A quick jaunt to Istanbul… (part six)

Featured photo is of the Istanbul Airport area as we flew over it.

Finally, Friday morning arrived, and it was time to go back to Germany. Specifically, we were going to be flying to Frankfurt, which is about a twenty minute drive from our house. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I was a little worried about traffic getting to the airport, so I encouraged Bill to check us out of the hotel by about 9:00 AM for our 12:45 flight. Although the traffic wasn’t that bad going to the airport, it turned out to be a good call to get to the airport early, especially since Istanbul is not in the European Union.

On our last morning, a harpist came in and played soothing music. It was very pleasant. She played beautifully, and chose selections that were decidedly less weird than Bossa Nova versions of “Like A Virgin” and “Beat It”.

After breakfast, we went back to room 1711, packed up our bags and went back down to the reception. Bill swiftly settled up, and we were lucky enough that a cabbie was already waiting out front for a new fare, so we didn’t even have to wait for a taxi. The taxi driver was the only one of the three we used in Istanbul who was willing to take Turkish Lira. Well… the other two probably would have, too, but they clearly preferred euros.

A couple of views of the huge airport below… Technically, it’s still in Istanbul, but a good distance away from downtown.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Istanbul’s airport is quite new and HUGE, located about 30 minutes away from our hotel in Maslak. It’s not even fully built yet, either. When you enter the building, you have to go through a metal detector and put your bags through a scanner. This is in addition to the usual security procedures that you go through when you have a boarding pass. I probably need to read up more on security issues in the Republic of Türkiye.

We got through the first layer of security, and then had to find our respective baggage drops. Because I was flying business, I had to go to a separate counter in a different area than the economy bag drop. I don’t know how Bill’s experience was, but mine was impressive. I had to ask someone where the business class drop was, and he said it was section “L”. I wonder if the “L” was for luxe… Bill’s drop was in section “B”, I think.

Anyway, the Turkish Airlines business class counter is in its own area that sort of has its own lounge before you even get to the business class lounge! I walked right up to a man who spoke English, noticing that there was no red carpet in the Istanbul Airport for business class passengers. 😉 The guy patiently waited a few minutes while I found my Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles number. He entered the data for me, tagged my bag, and directed me to the business class lounge, which I opted not to use. Bill would not be able to go in there with me.

We made our way through the second layer of security, which involved the usual metal detector and putting our carry on stuff through an x-ray scanner. Then we walked through the first of many shopping venues. Istanbul Airport has a lot of really high end shops, but also plenty of places to get souvenirs and a bite to eat. I was impressed by the number of restaurants. They kind of put Frankfurt Airport to shame.

One thing I noticed in the airport, as well as in Istanbul in general, was a lack of seating in public areas. Because there weren’t many places to sit and we had some time before our flight, Bill and I decided to have something at an Italian cafe. I ended up having avocado toast on sourdough with two poached eggs, salad, and a big glass of orange juice. Bill had a latte. The lady who waited on us invited us to sit at a four top table, rather than the two top we’d originally chosen. I appreciated that very much! It was considerate of her to do that for us.

*This was 9 euros, but it was fresh, satisfying, and delicious!*

After we had our break at the Italian cafe, enough time had passed for us to make our way to the gate. But as we headed over there, we stopped at a store to pick up some Turkish Delight, magnets, and dried apricots for Bill’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids, and a couple of boxes of chocolate and a magnet for us.

While Bill was making his purchases, I was noticing some really interesting looking restaurants, a couple of which were U.S. based and not available in Germany! But there was also a place that had what appeared to have Anatolian cuisine. If we go back through Istanbul by plane, we’ll have to check it out.

After a lengthy and somewhat confusing walk to Gate 9 AB, Bill and I waited until it was time to board. This time, the plane was there on time, and boarding was relatively easy. I had chosen seat 5F, a change from my original choice of 2E. I wanted to sit by a window, and it looked like no one was sitting in seat 5E. Of course, it turned out that a married couple had taken the aisle seats in row 5. That was no big deal at all. There was so much room on the plane! I was, once again, simply amazed by it! Between my seat and the other seat was a large console. And, on this flight, we had entertainment monitors on the seat backs in front of us.

*You can’t tell, but my foot is NOT touching that seat in front of me. I have my leg fully extended. I’m about 5’2″ tall.*

Unfortunately, the service on this flight was not as good as it was on the flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul. It was competent enough, I guess… but noticeably less warm and attentive. It’s probably best to write about this in a list form… and I might sound a bit difficult. But, keep in mind that we spent $1500 on my round trip short haul ticket. For that amount of money, I do expect good service, rather than just competent service. So, here’s my list of complaints.

Pre-departure drinks

Once again, the flight attendant, a rather young and cocky looking male, came around with juices. He didn’t immediately offer the same selection of juices as the flight attendant did on the way to Istanbul. He did have all of the same juices available, but he didn’t initially offer all of them, nor did he identify them. And my orange juice didn’t have a slice of orange in it, as it did on the way down. It’s not a big deal at all, but I did notice it.

