Germany Day 1 (and day2)

Right now I'm somewhere over Canada heading towards Greenland. The only other time I remember going over Greenland it was such a spectacular view that I will never forget it. I purposely booked an aisle seat because I wanted to see it again but unfortunately it is pitch black outside and I may not see anything. I knew we’d  be flying through the night  but I hoped that I’d be able to catch part of Greenland. What I forgot was that it is wintertime for most of North America and when I get up to Greenland they probably only see the sun for a few hours a day. Before the sun set though I did manage to see that there was a lot of snow on the ground out there. I sure do like living in San Diego during February.

This morning I decided that I wanted to spend a bit more time with Sarah so I asked her if she would drop me off at the airport. That would mean that she’d be late for church but life is all about families so I didn’t mind her missing some church. Perhaps I’m a bit selfish but I’m glad she came with me. Standing on the curb at the airport Sarah gave me such a big goodbye hug that when I headed in to the airport this old man and his wife just down from us gave us a big applause. I looked at him and he called out “Daddy’s little girl!” I answered back, “That’s right, you gotta love it.” And I do love it.

It seems strange to be on another business trip. There are a lot of things I love about working at Hi-Z and one of them is that I don’t have to travel so much. I am excited about going to Germany though, it sure beats China. I’ve never been to Germany before and if I got to choose, I sure wouldn’t have picked February but I’m still a bit excited. I had a very short layover in San Francisco and now we’re going straight over the pole and we’re supposed to land at around 10:00 in Frankfurt. I will then take a train down to Manheim where my hotel is.

A few things have changed since I last flew, the first thing I noticed was when I was booking my flights. It had a comment on the computer saying that this flight didn’t qualify for a cell phone boarding pass. What is a cell phone boarding pass I wondered? Well when I was going through security this guy held up his cell phone to a small glass screen and all of his flight information popped up on a little display.  I don’t know if his info was transmitted with a blue tooth signal or if his phone displayed a bar code but that was pretty cool. I think if I travel very much I’m going to have to learn how to do that.

The other thing that has changed are the metal detectors. They’re gone and we now have those little peep show booths. I had the infamous choice of exposing myself in the booth that can see through my clothes or go for the pat down where they literally shove their hands down your pants. I guess at my age I’m almost beyond really caring but I decided to go for the booth. What is our world coming to?

While I’m flying my poor wife is driving our car back from Utah. She flew up there but she’s bringing our car home because we are down a vehicle right now. I worry about her making that long drive alone but she’s a pretty tough girl. What is funny though is that I left this morning but she won’t be home until tonight so she was so worried about Sarah being home alone that she tried to make arrangements for Sarah. Sarah commented to me “does she realize that I’m going to college in the fall and I’m going to be alone every single day?” I reminded Sarah that she is our baby and it’s hard to let her grow up. What am I going to do when she leaves?

Well since I’m flying through the night and landing early enough tomorrow to do some sightseeing I think I will have a nap so that I’m not too tired in the morning.  Once I get in tomorrow night I will let you know how the rest of my trip is going.

=============================================

Well I did have a good nap and then woke up in time for breakfast. I’m not sure where I was but I was awake when the sun came up but when I checked out the window It was beautiful white clouds as far as the eye could and that is all I saw until we dropped into  Frankfurt. According to the map we flew over the Hudson Bay and then the very southern part of Greenland. We went directly over Iceland which I’m quite sure it was light for, over Scotland, Holland and then into Frankfurt. There were clouds the whole way. In Frankfurt I stopped at a bank machine and took out some Euros and then I bought myself a train ticket for Manheim and about 45 minutes later here I am. My hotel is a beautiful old six story building with stone walls that are about two feet thick. That is a picture of my hotel. My window faces out onto the park. My room is small and I have a single bed but I kind of like it. It is only about a ten minute walk from the train station so that was nice too. The best part of the hotel is that it is on Friedrichs Plaatz so I feel it was made just for me since it is on my place.

So I’m just a little bit worried. As I was checking into the hotel I couldn’t find my credit card so when I got to my room I dug through all of my pockets and it is nowhere to be found. I know the guy at the train station gave it back to me so all I can figure is that it fell out of my pocket when pulled my train ticket out of my pocket.  Yes, I know I should have put it back in my wallet but my train was leaving in about ten minutes and I didn’t want to miss it so I just shoved the card in my pocket with the ticket. I wasn’t too worried because I have another credit card but when I pulled it out to look at it I saw that it is expired. I’m not sure where the replacement card is but now I don’t know what to do. It is 3:00 in the morning in California and I don’t even know what phone number to call. As soon as my bank is open I’ll give them a call and hopefully they can get me a replacement card before I have to check out on Saturday. Thank goodness I took out some cash or I’d be pretty hungry right now.

After I checked into my hotel I went for a walk and found something to eat. I would have wandered around more but I was freezing so I came back the hotel and read a little bit. Once the banks in California started opening I tried calling them but no one would answer so I called Lisa. She gave me her credit card number over the phone so I can at least pay for the hotel and then she called around and got a number for the bank that I could call. I can’t even go on-line without my credit card.

After hanging around the hotel for a bit I went for another walk. This tower is a couple of hundred years old and is right in front of my hotel. I see it right in front of my window. I'm told it was a water tower. Pretty fancy water tower if you ask me. On my walk I found some dinner. It was a good dinner. Here at the hotel they were going to charge 22euro’s for their cheapest meal and I got way more than I could eat for 6 euro’s. It was a kabob place. I really wanted something German but they had a lamb sandwich made in Pita bread that looked really good. It was good too.

I’ve really wanted to go to bed for a long time now but if I go to bed too early I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and never get through the jet lag. It is now about 9:00 so I think I can go to bed now. I’m going to sleep like a baby I’m so tired. Anyone who has had a baby knows that the phrase “sleeping like a baby” is the worst description you could have for a good nights sleep. Baby’s are the most restless sleepers you’ll ever see. I can’t even be in the same room with them. They are continuously sighing and grunting and jabbering. I think tonight I’ll sleep like a log.