I got up bright and early at my hotel in Frankfurt to make sure that I would get to the airport with plenty of time for check-in etc. What fun that adventure was. I woke up at 5:30 am got dressed, repacked a few things, goofed around for a little bit then walked (luggage in tow) from the hotel to the Lufthansa building next door...that is where the airport shuttle picks up to take hotel people to the airport. I am out there by 6:15 am in the dark damp air...luckily no snow and no rain. The shuttle gets there and off we go to the airport. Now I was under the impression that the shuttle would take me to the right terminal for my flight...wrong. They pick you up someplace other than your hotel and drop you off someplace other than your terminal. Actually they drop you off by the baggage pickup for who knows which airlines. Luckily, my flight was not until 9:45 and the airport didnt seem too busy, so I start off on my stroll attempting to find out where I am supposed to be...for some reason the Frankfurt airport doesn't give full disclosure as to what terminal or gate for that matter a flight is at.
I start following signs that seem to be giving me the right direction and at that time in the morning, who would know the difference. Finally after a long haul I think I am in the right place, so I ask information and they tell me, "no, you have to go up the escalator then take the tram to another terminal...just follow the signs." Off I go once again, bags in tow...I was smart along the way and just got one of the bag trolley things (or whatever the carts are called) so that did make life easier, especially since the Frankfurt airport doesn't charge for the carts...which is kind of odd since, in Germany, if you go to the store you have to put a euro coin in the carts to get them out to use them (you get it back when you return the cart). So I make my way up to the next level and get on the tram thanks to the help of a very nice gentleman and then realize how stupid, I took my bags off the cart and could have just drug it on the tram...oh well, live and learn. The tram stops at this point and that, and then gets to the terminal I need.
At this point I am figuring I will get to the counter and find that my bag weighs a whole lot more than I anticipated, which of course will cost me 75 euro extra (a little over $100) cause that is just the way things are going. I get to the check in podium and the lady there was so nice and pleasant, then off to see about the horrors that may await me upon baggage check-in, but to my surprise my bag was actually barely under the max weight. I get my boarding pass, get my stickers for my carry on items and off I go to the gate...which by the way they werent sure if it was the right one or not. They put on the boarding pass that it was gate D8? If we were talking a little airport the question of whether it was gate D8 or not would not be a big deal, but once on the gate level I realize there are about 70 D gates...the question of D8 or not becomes more pressing. But it was a starting point. I take the path to the D1-9 security screening area and find that no one has gotten in line to wait for the doors to open, so I stroll to the front of the line...someone has to be first right?
Not a good choice. As I stand there, others start to fill in behind and after a few minutes they open the doors for the security screening. I stroll up with a smile on my face and a good morning (ok really a gut morgen) from my mouth, happy to be one step closer to getting on the plane. I pass through the body scanner and go to get my stuff when this nice lady steps up and says "you will need to come with me." Ok at this point I am slightly stirred. I had nothing in my bags that were not ok, the liquids I had were in two little containers and way under 3 ounces, what could the problem be? Knowing that perhaps it was just a random thing I went along with no problem. I get to this side area which seemed odd since they had up a privacy screen but it was facing the wall rather than blocking off everyone else in line from watching...whatever, I had nothing to hide. So the lady says to put my arms up, which I do with no complaints. At this point I figure fine she has her wand in hand and they are just going to do the pass by with it and I would be on my way...nope, I got frisked. Heck I haven't been frisked like that on a date in a long time...but I wasn't exactly in a position to protest.
Then she asks me to open my bags...now you have to understand in order to get all the goodies back in as few bags as possible I had things jam packed in the bags...kind of like a stick of gum in the package, once you take the first piece out, you can't get it back in. But once again, I was not in a position to protest, so I did as I was asked. She tossed things around and then said, "thank you have a good day." At this point I was a little curious what they were suspecting me of having, so I asked her was there something suspicious or was it just because I was the first in line? She tells me, no nothing suspicious. Ok, point for future reference, don't be the first in line when the security point opens in Frankfurt. I did however get everything back in the bag (shocker, I know).
