Premium Economy

Now that I have arrived in Frankfurt I am in a position to report on the Premium Economy Experience Qantas Style.  It seems very much like a slightly toned down version of the old business class before lie flat beds were introduced.  The seats are bigger, so that there are only two rather than three seats on the window rows, the spacing is greater so that I can stretch my full 1.71m frame without being constrained by the back of the seat in front of me, and there are the little benefits of boarding with the business class passengers, having more space to stow bags overhead and business class tags on the bags for faster collection at the end.  All in all a positive experience.  

We arrived in good shape after grabbing six or seven hours sleep (in 23 hours) on the way.  It is questionable whether it is worth around two and a half times the price of the economy seat, but it did look crowded back there. 

Qantas knows how to take the edge of a good experience.  There were no dedicated premium economy toilets, so we had to queue with the economy class passengers to use the facilities.  If one had the temerity to sneak up to the business class toilets, the comparison was stark, with cotton hand towels and expensive soaps and creams available.  There was no toiletry pack.  Normally, in such a pack one finds toothpaste, a shaver – since it is not possible to take one through security – eye covers to allow sleep while the lights are on, and ear plugs to cut the noise of the engines.  So, since I was expecting a toilet pack, I had none of these and it reduced my enjoyment of the flight.  There was no general screen for safety videos, and since we were required to stow our personal screens for take-off and landing, I was not properly briefed on safety.  In fact, I could not hear the safety presentation, which I am sure breaches some sort of operating protocol.

 

Overall these are teething issues, and it is clear that the service is an add-on to the existing configuration back fitted to the aircraft.  However, given the cost, they could have taken better care of the details.  I am still undecided on Premium Economy, but I know I hate Economy!

The Technology

In sitting down to write this post, I expected to say that I have not changed much since last time.  But, in fact, almost everything is different. Starting with the laptop, I am now armed with an ASUS Ultrabook which is faster, shinier, lighter, and thinner, with a bigger screen and a longer battery life than the old Dell I carried in 2011.  The camera remains the same, the old and not so faithful Cannon EOS 350D.  Alert readers will recall that while I was in France waiting for the Tour de France to ride past my hard won vantage point, the 360D decided not to recognise its memory card. It has since been repaired, and since let me down again in Hawaii only the second time it was the lens and not the camera.  As a result I am also carrying a Cannon IXUS 115HS compact camera in case of emergencies.  The iPhone trip sim card and Netcom MyZone 3G modem was such a success last time that I stayed with that combination again.  This time I took the precaution of starting the activation period one day prior to departure so that I could resolve any connection issues before leaving. Alas, the modem refuses to connect automatically.  I hope that it was due to the use of the Vodafone network in Sydney and that all will magically correct itself on arrival in Berlin, but that is a surprise waiting to happen. 

One addition to the technology this time is the iPad. I was almost tempted to leave the laptop behind except for the difficulty in typing and the inability to load photographs from my cameras to the iPad for editing, loading up to this blog and providing a backup to protect against loss of photographs.  Another difference is the lack of DVD player / writer on the Ultrabook.  In the past I have downloaded photographs to the laptop and written a DVD to provide two sources of security.  The response to that loss has been to buy a bigger memory card for the camera – 16 GB – and to use a 32 GB flash memory stick as a replacement for DVD backup.  This has the twin advantages of providing an extra level of security by holding all the photos on camera, on laptop and on flash drive.  In addition, the elimination of a stack of DVDs from the luggage is one small step in the drive to more efficient travel.

Overall, life would be easier if the world’s telcos did not charge stupid amounts for global data roaming, but I am reasonably happy with the efficiency and security of my current arrangements.

I have added Dropbox and MegaCloud services to my backup and my email is now on a hosted Microsoft Exchange server, so communications should appear seamless to anyone who is trying to deal with me over the period of the trip.

Let’s see how it all goes.  I am already planning some radical changes for the next time.

The Trip

This time we have chosen to fly to Frankfurt, Germany via Singapore with Qantas.  This decision was driven by the frequent flier points.  I thought it was more likely that I would find a suitable award flight to Frankfurt than I would to London, and it was indeed the case.  As an experiment we are travelling Premium Economy, to test whether a Premium Economy flight with no stopover will deliver us to Europe and Home again in better condition than an Economy flight with a day or two break each way.  Part of the reason is that I have limited time due to business commitments back home and the other part is that the Frequent Flier points make it an economic choice. 

The part of the trip I am looking forward to the most is, not surprisingly, the overnight train trip between Berlin and Paris.  Ever since my two years working in Durban for the South African Railways, with cheap trips to Johannesburg in the overnight sleeper train, I have loved the experience of arriving at the station in the evening, finding a bed on wheels, dining in the dining car and sleeping on the top bunk with the rock of the train motion to put me to sleep.  I have travelled around Europe on sleeper trains on my under 26 Eurail Pass in the late 70s, and more recently between Madrid and Paris, Johannesburg to Cape Town, Sydney to Broken Hill on the famous Indian Pacific and even between Sydney and Melbourne.  So Berlin to Paris will be one more to add to the list.

On the Road Again Germany and France 2013

It has been far too long since we set out for Europe and so a quick trip this Easter seemed to be in order.  The main focus of the trip is to attend the baptism of our grandnephew in Le Mans, but built around that are a visit to family in Mamers, a week in Berlin on the way over and, for me, two days in Chartres to have a close look at the Cathedral on the way home.

The trip to Berlin should be an eye opener. My last trip there was in 1979 when I visited for two days with the major focus of that trip being to pass through the famous Checkpoint Charlie.  Too many spy novels for my own good made that a must.  I was surprised, even shocked, by what I saw.  In particular, the extensive unrepaired damage from World War II, thirty five years after the end of hostilities, compared with the extensively rebuilt West Germany and even West Berlin.  However, the unexpected shock was the lack of advertising in the streets; nothing, not even shop windows or posters on poles.  I am happy to proclaim that I hate advertising, especially when it intrudes on TV or during my on line experience (I watch the ABC and use Adblock on line) but even I missed the life it puts into the streets which, if the East Berlin experience is an accurate guide, is completely lacking without it. 

On my last trip I also spend some considerable time looking at the Berlin Wall and peering through the fences surrounding the Brandenburg Gate.  So seeing the immense change there will be a highlight.  I guess that 34 years of life experience will also change my perspective.

In 2010 I spent a short time in Paris for business and took the opportunity provided by the weekend and the TGV to visit Rheims to really explore the cathedral. It was something I had wanted to do for a while.  I have visited many cathedrals throughout Europe.  However, a walk around shooting ten or twenty photographs, reading the tourist guide summary of what is important and moving on to the café or ice-cream shop next door seemed to miss something.  So I spent a little time researching the Rheims Cathedral before I left Australia.  I started out by trying to understand how the stability of the structure worked, and read a number of papers on physical and mathematical modelling of similar buildings.  I also found considerable material on the building process, the decoration of the building and the politics around the whole delivery of the project.  As a bonus, since Rheims is in the middle of one of the most active areas of battle in the First World War, I found some interesting material on the war, the damage to the cathedral and the restoration.  When I arrived I had plenty to explore and so I spend two full days visiting the building, inspecting the roof, the foundations, the columns, the beams, the arches and then on to the more decorative aspects of the building.  I revisited the area around the building several times over the two days, listened to the choir and organ practice and even attended Sunday mass.  I intended to record it all on this blog, but did not.  So I will try to engage in an equally comprehensive review of the Chartres Cathedral and write about them both on my return.