On The Road Again: Dauber Compliments Chinese Hotels?

Well, those of you that know me (which I presume is EVERYONE since why else would you read this blog) are certainly aware of my propensity to complain. It should therefore stun you to learn that in this blog I will praise, extol, applaud honor and adulate the hotels in China. One of my least favorite parts of international travel is the hotels. I typically travel abroad in Europe and while I love Europe the hotels are just awful (unless you spend a fortune), and even then they leave much to be desired. Now I know what you're thinking, "Dauber must be in a high-class hotel in China". You'd be correct now (I'm in the Grand Hyatt in Beijing), but this is also true of the Radisson I stayed at in Shanghai. A Radisson for G-d's sake! As my friend put it, "Radisson's aren't even fit for rodents!" Typically she's 100% correct, but check out the Radisson that I was staying in.

Chinese hotels are amazing. For starters they have normal sized showers and beds (please take note Europe!). They also give you all the soap and shampoo you need (again, Europe, no one is fooled by your "universal soap" -- I don't wash my face, body and hair with the same surfactant). Chinese hotels don't stop there however. The service is amazing. If there's a problem they take care of it in a hurry. Many of you have noticed that I'm what they call "high maintenance" so this is highly desirable for me. Also, all the hotels have gyms AND swimming pools (something else you won't find in many hotels in Europe or in major US cities). I stay at a great hotel in SF every-other week for Wharton (Le Meridien) and it has an amazing gym, but not pool/hot tub. The pools here aren't just pools, they're mock-ups of tropical islands!

The clincher though is the TV. Anyone who has gone to Europe knows that the TV is intolerable -- don't even turn it on. The only redeeming quality of European TV is that RTL (the German station) shows "advertisements" for a particular genre of 1 900 numbers late at night (if you're in to that sort of thing, and I'm obviously not). The only US TV station they typically have is CNN International which goes out of its way to NOT tell you any US sports scores (they'll tell you every cricket score on the planet and not tell you who won the MNF game!). Well look at the TV lineup I've had in my hotels: CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, ESPN, HBO, Cinemax and a bonus movie station! I've never seen Cinemax in a hotel in the States, but to see it in China is amazing.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things that are different (and complaint worthy) when traveling in China, but the hotels are not one of them.

Intelligent Design?

Well, I just landed in London which means it's time for me to list my grievances with air travel on this continent. First though I have a non-complaint. In fact, I think I think it's actually a compliment (hush). I LOVE this no-smoking deal in the UK. Heathrow is soooooo much nicer w/out cigarette smoke.

That being said though I continue to be mystified by how complicated it is to make flight connections in Europe's two largest airports (Heathrow and Frankfurt). I'm reasonably sure millions of people land in these two airports and then fly somewhere else. Yet every time I make a connection I'm stunned by the seemingly random nature of the process.

Let me describe what I had to do to get to my Air France gate so I could sit and wait for hours (I mean catch my flight to Paris). I landed in Terminal 3 which is where all the Transatlantic flights arrive. I then follow signs to Terminals 1 & 2 and after meandering about for 5 minutes I get to a bus that drives me around the Heathrow until I get to some terminal. Then I'm about to go through a security line to get to my gate when I'm informed that I need to go someplace else because I have two pieces of luggage (apparently you can only have 1 carry-on in Europe now). I have to go through immigration and when I exit I find myself @ Terminal arrivals with a swarm of people looking for their family. I know Heathrow reasonably well, so I found the underground tunnels that run between terminals. Walked another half mile back to Terminal 2 and found the Air France check-in counter. Apparently Terminal 2 was built when the average height of humans was 5' tall. I've never seen ceilings so long in a "real" room before. They were about 6'8" which made me feel like the ceiling was about to fall on me. Anyways Air France, in their infinite wisdom decided to staff all three desks with trainees AT THE SAME TIME and left one manager to make sure they didn't make any mistakes. My trainee was very friendly, but had I not been paying attention my luggage to Toulouse (yes, I don't have a direct flight from London to Toulouse, to save $100 I'm flying all day...) would have been sent BACK to Charles De Gaulle (after landing in Toulouse of course). After finally getting my ticket I was able to make my way to my gate. I think they could make this process slightly simpler. I can't imagine how people who don't fly through here often manage. If I hadn't been to Heathrow before I would have had no idea what to do.

Oh, a side complaint about Air France: they don't let you stand-by for flights! There was space on an earlier flight to Paris but I'd have to purchase a new ticket, despite the fact that there's space on the plane. And to purchase a new ticket you have to go to a different counter and then come back and wait in line with the three trainees. No thank you...