HBS AMP 179 - The flight to Boston

Sept 5th 2010 Saturday evening, Bangalore. Left home at 11 PM. Reached airport quite fast, used by eVouchers to upgrade to Business class in Lufthansa. In the last 11 years in MindTree, when ever I have travelled internationally, I have always met another MindTree mind. I think of this as a record – and today also the record was not broken. I met with a senior MindTree Mind, Ram Ram, and chatted about business outlook and changing customer expectations. He was going to San Francisco via Hong Kong. We parted ways and I had a good flight to Frankfurt on the way to Boston.

Slept well for over six hours and arrived quite refreshed in Frankfurt. Spent the next five hours in the Lufthansa lounge – had a nice hot shower, grabbed some thing to eat and rested for a while in the lounge, Every time I spend time in Frankfurt, I am amazed at the efficiency of this airport and the scale of their operations. It is truly an airotropolis – may not be the most convenient for the passengers, especially those who do not have access to the lounge – the long queues in front of the few toilets tell a story !

Finally it was time to board my flight to Boston. And this flight was quite a contrast – it was a packed flight, and I was in the economy class, with possibly the worst seat on the plane – the very last seat. Seats towards the rear of the flight are quite turbulent – and more so in large aircrafts like the 747’s. I tried to make best use of the time – by reading the case study on Nike once again. Also managed to re-read the note on Marketing.

Clearing Immigration and customs in Boston was quick and the Customs lady was quite inquisitive about who is paying for my HBS course – quite unusual, isn’t it ? Anyway, after a short taxi ride, checked into my hotel for the night in Harvard Square Hotel. Beautiful place with lots of small café’s and shops. Went for a long walk in the HBS campus, grabbed a quick bite and hit the sack. Some pictures of the hotel in Harvard square, HBS main building, McArthur Hall (where we are staying) and Charles river are below.