This is the last installment of my Stuttgart trip posts.

In this entry, I’ll talk about the free stuff I got form Nokia World.

The red wine I got from the Nokia SEAP dinner. They gave each of us one bottle. Luckily I brought a spare bag with me. If not, I’ll most probably be drinking it in Stuttgart.

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset (BH-214). All media people got this. As we were walking out from one of the interview rooms, they passed each of us one unit. Not too sure if I’m gonna use it or not.

I did what Malaysians do best – getting free gifts! I went to the Nokia Comes With Music booth and played a simple game. Three really easy questions and I got this, a 4GB microSDHC card. I told the others about this and they did it the next day, they got 2GB. I guess I was lucky.

They had a wall mural outside the experience lounge for people to write their thoughts. I wrote one and I got this, a Nokia WH-701 headset. I don’t have a Nokia phone with me to try it out and it is not compatible with the phones I have with me right now. I looks really high quality though.

They launched the Nokia MD-9 loud speaker there and we all got one each. I’m not too sure if everyone attended Nokia World got it or not as they were giving it out as a token if you’ve participated in the games at the Nokia World Party. The Malaysian and Singaporean media got it by default though. It comes with a Nokia branded gold plated 3.5mm to 2.5mm converter as well. I’ve never seen a Nokia branded one in Malaysia.

Since A(H1N1) is on the rise every where in the world, they had Nokia branded hand sanitizer at the counters everyday. These were snapped up pretty fast. I’m pretty sure it’s another brand with a Nokia sticker but it smells nice!

At the first keynote, this notepad and a pen was on every chair in the hall. You know, journalists and notepads – they are inseparable!

Well that’s all the things I got for free at Nokia World 2009. Let’s hope I’ll get invited to more media junkets soon!

Day 4 (4 September 2009)

It’s finally time to go back to Malaysia. For some reason, I got home sick on this day. Not too sure why. Anyway, we woke up a little late (9am) and had breakfast at the hotel cafe.

I had this every day! DAMN NICE!

After breakfast, we walked to the train station “near” the hotel. It was a 45 minutes walk and it was a really really nice day.

Look at the clouds!

I regretted not bringing my DSLR with me. It’d be nice to have HDR photos of clouds like this!

We arrived at the train station, albeit a tiny one, and bought our tickets. The machine was in German and thank God there was an English speaking lady to help us with the tickets. The train ride was about 25 minutes and we’re brought right into the middle of the city.

Tiny train station

We split into two groups, guys and ladies. I went with the guys obviously. We just walked around and took pictures of the city.

Nice water feature

Some building

An important person because he is so high up

An even more important person because he is even higher up

Me pointing at the even more important person

A building ( I think it’s a palace) behind the even more important person

Me lying on green grass. I like this photo, taken by David Chieng with my LX3.

We walked further and came to an area with a lot of people and tents everywhere. We found out that conincidently, it was some Stuttgart Wine Festival thing. David and I saw this sign-

1/2 meter Feuerwurst mit Brotchen

We had no idea what that meant but he “1/2 meter” on the sign indicated that it’s LOOONG. How long?

This long!

David and I having the 1/2 meter hot dog!

After hot dogs, we bought ice cream. Eating ice cream on a cool day like that was really nice!

Me with ice cream

We walked further and went to a sneakers shop. They were having a sale there but the prizes are only slightly cheaper than Malaysia. I bought a pair for Eileen since she always wanted a pair of Nike Cortez.

I bought the one with the green Swoosh. 40 Euros after 50% discount.

We noticed that it’s time to checkout soon and we can’t afford to take the train back and walk 45 minutes back to the hotel. We hailed a cab from the city and rode it back. We go into a brand new W212 Mercedes Benz E Class. We don’t even have it in Malaysia yet and they are using it as cabs! Anyway, every other car in Germany is a Mercedes Benz, can’t complain much there.

