Monday, June 18, 2018: Frankfurt to Seattle

I had set my alarm for 5:45 but woke up at 5:15 not knowing where I was. I had gotten used to my room on the ship and had stumbled around a bit in the night when I went to the bathroom.

It was a clear day and the sun was rising. I took my shower and got ready once again for the day. No coffee in the room and the restaurant in the hotel didn’t open until 6:30. I decided I would wait until the lounge at the airport.

I went down to check out around 6:45 and saw the driver was already there. He hadn’t texted me or I would have gone down earlier.

Saw some really cool buildings on the way to the airport and wished I had more time to spend in Frankfurt. Some other day, I guess.

My flight wasn’t until 10:45 and boarding was at 10:00 so I again had a few hours to wait in the airport. Luckily, I was able to wait in the Lufthansa lounge. There weren’t a lot of people when I first got there but it sure filled up by 9:00.

Lufthansa lounge FrankfurtFinally got my coffee – a cappuccino

I am looking forward to getting home. It has been a great trip but I miss my kitty, Misty. From what my son says, she misses me too. He checks on her most days and said she is getting very needy. She will probably be very vocal about her displeasure with me when I do return. Courtney says I need to figure out a way to take her with me next time, which is why I have a camper and boat that she can travel in.

The plane took off late due to Germany having issues with not enough air traffic controllers. I guess that was why every flight out of or into Germany that I was on was late. We got into the air about an hour late.

The flight was long but it was daytime so I didn’t even try to sleep. I ended up watching four movies! More than I usually watch in a month. It was a pretty smooth flight and not long after we passed over Iceland it was clear and I saw vast areas of frozen tundra. Still have to say that the Pacific Northwest was the most beautiful.

Some of my observations and learnings from this trip:

Don’t travel during prime tourist season.

Don’t travel when it is hot!

Doing your own thing can be more fun than taking organized tours.

T-mobile actually worked much better than I expected in Europe. I was able to use GPS and internet most of the time when in port and the cities.

Don’t pack so many shoes and clothes. Last time I spent a month in Europe out of a carry on but got a little carried away this time.

Hydrate or die. One day my feet and ankles were so swollen, they hurt.

Europeans obviously have a better language system in their schools. Every where we went people spoke English whereas very few Americans speak another language fluently.

Men take longer in the bathroom on planes than women unless the woman is primping.

Global Entry is so worth it. There were 6 international flights that arrived around the same time. Lines were backed up into the gangways. But they called for Global people to move to front of line. Had to wait a bit for luggage but it all went smoothly and I was home before most of the other passengers were even through customs!

And, finally, kitty cats really do miss their humans.

I don’t have any plans for travel until a short RV trip in July and maybe some boating so not sure when I will post again.

Thanks for following along with me.

After much petting and meowing, Misty settled down on top of my head.Paytime