By this time I figure I can sit at the gate and relax a little bit before loading begins. Nope, they had us wait in the gate foyer (for lack of a better term). Then finally they decide to open it up and we once again get to be asked if we have purchased anything (the duty free shop was on the way to the gate after the security screen point), did anyone give us anything, did we have anything that wasn't ours, etc. Once that was done then we were able to go to the gate. So I took a seat and this nice little family came up (a mom with her two small children). I am sitting there reading a little bit when all of a sudden there is this little hand on my arm and I look down and its this cute little girl (probably about Phe and Jack's age) and she just smiles up at me, so I said hello to her. Next thing I know she has put her head on my arm and is holding on to me, so I start a little conversation with her, during which she offers me a bite of her snack (thank goodness she wasnt one of those kids that gets insistent on things like that) which I turned down and she walked off and gave the snack to her mom; who at this point was telling me that Brianna is a very outgoing child...I could see that. The little girl starts to color for a few minutes and then next thing I know she is back over by me and has started to climb into the seat with me. At this point I am wondering why her mom seems so uninterested in what her very young child is doing, although she was watching but she really said nothing. Meanwhile Brianna climbed up onto my lap and sat back leaning against me and just looked up at me. What can you do in that situation? So I said to her mom, "she is quite outgoing isn't she?" Mom replies, yes they both (Brianna and her brother) seem to be quite comfortable with others. Strange, but the little girl just seemed to need to sit there...maybe it is the grandma effect, I don't know. So she sat with me quietly for a few minutes, then it was time to load the plane.
I make my way all the way back to the tail end of the plane...my seat was the next to the last row. I of course I have an aisle seat cause that is just what everyone wants on a long flight, but seat placing was not high on my list of priorities to tell the truth. I get my stuff stowed away in the overhead compartment and a nice lady comes up and points at the window seat. I find out soon enough my seatmate doesn't speak any English at all. Fair enough, I wasn't planning on a conversation anyway. Luckily, I could understand enough German that when the attendants came by (speaking only English) I could help the lady get what she wanted to drink. Now wouldn't you think they would have flight attendants on a Germany flight know at least the minimal words in German like coffee, water, etc? There was one attendant on the flight who spoke German so it all worked out. Basically the flight was uneventful, unfortunately, sitting on the aisle seat meant I couldn't get a good view out of the window most of the time...so I missed being able to possibly see England and Scotland as we flew over them. But, there was a stroke of luck further in the flight as we were passing over Greenland...my seatmate had to get up to use the restroom and I got to see how beautiful Greenland is...but I thanked my lucky stars I was up above it in a warm plane because it does not look like someplace I want to put on my list of places to visit. Perhaps you can see why:
After that I kind of started to doze a little..more like cat naps.But I was glad I got to see Greenland in all its snowy icy beauty.
A few hours later we landed in Detroit...then the fun began. I had a two hour layover in Detroit and this is how it started. Although my bag was checked through to Denver upon departing from the plane I would proceed to customs then I would have to retrieve my checked bag in order to take it to customs in order to then recheck the bag so that I could then go on to my next gate. Easy, right? No, not so fast. Being all the way in the back of plane meant waiting for hundreds of others to get out in front of me. Then you get off the plane and walk for a mile (ok, maybe not that far but a good distance) to get in line to show your passport, your customs declaration, etc. Finally my turn arrives and for some reason they couldn't find me easily in their system. Then after about 10 minutes the guy finds me and clears me to go on to the next step. By this time my bag was making its way around the carousel, then off to wait in line for the customs check.