2. No Menus

On the flight to Istanbul, the flight attendants handed out printed menus that explained everything that was going to be offered with the in flight meals. There was a list of available drinks, and each meal choice was described, although not very thoroughly. I appreciate menu descriptions, because there are a few things I can’t eat. On this flight, I only saw a few people up front get menus.

3. No verbal description of the meal

When it came time to place my order, the same male flight attendant asked me if I wanted fish or beef, or one of the meals offered to the economy class, chicken or pasta. There were no descriptions. He didn’t even tell me what kind of fish was being offered. I did end up selecting the fish, while the people next to me both had the pasta, which I noticed they nicely plated for business class, rather than just giving them the plastic containers that the people in economy got.

The meal itself was okay. The starter was smoked salmon with some kind of slaw and a single shrimp on it. There was also cheese, eggplant salad, bread and butter, and a delicious chocolate eclair. The fish turned out to be some kind of dense fleshy variety– maybe swordfish or shark. It might have been sea bass. I honestly don’t know, because the flight attendant didn’t bother to tell me, or apologize for the lack of a menu. There’s a big difference between trout, salmon, and tuna, you know.

4. Bread service and wine

The same flight attendant brought around a bread basket with warm breads. He barely showed me what was in the basket and asked me to point to which roll I wanted. I tried to point to the one I preferred, but he just gave me a random one. It was pretty perfunctory and not impressive at all. He brought me some wine, but never bothered to ask if I wanted water or something else.

Again, not anything earth shatteringly bad, but it was noticeably poorer service than his colleagues on the other flight, who were obviously more interested in doing their jobs properly. And when I finished the wine, it took him a long time to come back and collect the empty glass. He picked it up when he brought out the bags of hazelnuts.

5. Attitude

That particular male flight attendant seemed pretty much over his job. He was outwardly a bit rude to me. When we were descending into Frankfurt, I was leaning forward in my seat and he demanded, “Madame, do you have your seat belt on?” I assured him I did, and instead of smiling, saying “thank you”, and being friendly, he just sort of smirked at me and almost rolled his eyes. By that point, I was getting pretty exasperated with his not too subtly concealed asshole behavior.

His colleague seemed much friendlier and more sympathetic, but she spent a long time assisting a gentleman a couple of rows in front of me. I wondered what her male colleague’s problem was. Was it me? Did I specifically do something to offend him? Or does he just want the perks of being a flight attendant, without actually doing his job properly?

Maybe he doesn’t like fat, middle-aged, American women traveling alone in business class. Perhaps I should have heeded Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s advice to dress up for my flight. Or maybe he just isn’t generally suited to the service oriented jobs that require interacting with the public with kindness and consideration. I’ll bet he would never take it upon himself to pre-emptively clean and deodorize the lavatory for me after a windy fellow passenger had used it, though, as his colleague did for me on the way to Istanbul.

I busied myself taking more pictures of the clouds… I liked that the airline’s WiFi worked, as did the monitors showing our progress from Istanbul to Frankfurt.

Overall

I thought it was a good flight and I am impressed by Turkish Airlines. I would definitely fly them again, if the opportunity arises. Their business class product is mostly better than Lufthansa’s– at least when it comes to the actual seat and leg room. But that flight attendant who was looking after me was a bit of an asshole, in my opinion. I don’t think I did anything to warrant his snarky, inattentive, half-assed behavior. And at $1500 for a ticket, I do expect better service than what he delivered… even if it does make me sound like a high maintenance prima donna.

We landed in Frankfurt about 20 or 30 minutes early, so we had to wait about ten minutes before we could park the plane and disembark. Once we did that, I got off the plane as quickly as I could. I needed to find a loo. But first, I had to go through passport control. The young German police officer sitting in the booth asked me what I was doing in Germany. I said, “I live here. There’s a SOFA card at the back of my passport.” He quickly found the card and waved me through, but not before giving me a charming smile when I said “Dankeschön” to him. The cocky flight attendant could take a lesson from the passport control guy. 😉

I felt a little sorry for the guy who was on the other side of the booth. He was getting the third degree from passport control about his decision to enter the European Union. They were asking him about his profession and his citizenship status. Yikes!

It took some time to get our bags. Mine came out early, but Bill’s was not removed from the aircraft until near the end of the line. But then, he WAS in the cheap seats.

We got a taxi home, and I was soon left sitting there bewildered at our whirlwind trip to the Middle East. I’m now especially glad I went with Bill, even though we didn’t do as much as I had hoped we would. It turns out he has to leave again on Sunday. He’s got to fly to the United States and work there next week. I’ll be all alone, buying Christmas presents. I wish I’d had a chance to buy some art in Türkiye, but maybe another opportunity will arise and we can do some proper shopping. And maybe next time, Bill can join me in business class. I’ll bet that cocky twerp flight attendant would not have acted the way he did if Bill had been with me. 🤨

Anyway, so ends the “blow by blow” account of my quick trip to Istanbul. I’ll soon do my usual “ten things I learned” post to end this series. Stay tuned!

Middle East, short breaks, Türkiye

A quick jaunt to Istanbul… (part two)

Featured photo is of a skyscraper near our hotel.

