{"id":3486,"date":"2015-08-30T09:55:26","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T14:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3486"},"modified":"2015-08-30T09:55:26","modified_gmt":"2015-08-30T14:55:26","slug":"european-vacation-day-1-flight-and-arrival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3486","title":{"rendered":"European Vacation: Day 1 Flight and arrival"},"content":{"rendered":"

After months and months of planning, the day finally came when it was time to climb aboard that plane and fly off to Germany.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, I got up earlier than normal.\u00a0 The night before, I was trying to copy files over to the server and make sure I had information moved to where people could find the source.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it was taking forever to move files.\u00a0 I gave up around 11:00 and went to bed with a set still rolling up to the server with two hours left to go.<\/p>\n

I called in for my last meeting before vacation.\u00a0 Hopefully, I was just going to listen and not have any work or assignments that needed to be done before noon.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure I skated by unscathed.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say I was really listening that hard.<\/p>\n

At 9:00, it was time to gather up Sascha and take her to the kennel.\u00a0 She would be safe and well cared for there.\u00a0 Virginia assured me Sasch would have more than enough attention.\u00a0 Sascha is always glad to arrive and see everyone, but she never wants to stay.\u00a0 It was all the attendant could do to drag the dog to the inside where the kennels are.\u00a0 Sascha was doing her best to escape out of the front door.<\/p>\n

Back at the house, we started to prepare for leaving the country.\u00a0 We gathered up things.\u00a0 The new trees needed to\u00a0 be watered one last time. I prepared the yard so that Brad next door could mow the yard, if it were to actually start growing again. \u00a0If I guess that meant it would rain at the house first.<\/p>\n

Around 12:15, the Black Cab Taxi showed up to take us to the airport.\u00a0 It was going to be easier to get a ride.\u00a0 Brian, the driver, was very entertaining.\u00a0 He talked politics, getting around Chicago, and just in general covering any silences.\u00a0 After getting around the construction, Brian was able to deliver us right to Terminal 1.<\/p>\n

Once inside, we found we were right in front of the Lufthansa check-counter.\u00a0 So our journey started with a few less steps.\u00a0 We each had a bag to check and our carry-on bag.\u00a0 We sailed on from check in to the security line.\u00a0 Oh my gosh, the line was so long!\u00a0 We got in line and it took maybe half an hour to get to the document check.<\/p>\n

Then we got in line to be scanned.\u00a0 It\u2019s been years since I\u2019ve flown anywhere.\u00a0 I was all worried about what was in my carry-on bag.\u00a0 We had tablets and a computer.\u00a0 They used to make you turn on the computer and proved it worked.\u00a0 I checked with the gentleman giving directions.\u00a0 Tablets were not a problem.\u00a0 We filled four trays with our stuff.\u00a0 Almost forgot the belts.<\/p>\n

I stepped into the scanner and lifted my arms.\u00a0 It was like 3 seconds and I was told to step out again.\u00a0 What was I worried about?\u00a0 We gathered our stuff and moved off to seats so we could get dressed again.<\/p>\n

Rich wanted coffee and headed over to one of the stands.\u00a0 I sat back and took lots of deep breaths.\u00a0 After watching people for five minutes, I forgot all about my stress for the scanning.\u00a0 I should have remembered how much airports are to people watch.\u00a0 I\u2019m almost giggling by the time Rich came back.<\/p>\n

Rich arrived with coffee in hand.\u00a0 We gathered up the carry-on bags and moved down the terminal to our gate.\u00a0 We had passed a sandwich shop on the way down and went back to grab some late lunch.\u00a0 Two sandwiches and a couple of bottles of water later, we sat in front of the window to watch the planes come and go.<\/p>\n

Pretty soon, the attendants began calling for boarding of the aircraft.\u00a0 Business class and those requiring more time to board went on first.\u00a0 Boarding then began from the front of the plane.\u00a0 We were part of the second group called.\u00a0 However, the line was still pretty long.\u00a0 Shuffling along, we got our boarding passes checked and headed to the jet way.<\/p>\n

The plane was nice and the seats weren\u2019t bad.\u00a0 We got to our row and found a gentleman in my seat.\u00a0 He was Polish and having a hard time understanding the conversation.\u00a0 He only said his seat was 25A.\u00a0 I made my way back to an attendant.\u00a0 It was just a misunderstanding and she was the best one to sort it out.<\/p>\n

Yep, his connection from Frankfort to Krakow was in seat 25A.\u00a0 She helped him move back down the aisle to his seat for this flight.\u00a0 I settled in and found lots of room.\u00a0 This flight was going to be good.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have to touch elbows with Rich unless I wanted to.<\/p>\n

