David's Blog

Living a quiet life in Coquitlam, B.C.

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Location: Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

Friday, August 11, 2006

Trip to Munich

Have finally found time to post about my recent trip to Munich, Germany (July 28 - August 5). This flight was much shorter than my last flight (to India); however, I missed the variety of TV channels that were available on the flight to India. The flight to India was on a Boeing 777, whereas the flight to Munich was on a MD11. The MD11 did not offer the individual monitors with several channels of viewing entertainment that are offered on a Boeing 777 or Airbus A330-200.

The trip itself was fine. I really like Munich. I had been there before and liked it then too. I spent most of my time around the Technical University of Munich but found some time to explore a few other places I hadn’t visited before. Of course I strolled through Marienplatz and had a meal (with beer) at the Hofbrauhaus. I also went up to the Olympic Park, the site of the 1972 Olympics. For anybody who is interested in science and technology, I also highly recommend the Deutches Museum. It is not like other museums, that simply have a bunch of pictures and statues. The Deutches Museum is mainly concerned with the development of science and technology, and has many hands-on displays. Of all the museums I have visited, this one is my favorite.

The trip back was uneventful and on-time. About the only twist I found a little irritating is the two extra security checks. (This was before the bomb plot in the UK was broken up). The first one was in Amsterdam (I was flying KLM from Munich to Amsterdam to Vancouver). Even though we never left the security area, we still had to go through a security screen to get to the connecting flight to Vancouver. Okay, fine. I had expected that from the outbound flight. However, there was another security check just before the gate to board the Vancouver flight. This was the first time I have seen a security check for a single gate. The second extra check was in Vancouver right after disembarking the airplane. Customs Canada employees were doing a passport check. Again, this was a first. What a nuisance! Has there been an agreement made among politicians that they are trying to make air travel as inconvenient as possible? It is bad enough that flying to America has become a real hassle; in fact, I have tried to eliminate travel to the U.S. as much as possible and hopefully can avoid going there until this Homeland Security nonsense goes away. Now it seems that Canada has joined the drive to piss off flyers too. What’s going on? Are people supposed to retreat into caves until governments knock on their doors and try to regulate people’s right to sit in their caves?

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