The interior

I couldn’t get an exterior shot because when we arrived at the hotel, it was raining. Really unpredictable weather!

My bags are packed the night before and all I had to do was to go to my room and get my bags. Checked out and chilled a bit at the hotel cafe because some of the them haven’t had lunch yet.

Our transport came at about 3.30pm and I was at the airport by 4pm. I always thought that I’ll be flying MAS back home but the others told me that we’re flying KLM. I had no idea how the Business Class seats at KLM are since I was only Googling for MAS seats.

After checking in, we went to the KLM Lounge in Stuttgart Airport. It was a really small one since KLM is not based in Germany.

The seats

The pantry

Coat hangers

Boarded the plane and the only difference between Business Class and Economy is this-

A detachable curtain!

The food

As we’re taking off

We arrived at Amsterdam Schipol airport. I saw a Rolex shop and went in to look for the Rolex Milgauss. They have one piece that arrived 30 minutes before I went in! I was in luck. The price is also cheaper than Malaysia. I bought it since my dad asked me to search for it.

Went through immigration and we saw these statues.

Two fat boys sitting on the floor

I knew I had to pose with them!

Three fat boys sitting on the floor

Since we had time, we went to the KLM lounge. This time, since KLM is based in the Netherlands, the lounge is HUGE!!! I went around taking pictures.

Look at the number of seats, each with individual power socket

Ramp leading to the pantry

They call this the Entertainment Center. I didn’t try it out though

Red and white

Heineken draft

It was a long walk to our gate and I had to take off my shoes and watch just to get pass security. I didn’t expect security to be so tight.

I went to my seat and the KLM Business Class seats are A LOT better than MAS’! The particular plane we’re on was only 2 weeks old, no wonder the things inside are so new.

My seat

Proper earphones!

The headset, with QWERTY keypad!

Sleeker than the MAS ones

This is at least 17 inches!!!

Plenty of storage space below the screen

Storage on the right of the seat

Storage on the left of the seat

More storage on the right of the seat!

Seat control. A lot less complicated compared to MAS’

Welcome drink

The toilet. Smaller compared to MAS’

Dinner was served about 1 hour after we took off.

Some salmon appetizer

My drink for dinner

Some fish thing

Dessert

The in flight movies are a little old and I only watched Wolverine. I’ve seen most of the others. I slept throughout the whole flight.

The flight attendant woke me up for breakfast and I got this-

Heavy breakfast!

After an hour or so, we landed at KLIA and this time, I got my luggage! Took the train home and went back to sleep!

Next: The things I got

Day 2 ( 2 September 2009)

Woke up early this day, washed up and went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.

Waited for our transport to the Messe Stuttgart, where Nokia World is at.

The first thing we saw is this huge sign.

I feel so welcomed!

Went in for the keynote but before going in, I caught a glimpse of the new Nokia Booklet 3G.

Nokia Booklet 3G

I’ll save you guys with the boring (not so boring to me) stuff. If you want to know more about the keynotes and stuff like that, buy my magazine next month. hehe.

I played with all the new devices they launched that day, Nokia N900, Nokia Booklet 3G, Nokia X6, Nokia X3, Nokia N97 Mini and a few others.

Nokia X6

Nokia N900

Nokia N97 Mini

Did a few interviews and went back to the hotel to get prepared for the Nokia Party.

My party tag!

Person holding the Party sign

It was a long drive to the party place. It turned out to be a really old and nice place. I think it’s a castle because I saw “something-something Kastell” on the way in. Not too sure though.

The party place

Nokia World 2009 Party

One of the games area

The party was a little boring. It was basically a drinking thing with nothing much going one. A band from the UK, The Noisettes, performed at the party but we left before that.

We went back to the small town and headed to a pub.

Half a liter!

Left the pub after midnight and walked back with the rest of them to the hotel.

Day 3 (3 September 2009)
Woke up early in the morning again and had breakfast at the same place. It’s a little gloomy this day.