The plane backed away from the gate and we were in line on the runway.\u00a0 Pretty soon, we were heading up and away.\u00a0 I was sitting just over the wing.\u00a0 I turned to Rich and said in my best William Shatner impression, \u201cI hope the flight was uneventful.\u201d\u00a0 The impression probably wasn\u2019t that good.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know Twilight Zone, it\u2019d take too long to explain.<\/p>\n

I watched The Avengers Age of Ultra until dinner.\u00a0 Rich was making his way through the entire music catalog.\u00a0 Dinner came and wasn\u2019t too dried up.\u00a0 Wine was served with dinner.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t driving anyway so I had a little bit of wine.<\/p>\n

I realized after dinner that my claustrophobia wasn\u2019t bad at all.\u00a0 I had gotten some pills to help with anxiety, but I didn\u2019t need them.\u00a0 It was probably all the room I had around me.\u00a0 I was hemmed in and no one was trying to lie in my lap from the seat in front of me.\u00a0 Premium Economy was worth the money.<\/p>\n

As we sped on into the coming night, I found I couldn\u2019t sleep.\u00a0 The pillow was way to flat.\u00a0 I just couldn\u2019t find a good position to stretch out into.\u00a0 So I was awake the entire 7 hours and 14 minutes.\u00a0 It was going to be a long day.\u00a0 If it helped at all, Rich said he didn\u2019t sleep either.\u00a0 How did that help me? I\u2019d rather have slept!<\/p>\n

We could follow the flight path of the place on informational screens on the TV.\u00a0 We turned and went over Nova Scotia and the out over the ocean just below Greenland.\u00a0 The next time I reviewed the information, we just south of Ireland and heading into Wales before the plane turned to the English Channel.<\/p>\n

About 2 hours out from Frankfort, the lights in the cabin came on.\u00a0 Breakfast was being served.\u00a0 We got a roll, luncheon meats, cheeses, juice, and coffee.\u00a0 It was a good German start to our day.\u00a0 Not long after breakfast, they started to prepare for arrival.\u00a0 The flight was almost over.<\/p>\n

I looked over at Rich\u2019s TV and he is watching the scenery below the plane.\u00a0 Turns out, there was a camera mounted below the plane and you could watch on from the informational channel.\u00a0 It was pretty cool to watch the small towns, rivers, and highways around you.\u00a0 I wanted that until the plane landed on the runway.<\/p>\n

Once we made it to the gate and everyone started to disembark, we gathered out stuff and headed to the door.\u00a0 Inside the terminal, we were at the end of one long arm that seemed to be miles from the main terminal.\u00a0 As we hiked through the urban jungle of shops, terminal entrances and ads, we began to think we had landed in another world.<\/p>\n

I noticed the people in front of us were the same ones from the plane.\u00a0 I figured since they were German, they had done this trip before.\u00a0 I set my sights on following them without letting them know that I was using their trail to keep from getting lost.\u00a0 It worked.\u00a0 We found our way to baggage claim without much trouble.<\/p>\n

I had realized on the plane that I didn\u2019t have Uncle Max and Aunt Uschi\u2019s address written down and with me.\u00a0 Darn!\u00a0 Now what.\u00a0 As we waited for the baggage to be offloaded and sent down to us, I started trying to send email or find a way to contact them.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a cell number either.\u00a0 No luck with raising anyone.<\/p>\n

We got our bags and headed to the car rental.\u00a0\u00a0 There I found out I had scheduled pick up in downtown and not at the airport.\u00a0 Another hit to the planning.\u00a0 This location only had one automatic in stock.\u00a0 We agreed to accept that one.\u00a0 I had heard of a Skoda, but I didn\u2019t know why.\u00a0 I would have taken the manual transmission, but it was going to be a little difficult to get used to in a short amount of time.<\/p>\n

Down in the garage, we were supposed to meet the tech who would help us put the navigation into English.\u00a0 It was a nice car, just a little bigger than I had planned.\u00a0 Oops!\u00a0 Another hit to the planning.<\/p>\n

Rich managed to get the navigation, or navi as they call it here, to English.\u00a0 We were working on getting at least the town name into the navi when the tech appeared.\u00a0 She barely spoke English, but was helpful.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t believe we didn\u2019t have a proper address.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t think a town name alone would get us there.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t understand us when we gave her the town name, but Rich was able to show her on the map and she plugged it in.\u00a0 It was to leave the safety of the garage and hit the autobahn.<\/p>\n

I got out of the garage without banging up the car or anyone else\u2019s car.\u00a0 At the first light, the car motor stopped.\u00a0 I threw it into Park and started it up again.\u00a0 What the heck was this?\u00a0 We got around the corner and stopped at the next light when the car died again.\u00a0 I pulled into a business driveway to figure it out.<\/p>\n