Once Bill got final approval to go to Istanbul, he arranged to put Noyzi and Charlie in our usual “Hunde Pension”. Then we had to pick a flight. Ordinarily, I try to fly on Lufthansa, because I’m collecting points that I’ll probably never get a chance to use. But again, Bill had to use the cheapest option to get to Istanbul, and I wanted to be on the same flight with him, albeit in business class. 😉

Lufthansa or Turkish Airlines?

Originally, the company travel agent wanted to put him on a flight that would make it impossible to get the dogs to the Hunde Pension before he needed to be on the plane. I thought we might end up on an early evening Lufthansa flight that would get us to Istanbul at 11:00 PM, since Istanbul is two hours ahead of Frankfurt. We finally settled on a Turkish Airlines flight leaving Frankfurt on Monday, November 17th at 2:45 PM. It was more expensive than the Lufthansa flight would have been, and cost twenty euros more than the mid morning Turkish Airlines flight the travel agent had suggested.

I like to fly business class on flights within Europe, and probably will fly business next time we go to the USA, too, if we can afford it. I earn more points on those flights, and they offer some convenient perks, like lounge access, free checked bags, and higher weight limits for bags. I mainly like business class because it’s less cramped. I don’t mind flying economy if I sit next to Bill, but since he was flying the cheapest fare in economy and it was a separate booking, there was no guarantee we’d be sitting together. So, since we have the means, I fly business. It gives me a chance to write reviews, too. I think it’s funny that they call it “business class”, when so many businesses require their employees to fly as cheaply as possible!

The least expensive Lufthansa business class ticket I had been looking at would have been about $800. But, since we flew Turkish Airlines, which had more convenient times, it ended up costing me about $1500. Bill’s economy round trip ticket on Turkish Airlines was in line with what a Lufthansa ticket would have been– about $300.

I remembered flying on Turkish Airlines once, back in 1996, with my friend, Elaine. We flew from Izmir to Ankara, but were not able to find any other flights heading east toward Armenia. I remembered liking Turkish Airlines then, but I didn’t have especially high expectations when I was a broke Peace Corps Volunteer in my 20s. I also didn’t get the greatest initial impression of Turkish Airlines by their rather wonky Web site, which keeps sending me ads, but wouldn’t recognize my new Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles ID number. But, I resigned myself to knowing that at least I’d get the chance to experience an airline other than my usual and trusty Lufthansa.

This was a last minute trip, though, and if I’m honest, neither Bill nor I were feeling particularly excited about it. He had spent more than half of October away, and likely has to go away again in early December. Then when he comes back, there’s another conference at Ramstein, which is about an hour away from where we live. After awhile, all the “TDY” stuff gets pretty tiresome. It would have been nice to do a celebratory trip for our anniversary, rather than travel on business. But, at least Bill still has a good job, and this was a great chance for me to see more of the world.

As the days got closer to departure, I started reading up on Maslak. I knew it was far from Taksim, the area where Elaine and I had mostly been in 1996, but I read there was a metro nearby. And I remembered visiting Armenia two years ago, which has really come up in the world since I left in 1997. Surely it would be okay in Maslak… Well, as I found out, sometimes ancient cities are slow to modernize. This is not to say that Maslak is “third world”, but it was not the most tourist friendly or pedestrian accessible area. I’ll elaborate on that later.

Frankfurt Airport

On Monday, November 17th, the day after our 23rd wedding anniversary, we took a taxi to Frankfurt Airport. We weren’t even a mile from our house before we almost had an accident at the roundabout near our neighborhood. The cab driver, who happened to be Turkish, almost hit someone who violated German traffic law. Fortunately, he had good brakes and fast reflexes.

When we got to the airport, we had to search for the Turkish Airlines baggage drop. I was the first person in the business class line, and was literally standing on a red carpet as I waited for the desk to open. A very officious lady invited me to drop my bag. She asked me if I was traveling alone. I said that my husband was traveling in economy. She invited him to drop his bag with mine, which was really nice of her. I was impressed. She even put a priority sticker on his bag.

Because I was traveling with Bill, I decided not to use the business class lounge. It would have been the Lufthansa lounge, which I’ve used a bunch of times, anyway. Bill and I made our way to the gate and looked around for something to eat. I would have waited for the flight, but I get really cranky when my blood sugar tanks.

After finding the proper gate, we walked back the way we’d come and ended up having sandwiches at a cafe in the middle of the airport. As I ate my overpriced tuna sandwich, I couldn’t help but miss the restaurants in other airports. For some reason, Frankfurt Airport doesn’t have the greatest selection of eateries. But then, I could have gone alone into the lounge and had whatever Lufthansa was offering. The beer was good, at least!

*Bill had a chicken sandwich and I had tuna with avocado.*

Our flight to Istanbul ended up being about 20 minutes delayed before we could board. I thought it was because of the weather, but my German friend later told me there was also a lot of traffic at the Istanbul airport that affected the flight to Frankfurt. She explained that Istanbul has the second busiest airport in Europe, and is the largest privately owned airport in the world. Having now seen the new airport, which was opened in April 2019, I can understand why traffic might have been an issue! I’ve also just learned that the airport isn’t even fully built yet. That will happen in 2027.

