Bodhi Bum

Guten Morgan from Germany,

That means good morning for all you anglophones. It's actualy 5pm, but I haven't learned how to say good afternoon just yet.

So what pray tell does this fine afternoon in Germany have to offer that would find you held ransom to my five minutes of fame here? Well, nothing I guess. But this is my diary and it's my party, so to speak.

There are a number of travel diaries out there, and on this site in particular, that document some great adventure set amidst a life predominently themed by middle-class normality. How do I differ? Well, my story is a normal adventure set admist a life predominently themed by anti-middle class chaos. It wasn't anything my parents did. Honest. I should probably be Mr. Beaver by now. I guess I prove the age old nature versus nurture debate.

And so the story begins. And ends right here in this hotel room as I type this out. This is not a great adventure of self-discovery recorded for prosperity for all the world to witness my trials and tribulations. This is my life. I'm just trying to make it through like everyone else. I just happen to have a bit more of a hero complex than most. That, and I'm really, really bored and like to type.

So I hope that this may come as a welcome addition to your inbox every once and a while to catch up on someone that you know and care about. And if you don't know me and care about me then I apologize in advance. This is predominently meant for my family, as a way of keeping in contact with people whom I care about and would love to personally keep in touch with. But every day is only so long and we all know that despite the promises to keep in touch, the demands of daily life sideline the best of intentions. So this is my attempt to spread the net as wide as possible. Hopefully I can keep in touch with those I care most about(now or at one time)and some good may come of this small effort. And if you don't now me, well then maybe you will. And if not I can at least blow my own horn, so to speak.

So today is Saturday and I am now resident in my hotel room having finished off the week of work. The best part of this job is that I can work from home (by home I mean whatever hotel room I happen to be in at the moment). So I cut out early yesterday and spent a few hours Friday night getting some work done, tucked warmly away under the covers and hammering away at the laptop. Today saw much of the same, but I got the week's work wrapped up and sent out by noon.

Tomorrow I am back on the usual Sunday routine now. Check out and off to Frankfurt airport for my 3:35 Lufthansa flight to Bremen. This time it's a quick little 55 minute flight on a Boeing 737 from Southern Germany up to the northern coastline of Germany to a mid size German city called Bremen. I have no idea what this city will be like, short of the fact that it's the second largest coastal port in Germany and has a long history of a whole lot of nothing. I think their history involved Cheese. A lot of cities around here revolve around cheese. Strange. I shouldn't say that in case someone from Bremen is reading, but my internet search turned up images of industrial town desolation. I'm hoping my initial impressions are proved wrong.

But despite what my destination proves to be, I've just gotta say here how spectacular it is to fly Business Class. I can say that because for some strange reason business class on Lufthansa turned out to be dirt cheap and my consultant company decided to treat me royally. I feel privileged. But I love Lufthansa business class not for any reason other than the fact that Lufthansa gives you unlimited free beer and cashews. I can say that I honestly love airports and I show up hours early just to hang around. But when you're flying Business Class, you get to hang out in the Business Lounge. Well, normally I find the lounges really sterile and boring so don't spend much time there. But the Lufthansa lounges are just a step apart from the usual. Most Business Lounges are really stiff and professional, with a load of suits doing their suit thing. But Lufthansa seems to fill their business class on the planes with a slightly more riff-raff crowd, and from what I found last sunday this transposes very well to their lounge. Add free beer and food and you get quite the festive atmosphere. I actually met quite a few interesting people last Sunday, and that's kinda the whole vibe I like about airports in general.

So tomorrow night it's the Marriot, Bremen... four star I think but the internet site says it's got an iron in the room. Sad to say, but things like that make me excited. Mostly because this hotel didn't understand the word "Iron" and my clothes at the moment look like they'be been rolled up in my pocket, and not folded in my suitcase.

So not much more to report on here except the mundane realities of my life. But the best thing about how my life at the moment is that once thing become mundane (usually by the end of the week), I can hop on a plane on Sunday and start all over again in a new country, new city, and new hotel. Call me attention deficit, or whatever you like. But the way I see it is there's a lot out there to see and not much time to see it. So I'm on a mission to see it all, one week at a time, one country at a time.

Next report from Northern Germany.

Bodhi