Now keep in mind I had put lovely neon zipties on my bag so that the zippers wouldn't open in flight etc. They were still intact..At no time had anyone along my travels asked me to open that particular bag, so I assume on this entry point customs check they would have me open it. Nope, I waste five minutes with the guy at customs asking me where I live, what I do there, then I waste more time trying to explain to him what teaching gifted students is (because he asked me what subject I teach and I was silly enough to say gifted), then explain to him what I have that I would declare as being worth $400, and yet at no point does he want to look in the bag...odd, I thought they always liked to mess with people and look in their bags. Not that I had anything to hide, but it seemed odd when they were looking in other bags, but hey, I caught a break on this one.Thank goodness recheck was no big deal...just hand the bag to the next guy he scans the tag and off to wait in line for yet another security screen. Now wouldn't you think that if we had nothing getting on the last plane, never got out of a controlled area, that we would have no reason to be going through a security screen yet again? Obviously, they don't think like I do.
So we wait in line to go through the process all over again (meanwhile I am thinking to myself, on the way home I am checking in anything and everything that I can to minimize what I have to carry). Finally my turn arrives...I go through the lovely body scanner, and wouldn't you know it, I get patted down again. Only this time they said they only had to check my right ankle...wonder if it picked up the little bit of titanium pin that is still in there? Not a big deal. Then I go to get my stuff from the conveyor belt for the xray and the guy asks what I have in the bag so I tell him not much, some cookies, candies, and other goodies for the grandbabies. He looks at me all serious and says "you aren't allowed to take the cookies and candies, they have to stay here" By this time I was exhausted (yes sitting on a long flight can wear you out) so I just looked at him dead in the eyes and said, "if the cookies and candies don't make it to my grandbabies they will be very disappointed and cute as you may be they are cuter." So he just chuckled and said Merry Christmas and I was on my way, yet again.
Once again, the airport is no podunk airport...it is huge and of course my flight is not close by, it is clear on the other side of the airport (or so it seemed). I was on the escalator, then on a moving walkway, then another, then another, and yet more. Finally, I make it to the gate and somehow in my mind as I was making my way there I thought I only had a half hour to get to the gate...so I was in a hurry to get there. Only once I arrived did I realize that I had no clue what I was thinking as I still had about 50 minutes before the flight. Glad I was walking at break neck speed to get there LOL So I went and got a Pepsi...that in itself is a joyous thing as very rarely in Europe do you find stands that sell Pepsi products, went back to the gate and relaxed for a few minutes. About the time that my eyes started to close it was time to board. Yep you guessed it, I got an aisle seat again. Not a big deal this time though, I figured I would nap despite my location...wrong, there was a lovely older lady and her husband in the seats next to me. Her hubby had the window seat and proceeded to pull the shade and fall asleep. That left her to talk to me...luckily she was quite nice and the time flew by quickly.
YAY we arrived in Denver. After everyone got out of the plane (ok I wasn't all the way in the back but not far from it) it was off to baggage claim. So I got on the tram, and there I was sort of...I had to figure out which baggage claim would have my baggage...lucky guess, I found it. Now came the challenge, with no cell phone I had to find Heather...but I thought she was just going to drive by and pick me up so not a big challenge...get my bags go to the right level and wait outside. Next thing I know Alex comes running up to me. I guess they had been looking for me and missed me while I was waiting outside. But we found each other and Dale swung by with the van, so off we went.
Finally after being up for basically 24 hours it was time for bed (ok, the ride to the Springs, dinner, and a little time talking preceeded this). 8 hours and up again :) While I was lucky and it did not snow before I left Germany the day in the Springs brought about some snow. It was fine by me, I was spending the day with Alex and Phe while Dale was up in Denver and Heather was at work. When Phe went to take a nap Alex and I were playing with the Legos. I had to laugh he all of a sudden looks at me all serious and says "Legos are my life, man!" I sure miss these moments being so far away. Then he proceeded to make a song for me and it went a little something like this:
It snowed through the evening and so we woke to this:
Seems a great start to a winter break! Speaking of breaks, Phe has done it again, so he has a rather festive right legL
Haven't gotten to see Jack yet, I guess not till Wednesday evening...but that is better than not at all.
A few of Alex and Phe:
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