With room rates soaring and bed space at a premium during the CeBIT trade show in Hannover last week, Technology Post was desperate for somewhere to lodge its roaming reporter.
So we called in the local branch of the German Chamber of Commerce for help.
The chamber helpfully, sent our intrepid IT explorer to a Hannover lodging house where she was assured of Internet access and a base close to all the action.
'The walk from the apartment to the halls is 45 minutes, if I walk briskly,' complained our correspondent.
'There are no taxis in this part of the woods unless I pre-order a day in advance.'
Landlady Frau Hoffmann's PC lacked a modem, so to get the promised Internet access, our reporter had to walk to the nearby Copthorne Hotel, which had Internet access, but was lacking the letter 'c' on the keyboard.