Rich remembered reading that Europe was looking at using this method to control pollution and gas consumption.\u00a0 Sure enough, I took my foot off the gas and the car started right up again.\u00a0 That was cool.\u00a0 It would have been nice for the guy at the desk to mention it though.<\/p>\n

Back out to the street, I turned to find the on ramp.\u00a0 We were on the autobahn before you knew it.\u00a0 The cars were speeding along and I was trying to stay out of the way.\u00a0 Reading the mph in kpm wasn\u2019t tough.\u00a0 I just did what they told me.\u00a0 I only had a couple of cars blow by me so that I couldn\u2019t tell what color they were.<\/p>\n

I drove along pretty well.\u00a0 The Skoda handled well and felt great to drive.\u00a0 This was fun.\u00a0 After an hour and a half, we reached our turn off.\u00a0 We got onto the secondary road and headed for the center of Ramstein.\u00a0 Once we reached there, we had some decisions to make.<\/p>\n

I parked in the grocery store lot to try and figure out where to go next.\u00a0 Rich went in for coffee thinking he could pay with his credit card.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 A very nice lady paid for the coffee.\u00a0 Once outside, his eyes got big as he walked up to the side of the car.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did you do?\u201d\u00a0 I didn\u2019t understand.\u00a0 When I got out, I saw the long scrape and white paint along the rocker panel from the front to the back.\u00a0 \u201cNot me,\u201d I cried.<\/p>\n

We saw that we had to move the car.\u00a0 The grocery lot was private.\u00a0 The gravel lot next door looked to be public.\u00a0 I moved the car and we determined to walk to the city center to find a bank and see what our next steps were.\u00a0 Along the way we figured we would stop and ask people where Uncle Max and Aunt Uschi lived.\u00a0 How would that sound?\u00a0 Wo ist Tante Uschi?<\/p>\n

At the bank, we used the ATM to get Euros.\u00a0 Rich was still drinking his coffee.\u00a0 I thought maybe my Uncle and Aunt were in the phonebook, if there was such a thing.\u00a0 I went back into the bank to ask for a phonebook.\u00a0 Sure enough, they were listed.\u00a0 The day was saved!\u00a0 Back at the car, we put in the address and found we were less than a quarter of a mile away from the house.<\/p>\n

We found the house with no problems.\u00a0 It was nice beautiful.\u00a0 We rang the bell and Aunt Uschi opened the door.\u00a0 Mission accomplished on arriving in one piece to the right place.<\/p>\n

After talking for a bit, Aunt Uschi took us to Mark\u2019s house, where we would be staying.\u00a0 It was time to take a shower and relax for a bit. \u00a0Rich lay down for a bit.\u00a0 I figured I would keep moving until the evening.\u00a0 Then we drove back to my Aunt and Uncle\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

Aunt Uschi took us into the air base, where my Uncle Max and Mark worked.\u00a0 First stop was to check in with Mark at the Apple Store.\u00a0 He had a customer so we had to wait for a few minutes.\u00a0 I got a hug and Rich got introduced for the first time.\u00a0 Then it was off to find Uncle Max.\u00a0 He found us first.\u00a0 We walked around the PX and the mall surrounding it.<\/p>\n

We stopped off for lattes and coffee.\u00a0 The entire time, we are talking and getting acquainted with each other again.\u00a0 Uschi is one of my favorite aunts.\u00a0 Then it was time to drive around the base and see the sites.\u00a0 The place had really grown over the years.<\/p>\n

Back at the house, Uncle Max had gotten home and settled in.\u00a0 Rich got a beer and they proceeded to talk and grill up dinner.\u00a0 Rain started to come down a bit, but the grilling was getting done.\u00a0 We sat down to grilled bacon-wrapped pork, bacon on a stick, and chicken kebabs.\u00a0 It was a feast!\u00a0 Mark came in from work and we ate up all we could get.<\/p>\n

After hanging out and talking for a while, it was finally time to call it a night.\u00a0 It was 11 o\u2019clock and I was exhausted.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it was still pretty warm and humid.\u00a0 That was unusual for Germany at this time of the year.\u00a0 Mark set up fans for us since there is no air conditioning in Germany.\u00a0 It just not supposed to be that hot.<\/p>\n

It was a great first day into Germany and with my family.<\/p>\n

\"Shatner<\/a>
Shatner seat on the plane. Watch out for gremlins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sunrise<\/a>
Sunrise as we fly over Wales and England.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Camera<\/a>
Camera view from the bottom of the plane. That’s Germany down there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After months and months of planning, the day finally came when it was time to climb aboard that plane and fly off to Germany. On Wednesday, I got up earlier than normal.\u00a0 The night before, I was trying to copy files over to the server and make sure I had information moved to where people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3490,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions\/3490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}