First time ever to India. I am in Mumbai to meet my team. Arrived late at night on Sunday and had a good night sleep. So far, I have to say this is an amazing place. Amazing not the in the sense that everything is great, but in the sense that everything blows my mind. It feels like that everything I have seen in movies or documentaries about India all come together in one single scene. The hotel, The Westin Mumbai Garden City, is the best hotel I have stayed, ever. Yet, the streets outside feels almost hadn’t changed since the British Empire era. It’s like I am seeing what Captain Aubrey had seen. It just amazes me.
Czech Airlines
While the plane is on the ground before take-off and after landing, Czech Airlines plays the classical music Vltava by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana.
Amsterdam
First trip to Europe this year (5/14 – 5/21). Three days in Kosice to transition the team over to the new manager. Three days in Utrecht and Amsterdam.
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Frankfurt
Travel to Germany again. Finally, after passing through it so many times, I got to step out of the airport to see Frankfurt.
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Stockholm
Beautiful Scandinavian summer
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Košice in June
Berlin
Short trip to Berlin. Stayed near Checkpoint Charlie. There was no sign of the Berlin Wall and the death strip. It feels that Berlin is a whole again. I think with so much history, the Wall was just like a little scar that was healed quickly and cleanly.
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The Prague Spring
Went to Europe for the second time in two months. Last time I stopped by Vienna for three hours without leaving the airport. This time I had a five-hour stopover and I took the City Airport Train (CAT) into the city. There are a lot to see in Vienna. Unfortunately I got to the city after 7 p.m. and didn’t get to ride the Vienna Ring Tram. I walked from the CAT station to St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom), cut through a few side streets in between and had a nice Viennese dinner before heading back to the airport for my flight to Kosice.
After two days of meeting in Kosice, I came to Prague to meet other regional teams. Prague is regarded by many as one of Europe’s most charming, colorful and beautiful cities. As the plane descending over Prague, it felt like flying into Taipei, with rivers and hills through and around the city. It’s very easy to get around the city by The Prague Metro, which is really deep underground. While it was only late spring, it got really hot in the conference room with so many people there. They had to bring in all the fans they had in the office to cool off the conference room. Friday night after dinner, I finally had time to walk around the city and see the Charles Bridge. It’s breathtaking looking over the bridge to see all the castles, something I was not able to capture on the camera.
Itinerary:
ORD – FRA – VIN – KSC – PRG – FRA – ORD
Inflight movies:
Avatar (2009)
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Lord of War (2005)
Leap Year (2010)
Košice
Earlier in the month, I traveled to Kosice, Slovakia to visit my team of software engineers at NESS. It took three connecting flights, and progressively smaller airplanes, through Frankfurt and Vienna to get there.
The great thing about working at NAVTEQ is that we were such an international company, support for international business travel is absolutely the best. I got a note on culture and weather highlights of Slovakia right after I booked the trip. I also have 24/7 emergency contact, anywhere in the world. In the packet, it mentioned that the Slovakian law enforcement is a bit corrupt. If there were any issue with the law enforcement, traveler should contact U.S. Embassy immediately.
Arriving in Kosice, my colleague picked me up at the airport. On our way to the hotel, we got pulled over by a police car. The officer came over was armed with a rifle across the front. After the officer went back to his car, my colleague said that he forgot to turn on his head light, and the fine would be 30 euro. I told him that I have a 50 euro with me, and I can pay for it. My colleague immediately told me no, and started driving away. The police car just followed us till we stopped in the city. My colleague got off the car, run to an ATM, get some cash, take the cash to the police officer, then drove away like nothing had happened. He later told me, if I were to give him the 50 euro, then the fine would have tuned into 50 euro. Yep, got it.
Both the office and the hotel were right next to the city center promenade. It was a beautify place to take a stroll. I was expecting to see war torn scars and reconstructions left over from the World Wars. However it very well preserved. It’s like walking through a medieval city as it was a few years ago. Very fortunately, the wars seemed to have spared this region of the world.
I took the team out to a team lunch on a Friday. The restaurant was in the basement of the medieval building. Very cozy setting with a good menu of local flavor. When we sat down the waiter were grumbling and did not seem very enthusiastic to see us. I asked the team lead what were the issues and he told me that the waiter were not happy that he had to do extra work. Apparently some old habit from the communist regime still lingered around.
Itinerary:
ORD – FRA – VIN – KSC
Bristol Hotel Košice
Inflight movies:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball (2009)
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
G-Force (2009)