Rain clouds

I’ll skip the work part here as well. I did a few interviews on this day as well.

We went back to the hotel right after lunch because there’s nothing much we can do at the halls. We went to the town center again because we saw a few shops the night before. Walked there again in the afternoon and spent 3 hours there, mostly walking, and went back to the hotel for another Nokia dinner. This time, it’s regional, the SEAP Group.

We were driven to this place. A hunting lodge cum vineyard for one of Germany’s Kings. DAMN NICE!

The hunting lodge/vineyard

Me and the hunting lodge/vineyard

They served finger food and wine before letting us go in. We are assigned to specific seats.

My seat

The set up

The ceiling

Dinner served and it was fine dining style. Look at the cutleries you’ll know lah…

Salmon, crayfish appetizer

Close up on the crayfish

Asparagus soup

Chicken rice, high class style!

They had different kinds of wine for different kinds of food. White and red. Just look at the glasses!

Everyone had at least 5 glasses!

The power of LUMIX LX-3!!!

The dessert buffet

Everyone got a bottle of wine after the dinner to take home. It’s one of the ones we had at the dinner.

Red wine. Luckily I brought an extra bag!

Next: Free time and going home!

Where was I? Oh yeah, I step foot at Stuttgart, Germany, the land of automobiles!

As usual, our entourage went over to the conveyer belt to get our luggage and everyone got theirs pretty early because our bags had a fancy “Golden Club” bag tag on it. I waited for mine and after 20 mintues or so, the belt stopped and I’m left bagless.

I went over to the “Baggage Claim” counter and asked for my bag. Without even checking, the counter staff told me that my bag is still in Amsterdam. She was pretty sure that it’s still there. I filled in a few forms, told them the name of my hotel and I’m assured that my bag will be delivered to me by 5pm because the next flight from Amsterdam is at 2pm. It was about 10.30am then.

I figured I couldn’t do anything there and left with the others on a Mercedez Benz Sprinter, one of the largest vans/buses I’ve been on!

All public transport in Germany has GPS and it’s not like the ones we have here. Theirs are built with a receiver to receive traffic information! The technology is not new but I’ve yet to see it here in Malaysia.

The GPS device

My ride

I checked into my room at Marriot Sindelfingen and my room number is 515. I contacted Nokia Malaysia’s PR, the ones who arranged my air ticket, to see what are the insurance claim procedures. It seems that I need to get a report document from the airport. Since I’ll be going back to the airport when I leave, I might as well do it then.

My room

My press tag and “license to party” tag

We washed up and rested a bit and left the hotel to go to the town center for lunch.

I had nothing to change into and after scouring my hand luggage, I found an old CHIP T-shirt that I put inside for protecting my camera. I changed into that and went with the rest. The town center is about 25-30 minutes walk but since it’s a good weather, it was a nice walk.

Some sculptures at the town center

We found a really nice and quaint restaurant and had lunch there. The menu was in German but luckily the waitress spoke decent English and translated every single item in the menu for us. I ordered something along the lines of “traditional”, “beef”, “potatoes” and salad. I’m still not sure which part is traditional but it’s REALLY GOOD!

“Traditional”, “Beef”, “Potatoes”

My large orange juice

Potato salad

On the way back, we saw a dodgy looking service center but it was filled with Porsches. The older ones.

Dodgy looking service center filled with Porsches

We spent an hour or so at the town center as it was a really small town with nothing much to see there and walked back to the hotel. We’re supposed to meet up at about 6pm at the lobby for our transport to the Porsche Museum for Forum Nokia’s Call For Innovators winner announcements. The dress code was “Business Casual”. I’m dead as I only have a CHIP shirt I’ve been wearing for the past 24 hours and a really old and worn out CHIP T-Shirt. I went to the lobby and asked them to call the airport to check if my back is lost or just lost in transit so I know if I should buy everything or just buy some stuff until my bag comes back. No one was answering the phone at the airport so I had no choice but to walk about 20 minutes to the nearest mall (which name I still can’t pronounce), went into H&M (the only brand I know a the mall) and bought a shirt for 19.95 Euros.

