Adventures in Air Travel

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We’re traveling again. For those of you who aren’t familiar with our travel-styles: I like to have everything planned way in advance, David makes it up as he goes along.

Our trip to France was extremely under-scheduled because I had been ill, and up until Wednesday we were still debating whether or not to go. For a couple of days I was unable to stand or walk. On my worst day I couldn’t even hold a drink up to my mouth, but the doctors gave me some super strong antibiotics to fight my infection and now I’m doing better. Even though I wasn’t able to plan every detail of our vacation, I did manage to do enough research to feel “prepared.” I checked the weather, reserved a rental car, and printed out directions from the internet that would take us from the airport in Montpellier to our hotel in Avignon. I looked up shuttles, bus schedules, and parking fees for the German airport and decided that our best option to get to the airport was to drive ourselves and pay the 7-euros-a-day parking fee.
I had asked David at least twice if he knew how to get to the airport or if he needed directions. He said he’d be able to get us there. We weren’t exactly sure, but we thought the drive would take about 45 minutes to an hour.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:20 in the afternoon, so I would have been happy leaving the house at 11:30. David thought 1:30 would give us plenty of time. We actually ended up leaving at 12:15. We got gas and some fast food to eat in the car, and were on our way at about 12:30. About the fast food: June Bug and David had eaten a small lunch already, I was still on antibiotics which required an empty stomach, so I hadn’t eaten. I got a combo meal; David and June Bug both got a thing of small fries.
We didn’t head any particular direction. We just parked in the shade, and David asked to see the map so he would know how to “get started.” We keep a German road atlas in the car, so I handed it to him. It’s easy to find towns and cities in the index, but we couldn’t find the regional airport (Frankfurt Hahn) we needed to get to. We had been to the airport and back when David’s sister visited in early November, and we both agreed that we felt like the airport was somewhere northwest of us. So, unable to find the exact spot on the map, we headed west. (Northwest wasn’t an option. We could have headed north, which, in retrospect, would have been the better choice.) There are no autobahns or major roads between us and the airport, so we were bobbing around, tiny village after tiny village, until we finally found a sign pointing toward Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, and we felt saved. Unfortunately, as we followed the signs, we eventually got to a point were the road to Frankfurt-Hahn was closed, and no detour was posted. We tried our best to find another way to the airport (which we still hadn’t located on a map) as time ticked by. Our luck became even worse as the weather got bad… really bad… tons of rain, lightning, thunder, and hail. After a long and frustrating journey, things started looking up for us. We found our way to Morbach, then we found more signs pointing toward the airport, then the skies started to clear. We were running out of time, and we were only a little over half way there. We figured that, at the very least, we had to get there 40 minutes early to catch our flight. That made 2:40 our target time. David finally admitted that he thought we might not make it in time, but I told him that we might still be able to make it, because we weren’t driving in circles anymore and I had even found the airport in the atlas! At 2:30 we could see the airport, but we still had to find a parking lot and take the shuttle back. We spent a long time looking for long-term parking. I had read online that lots 0-1 were for short term parking and 2-8 were long term parking. I kept telling David to any lot higher than 1, but he kept looking for a “long term” parking sign. We drove around for a while until I explained that 2-8 were long term. We went to lot 3, and waited at the gate behind another car before we realized it was closed. Then we were able to go to lot 2 and park. There was no shuttle to be seen, so we decided to run for it. Now, this is quite incredible, because three days before I was being treated in the emergency room.
We made it into the airport and got in line to check-in for our flight. Just after we walked in, the skies opened up and the horrible weather from before returned. At that point we realized that we weren’t as unlucky as we thought. I mean, maybe we were the victims of bad weather and an unfortunate road closing, but at least we weren’t being pelted by hail as we ran to the airport. The storm continued and our flight was delayed. I didn’t mind the delay at all. I’d much rather be on land listening to thunder and roaring winds than freaking out in the cabin of a plane. The airport is small and made of metal, so it was impossible to hear any of the announcements over the intercom. We just sat as close as we could to the gate, and waited for the weather to clear so we could board our flight.
We arrived in France a little late, and very hungry. I had been so busy trying to help David find the airport that I hadn’t eaten much of my combo meal. I had to throw it away at the parking lot, because my hands were full carrying bags and necessities to the terminal. David and Katherine hadn’t eaten since 11:00 a.m. We made our way to the rental car counters and tried to pick up our rental, but there was a problem because I had a “trip ID #” and not a “confirmation #.” My bad, I had been planning the trip while my muscles were failing, I guess in my writhing pain I had written down the wrong number. Oh well, they had similar car for us at a price of 400 euro (about $150 higher than the internet quote), and we took it. $150 isn’t really so bad for a five day trip, right? At least we had a car with air conditioning. We also needed a car seat, and as usual figuring out an unfamiliar car seat took a while. We finally sized it to fit Katherine, and left the car rental area. Instead of picking up the car right away, we decided to go ahead and eat in the airport.
After a family meal and a family restroom break, we were ready to get in the car. The car lot was numbered, but we were still having trouble finding our car. We were wandering around the parking lot, looking for our rental when we bumped into the lady who had helped us at the rental counter in the first place. She looked like she was returning from a break, and she was shocked to see us still wandering around the car park. It took us a while to explain in French that we hadn’t been wandering the whole time, that we had eaten a meal since she saw us last. She helped us find our car and get on our way.
We had a nice drive (internet directions, no getting lost) to our hotel. June Bug was talkative along the way. There’s nothing like starting a journey across France and having your three-year-old ask from the backseat, “Where are the French fries? I love France.” We arrived at about 9:00 p.m. Our reservation was for a room with one double bed, but when the man behind the desk saw we had a little one with us, he upgraded us to a room with a sofa bed at no extra charge…Bonus.
I don’t usually watch TV at home, but I sure do like to see TV when I visit other countries. We had a few channels to choose from, but most of the stations were just carrying French-dubbed American TV. We did watch a little bit of a French dancing show. Then we all went to bed.

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Photos

Frankfurt Hahn in a Thunderstorm
The rain was pouring so hard on the tin roof of the airport that we had to cover our ears.