Weekend in Frankfurt
As you may know, my SuperHeroHusband is deployed to a Faraway Land. One of the reasons it was okay by me for him to serve away from home is because of our non-rev benefits. You know, that tee shirt that says "marry me, fly free". The current state of the industry has changed that tee shirt into "marry me, fly standby." I can't give this stuff away!
Ahhhh, standby travel. When it works, it's a brilliant benefit. When it starts to fall apart, it is defeating and frustrating.
A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to spend the weekend with Norm. We were both on the phone, looking at the loads of all three flights to Frankfurt (FRA)--where we planned on spending the weekend together--and all three flights looked beautiful for non-revving (standby travel.)
Of course, arriving at the airport changed all that...and two of the three flights to FRA were suddenly overbooked--maybe a Lufthansa (LH) flight cancelled--who knows?
See on the right side of the screen- it says:
"Seats Remaining: 0"
I was forced into a decision. The last flight to FRA wasn't looking very good--so my friend Shelby, also a Flight Attendant, was on the phone with me and helping with Plan B.
There was a London (LHR) flight that was leaving about 10 minutes before the last FRA flight, and it had plenty of seats. I'd take that flight, then hop on a LH flight from LHR to FRA.
I had to quickly go to the ticket counter, outside of security, buy a ZED ticket--a discounted, yet still standby travel ticket--to get me from LHR to FRA; go back through security and to the gate for the London flight. And hopefully not look like a sweaty mess when it was all done. (FAIL!)
It went like clockwork! Well, except for the sweaty mess part...
And, yaaaa-ay, me! I flew to LHR in First Class.
I was at LHR for about 2 hours total--just enough time to pick up this bag for my daughter Casey at the Harrod's shop at the airport. (London is "our" city.)
I flew down to FRA on LH, an hour flight--then took the train from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof, and finally, a taxi to the hotel.
Plan B worked beautifully!
Norm drove up from Stuttgart (STR) and we had dinner at the Klosterhof. This is a restaurant very close to our layover hotel in FRA that we call the "Orange Door" (anyone guess why?) It's just a good, inexpensive German restaurant that I happen to love!
The next day we took a Rhine River tour which included a cable car ride down the mountain, overlooking the river, a quaint town, and vineyards. It was lovely!
And, hot! It was 36C (97F) that day and not a cloud in the sky!
Assmanhauser Hollenberg vineyards
Lunch at a cute restaurant on the River...
Beautiful churches and vineyards...
On Sunday, we just hung out together--finding a good pizza restaurant and watching the World Cup play out on televisions all over the city.
With Norm back to work on Monday, I headed to the airport. I had my Plan B in place (the LH 747 later in the day!) However, Plan A worked just fine--I was given a seat in the village, and opted to go ahead and get home. The seat in Coach was a sure thing...and in the the non-rev world, you always go for the sure thing!
PS...Blogger, I still hate you...I have spent so much time trying to move pictures around and make this post pretty. As soon as I learn it, I am going over to WordPress. You frustrate me so!
Blondie
3 What's YOUR view? Click here to comment, please!
Write What's YOUR view? Click here to comment, please!The picture thing frustrates me too!! That is why I drag my heels posting my travels..ugh!
ReplyI agree with the picture thing and Blogger, but people are complaining about WordPress, too. Fortunately I know a bit about HTML and can make tables and fix their code if needed.
ReplyI haven't been getting your RSS feed for a while. Just unsubcribed and now I'm going to resubscribe. Was that a Blogger thing, too :)
Have a good one,
Sheila
Well, Sheila--I did break the Internet a few weeks ago! Not sure why you aren't getting the feed. I am going to a WP conference in a couple of weeks and hopefully will get smart about all this stuff...we'll see. Blogger has been so frustrating for me--wand I have so many more pics I'd like to post but sometimes I just don't have it in me!
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