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Archive of entries posted on 16th December 2008
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ISOI part 3

Posted by  on 16 December 2008, 7:06 am

december 16th, munich airport. pleasantly surprised, a source of free wifi…i’m sure by this point the excitement doesn’t need to be explained. and as i write this i sense a familiar ‘lost’ scent. the scent of burned tobacco. it’s been a while since i’ve last tasted it, and for the last few days being by myself…there’s been quite a few moments when i debated whether or not to join the smokers into their ‘pleasurable’ and ‘relaxing’ ways. that combined with seeing cigarette packs everywhere. for those of you who are not aware, canada decided to ‘hide’ the cigarette packs from view, thus you don’t see them in stores; even though you can buy them. thus, in copenhagen and munich airports, those were some of the first things that jumped out at me.

well it’s about 12pm on tuesday, and i spent the night at a hotel…tried to sleep but considering i went to bed at roughly 2pm vancouver time that wasn’t gonna happen without a fight. woke up with a head ache (that has yet to pass) around 6:30am local time. enjoyed the delicious breakfast offered by the hotel and eventually made my way to the airport. coming in the night before, had to put up with a plane delay. as soon as i stepped on the plane, found my seat and closed my eyes with the ipod blasting away. i recall waking up at some point, looking outside, it was dark. couldn’t tell if we were flying or still standing in copenhagen. didn’t quite bother to look at the time and closed my eyes yet again. i remember landing. grabbed a taxi to the hotel and made it to the room. small and cozy, pictures to follow at some point. the best thing of the room was the bathroom floor (no, stop thinking of the shaggy song). why? it was the only place in the room that was heated. the heating in the bathroom was done through the floor, however i failed to find a control for the heat in the room.

once i returned from breakfast i realized the extent of my ‘intelligence’ the night before. assuming that the door to the room is always looked from the outside, i never bothered checking. well, the door has to be locked from the inside with the key. if not, the door can be opened (duh!) and essentially anyone can visit. well i slept the night, went to breakfast, left my laptop, ipod and the rest of my stuff in the room with the door unlocked through the night and during breakfast. got to the airport with ‘all’ my stuff from what i can see, and started looking for tarom’s office. i’m sure no pun was intended given tarom’s office in the airport is placed between a turkish airline office and another middle eastern country.

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ISOI part 2b

Posted by  on 16 December 2008, 6:19 am

memoirs of copenhagen, at my sister’s request. visited the airport back in the summer. spend a week in this amazing city during the indoor air 08 conference. landing brought back memories of the summer visit. over-paying for two hot dogs and a can of pepsi. trying to figure out what the time on the tickets for the train meant. taking public transit to reach downtown copenhagen. surprised by the amount of bikes on the streets.

knowing i have 5 hours of waiting until my flight to munich departs, i decided to calmly wait on my seat until the plane clears. good thought, only when i got up and tried to put my coat on my ring falls between the seats. thus, i managed to ensure i’m the last person to get off the plane. a nice stewardess came to my aid and found my ring. off the plane and into the line-up. check-up of luggage and personal belongings. at least the danish won’t make me take off my shoes. i guess they do appreciate a nice clean indoor air environment, given i had my shoes for approximately 24 hours by that point. all goes well, slow, but well. first stop, duty-free shop. after which, the search for a plug begins.

given it’s about 3.5 hours prior to departure, my flight is not on any of the screens. no idea as to which gate i’m supposed to look for. given no free wifi was available, i decided to start on foot and look for the gate to munich. the search took me through the main section of ‘duty-free’ shops, which included various brand name clothing stores, a display ferrari enzo (with a clear sign ‘please do not touch’), and chocolate stores. by the time gate B15 was found, the lack of sleep finally kicked in…the only thing i was looking for was a comfortable seat to try and relax a bit. the joy of the re-visit didn’t last for very long, the only thing i was thinking about was a nice bed.

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ISOI part 2

Posted by  on 16 December 2008, 6:18 am

or should i say part 1b, however given it’s written on the 15th of december, i’d say it’s part 2. so onto the flight, airbus 340, plenty of space…or so i ‘thought’. reserved a seat by the window, sit down…and besides me sits a typical american…yes a typical 120 kg american. i know he paid for his seat, but why does he have to take half of mine in the process of sitting down? so in my mind i’m getting ready of 10 hours of mr. mcdonalds sharing my seat with me. in the meantime, and i’m assuming one of the flight attendants might have seen my face…or simply just didn’t want to be in my shoes. it appears, a few rows in front…a set of chairs was empty. so she kindly tells the gentleman besides me that he can have more space if he so desires (the relief…) by moving forward. at which point he turns to me and says ‘i’m moving up in the world’…i’m thinking…with a few more like ‘you’ and our luggage limit will decrease by 50%…to each our own i guess. i’m not discriminating, but with all due respect why do i have to endure losing part of my seat, be uncomfortable for 10 hours because i’m not 250 pounds… for the next 10 hours, i had the pleasure of moving, breathing properly and stretching.

the other neat thing was the use of two personal monitors. one was set onto the movie i was watching, and the other on the one i was planing to watch. why you ask? well they don’t end at the same time, so i figured i’d take advantage of the fact i have two for my own entertainment. quite a variety of movies offered, from newer to classics. first choice, well i just had to see ‘breakfast at tiffany’s’. never seen, heard of it…so i figured it’s a good way to start the trip. sound quality, well i had to listen to the whole thing in mono, given only one of the head phones was working, regardless of which way the jacks were plugged-in. the movie was worth the effort, highly recommended. flight starts, and i intended to take full advantage of the two complimentary alcoholic beverages they offered. and what better way to re-live the summer than not by drinking some carlsberg, after-all it’s danish and i’m flying danish, at least till munich. after that i have to fly with tarom, i don’t recall ever flying with them. so this should be an interesting adventure. given that my first choice in flight was canceled and they were so kind to add an extra day in munich for me. at least a phone call resolved the issue, but now instead of a direct flight to sibiu…i’m flying to bucharest and then sibiu.

now i sit, in copenhagen without free internet – i guess i’m asking for much…waiting for the minutes to pass to embark on my flight to munich. where i shall spend the night. at least i get to sleep in a bed. that’s something to be looking forward to. that’s the one city i forgot to check on. no clue what the weather is at this point, and all i know is that the hotel with my reservation is within 5 km from the airport.

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