So glad that we spent the night so close to the
airport! We get up early and go down to
breakfast. It’s my last latte mochaccino,
and croissant, and all the usual breakfast buffet components. Back upstairs we pack for the last time,
neatly gather the debris from last night’s pizza, and head back to the
reception desk. Marilyn asks for a
receipt and the lady thinks we need to still pay the city taxes. No, no.
She explains that the young man last night kept asking for money for one
thing and then another and then a third and the receptionist says, “He must
have been very stressed” and lets it go.
 |
| Immediately adjacent to our hotel is this view! Each garden plot is rented to a different person. They are usually people who live in apartments and have no garden of their own. It is required that each garden be kept up and the people don't really live in the little houses, the way it looks. Many of them are flying flags from different countries. Check out the mural and the rain barrel! |
We get our parking ticket validated again and head to the car. Did I explain last night that you can park in
their protected lot for twenty-four hours for six Euros; but every time you want to leave during those
twenty-four hours you have to get your ticket validated so you can use it to
leave; and when you return you get
another ticket that will have to be validated, etc. etc.
At the car we stash the last little things in our suitcases,
to make our backpacks a bit lighter and plug in the Garmin. Since we’ve done this once, getting to the
airport isn’t difficult. Parking is
another story! There are multiple
parking buildings and Henning didn’t know which one he used, or which one we
should park in. We finally just pick
one. They have a really neat system for
finding an open space, though. There are
green arrows to follow toward the open ones.
Once parked we take careful note of the car’s location so we
can tell Henning where we stashed it and try to figure out where to go. Since Lufthansa wouldn’t let Marilyn print her
boarding pass we go from pillar to post to find out where to do that. We are even sent upstairs at one point before
being successful. Then we drop out
luggage, which is a multiple-step process, and go off in search of baggage
services, to drop off Henning’s keys.
Down an escalator, into Lost and Found where a wonderful lady actually
knows what we want and how to get there!
That done we can head for our gate, first passing through
Passport Control (easy) and Security (not so much!). They don’t require you to remove your
shoes. They do require you to remove not
just your computer but all your cords and chargers! I forgot a tiny knife in my wallet; but the nice man lets me keep it. Really, unless you stabbed someone in the
eye, it would be hard to do any damage.
I usually travel with it in my suitcase;
but I had moved it to my wallet, so it would be accessible if I ever
needed it. I didn’t! Oh well!
We’re finally at our gate.
We left the airport hotel around eight thirty and are at our gate at
noon!! Whew! It will be good to be home. I love our airport! I hope to never have to fly to, through, or
from Frankfurt ever again! While we’re
waiting for our flight I take one last tour through the tourist traps and
before you know it, it’s time!!
Odd, after they call all the “special” people, they don’t
call zones or rows, everyone just lines up to scan their passes and go
downstairs. We were told that we would
have to present our passports one more time.
They didn’t tell us that, like cattle, we would blindly follow those in
front of us and wind up boarding busses!
Or that the busses would drive half way across the country to get to our
plane, out in the north forty! We even
pass a Thomas Cook’s Tours plane that was closer to the terminal than we were!
We climb the stairs of our Star Alliance A340 and are
pleasantly surprised! There is actually
some leg room! AND no one is in the two
middle seats next to me! And there is no
one else in Marilyn’s row!! Life is
improving! The Universe is making up for
that bus ride!
We begin the ten-hour journey. First there is a packet of mini-pretzels,
then a beverage of your choice, including wine.
Then everyone gets a hot cloth to refresh themselves and rinse their
hands. Next comes dinner (?) after about an hour or so in the air. There is chicken breast in red sauce, with
mashed potatoes (I think) and mushrooms, mixed greens with Italian dressing,
roll and butter, a wedge of brie, strawberry shortcake and a square of
chocolate! Another round of drinks
(water seems prudent) and the lights in the cabin are dimmed. A bottle of water goes to everyone, and later
there is a KitKat bar! When the lights
come back up, hours later, we get our second hot meal, pasta in pesto sauce,
roll and butter, and vanilla pudding with chocolate sauce.
During the ten hours I watch a lot of movies – “Film Stars
Don’t Die in Liverpool”, “Abracadabra”, “Her”, “Gone, Baby, Gone”, “Hitchcock”,
and “Puss in Boots” (who can resist Banderas?)
I think “Hitchcock” was my favorite.
Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins would always be hard to beat!
We arrive a bit late, due to the bizarre bus ride across the
airport; but we don’t care! We’re home and just have to make it to
Marilyn’s car and our homes. We deplane
and trek through the international terminal to passport control and
customs. With our GOES cards, we just
have to put our passports in the GOES machine, let it read our fingerprints (I
always have trouble with this part) and go straight to collect our
suitcases! I guess they no longer care
how much money we’ve spent on souvenirs.
As long as we don’t bring in animal products, we’re good!
It takes a bit for the carousel to begin running. My suitcase comes along fairly quickly; Marilyn’s isn’t quite so cooperative. In fact, it takes so long that she goes off
to find someone to question. He assures
her that when all the bags have been unloaded, the sign on the carousel will
say “all bags are unloaded”. Eventually
it shows up and there are no outward signs of a broken wine bottle inside, so
YAY!
Now we just have to exchange our Euros for dollars and
retrieve the car from Valet Parking.
Easy Peasy. The exchange part
goes really well; the nice lady does
both our exchanges as one transaction so she doesn’t have to charge us two
fees! She saves me eight dollars! Now we schlep our stuff across to Valet
Parking and ask for Marilyn’s keys.
Henning didn’t give her a claim number, but she knows the car was dropped off around
eleven and that should help. While the
earnest young man is searching I realize that I left Stu’s hat at the currency
exchange! I run back and along the way
my boots stick to the floor and I pull a muscle in my back, upper thigh! I still manage to get back to the window
before anyone has made off wit it! It
would have really reeked to have carried is safely all across Germany and the
Atlantic Ocean, just to lose it in Tampa!
When I get back, I learn that the car isn’t actually at
Valet Parking. Henning had send a
message saying that he couldn’t find Valet Parking and had left the keys at eh
reception desk for the Marriott. You may
not know; but the Marriott isn’t very
close to Valet Parking. We hike across
the airport and explain our dilemma to the desk clerk. The good news is that he actually has the
keys! The bad news is that we have to
hike all the way back to get to the parking building where the car is patiently
awaiting us, and that we only know the level and the row. TIA doesn’t have space numbers. But Marilyn’s keyless entry system lets the
car call us!! Beep Beep!!
We pile everything in the car, praise the Universe for
getting us home, and head out. It only
costs us eighteen dollars to get out, which is a huge improvement over what we
paid in Frankfurt! The ride home
features a classically beautiful Florida sunset and light traffic. It’s good to be home!
Whew. Too bad you don't have any time to relax even after you get home!
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