I'm in Munich now after the short flight. I slept the whole way and have now found myself in an airport restaurant. Munich is the home of Oktoberfest but I've eschewed the traditional wurst in favour of something more fancy. 

So I've ordered a potato soup with sausages, roast pork with dumplings and a cabbage and bacon salad and of course beer.

The poor waitress here is working about ten tables, so it took a long time to get served. I'm hungry... oh, my soup just came. Looks nice.

Tastes........ tastes nice also. There are little bits of potato and bacon in it. Too bad I've eaten all the bread that I probably was supposed to dip into it.

Travelling is tiring. Being in places is nice but going to places can get annoying. This time wasn't too bad. The airport in Bern is the best I've been at, I think. Zurich's pretty efficient too, and people on these kinds of flights usually don't have a lot of luggage, so you get in and out quickly.

But the trip from Toronto to Switzerland in December was brutal. Apart from the reality that with each second I was further and further from the ones I loved, there were ladies close by wearing sequinned track suits. And they behaved just like you might expect women flying in sequinned track suits to behave.

They were positively giddy at the prospect of sitting still in a small chair for the next nine hours and about the pre-heated food and cheap wine. Everybody within a ten-seat radius heard them. I, of course, was trying to sleep.

The other thing is that smart people know you shouldn't drink on a plane. The air is dry enough, you get more dehydrated and it exasperates your jet lag. Take lots of water and a bit of ginger ale. Bring moisturiser.

And then there's what you overhear the terminal. You've put out a good chunk of change to fly somewhere and the person next to you is going somewhere exotic. And flying business. And wearing socks and sandals.

And then you arrive, clear customs and fumble into a sea of smiling faces waiting for their loved ones. And you walk by them all, find your car or train and move on your way.

Change of subject. The food has just arrived. First impressions positive. The pork came in a nice gravy but I am apprehensive about the dumplings of mysterious origin.

A spongy mass of dough. One appears to be meat-flavoured. I think I'll stick to the protein. I end up cutting through the big dumpling and there's some kind of a prize in the middle. Cubes of unknown origin. I'm not sure what this is supposed to be but I'm not impressed. The cabbage salad is nice but could have used more bacon... Okay, I'm done eating. Check please.