities between Germans and Japanese. That's a discussion for another day.

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It’s still fairly early in the morning and I decide to take another walking tour. This starts from the old City Hall, the Rathaus. Beautiful building, but then there are so many more just as beautiful. This seems to be a sort of “downtown” as I later find out there are several shops in the area and a mid-sized department store.

Munich's Rathaus

Our tour guide is an American called Eric who’s lived in Munich many years. The group is about 30 strong and seems to be mostly Americans although there are Europeans too, even Germans. Most of them seem to be interested but no one interested enough to ask Eric any questions. I initially feel guilty, thinking that I’m monopolising the scene, but even when I shut up, only one or two others pipe up. I stop feeling guilty. The tour is good-not-great but then it’s a little unfair to compare with Ryan’s tour two days ago. Unfortunately, my camera dies along the way so I have few pictures of the tour and the rest of the day.

Berlin Day 2

Berlin has a superb public transport system especially considering it's such a spread out city. The U (underground) trains alone seem to cover every bit of the city, with stations just a couple of minutes apart and trains arriving very frequently. Add to that buses, trams and bike paths and it's astoundingly easy to get to anywhere in the city.

I take another tour, this time a cycling one that offers an introduction to Berlin. Today’s tour is a bit Mickey Mouse after yesterday’s emotionally and intellectually intense experience but offers a decent overview of the city. This is the sort of tour you should take as a starting point, not to follow up with after already having been to Sachsenhausen as I did. That’s the way the itinerary worked out for me so can’t be helped.

Marx and Engels, whose statues previously occupied pride of place at Alexanderplatz, one of East Berlin's main squares but recently moved to a less prominent location

The group is much bigger than the one yesterday. Two people I get talking to are a couple called Matt and Sarah from New Zealand. Matt works in a hospital and Sarah designs clothes at some sort of fashion company. Matt is the designated “sweeper” on the bike tour so has to be sure that no one gets left behind.

Halfway stop at a Munich-style beer garden

I’m collecting beer bottles all through the holiday as usual for my collection at home. On this day, I drop my bottle while cycling along – but it doesn't break! A few minutes later, I drop the case containing my passport!!!!!! Matt picks it up immediately and hands it to me with a grin.

After the tour, Sarah goes off exploring the malls nearby while Matt and I settle down with a couple of beers. Extremely nice guy, just like nearly every other Kiwi I’ve ever met. He tells me, almost embarrassed to be mentioning it, that he’s done a 3h10m marathon. I think it was his first one. What a maniac. An Ironman is the next thing on his agenda. I tell him that the two of them are welcome to come and stay at my place if they ever visit Singapore.

I head back to the hostel quickly so that I can take my onward train to Munich. I quickly grab my bags and start towards the bus stop. A car stops by the road and a window rolls down. Guy in the car asks me for directions (in German). I respond (in German) that I don’t speak English. D'oh. A true Homer Simpson moment.

I’ve been seeing Japanese people everywhere on my trip so far and, perhaps surprisingly, not the stereotypical middle-aged camera-warriors. More like youngsters travelling alone or in small groups. Often just a couple of girls or even alone. For a nation of fussy eaters, they're great travellers.

Randomly start talking to fellow passenger on the train to Munich who turns out to be a Singaporean from Bukit Gombak! That just seems like a whole world away. He's on a two-month Europe trip catching various football matches. I don't follow football but what a great idea! When I introduce myself, he asks me if I'm travelling to celebrate finishing National Service. This is even better than what Yudai said to me in Amsterdam. :-) He asks me to take a picture of him with his camera. Says he'll post it on his Facebook page for his friends back home, then poses for the pic under the covers as though he's fast asleep on the train. I tell him he should caption it, "Bloody Singaporean stole my camera out of my bag and took a picture of me as I slept."

Then I find out I have to take a conference call at 7 in the morning! That's about the time the train gets to Munich so I wonder how I'm going to manage. What a way to end the day.

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More pictures here (no captions, free to access) or here (with captions but requires Facebook log-in).

This post is the fifth in a series. The full series:

1. Amsterdam Day 1
2. Amsterdam Day 2
3. Amsterdam to Berlin
4. Berlin Day 1
5. Berlin Day 2
6. Munich Day 1
7. Munich Day 2
8. Munich Day 3 and back to Singapore

Berlin Day 1

My dormmate – or rather, roommate, since it’s only a two-bedder – is a young German university student from Stuttgart. Here with his girlfriend. Later find out they're both studying physics. He says she's interested in theoretical physics at the atomic and sub-atomic level. I tease her that she might as well be doing pure maths instead. She protests and says she'd get bored of it because it’s so abstract. I say, what's the point writing equations and deducing physical behaviour that can never be experimentally tested? That’s just as abstract. She just smiles and doesn’t take the bait. Either smarter or more mature than I expected. Or both.

