Astana, Kazakhstan

This afternoon, I'm off to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. We will do a report on the economy and one on architecture. It should be interesting because Astana is a city sprung up from the steppe. Nine years ago there was hardly anything there. Now it looks like Dubai! I was just there in April when it was minus 5 degrees Celsius. In the steppe, with winds that come directly down from the arctic, Astana has extreme temperatures, 40 below in the winter and 40 above in the summer.

At Frankfort Airport... a bit of complaining. (picture of the international atmosphere of a Macdonald's restaurant at Frankfort airport)

Some plane trips are great with no problems. But these flights don't go through Frankfort. Others may have a better experience here, so this is just my personal opinion. On the positive side, I've only lost my baggage once going through Frankfort. On the negative side, you walk forever between plans and there is a definite deficit of smiles here. The last two trips since April, the airport personnel barely look at you much less greet you. Today I was expecting to be told I had to wait 3 hours until the check-in opens 2 hours before the flight to Astana. The man behind the counter glanced up at me with a look on his face as to say "What stupid question do you have for me?". No "hello". No "may I help you?". Just a bothered look. I say hello. He gives me the expected bad news with a "I could care less" look. I provoked his bad mood with yet another stupid question. "Where can I wait?" He replies as though I am testing his patience (which I kind of was) "The counter 954 opens two hours before the flight." Now there are many ways to give a frustrated client bad news, but this way probably isn't in written in the Lufthansa Code of Conduct (or?). I eventually found a café with a nice view of the runway where I am now calm and venting my frustration in this blog, hoping a Lufthansa manager will see it and give a talk to his employees.

Many people say Paris Charles de Gaulle has moody employees. But I haven't had that experience. They have always been friendly and smile when they tell me every other flight that my bags are lost. But, said in a friendly manner, I can take it. Lost baggage is what I expect when going through Paris.

So, in my travelling book, Amsterdam remains the best airport... friendly, big, but well organised and they haven't lost my bags yet.

Oh, just one more reason why you should avoid Frankfort. While every other airport in the world checks your boarding pass and leaves you with the little stub just before you board the plane, here in you-would-think-very-efficient Germany, they let the waiting room fill up and then tell everyone to leave again so they can check boarding passes at the entrance to the waiting area. So families, with kids, older passengers tramp back outside, form once a gain a line and have their boarding pass checked and then go back to their seats to wait with their little stub.