Germany: Thinking like a traveler - part 1
Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I stepped onto European soil omitting the time I roamed around Frankfurt airport during transit a couple of years ago.
Tom Kelley from IDEO, in his lecture at Stanford titled "Young at Heart: How to Be an Innovator for Life" says in one section the one must - "Think Like a traveler". He says, when you travel you are in a state of hyper awareness, and you notice every small detail which is different from your "natural" habitat. And that is what I did, a little deliberately, and are my observations from my first evening in Germany:
1) Thoughtful design - On the S-Bhan on the ICE connection from the Frankfurt Airport to Stuttgart I noticed the following things. I think this train is equivalent of the Shatabi of the IR*.
a) Motion sickness bags prominently visible and available in good quantity.
b) Separate and private cabins for people traveling with kids - so cranky kids will disturb only their parents and not the other travelers
c) Ceiling mounted sensor driven automatic opening and closing of doors connecting bogies of the train.
d) Multiple escape routes in the event of an accident. Instructions in German, English, French and Spanish.
e) There is more leg room in the second class seating area.
f) People were busy all the while - I saw people reading at any given opportunity - novels, research papers, newspapers etc etc.
g) The rail was very smooth - no abrupt changes in speed, no jerks or sounds when the tracks are changed, and ya, never heard the engine hoot its horns
h) The seats were moulded plastic.
2) On the train from Stuttgart to Singen I observed
a) The train was not as good as the ICE train, but it did the job well. The flooring was like an ordinary IR train. But the seats were more spacious and were in a 2+2 configuration. Each seat had a head rest in the shape of an "L" i.e. if you slept while sitting, and if your head rolled to one side, then your head would rest on the shorter end of the "L". Why should only the window seat guys have all the fun :)
b) Each compartment had a dustbin - and again, the production quality was something I was impressed with. The gauge of metal used was thick, the pivot or hinge to close the lid was noiseless - and it was of a fair size, not too small and not too big.
c) Each station was announced over a speaker system.
On the train from Singen to Konstanz was like the Volvo bus in Bangalore. But they also had these collapsible seats, maybe they are not used in case the passenger load is too much - but then who would evict those already sitting?
They had a fire extinguisher stowed under one of the seats in a reachable, yet unobtrusive manner. Also they had these travel magazines hung all over the compartment. One corner of the magazine was tied to one end of a string and the other end was tied to a metal loop. Wonder if anyone uses it that way.
At the Konstanz station I had to cross platforms to head out of the station. There are no porters, so it is self help all the way. When you have three pieces of luggage that can become a problem. But not to worry - they have this conveyor belt which will transport your luggage down the stairs! The power of use cases!
Unfortunately there were no signs which indicated where I could get a taxi, but some people on the street were good enough to give me directions in english!
There were no problems at the immigration control lines either - but was stopped by the cops on two occasions. The first time, at the customs, I was singled out from the crowd - maybe because I looked different. But as soon as the cop saw the Indian passport he lost interest in me :) It also helped that he was looking at my Chinese Visa the same time. hahaha..
The second time, the cops were looking for someone on the train to Singen, and I made the mistake of getting up and heading to the exit just as they entered the compartment from the other end... hehe.. I was trying to check if the station was mine as they called out "Engen" and I was too sleepy to realize that. But then again, the two cops saw the Indian passport, and the visa and flight stickers and they lost interest. They even told me that Singen was the last stop on the line, so I could go back to sleep :)
* IR = Indian Railways
