Koeln to Kiev - 4 a m gernan train, flight

Superb direct rail connection. While trying to buy a ticket from the protracted electronic train ticketing machine, a guy, Martin from Bonn, asks me if i would like to save 5 euro and he will take me on his 5 person all day ticket, "schoenes wochenende" (37.80 euro). Ok, we walk to the platform and "find the other four".
Amazing, this guy makes money, he got 10 from 4 people, 40 euros, and will do it again later today.
There was no ticket conductor on the 1 hour journey, but plenty of extremely hot looking young people returning from the night out. The five men on Martins ticket and one innocent bystander have a long and informed conversation about the 2001 atrocities in New York. Three blame arabs, three the yanks. So, 50 per cent of middle aged men are right on the money!
Cologne airport is hyper modern and uneventful. Boarding, passport control the same. After sitting down inside wizzair's new a320 -- the safety announcement gave me a taste of Ukrainian life. Volume at full blast a woman spoke mechanical and fast, undecipherable english mingled with ukrainian, hard to tell what was what.
It had been raining in darkness, so arriving above the clouds in blazing sunshine was welcome warmth in the face. At cruising altitude my geigercounter shows about 2.2 micro sievert per hour, less than the value of my flight to Lirhuania.
Lets hope the harsh-voice stewardess does not try to sell us raffle-tickets, like they did on RyanAir.
Cabin service and a little turbulence commencing simultaneously. It is undeniable now - serving hot drinks inside aircraft causes turbulence.

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