From Pleasure to Business

Tuesday, 20th March 2007

Today is when the "official" business trip starts :-)

I checked out of Conference Aston after having my breakfast, and was pleasantly surprised that the receptionist charged me for 2 nights' stay (instead of 3 days' stay).

On the way from the restaurant to the reception area, saw this cute little fireplace (that works using gas or electricity rather than wood), so I just had to capture it on video.




Was planning to take a cab to New Street Station, but there was none around so early in the day, so I had to pull my luggage all the way to the train station. The train to the airport took another 10 minutes.

Had to sit a skytrain from the airport station to the airport terminal, and guess what I saw advertised in the skytrain? American Express is ubiquitous, and there is even a card targeted at kids :-)

I think it is England that has imposed the strict checks. The other day, when flying into Birmingham from Frankfurt, I was subject to a full-body check. Today, again when departing Birmingham and going to Munich, I had to go through yet another thorough customs check.

The Lufthansa plane was a 100-odd seater Skyliner Avro RJ85. Check out the tiny flight of stairs that was placed against it when we alighted at Munich Airport.

The airport was somewhat deserted (being the middle of the afternoon), so clearing customs was a breeze. The customs officer asked me whether Munich was my final destination.

I suppose it would be unusual for an Oriental person like myself to be flying from Birmingham to Munich. I think I was the only Chinese on the plane. There were a couple of passengers with Indian origin, but the bulk of them were Europeans.

The S-bahn is Germany's train system. I could not understand the ticketing instructions, so I thank the Lord for the kind gentleman who helped me to buy a ticket.

The route from the airport is known as S8. In order to get to the hotel, had to change to another train plying the route S5. If you think Dhoby Ghaut interchange is huge, wait till you see the 8 platforms of the Ostbanhorf interchange station!

The trip from the Airport to the hotel in Unterhaching was about an hour long.

Along the way, I saw cars, trees and houses covered with snow. It must have been snowing more heavily here as compared to Birmingham.


Unterhaching is a cosy little suburb south of Munich. Here is a picture of the hotel from the outside.

What really surprised me was the size of the hotel suite -- it is probably the size of a 3-room HDB flat!


You can check it out here.





Work officially starts tomorrow, so after catching up on my office emails, I am now making this blog entry and getting ready to call it a night.

Till tomorrow, God bless you all!

Shalom
Malcolm