Turkish Airlines flight from FRA to IST…

Once we got on the plane, I was legitimately impressed. On short to medium haul Lufthansa business class flights, you get a seat that is just like the seats in economy class, but the middle seat is empty. On my Turkish Airlines flight, I had a bigger seat with a console between me and the guy in the aisle seat. The leg room was very generous. I probably could have extended my legs without touching the seat in front of me. I actually did do that on yesterday’s flight. The seat had an extra pillow and was well padded and generously appointed. I didn’t test out the seat’s adjustability, but on yesterday’s flight back to Frankfurt, I noticed the lady sitting next to me was using the leg rest that made the seat look like an honest to God recliner! It was just way better than what I’ve typically gotten on Lufthansa in business class.

Below are a couple of pictures that show how much space I had between my knees and the seat in front of me. Granted, I’m short, and I have short legs, but this was the most generous leg room I’ve seen on an airplane in many years.

A flight attendant came around with pre flight drinks. She had lemonade, still water, orange juice, or strawberry juice (or raspberry– can’t remember now). I opted for the orange juice, and it was delicious! She’d even put a slice of fresh orange in it. It tasted like it was freshly squeezed. I think on Lufthansa, they give you bottled water.

Once we were in the air, the flight attendants brought out menus. On that flight, we had a choice of kebab or roasted salmon. But the meal started with Turkish appetizers which, frankly, I couldn’t easily identify. There was also salad, cheese, warm bread, and a double chocolate cake. I enjoyed some Turkish white wine, as well. The salmon was surprisingly delicious. It was not dried out or overcooked, as I would have expected it to be. I really enjoyed the Turkish styling with tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, potatoes, and spinach.

Our seats didn’t have screens on the seatbacks, which was fine with me. I was enjoying taking photos from the window, as you can see below… A lot of people were watching videos on their personal iPads.

As we got closer to our destination, we were even further delayed. At one point, the pilot was going to land, but then abruptly aborted. I thought it was because of high winds, but my German friend had been tracking the flight and said it was likely due to aviation traffic. We ended up being almost an hour late landing. But the service on the flight was excellent.

One of the flight attendants was especially service oriented. I got up to use the lavatory and hadn’t noticed it was occupied. I stood in the aisle, and the man who was ahead of me was in there for a long time. When he finally emerged, the flight attendant asked me to wait a moment. I soon got a fetid whiff of why she’d asked me to wait! She went in there quickly cleaned the commode, sprayed air freshener, and even put down a seat cover for me. WOW!! That was impressive, and much appreciated! She really took one for the team!

We finally landed almost an hour later than expected. Bill and I were both pretty tired once we got on the ground. We had to go through passport control and wait for our bags, which took awhile… but at least they came out together.

Then we found a cab to Maslak, which was driven by a very friendly local who drove like a madman. He commented that our hotel wasn’t the best for tourism. He was so right about that. I was a bit alarmed as he pulled up and a Hilton staffer came out and swept the car for explosive devices! But for better or worse, there we were in Istanbul, in an area full of skyscrapers and bright lights. It was definitely urban.

*Hilton Istanbul Maslak… official Hilton photo.*

Checking in at the Hilton…

A friendly Hilton staffer invited us into the hotel, and I put my purse and computer on an x-ray scanner. Bill and I walked through a metal detector, which really took me aback. I guess they’ve had some trouble recently. We checked in, and were assigned room 1711. More on that in the next post…

*You might call this an artsy impression of our entrance to Istanbul… It’s not easy taking photos at night from an airplane!*

Hebridean Island Cruises

Off the ship and on to Frankfurt…

We woke up bright and early on Tuesday, the day of disembarkation. Bill and I did most of our packing the day before. We also filled out the survey and turned it in before the previous night’s embarrassing incident. I wish I had waited, because the second disappointment came that morning. We had our final breakfast. I went with porridge without a whisky dram, a side of streaky bacon, and some fried bread. I should have skipped the bread, given the long coach ride from Oban.

As we cruised toward the charming town where we’d be ending our cruise, Bill and I spoke to one of the more reticent passengers, a guy who had revealed to me earlier in the cruise that he and his wife live in Oban. When they got off the ship, it was an easy trip for them to go home. I liked his wife, who looked a lot like my friend, Melody, especially in the face. The guy, who told me he was 80 but looked about twenty years younger, said it was his first and last Hebridean cruise, due to the expense. Then he told us how he’d made his living. It had been his job to maintain Scotland’s many lighthouses. Talk about an unusual and interesting career! And he looked so fit. I never would have guessed he was 80. He was also the guy who showed up in jeans to the first gala. While some people appeared to be a little appalled by it, frankly, I thought it was kind of bad ass. He looked great in his jeans, and I was sorry when he changed.

So anyway, I got a few last photos, although we’ve seen Oban a few times. It’s the place where the bulk of Hebridean cruises embark and disembark. Then, when we were called off the ship, I didn’t see our luggage. It seems our young and apparently rather inexperienced cabin steward wasn’t clued in on the fact that he was supposed to bring our bags out of the ship. Remember, we had FIVE of them, and they were heavy. We had to get them up a long flight of stairs. Bill went down to the stateroom to see if we’d left anything, and there our bags were. The cabin steward was in the room, reading something. He claimed he “didn’t know” what we wanted him to do with them. On every other cruise we’ve taken with Hebridean, our bags have been taken out for us and left near the coach.