Anyway, we went to the Porsche Museum and the first thing I saw was the new Porsche Panamera on its room. I took a picture of it.

Porsche Panamera

The building is really nice. Modern, simple and beautiful. We were served “something like champagne but not champagne” (according to the waitress) and it was good.

Bubbly

I don’t know what you call this

The workshop

Porsche race cars

Trophies won over the years

Me with Porsche 911 (997) GT2

After the tour of some of the rarest cars in the world, we were led to the top floor where the announcement was made. Had dinner at the Porsche Museum and left the place at about 11pm I think.

I went back to my room and I found this.

My bag!!!!

I’ve never been so happy in my life to see my bag! I opened it up and everything was in good condition. I took a shower straight away and went to bed.

Next: Work!

This is a really long post. Not on words but plenty of pictures. Although they are really small but it’s still 118 pictures. Enjoy.

Update: I’ll be splitting the trip into a few entries as 118 pictures is a bit too much for me to blog. Continuation will follow in the next few days.

Day 0 (31 August 2009)

Went to KLIA via KL Ekspress. Checked in at the priority lane because I have a Business Class Ticket on hand! WOHOO (Well, technically a code only lah, not ticket in hand also)

Went to the MAS Golden Club Lounge and was turned away because my ticket is issued by KLM but I’m flying on MAS. This code sharing thing confused me for a while. Went to lounge after lounge and finally found my lounge on the fourth try.

Nice but I heard it’s not as nice as the MAS Golden Club Lounge

Got massage also!

The flight was delayed for 30 minutes and was further delayed 25 minutes more. The captain said that this is because the plane needs to get air clearance to fly over Afghanistan only at a certain period of time.

Day 1

So fast Day 1? Yeah because my flight was supposed to be at 11.55pm but got delayed to 12.50am so technically, it’s the next day.

Anyway, I got into my seat and was given a pack of peanuts and a beer.

Ample storage on the armrest

10 inch fold out screen

After a while, dinner was served. It was a three course one!

Chicken and beef satay

Beer again

Some cold dish with scallop

Closer look

I have my own salt and pepper shaker!

Main dish – fish with some noodles

Look at the legroom!

Even Business Class was full! What economy downturn?

I got this after a while

Opened up

It’s a kit with toothbrush, comb and all sorts of stuff (There is a word for it, I can’t remember it on the top of my head)

Compliments from MAS

Wow. Aigner! Expensive stuff!

The controls for my chair. It has a lumbar massager as well!

I got space to put my junk as well. Oh yeah, a power port for your gadgets.

A reading light at the side of the seat

My seat in its full glory

I even took pictures in the toilet! The toilet is a lot bigger than the ones in economy class.

More Aigner stuff

Got orchid some more

I took one of these

I watch a few movies and TV shows on the flight because I couldn’t sleep. I managed to catch some shut eye and woke up just before breakfast. I had no idea what time is it and which timezone we’re at. They served breakfast and the ambient lighting which helps to cope with jet lag really worked! I really felt like it was morning.

Fruits for breakfast

Then Omelet with chicken sausages

I landed at Amsterdam Schipol Airport at about 6am local time (I think) and we had 2 hours of transit time. We had to walk from one end of the airport to the other end. It took us nearly 20 minutes’ walk! When we reached the transit gates, there were so many people. We lined up nearly 30 minutes for that. We managed to get into the plane on time so no issues there.

This time, I’m flying KLM to Stuttgart.

The small plane

They server breakfast again on the plane. I had two bites and I left it. I don’t know what is it and it tasted awful. Acquired tasted maybe.

Some cheese thing and some fruit thing

The flight was quite full too

After an hour, I step foot at the Stuttgart Airport. To be continued…