Trip to Germany, August 2004

WOw as one who just got back, take these tips to heart

Having said that, I had an odd experience. No one said a beep about a can of sardines I smuggled back from Germany in my purse. If I were a real mad bomber, that would be how I would disguise my bomb. A can of exploding sardines.

The good news is most airports are pretty organized, people are willing to help, coffee and food is plentiful (as is booze) in airport restaurants. The Euro is pronounced "OOO roe" and use the ATM to get them, as they charge about 3.50 to exchange Greenbacks. Exchange rate Dollars to Euros is about 1$ to point-8 [.8] Euro

One more item: don't take babies and pets if possible. I heard a lot of squalling babies on the International flights (the poor little things, they can't handle stress like we do, or plugged ears) and I saw one family get bit by a dog with more brains than they had. Poor thing did NOT want to go into that pet carrier, there in line in Frankfurt..........

AND be kind and help your fellow travelers. I helped one mother at customs who had a toddler escaping while she lugged a newborn in a carrier........ I grabbed him and took the little guy through the scanner for her......... the little s*** after I had listened to him whine all across Newfoundland! Oh well, he was just a little tyke. Just remember to be nice to one another out there. A smile goes a long way.

best regards, from the jet lag capital of the world....................

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Dear Pat: Hey here I sit on Saturday night my time.......... I still have to type up my adventures, and probably will tonight if I am still jet lagged and up prowling.

It was a good thing I went on through early, as there were about 3 more checkpoints beyond that first one! and I had to wind down through a maze of rooms and shops. Weird thing happened, there was a shop I made a quick pass through in there, and I found a 3 disc set of Gregorian music! would you like some music? (if not I'll be hoggy and keep for myself!) I hope the desktop did not walk away at the USO.......... knowing you, you went back to Doha and are spending time toasting your toes on the beach.

My back hurts like hell from sleeping against weird things on planes, and I'm feeling whiney so I shall sign off, but please write me soon and let me know you are ok.

Christie sue

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Life is not like a video game, there is no great flashing light proclaiming "You are now on your Trip". No, nothing easy…….. what usually happens in an alarum goes off at an ugly cow milkin' time of the morning, when even the BATS are asleep, and off I go weaving in my little Ranger, trying to make the first connection. In this case, it's the Kitsap Airporter, which picks up locally at the Silverdale Red Lion. I'm just thankful I actually got some sleep last night.

There is a sizable airport crowd at the Red Lion! Surprising considering how avidly the ticket agent tried to talk me out of that early morning pick up. Ride uneventful, dropped at the airport actually a little early. Like 3 hours before my take off! (well they have us all terrified by security these days……… ) SEA-TAC has a HUGE parking lot, which I had never seen before. My God you could house the entire US Army in there. Remind me to never drive my car to this place!

My luggage is already proving to be far too much and 'way too heavy. Eventually I would dub the big red wheel-along suitcase (kindly loaned by my Dad) with the name "Godzilla" so from here-on, that be the name of my luggage……. Anyway Godzilla got checked in early, so I killed a little time roaming around the airport……. Saw the Voyager on static display. This is the aircraft that allegedly flew around the world on one tank of gas, it's all long and lithe and pretty……… there she hangs at SEA-TAC. I also found these charming little junk machines, which live inside a glass case on the way to the concourse. They were so cute! They rolled on wheels and sprouted junk heads of old dolls…… really a treat when they turned on.

I hate flying…….. always feel like I'm in a cattle chute when I board the plane. The only fun thing is meeting and watching people……. I meet a cute little girl with a "Barbie" walkman which lights up…….. the kid is a delight and is thrilled to death with her toy. I wish we could all see life as simply as a child does. This time I'm sober when I board, for a change, try reading and crochet a bit. Seat mates are always a treat; this time I'm next to a nice looking man who is into electronics…… he watches Hellboy on his laptop most of the way to Atlanta. I think this was the leg I first saw Shrek II, which was a kick and just as good as the first one. I give the pilot a C- on landing because he practically stands the thing on end! Ugh……. It was better than the time I landed in Adak, in a crosswind, going backwards, but just barely.

I'm sure by this time my film is all fogged from the x-ray machines, but they tell me Not… anyway I have a little left from the last roll on the old AE1, so I see this hilarious sculpture in the airport…. It's an ear of corn, peeled back and looks like a plane. Or it looks like a flying yellow gnarly dick, whichever your dirty mind finds in the sculpture. It is very funny and gives me my first laugh of the day. I also start encountering German speakers. The plane will turn out to be just as full of Germans as it is English speakers, which is interesting and actually speaks ill of Lufthaunsa.

My seat mate this time is a young woman who works security for the US Army (so young she didn't know what the Tailhook scandal was!). She is a real jabber-jaw, and very amusing. We talk through the take off, which is good as my anxiety drops right down…. The engines start up on the 767 (?I think) and they are some ENGINES. Woah! Some power under us this time! Off we go, above the clouds with nary a bobble and we are on our way to Germany. Pat told me that airplanes are sent across the Water in "blocks" that is as a group so they can keep touch with each other and stay awake. I believe it, when the Sun came up, we had a wingman in the clouds, that was nice too.

My seatmate showed me how to run the controls on the arms (funny all the planes I flew with Delta all had different telly and movie controls!) but oddly there wasn't anything that great on, except Shrek II again. Which I watched a few more times. I tried to sleep, it was such a long flight and I lost track (somewhere between 13 and 9 cramped hours) of where and how long. Someone had a kid who was at that "singing" age where they go Da Da all the time (and of course, she was wide awake, so we all were too!). We were right next to the bathroom and there was a little area near there where people started hanging out and talking, making an all night party of it. I tried drinking, it was no good, no sleep. All my anxieties about meeting Pat stated coming out, and as we flew into the dark, over Newfoundland, Labrador, Iceland, Greenland…… it was like we slid into a dark, cold time warp, filled with singing whales and chattering Cthulhu demons. Water and air had no difference……… it was all cold and dark………

Then mystically the sun came up, and we were over the Emerald Isle, Ireland, our ancestral homeland. The clouds covered the Land of Green Shadows like fluffy faery vanilla frosting. It was approaching midnight by my body clock, but I didn't feel like sleeping now. The tracker showed us flying over the English Channel, then over Germany, Koln, and yes, Frankfort. He landed it well (B+). We debarked, and followed a maze of security checks, passport stampers and bored German police who of course, never smiled. Ah such a friendly place……… well, I'll give them a chance, since I came all this way.

Godzilla made the leap across the Pond with me, and we met at baggage claim. I had been given the intelligence by my garrulous seat mate that Rhein Main, the US Airbase was on the other side of the airfield, and you "can't get there from here" not easily anyway. I had arrived on Saturday. I managed somehow (after roaming the Very Large Frankfort airport up and down escalators!) to find American military greeters, and they directed me to a shuttle headed to the Other Side. Trundling Godzilla, I went with them, and thanked my foresight in having a valid military ID on me (the only thing Retirement has done for me so far).

>>>>>>>>>>>>go on to the Second page and read about Germany<<<<<<<<<<