The day prior, this same guy, who had been very nice, but seemed immature and inexperienced, had specifically requested that I give him nice comments on the final survey, since he was on probation and the staff was “watching him closely”. It didn’t occur to me to say it at the time, but it seems to me that asking for positive comments is kind of counterproductive. Those who do a noticeably good job are going to be recognized and rightfully praised. I can think of at least ten crew members who will never need to ask me for praise. I will give it to them freely, because they are so good at their jobs.

I mostly thought our steward did a good job. When I asked him for an extra blanket, he offered to give us a duvet, which turned out to be a much better choice for us and made the bed more comfortable. However, he was a bit slow in getting the room clean. More than once, I came down at lunch to find it still wasn’t quite done. On previous cruises, the room was always made up much sooner than that. One time, he left us without toilet paper. A couple of times, I found my nightgown cutely laid out on my pillow, which seemed a little weird. He had so neatly arranged my toiletries, yet didn’t know to get the bags off the ship on the last day. Still, I try to be fairly easy going about most things when it comes to service. I’ve done that work and I have empathy for people who do it now.

We spent well over $12,000 on this cruise and it was mostly worth it, despite the seasickness. We really did have a great time. But between the dressing down Bill got the night before and the steward’s lack of a clue, I was left a little deflated as we left the Hebridean Princess. Bill actually hauled three of our bags off the ship himself, which he definitely should not have felt like he had to do. However, when we boarded the coach to Glasgow, Captain David Kirkwood was there to say goodbye and he was very sincere as he thanked us for sailing… and even kissed me European style (on both cheeks). So, although I wasn’t happy about a couple of lapses in decorum at the end of the cruise, I would still happily cruise with Hebridean again (if they’ll still let me back on the ship 😉 ).

The ride between Glasgow and Oban takes about two and a half hours, so we had a quick break in Inverary. I was grateful for that, since the fried bread was making me feel kind of queasy. I was able to get ahold of my bottle of Tums, which saved the rest of the ride for me. Fried food and coach rides don’t mix for me.

Glasgow Airport is another thing altogether. It gets a lot of traffic that it can’t seem to handle. Our flight wasn’t until 4:15, but we had arrived at about noon. We had to hang onto the luggage or pay to stow it until 2:15. We paid to stow it, then had lunch in one of the airport’s rather crappy restaurants. As we were leaving, we ran into one of the new stewardesses, Sonia, who is from Portugal and on her way home for two weeks. I think she will do fine on the Princess. She’s very smart, sweet, hard working and service oriented. I enjoyed getting to know her, although I didn’t initially recognize her without her uniform.

As we were leaving the bar, I noticed a group of ladies with Hebridean luggage tags on their bags. They no doubt noticed mine and probably wondered if we were coming or going. We were going, since it was time to check our bags. Glasgow doesn’t have a lounge for Lufthansa, so we used their “Upper Deck” lounge, which business class passengers can access for free. Bad pop played very loudly put me in a mood, although it was worse in the terminal itself. Luckily, our flight was on time and we had a seamless flight back to Germany. I even got a few cool photos of another Lufthansa plane flying next to us.

Once we got to Frankfurt, it was back through passport control, where Bill got the third degree about our status here. Then we collected our bags and, thank God, a luggage cart. Frankfurt is a huge airport and you have to walk your ass off to get anywhere. Doing it with five bags is a nightmare. Then, we had to get to another level to access the parking garage and half of the elevators seemed to be broken. But we did find a couple of them that functioned, managed to find our Volvo, and now we’re home, chilling…

*New art purchased in Edinburgh… Polish artist Matylda Konecka did all but the one on the lower right side.*

I’ve already hung up our new art, welcomed our dogs home, and done some housework. The laundry is done and my blog is now complete. I’ll probably write one more post to summarize our trip… strictly for those who don’t want to wade through the whole series. I left out some things, like the lovely Scottish gentleman who was a British Army public health officer and musician, and had lived in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) for twenty years. And the two British/American couples we met, who were charming in their own ways. And the beautiful lady who was always dressed to the nines, no matter what… and the pistol of an 88 year old who managed to keep up with everyone and everything, and told us of her plans to visit the Chilean Fjords soon.

Despite my minor grumbles, we had a very good time. And yes, Bill will continue to wear his kilt. If I have to wear a seatbelt, he has to wear his kilt sometimes… and the idiots who either can’t avert their eyes to avoid being offended by his shorts length knit boxer shorts or are rude enough to comment on it can simply go jump in a lake. I do love Scotland. I love Bill. And anyone who shames him for looking gorgeous in his kilt can answer to me.

Uncategorized

Two nights in Edinburgh… living life on the Fringe.

As I mentioned in the previous post, we arrived in Edinburgh just in time for the city’s annual Fringe Festival. When I booked our room at the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel back in early April, I had no idea this huge festival was going to be happening. If I had to do it over again, I think I would have avoided Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival, not because it isn’t a fantastic festival, but because I don’t enjoy crowds. Edinburgh was bursting at the seams during our two nights there.