I’ve decided to take a tour to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp today. This was the first camp built by the Nazis just outside a village called Oranienburg an hour or so outside Berlin. This was meant to be a “model” camp, where they would test various new ideas before implementing them in other camps elsewhere on a larger scale.

I’m a little late for my tour and end up having to run the last 2 km or so. Sweating in cold climes feels so different from sweating in Singapore. The perspiration pours down after a while but it’s not icky-sticky and dries off quickly once I stop running.

I’ve chosen a tour run by a non-profit called Mosaic Tours. I think they only do this tour. Sachsenhausen doesn’t charge an entry fee and I’m told that Mosaic contributes part of its takings towards maintenance of the camp. The group is small today and quite diverse. Teddy from New Yawk (he had a New York accent you could cut with a hammer), Eugenia from Venezuela (pronounced “Yo-HAY-nia”), her other half (who somehow missed the round of introductions), a Slovakian girl who lives in Geneva whose name I’ve forgotten but it began with an M, and our Scottish guide Ryan (30, about 5’9” or 5’10”, black-rimmed glasses, in case you ever want to take the same tour I took) who's lived in Germany for more than 7 years.

Ryan at the start of the tour

The tour is absolutely terrific, mostly because of Ryan. I’m physically affected early on and can't really speak or take pictures for a while. Standing on the very ground on which an uncountable number of atrocities have been committed, for no real reason, not only by the Nazis but also later by the Soviets and then the East German communists, is a surreal experience. Or I should say, an experience that made these events very real, not just something you read about or watch as a film. In the same vein, I'm sure my writing about this here isn't giving you the heeby-jeebies. You just have to experience it yourself.

Despite the initial feeling of dreary despair I’d got when entering Berlin the previous day, the city has really grown on me and I consider changing my onward train ticket to Munich to allow me to extend my stay by a day. For instance, there's a huge number of museums that I don't have time to explore. I'm not normally a museum person but some of the descriptions seem too good to pass up. It eventually turns out that I’ve unknowingly managed to get myself a discounted train ticket (glory be!), which doesn’t allow itinerary changes (unglory be). I’ll just have to come back another time.

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More pictures here (no captions, free to access) or here (with captions but requires Facebook log-in).

This post is the fourth in a series. The full series:

1. Amsterdam Day 1
2. Amsterdam Day 2
3. Amsterdam to Berlin
4. Berlin Day 1
5. Berlin Day 2
6. Munich Day 1
7. Munich Day 2
8. Munich Day 3 and back to Singapore

Amsterdam to Berlin

I grab a quick breakfast and take a tram to the station to catch my train to Berlin. My ticket is valid for any train I want to take for the next two months. No wonder it was expensive. I'm planning to take the 9am train, which will get me to Berlin at 3.20pm.

Gah. I've missed it. Now I'll only get into Berlin after 5pm.

No, hang on, I've missed the direct but I can take another route changing at Hilversum.

I hop on. Love it. Super-smooth, super-silent train. Busy snapping away at the passing sights.

A large factory-like building that I found interesting because it was multi-coloured. Moving shot from the train so a little blurry.

Great. I miss my stop at Hilversum. Shoulda looked at the rail map to have an idea where it was with respect to Amsterdam.

Forced to spend an hour and a half at Amersfoort (?) waiting for the next train to Berlin. I briefly consider taking an Intercity to Enschede, which seems to be on the border of Holland and Germany, and then trying to change again there to a Berlin-bound, but dismiss the thought. Too complicated and who knows if that's even the best route to Berlin!

Finally underway at 1137 on the Hispeed. Effectively the 11am from Amsterdam. ETA Berlin 1720 hrs. Gotta love these take-whatever-train-you-want tickets.

Amsterdam Day 2

It's time to decide what I'm doing tonight -- staying in Amsterdam or taking a train to Hamburg or Hannover this evening. Or taking a longer journey to Berlin in the morning. Berlin more likely. Two and a half days there followed by two days and a morning in Munich. The girls at hostel reception can't really advise me on this so I decide to go to the train station and ask for advice there.

But first, I rent a bike.

Very heavy but in a comfortable sort of way. No shock absorbers but it feels very "spongy" and very hard to do a track stand on, though I try at every red light I stop at.