27 and 28 July 2018
Seattle to Frankfurt

“Are they crazy??” These are the three words I hear Gina exclaim while reading the in-flight menu card for her Condor Premium Economy seat. I will hear these three words again about 9 time zones from now only in a different context, one that I thankfully don’t yet know about. In this instance, I hear them because Gina is incredulous that anyone would ever ask for an Economy meal as a substitute for the “Premium” meal she will be receiving in a few hours, which the card is telling her is an option. Yes, folks, the burritowagon is back on the road.

We are off to the Alps for a 3 week holiday trekking around Mont Blanc and then cycling around some lakes in France. I say “some lakes” because I haven’t looked at the itinerary in a long while so (a) I don’t remember their names and (b) my best-laid plans to review said itinerary during this first leg of our trip have been laid to waste by the pre-flight beers in the Condor lounge, the in-flight movie choices, extra wine with dinner, and Gina’s talking, of course.

Landing in Frankfurt after our 10 hour flight and falling back into Amazing Race mode, which for those who might be new to the blog should understand requires us (aka Gina) to be first out of the gate, first in line, and basically just always first (in some circles this is known as a lack of patience), we are off to our connecting flight to Geneva. Double-checking the Departures board for our gate assignment, I’m pretty sure we are the first to see the dreaded word “Cancelled”. “Are they crazy?” And there they were, those three little words that a few hours ago were funny and now, not so much.

But stick with the mantra I say, which is “The key is not to panic.” Racing ahead of our new Canadian friend we met at Passport Control in a similar cancelled-flight dilemma, we are first to arrive at the rebooking counter. And by first I mean only ahead of our new friend and not the other 50 people in line who also had their Lufthansa flights cancelled. What up Lufthansa?

But with the mantra firmly in control, we are rebooked on a flight out first thing in the morning and given a room and dinner voucher at a “nearby” hotel. Great! Let’s switch gears and enjoy an evening in lovely Frankfurt. Okay, maybe not so lovely, given our actual location, which doesn’t appear to be anywhere near Frankfurt based on the length of the shuttle ride and, well, this beautiful view.

But with a dinner buffet, free bier, and no sleep over the past 24 hours, we’ll take it.