Our flight to Edinburgh from Frankfurt occurred on August 2nd. I booked us in business class, not just because I like luxury, but also because we were bringing a lot of bags. During our last visit to Scotland in 2017, Bill had a kilt custom made expressly for gala nights on Hebridean Princess. He doesn’t own a tuxedo and doesn’t particularly want to purchase one. I kept bugging him to get a kilt, even though he’s more Irish than Scottish.

On prior cruises, Bill wore his Army dress blues, but he’s now five years retired and it’s not so easy to fit into the old uniform anymore. Moreover, technically he’s not supposed to wear the uniform at non-military sponsored events, since he’s no longer on active duty. Now, that doesn’t mean he’d get “busted” on Hebridean Princess. In fact, when he’s worn the uniform, he’s mostly been well-received by the other passengers. Most of them have been from Britain and on every cruise we’ve done so far, Bill has met at least a couple of people who have served in Britain’s armed forces. Fellow Americans tend to be scarce on Hebridean cruises. The ones we have met had nothing to do with the military. Still, it was time for a change in wardrobe. The uniform serves as a great conversation piece, but it’s cumbersome and requires crash dieting.

We had to transport the kilt and all that comes with it, as well as a few nice dresses for yours truly. In business class on most airlines, passengers get a generous luggage allowance. On Lufthansa, we each got two free bags. We only checked three bags, which was way more than enough! I really need to learn to pack less!

Our flight to Edinburgh was to commence at 4:15pm. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, although we couldn’t find any luggage carts near where Bill parked. The one machine we found was broken, so we ended up hauling the bags well into the airport before we finally found someone’s mercifully abandoned cart. My mood was rapidly turning to irritation as we searched for a place to check our bags. Although we had just flown out of Frankfurt in late June when we went to Sweden, the check in desk we’d used was moved.

Complicating matters was the fact that the check in desks were on a lower floor and there was no elevator nearby. Somehow, we managed to wrangle the bags onto the escalator without major injury. Then, instead of searching for a proper full service check in, we headed for the self-service luggage drop. That was a bad idea, and didn’t turn out to be self-service, since we ended up requiring assistance. I don’t know what we were thinking. I don’t even like using the self-service checkout at the grocery store. As we were trying to figure out how to get the luggage tags, I remarked to Bill that since we paid for business class, we should have enjoyed all of its perks… like someone who knows what they’re doing and can efficiently get our luggage sorted. Hindsight is 20/20.

Fortunately, there were a couple of Lufthansa staffers on hand to help us get our bags checked. Then, after a somewhat painless trip through security, we headed to passport control, which is always an interesting experience when you’re on “SOFA” status. For those who don’t know, SOFA stands for Status of Forces Agreement. It’s what allows Bill and me to live in Germany and not be legal residents or pay German taxes. We’ve found that the passport officials don’t always know about SOFA, particularly in countries where U.S. forces aren’t typically based.

Even in Germany, which has a long history of hosting U.S. military folks, the passport officials sometimes have to be reminded to check for the blue card. We usually only deal with passport control when we’re headed out of the Schengen zone, like when we go to Britain or the United States. Bill, of course, has dealt with them more than I have on his trips to Africa.

We cleared passport control, then headed to Lufthansa’s business class lounge. Access to the lounge is another reason I usually book business class within Europe. I don’t like crowds and, although the lounge can get crowded, it’s never as crowded as the general areas are in most airports. Lufthansa’s lounges are nice, since they offer relatively quiet places to plug in electronics, comfortable seating, clean toilets, food, and beverages. The ones at Frankfurt Airport also have showers available, which I’m sure are great for people who are on long haul flights.

At about 3:30pm, we headed for our gate, where many people were already congregated. Boarding time was 3:45pm, but it came and went. Our flight was delayed due to weather problems and a computer glitch. I was pretty impatient to get out of Germany. I do love living here, but I also love getting away for a few days. I longed to get to Scotland, where I knew I’d see and hear inappropriate things that would make me laugh. For instance, in Germany, it’s technically against the law to flip someone off, particularly in traffic. I’ve never actually done that myself, but I’ve read that people who get caught doing it can be levied heavy fines. Scotland has no such oppressive laws, as we found out soon after landing in Edinburgh.

Lufthansa’s cuisine in business class. It wasn’t bad. Bill actually liked the green sauce, which is a Frankfurt specialty.

Our flight was okay, except there was a child sitting behind me who kept kicking my seat. Her brother sat in the aisle seat and kept whining for his mom, who was sitting nearby and looked really tired. I couldn’t blame her. Her kids were at a very energetic age, which they were sharing with everyone. The drama escalated when “mama”, apparently from Italy, took her son’s tablet away, causing him to protest rather loudly. I’m glad there was wine.

