In praise of the A340

I am currently (not) enjoying the chilly winds and freezing temperatures that Chicago is throwing up. Fabulous, it is meant to be “spring” but it feels like a winter’s day in Prague. What brought me here? An Airbus A340-600! Operated by Lufthansa, these are bog aircraft with almost as many seats as a 747. Why am I bothering to write about such things? Simple, it was THE best flight I have ever taken.

Firstly the aircraft itself. Economy seating is comparatively spacious. For my height the seat in front of me is usually there to remove the kneecaps. Not this time. This is also the first Lufthansa flight I have taken that uses the new generation of in flight entertainment, a touch screen panel in front of you provides on-demand entertainment. Need to go for a walk but don’t want to miss the movie, no problem, just pause it. Talking of going for a walk, the lavatories are downstairs, literally. This is novel for those people who have never flown upstairs on a 747. The service itself has changed dramatically since I last flew Lufthansa. Food was excellent, and they even wished me a happy birthday (for which I got a glass of Champagne and a cake).

So this post is to eulogise the A340-600; it is spacious; it is economy class friendly; it is fabulous. Lets just hope it is the same going home

• A340-600

Fly First Class

The Times is suggesting that flying First Class is a good idea for reasons of:

• Environment - you can’t afford to fly all that often (most people anyway)
• Self esteem - you are not treated like a scumbag, back of the plane flyer
• Food - is actually food and not reheated muck
• Departure - can actually be a great experience

Yes, I will buy into this, so I’ll be next flying in 20 years time, maybe.

• The Times

Prague, Parliament Building

Prague, Parliament Building

Originally uploaded by DeMeggers

I prefer this shot. I guess the distance from one side of the river to the other is shorter, plus the subject matter is simple and compact without being cluttered in the foreground (or even background). Yes, its probably on an angle but then most of my shots tend to lean one way or the other (even with a spirit level). But still this is more interesting (in my view).

Prague Castle

Prague Castle

Originally uploaded by DeMeggers

Went out to test the new tripod. Interesting. It works at least

So to this shot. I am so not concinved about this. In fact it is one of about nine I took around the same subject. The problem for me is the detail. Arguably I’ve not got the composition correct either, however, there is just something about it that I am not sure about. This was the better shot in respect to lighting, My guess is that fact that the angle of shot is just not right (luckily I know other locations) and the composition is trying to get the Charles Bridge in too. My guess would be to focus more on the castle complex rather than foreground. Its an interesting learning curve. (It was bloody freezing too hence why I didn’t take too much time over this).

Cold and blue

IMG_0927

Originally uploaded by DeMeggers

Not sure about this shot. I took it on a cold, damp day around dusk. The light (what there was of it) was fading fast, but there was this greyness about the sky that pretty much summed up the day.
The photo itself was taken from Porthmadog, North Wales, overlooking Snowdonia (Snowdon is somewhere in the middle). The vast wetlands in the foreground are an amazing haven from wildfowl.

Syd the Bear

Following on from Travelling Babo, The Times appears to have helped “kill off” the Syd the Bear website with too much traffic. Ok, this is only an assumption since there is an article on the main Time pages linking to Syd’s website and when you get there it says the website isn’t availble. Put two and two together and you get a massive website hit Excellent for the stats I guess.

• Syd the Bear (via The Times)

Traveling Babo at Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Traveling Babo at Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Originally uploaded by travelbabo

The Flickr blog is running an article on travelling companions and photographing them in front of places. Beats seeing people in front of buildings, in fact this is much better than photographing people with dumb looks on their faces in front of the pyramids I guess, or peace signs - then again I really don’t like photographing in tourist spots.

But I love these photos. Fab.

• Flickr Blog - traveling toys
• Duck Travels
• Tourist Remover
• Removing tourists - technique

Customer Services - again

It takes just one week away from Prague, and a Pizza delivery, to put into perspective the poison that is the cult of a bad attitude “service” workers have. It contrasts greatly that even the, albeit somewhat superficial, attitudes that store clerks or waiters have in Chicago compared to Prague, I can even compare the attitudes favorably in the Western parts of Czech Republic, those areas that are directly under the imported, pleasant attitudes that influence that German tourists demand (i.e. in the Spa Towns). My point is the simple fact that it is so refreshing to experience a pleasant attitude when parting with my hard earned cash.

The waitress in the restaurant deserves the tip, she works hard for it, the store clerk has a pleasant two minutes passing the time of day, the people in shop don’t have the dejecting “I’d rather you weren’t here” look on them. This is what you get outside of Prague, so what is it about this place that makes them conform to the rigid requirement of general unpleasantness. The highlight of my first day back in Prague is the Pizza delivery girl muttering at me in disapproving terms because she had come to the wrong floor and had to go up one more floor to deliver the pizzas and in some way it seems to be my fault because I answered the door.

There is simply no need for this. It isn’t like this everywhere you go in the country so it is not a social attitude of the people as a whole. Yes, the day might be crap, but there is no need to share this feeling with everyone else. It doesn’t even apply to all major cities in the world - at least in my experience. So why does it have to be this way here. I take a deep breath and move on. It doesn’t have to be this way, stop it now people!

It looks like its not just me who has noticed the lottery based customer service experience, The Prague Post has a fabulous article all about this - so its not just me

The Prague Post (via Capharnaum)

Flying

I am currently in Chicago, USA. I like it here, but that’s for another post. I flew here with Swiss, the first time I have flown with this airline. Whilst the service was superb, the seat space was somewhat tight, reminded me too much of KLM’s seating arrangements (my knees-near-my-ears kind of space).

Singapore Airlines have just recieved the first delivery of the Airbus A380. If the following photo is anything to go me, we are talking a serious change in seating philosophy (okay, it is first class, but it all follows from there)

• Airbus A380 interior

Beijing International Airport

When you have lots of cash to spend, and lots of people to do the construction, then why not build a new airport. It would be unfair to compare the idea with other international airports (ok, lets try London), but this design is very cool. My only observations are that the airport needs Maglev (like Shanghai but better planned out to actually go somewhere useful), and there is no way there will ever be enough darkness for the place to look like this. Very interesting designs though

For all the designs and a bigger version of the above visit Foster + Partners
I’d recommend having a look at the projects pages too - current projects