The IT Nerd

Well, I had an uneventful flight back to Toronto via Air Canada that they didn’t screw up. I did have a bunch of crying kids on the flights which didn’t exactly make it fun. But I am home and that is what counts. Having said that, because of what happened earlier in the trip as well as one other instance where my travel plans were ruined, I likely will not be flying Air Canada again.

Now, I did have e-mail waiting in my inbox for me when I got home asking how I used Tile to help find my luggage. Well, if I have to find my luggage, I activate it by pressing find:

It then leverages my phone and other Tile members to find my luggage. When I do find it, I see I have the option of showing it on a map:

Now it didn’t give me an exact location, but it gives me enough of an idea where it might be. So I know where to look for it. In a huge airport baggage hall, that can be handy.

So, what’s up for my next trip? I am working on a trip to Japan for later this year. Plus there are going to be return trips to India and perhaps Germany too. When I take those trips, I’ll be sure to document them.

Something unexpected happened last night. A friend of mine who lives in the Frankfurt area found out via my posts about my trip that I was in town and invited me out to dinner. That gave me the opportunity to see a bit of Frankfurt at night. My friend picked me up in his car and drove us across the river Main into the central part of the city. After parking, he took me to this fine establishment called Leib & Seele:

It was busy so we had to wait for a table at the bar:

The had a number of good beers on tap. Thus I took a pilsner to enjoy while we waited for a table. It only took 10 minutes for one to become available. They have a very extensive menu and here’s what I chose:

This is spaghetti with cheese curds, bacon, and olives. It was outstanding. After dinner, we drove around and my friend pointed out some of the sights to see which I really appreciated. I made a promise that the next time I am here, I would explore the city in daytime as there’s a lot to see and the night isn’t the best time to do sightseeing. Having said that, here’s a couple of pictures:

I got to bed before midnight so that the next morning I could have breakfast, check out of the hotel and make my way to the airport. Now one thing that I should point out is that the taxi that I took to the airport looked like this:

Taxis around many parts of Germany are typically Mercedes E class cars. A very comfortable ride to the airport and affordable too. My ride to the airport cost me 26 Euros.

Frankfurt Airport is a massive place. It took me a while to not only find the check in counter, but to find my flight on this board so that I could confirm that it was on time.

I saw a couple of people riding these Segway like machines in the airport.

People were also riding bikes in the airport as well. Like I said, this place is huge.

I also saw a heavy police presence in the airport. If you look closely, you’ll note the German made HK machine guns in their hands.

One thing that is kind of unique is that Frankfurt airport has lots and lots of shopping before and after security.

One thing that is handy is these stands that allow you to scan your boarding pass and see if your flight is on time and what gate it is leaving from. Given the size of this airport, that’s a welcome feature.

I typically show up at airports three hours before my flight. That way I can clear security, passport control, and the like with ease. And I can relax before my flight. For example, I was able to get to my gate and use the free WiFi to post this story. A word about the WiFi here, it is great. You have to register using an e-mail address and you can use it for free and it is speedy. This was in sharp contrast to Indira Gandhi Airport which has horrible WiFi.

Now my flight back is on this Air Canada Boeing 777:

Given that this business trip was almost ruined by Air Canada when I left Toronto, I am hoping that they get me home safely, efficiently, without any delays, and without losing my baggage. I will be using my Tile app to look for theTile inside my checked baggage to make sure it makes the flight. The peace of mind that using the Tile app to ensure that your checked baggage makes your flight is one reason why I recommend Tile to anyone who asks.

So my next stop will be Pearson Airport in Toronto where I’ll tie up a few loose ends. Stay tuned for that later today!

I’m currently writing this story from Frankfurt Germany where I will be on the ground for 27 hours to do some work for a client. That’s not going give me the time to see the sights, but I will be able to show you some things in and around my hotel. But before I do that, I want to detail how I got here from India. I went to Indira Gandhi Airport at midnight for my 3:30 AM flight. While I was there, I noted some things that I’d like to share with you. For example:

Traffic here is insane. People are parking anywhere they can to drop people off at the Arrivals level.

