If you never miss a plane… December 11, 2008

… you spend too much time in airports.

That is at least what a befriended frequent flyer told me once after he landed in about every time zone available in one week. (well…) That is clearly very bold to say and a bit “stoer”, but after a couple of flights and my personal attribution to the end of the world (airplanes are very polluting, sir!), I kind of grasp the core of the quote.

Many hours per week are filled with bridging distances. Berlin – Brussels and Limburg – Leuven are the main culprits, but living in a gigantic city (Berlin) is also a travel hog.  I started counting distances in hours, not in kilometers: I do not think that Berlin is far from Brussels, but I do think that Prenzlauer Berg is far from Schöneberg, just because the flight to Brussels is shorter than the S/U-Bahn ride to Prenz’ler Berg.

Airport

And with that in mind, I am always on the lookout for quicker connections and reducing waiting times. However, I also have the principle that a travel should be comfortable: no hurries. So there I am, thorn between two options: either I arrive six minutes before the boarding begins, or I arrive twenty minutes before boarding. In both options, walking to the gate and security is not included (five à ten minutes). I also noticed that the traffic can be quite dense in the morning.

Twenty minutes of my time do not equal missing an airplane. My choice is clear.

Danke Tempelhof, Gutemorgen Tegel November 29, 2008

I fly frequently between Brussels and Berlin, and up to last month, there was an excellent service from Tempelhof (a ten minute bycicle ride from my home!) to Brussels, with a nice connection to Leuven, where I have an office. Normally, the door-to-door travel time was about 3 hours, which is pretty ok. But now, Tempelhof is closed as an airport and SN has moved to Tegel. Thank God, they did not go to Schönefeld. Last week, I had my first flight from Tegel, and the day after tomorrow, I will fly again from Tegel to Brussels.

Tempelhof, 1984

The Tegel experience was great: relatively small, fairly ok to get there (S-Bahn and a bus, the bus is stupid, 40 minutes from my home to the airport…). Security is fast, as most tourists go to Schönefeld, walking distance to gate is 5 minutes, so it is ok to arrive ten minutes before boarding time. The slightly different arrival times make the train connection to Leuven even better. Landing at gate A46 in Brussels means about ten minutes to get to the Bahnhof. In a normal situation, I leave at twenty past seven in Berlin, which will make my office computer booting up before 11. In fact, if I have a little bit more experience, I think I can even take a later S-Bahn.

I do not think I need to complain about that. But still, the ride to Tegel is very long, in comparison to the walking distance of Tempelhof. Rumour is that even Tegel will have to move to Schönefeld, making it Berlin Brandenburg Airport. A quick shuttle would then exist as well. That would be 2011.