Mission «Halloween» accomplished

October 31st, 2011

When I announced that I’m going to be in Toronto on the last weekend of October there was an immediate feedback that we have to go to a Halloween party.

I came up with the question: How does Halloween work? I got the answer that everyone is wearing a costume and is heading to a party. Alex quickly came up with suggestions for our costumes and she also told me that she’s going to take care of my costume.

It was decided that the theme would be Alice in Wonderland – being Alex dressed like Alice, Laura going as the Queen of Hearts and myself as the Mad Hatter.

A few weeks later, the big day was there. I would be going to my first Halloween party. I got order to be in the ladies’ room at 7 to put on the missing parts of the costume plus make-up and then start drinking.

Shortly after 7 I was in the room and a first costume check was successful. So, Laura could put on my make-up. Some minutes later she had finished and I could put on the wig again. This was also the moment to open a bottle of rum.

One bottle of Bacardi OakHeart later, we got a cab to a venue called «This is London». Inside the club nearly all guests were wearing a costume. For the next hours we would be drinking and dancing.

Around 2 we got back to the hotel, I got remove my make-up. My first Halloween party had found its end. Mission «Halloween» accomplished.

P.S.: I had a lot of fun but still I think we should not try to have Halloween parties in Switzerland. It’s not tradition in our country.

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There’s a problem with engine #3

October 25th, 2011

The day started like all my travel days start: I took a train to the airport, checked in my luggage and went to my gate.

After I successfully passed all the security checks, I was making my way to seat 36G. I installed myself and thought we would take off soon. But reality was different.

It all started with the captain’s announcement that we had to wait for three more passengers. After a few more minutes the missing passengers were aboard and we could finally make our way to the runway. There, we had to wait a bit for our slot for take-off.  Then the pilot gave power to the engines. At the speed of 69 km/h, the air plane slowed down suddenly. Everyone was looking around. What happened? Why didn’t we take off? Then the captain announced: «There’s a problem with engine #3. We have to let it check by a technician.» My first reaction was: «Damn, this will take its time.»

So, the air plane rolled back to a ‘parking position’ near the gates. Some minutes later, it started to turn counter clockwise. The question now was: Do we go back to the gates to get off the plane or is the engine okay and we can take off?

After a short time I was sure we would be able to fly. Again the captain made an announcement: «We will be taking off in a few minutes.» Once again we were on the way to our waiting position but no «crew, two minutes to take-off»-announcement. What is going on? Do we again have a problem with the engine? Then I could hear the cracking sound of a microphone. The next message from the cockpit: «We have to cool down our breaks because they got to hot.»

After 10 more Minutes we turned on our runway. Our plane took on speed and took off the ground. Finally, we were up in the air with one hour delay.

11 hours later we landed safely in San Francisco without any further surprise.

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Thank you, Iceland!

May 25th, 2011

You want to know why I say thank you to Iceland? Then you have to continue reading.

It all started some weeks ago when  I decided to go to Hamburg for some days. As I don’t like long journeys in coaches and trains, I decided to go by plane.

A few days before my take-off the Icelander decide to activate one of there volcanoes – Grímsvötn. It seems they didn’t learn from last year when they grounded whole Europe with Eyjafjallajökull. And many people also remember when the grounded their banks not so long time ago…

But back to my intention going to Hamburg. On Tuesday night everyone expected Hamburg Airport to be closed on Wednesday – the day of my flight – and they were right. First flight to Hamburg in the early morning was cancelled. So, I decided to activate my emergency program: I bought some train tickets. Remembering last year when it took some days until the airports were open again, I  did buy a return ticket. Shortly after I had to catch my train and after eight hours I finally arrived in Hamburg (notably at more or less the same time as when taking the airplane at 8.25 pm). But what’s worse than travelling eight hours in a train? Getting the information that your flight wasn’t cancelled and you could have gone on the plane you’d booked…

So, really thank you Iceland for sending ashes every year to Europe. It makes travelling a lot more adventurous.

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A real adventure is about to begin…

January 12th, 2011

I’m currently sitting at Sydney Domestic Airport and as I have some time left until boarding starts, I’m updating my blog.

It all started on Monday at Zurich Airport where I boarded my A380-flight to Singapore. Many of you might have heard about the problems with Rolls Royce engines but honestly: it’s worth taking the close-to-zero risk. This airplane is just an amazing construction. It’s silent like a train even when taking off.

After arriving in Singapore I had to hurry because boarding of my Sydney flight was said to have started some minutes before my arrival. At the gate I had first to leave behind my Absolut Vodka (why the hell isn’t it allowed to bring alcohol with you when being on transit?) and then to wait as boarding started a lot later then originally announced.

21 hours (that’s a new record) after take-off I said Hello to Ivo who was picking me up at the airport (he generously offered me a bed for a night).

And now, the real adventure starts. As you might have heard parts of Queensland (especially Rockhampton) are flooded and yesterday the Brisbane area was hit by a Tsunami.