To get into the airport, you need to present this Indian solider your passport and either your travel literary or preferably your boarding pass to get in. You can’t see it, but he’s carrying a machine gun. Thus you don’t want to mess with him. The day that I was there, there was extra security in the form of x-raying anything you’re carrying and extra checks in security. It likely had to do something to do with the fact that the next day was Republic Day.

While walking through the airport, I noticed this sign which reminds people that because the 500 and 1000 rupee notes have been taken out of circulation so that the government can fight corruption, taking these notes out of the country can get you into deep trouble. Related to that, I had great trouble trying to get rupees to use while I was here. That’s a problem as India is a tipping culture.

I flew to Germany via Lufthansa on a Airbus A380-800 which is a massive jet. It was an 8 hour flight and I snapped a picture of the plane after I landed at Frankfurt Airport:

I was able to get off the jet, through passport control, and retrieve my luggage in under an hour. From there, my client picked me up and took me to the hotel which will be the Sheraton Congress Hotel which is 15 minutes away from the airport. However even though I had requested an early check in, my room was not ready. So I instead got driven to the client’s location and got to work for a few hours. Around 11 AM I was able to check in. It’s a functional room with decent WiFi that was free. Here’s what it looks like:

Here’s the view from my room:

Here’s where I am typing this story from:

As soon as I am done writing this story, I will be heading downstairs to the various establishments that are in the hotel to have dinner and drinks.

Now the area that I am in is a business area. Here’s a look at it:

There’s a tram line that runs just outside the hotel. The tram that you see is made by Canada’s Bombardier.

There’s a number of medium sized office buildings in the area. Most of which are very modern looking.

Two other things that I should note. The weather in Gurgaon India was in the mid-20 degree celsius range. Here in Frankfurt, it is 1 degree. Quite the change. The other thing, Rogers Roam Like Home seems to be working as I type this as I got a text message saying that I was good to go on that front.

I plan to leave early tomorrow morning for my flight back to Canada. Unfortunately on Air Canada which because of this experience is far from being my favorite airline. But before I go, I have some loose ends. I got an e-mail from a reader who wanted to see the front gate of the hotel that I stayed at in India:

You can see the two guards as well as four metal pillars with red lights on them. Once the guards search your vehicle inside and out for explosives, those pillars drop into the ground and you can drive into the property. The reason for this level of security? The Mumbai attacks from a few years ago which killed scores of tourists. That forced India to step up their game when it comes to security.

The final part of this travelouge will appear late tommorow after I land in Toronto. Stay tuned for it!

Today is my last day in India. I have completed my assessment and I have come to the conclusion that my client would be best served to bring their tech support in house. As a result, I can fully expect to be visiting India frequently over the next year to help them get this done. Now that I am done here, I can rest and prepare to journey to Frankfurt Germany where I have a client who wants me to solve a bunch of issues in the 27 hours that I am on the ground there. But before I leave India, here’s a few shots of the Cyber Hub:

I had lunch here today. This has a variety of Asian food and it was very good. Advance warning, they have food with peanuts for those of you who have peanut allergies. Other than that, I’d recommend this place without hesitation.

Here’s a look at the traffic around Cyber City. This was taken around noon and traffic was sort of moving. When I arrived a couple of hours earlier, traffic was not moving as smoothly.

Here’s a view from the car that took me from the hotel to Cyber City. This should have been a 15 minute drive. But today it took me 45 minutes.

Here’s a video from last night showing the traffic that this place has:

An oddity that I found in my room is in the form of setting the TV in my room to channel 2. It shows this Windows XP desktop. I can’t interact with it, but I found it to be weird as I have no clue where this is coming from.

So now I am going to get some sleep as I am checking out of the Le Meridan hotel at midnight to get to the airport to get to Frankfurt for the morning. Expect my next update from there.