Edinburgh’s airport is pretty decent, especially compared to Glasgow’s, which we experienced yesterday. When we landed, we had a super quick, painless entrance. It was fully automated and took seconds. I put my passport on a scanner, was deemed “okay”, waited to have my picture taken, then scooted straight through to baggage claim. We had no trouble finding a luggage cart, and after a brief walk to the taxi stand, were soon experiencing our first taste of Scottish hospitality. The hilarious cab driver loaded our bags in the back of his van. As he was packing us up, the cab driver behind him honked. Our cabbie straightened up, smiled pretty, and shot the bird at the guy behind him! I howled with laughter! It felt like I’d come home!

Part 3

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Volvo, Mark Knopfler, and East German adventures… part two

Last Saturday was the day we’d been waiting for. Bill took the dogs to the Tierpension in the morning, then ordered a cab to take us to the Frankfurt Airport. We could have driven my car, but because we picked up a new car, we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of having to retrieve my Mini Cooper a week later. Plus, it’s not cheap to park at the airport for eight days.

I decided to book business class on Lufthansa, since it’s relatively affordable over here and doing so nets us more frequent flier points. Sometimes, those points come in handy. I also booked all of our accommodations on Expedia.com. When we stay in hotels, I use Expedia. When we book self catering accommodations, I tend to use Booking, because they have more variety. I book directly if a place is somewhere I really want to try and they aren’t on a travel site.

Surreal look at life above the clouds.

Since we booked business class for our 90 minute flight, check in was a breeze. A very friendly Asian lady checked our bags. I was originally going to book both of my bags, but I brought my laptop and it seems the airlines are getting a lot stricter about not allowing certain electronics to be in checked baggage. Flying business class got us access to the business class lounge, which was very crowded, but not as crowded as the rest of the airport was. The friendly Lufthansa clerk was not lying when she told us it was the “high” season. We also happened to be traveling at the same time a bunch of handball teams from around the world were going to Sweden for a tournament. Our flight, in particular, had the entire Brazilian team on it. The players were mostly kids and teenagers and their coaches. A lot of them are still firmly in their ids.

Wine in the business class lounge…

Right before our flight. Glad we could go to the lounge, especially since it took forever to get to the plane, which was parked all the way at the end of the airport. We had to take a lengthy bus ride.

This guy’s in love with me… ha ha ha!

It turned out there was no beer or wine available on our flight. There was a reason given for the lack of booze, but I couldn’t hear what it was. It was no big deal, since the flight was finished in a jiffy. Now that we’re living near Frankfurt, getting to Scandinavia without layovers is a cinch! We’ll have to visit Scandinavia more often, now that it’s more accessible.

Gothenburg is Volvo land… even the airport has Volvo exhibits.

It’s also home to Liseberg, which is a very well-known amusement park that was located directly across the street from where we stayed. This play station was sponsored by the park.

A driver sent by Volvo picked us up and took us to Gothia Towers, which are three huge towers in Gothenburg. They include the Gothia Towers hotel, several restaurants, and Upper House, which is a five star hotel located on the 20th through the 25th floors of the second tower. If we had only wanted to stay one night, Volvo would have probably put us up at a different hotel. But since we wanted two nights, we were on our own to book and pay for them.

I have expensive tastes, so I booked us in the Upper House. I got several emails and a phone call from them before we arrived. It’s supposedly among the best hotels in Sweden. Having now stayed there, I can mostly see why. The service is superb; the rooms are huge and comfortable; and there is an amazing spa complete with a heated swimming pool that juts out of the 18th floor of the building. The spa is free for Upper House guests. Others have to pay admission. We decided to book a due aromatherapy massage for Sunday, then use the spa afterwards.

This was our view from the 21st floor. To access Upper House, you have to go to the 25th floor. All of the rooms are under the reception.

Bathroom was generously stocked with Molton Brown toiletries!

It was a very nice room… The bed was excellent. Wish I could have taken it home with me.

Once we dumped our bags, we went looking for food. Gothia Towers has several restaurants, but most of them were fully booked last Saturday night, on account of all of the handball players who were staying in Gothia Towers. We had dinner at the bar at West Coast, which is a seafood place on the first floor of the towers. It was okay…

Bill had seafood casserole, which was very comforting and filling.

I had a martini…

And trout, that looks like salmon. I noticed the food was never served very hot. I don’t know if that’s a Swedish thing, or the kitchen was just weeded. I did enjoy the Swedish dishes we had, though. It was a nice change from German fare.

Swedish beer, too.

It was after 10:00pm when I took this photo. The park had just closed. Thank God for blackout curtains.

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Paul Simon or bust… Our Dublin getaway! Part two

We left Stuttgart on the morning of Thursday, July 12th. I was pretty ready to go, since it had been awhile since our last foray out of Germany on an airplane. It’s not that I like air travel. It’s more that I’ve kind of been itching to go somewhere besides France or Switzerland. The last time we went outside of France or Germany was in February, when we hit the Czech Republic for a long weekend. Because we often travel with the dogs, we are kind of hindered in where we can go. Also, it’s taken Bill some time to build up enough off time to go somewhere beyond the immediate border countries.

