Craig Online

..en route to Dresden. There isn't a direct flight from London to Dresden (I made a joke to people that the people of Dresden are still nervous about UK 'planes flying over them). So, sadly need to travel via Dusseldorf and then stay overnight at the airport. Not bad - 4 flights/4 countries and a customer meeting within 23hrs ! Sadly don't get to stay at a nice hotel or have a nice dinner (I love German food).

Sitting in the lounge at Stansted Airport. Thankfully with a long distance carrier going bust there is a much more luxurious lounge here now (well at least one that doesn't have cigarette stains on the carpet !) now. I love the website that gives you details of where the lounge is. There's a specific remark 'no Ryanair'- I find that very amusing !

Generally I avoid Stansted like the plague (or is that Swine Flu?) - horrid crowded place full of holidaymakers and backpackers. When I go up to Scotland I always try to take the train up as much as possible as I find queuing stressful and Stansted is always full of queues (well they have opened up a few more security lanes now so it is not as bad as it used to be). I then fly back down (for speed) as Scottish airports are generally relaxing and queue free- apart from the jobsworths who always cause you grief by asking dumb security questions. Sadly I can't use my standard reply 'what do you really think there is going to be a terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport' since it happened a few years ago.

Security Blues
Going through security at an airport like this never amazes me. What really cracks me up is all the publicity we have around carrying liquids on flights and how people interpret them. To the average persons credit, they usually turn up prepared with their 100ml limit toiletries etc. However, for some reasons there is also the obligatory 500ml bottle of water on the side of the backback.

Wait ! - do you think cosmetics are a higher risk than a large volume of liquid that could be an explosive ? This isn't the cosmetic police looking to embarrass you about choice of make-up !

That's one thing. What really cracks me up though is that most people, rather than ditch the water, attempt to drink it really fast- at a speed that resembles that of a University beer drinking competition ! Think stuck in the desert for days without water and then suddenly found a bottle of Volvic under a sand dune ! I often hark back to drinking competition days and just want to shout 'faster faster' !

Gadgets Galore
Found this new store (forgotten name) that sells lots of travel electronics. Amazing- 4 things purchased. I looked at the banners in the store and it they looked to be in the Dixons font style. I asked the shop assistant and she said yes it was Dixons, to which I replied 'yes, but a shop that you actually want to buy something'.

Right another Scotch and Soda awaits....