According to the itinerary we were suposed to have a homestay at Rockhampton which might quite possibly not take place. As it’s really hard to find out how the situation really is in the other places I decided not to have a closer look at the itinerary until I know what Contiki plans to do with us. But I’m sure Contiki will handle the situation!

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On Communists’ soil

November 16th, 2010

With the arrival in Ho Chi Minh City I put my feet on the soil of a communist country for the first time (when excluding Hong Kong and Macao which are part of special zones).

Like other countries earlier, Vietnam has to open itself to attract foreign companies and tourists which both are very important to bring ‘hard money’ in to the country. Ironically, this is the US-Dollar, the currency of the country which was fighting over years against Vietnamese people.

Beside tourism, there is an other very important source of capital: the rice. It is produced mainly in the area of the Mekong delta.

Despite the fact that some internet pages like facebook are blocked, I do not have the feeling to be in a communist country. Streets are illumimated by the ads mounted on the walls of the buildings and all the well-known western brands are omnipresent. There are even KFCs.

This shows to me that it’s not possible to live communism without adding some bits of capitalism.

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Bangkok: Some first thoughts

November 6th, 2010

At 5.30 a.m. local time I arrived at Bangkok Airport. As the check-in at the hotel wasn’t possible earlier than 2 p.m., I went for a first tour in the city.

Soon, I realised that Bangkok is different from what I’ve seen so far in Asia, better said: it’s more Asian than HK and SG which both had been under British government for quiet some time.

When walking through the streets, you always have the smell of fresh food being prepared and you feel the dust of a building being restored or built from the scratch. One of this construction sites might have been the cause for a big shock: When I wanted to cross a street, there was a loud bang and I could feel the air pressure. Honestly, my first thoughts were: that was a bomb blown up.

An eye-catcher are the bar codes added to a lot of advertisements.  It seems the use of new media is far more progressed than in Europe. Companies are seeking for the interaction with its (future) customers. TV screens are as well present everywhere advertising for products.

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3D movie experience

September 5th, 2010

Yesterday, I decided to watch a 3D movie for the first time since 1997. I was fighting with myself if I really should watch 3D movies as I still remember the last time: I felt sick for the whole day afterwards. But I said to me: They must have made some progress since 1997…And yes, they really made some progress. No problems this time.

But having no health problems,  doesn’t mean everything was perfect:

  • sometimes, I got the feeling that scenes were added just to show you what 3D effects they can create
  • bright colours were too bright (it was like looking at the sun)
  • things in the foreground and in the background were very blurry (more than in 2D)
  • switching the focus from a further away object to a closer one would in real life make it look sharp. But in the movie the focus is given by the director
  • 3D effects into the audience’s direction are flickering
  • people look like they were stretched when ‘coming out of the screen’ (it seems no one cares about what you learn in school…)

Nevertheless, some 3D effects where really cool. But there’s still the question: Do we really need 3D movies (and 3D television)? The first 3D tv channels start this autumn, let’s see how successful they are. In my opinion, 3D doesn’t add more fun to a movie and not to forget: you always have to wear these glasses.

Although, more and more 3D movies are entering the cinemas, I prefer to watch them in 2D.

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Drifting down the Rhine

August 2nd, 2010

It’s already a tradition. Whenever the weather allows it, we go for a boat cruise on the Rhine on the national holiday. This year, we had perfect weather and only the water temperature could have been a bit higher (it was only 19 degrees…). Nevertheless, it was big fun.

In the early afternoon, we arrived in Stein am Rhein, our starting point. After exhausting thirty minutes to pump up the boats, we finally set off. Some minutes later, I was already in the water. But it wasn’t intentionally…When I tried to get a ball with the rudder, I lost the balance (as I was alone in the boat, there was no one to balance out my weight…) and I fell into the water. Luckily, the boat didn’t turn over. The only thing that went missing were my one-month old sunglasses. Annoying but it could have come worse…

Fortunately, this was the last negative highlight of the day. From then on we had quite a relaxing cruise, except when we had to row away from the big tourist boats.

Approximately six hours after we left, we arrived in Schaffhausen. And everyone agreed: It’s way a fantastic day.

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«Zurich City Beach»: where people come together on warm days

June 5th, 2010

Zurich’s located on the shore of Lake Zurich. Depending on who you ask it’s situated on the top end or on the bottom end of the lake (most Zurich people say on the top end but as the water flows out of the lake in Zurich it’s the bottom end). Despite this perfect location, there is not much access to the lake as most land is privately owned (all around the lake). So, many people go to some of the rare spots on warm days. Although it’s very crowded, people enjoy the warming sun and the cooling water of the lake. They come together to  babble, to play games or to have a barbie.

Here are some impressions from Zürihorn and «Rentenanstalt»:

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And it continues…

May 24th, 2010

As most of you might know, I recently moved to Zurich. Although, I’ve been working in this city for nearly five years already, there is still a lot to discover. That’s why I decided to continue with my blog. I will blog about things in Zurich or trips to other countries. I don’t know yet how often I’ll be writing and I’m also not yet sure how the Zurich posts will be like…Let’s see…

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