Mainz Hotels
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Off to Europe
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Mainz,
Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
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Thursday, May 01, 2008 13:01
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Entry 118 of 127 | show all | print this entry |
Well, I am up bright and early, not needing an alarm clock because my phone is vibrating off the night stand. I pick it up and read the email: it is from Delta
Our flight is canceled! Panic.
I read further... we have been booked on another flight!
I read further, and find we leave only ½ hour later and instead of going through wonderful (not) JFK we are going to Altanta and then straight to Frankfurt. There is a reward to flying on one airline and being a frequent flyer. This is the flight we originally wanted, but beggars can't be choosers, so we were on the JFK one,and now we are on the better one anyway. So, after getting my early morning wide awake up email, I thought I might as well stay awake. I get a call from my traveling companion, and Judy is already on the way to my house. While I am telling her about the email, both our phones ring on the other line. It is Delta calling. It is an automated call telling us about the change in schedule. So, in just ½ hour I have received two notifications about the change in -plans. We hang up, Judy is about 20 minutes away and the phone rings again. This time it is a live person from Delta telling me about the change. I told her it was old news by now, but did compliment her and Delta for their fantastic notification process. Now, if it had been different news, like in we couldn't get to Europe for a couple of days, I wouldnt have been so impressed. However, with service like this - shorter flight and earlier arrival in Frankfurt, I certainly was pleased with their service!
Judy arrives and we sort out some last mintue items to take - like which of our 40 or so books we have bought for Germany, Paris, the Rhine, Belgium, Bruges and Amsterdam do we want to take. If nothing else, we are thorough. I think I like reading about where I am going nearly as much as actually getting there... well, not really. It does make it more fun for me to know what I am looking at though. Rather than "wow, that looks old" I know how it was built in the middle ages, the wars that it went through and who the king or prince was that lived there. Wade arrives to take us to the airport, and off we go.
We arrive in Atlanta and stop by one of our favorite stores then head for the international crown room. We make last minute phone calls and call the credit card companies to alert them to international travel and sit down for a snack. By the way, calling your bank and credit card companies is probably required by most. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but it sure can save you a lot of headaches when you travel in Europe. You need to tell them when and where you are traveling so they approve charges. A friend didn't do this one time, experienced quite a bit of frustration getting things resolved. However, once the bank knew there was no problem.
Anyway, we decide to mosey down to the gate and as we are leaving I think I hear my name being called.... someone is saying the plane has been boarding for a while. It is still 40 minutes to departure but when we get to the gate we see a long line of people waiting to get on and the seats about empty... Note to self. Get to the gate earlier. I guess with the loading of long haul planes they can start boarding earlier while supplies are put on. When we got to our seats we were nearly the last to sit down. We were on a 767 - and it seemed small. Last year we were on a 777 and you could practically hold a dance between rows. There was to be no dancing on THIS flight!
So, we are settling in and see a really neat new amenities kit. It is so cute. They had new blankets - quilts actually and fluffy new pillows. Actually pretty nice, but I would rather have more room. I know, whine, whine, whine...One of the flight attendants is a real character. Lots of fun and we trade some silly travel stories. She asks us just about first what our choice for dinner is, and of course we take the best stuff! We also ask for the quick service this time. Usually, dinner is a long process going to Europe. First snacks with wine, then appetizer, then salad, then dinner, then fruit and cheese, then dessert. It all takes about 1 ½ hour. So, this time we ask for the quick service. Well, this is really neat. You get served everything first and it doesn't take so long. This means you can get to your reading, or movies, or in my case, I was going to try to sleep - for the FIRST time on this flight. Well, I didn't sleep very much, but had more time not to.
We are landing at 7:45, so that means we will be served breakfast at 6:15. OK, so 6:15 Germany time is really Midnight :15 at home. We boarded the plane at 4:30, so no matter if you sleep the entire time after dinner, it still isn't much! But, what the heck... We are going to Europe!
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