We got up early on the morning of our departure, loaded up the dogs and all of their junk, packed up our suitcases, and headed off to Leinfelden, where the dogs would spent the long weekend with Max at Dog Holiday and we would board our first plane to the Emerald Isle. I don’t usually accompany Bill when he takes the dogs to Max’s, but in the interest of not looking like a negligent dog mom, I went in with him this time. Max and his wife, Chris, always take great care of our dogs and they love going to see them. It’s comforting to see my dogs greet Chris with much affection.

After the dogs were dropped off, we headed for the airport. Bill dropped me off with the bags, parked the car, and joined me as we found our way to Lufthansa’s check in desk. There was a family of Germans doing some business with the business class agent, holding up the line. Several people were ahead of us and finally got so exasperated, they went to the line for economy. Bill and I weren’t particularly in a hurry, so we waited and another agent came along and checked us in. The German family with their many, many bags were still being helped when we finished checking in. I don’t know what the issue was, but clearly it was a big and time consuming problem.

With our bags dropped, we headed for Lufthansa’s lounge, which like all the other lounges is on the second floor of the airport. I didn’t bother to take pictures of it this time, mainly because I’ve taken pictures in previous posts and nothing has really changed. It’s just a big room with comfortable chairs, free WiFi, televisions, and snacks. I have become accustomed to using lounges when I fly and I’ve found that they do make the experience somewhat less stressful on a multi-leg journey. The lounges are usually quieter and less obnoxious than the main airport and “free” beer is always a good thing.

Our first flight took us to Frankfurt, which is a huge and kind of old airport. The flight to Frankfurt from Stuttgart is super short– maybe twenty minutes or so. Nevertheless, they still fed us. We had maybe ten minutes to scarf down a snack of bread, fruit, and cheese, which came with a side of chocolate. I saved the chocolate for later. Business class on Lufthansa is kind of boring, but you do get a few perks, like an empty seat next to you. The seats are otherwise just like the ones in economy class. You get a snack or a meal and free booze, and supposedly “priority” handling of your luggage and a quicker security check, as well as the right to check two bags without having to pay extra. If I can afford it, I try to go business class. I find it makes the trip more pleasant for everyone.

“Freiraum” is always welcome on airplanes… especially when you have wide hips.

“Special” accommodations in business class.

In Frankfurt, we had a four hour layover. It’s good that we had so much time, since besides having a long walk to our gate, we also had to go through passport control. Ireland is not part of the Schengen Zone, which is an important thing to remember when you’re planning your flights and don’t come from a European country. If you go to the United Kingdom or Ireland or anywhere not in the Schengen Zone, you will have to wait in line. Sometimes the lines are pretty obnoxious, which was the case on Thursday, when it backed up all the way past the food court.

We were standing behind a nice looking Mexican family, who appeared to be grandparents with their grandson. They were very well-dressed and civilized, even when the abuelo reminded a veiled Muslim lady that she needed to wait in line like everyone else. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad about the current state of affairs between the United States and Mexico right now. To be honest, the current state of affairs in the United States was a constant topic of conversation on this trip, although no one was overtly unkind to us because we’re from the United States. Still, Trump’s policies did have an affect on our travels if only because people we met were asking “WTF?” a lot. Believe me, I ask the same thing on a daily basis.

We got to the window at passport control. The guy who checked our passports looked all of about 18 years old and had no sense of urgency. He paged through our passports, looking for evidence that we’ve been in Germany legally for the past four years. He finally found our SOFA cards at the back of the passports, smiled, and sent us on our way. I was kind of relieved that he knew about the Status of Forces Agreement. It’s been my experience that some folks at passport control have never seen the cards and we have to explain. That was kind of what happened to us yesterday in Munich, but I’ll get into that story later.

Anyway, once we got through passport control, we spent our lengthy layover in one of Frankfurt Airport’s many Lufthansa lounges. It was a pretty boring afternoon until I started singing Monty Python songs to Bill. That never fails to crack him up. And again, there’s free wine and beer, of which we took full advantage.

A common sight in Lufthansa lounges.

Our flight to Dublin was trouble free and by 5:30pm local time, we were picking up our bags. Although we flew business class and our bags were supposed to be offloaded first, we happened to be on the plane with a large group of Spanish kids. The hilarious cab driver who took us into the city explained that Spain and Italy send a lot of young people to Ireland so they can learn English. It appeared that a fresh group from Spain arrived with us last Thursday. They were kind of fun to watch. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was that young and awkward. Now, I’m just awkward.

I enjoyed the helpful signs in baggage claim. I don’t know how many people this sign has helped… are you ever thinking of driving when you’re picking up your bags?

Our bags were probably the last to make it off of the plane. Consequently, we ended up in the cab line behind another American couple who had been on our flight. I knew they were American simply by looking at them, but there was another big clue hanging off of their luggage. The male half of the couple was a consular officer in Milan, Italy. The tag on his wife’s luggage gave his name, address, phone number, and job title. I noticed that he had positioned his tag so that it faced down, but hers was face up, revealing a lot of information about them. Bill noticed it, too. My good deed of the day is to remind all of you out in Internetland to be careful about what you reveal to people when you travel. I suppose I could have been really obnoxiously outspoken and said, “Hi Patrick!” to the guy in front of us, leaving him to wonder how I know him. But despite popular belief, I’m not really that brash.

I liked this sign, too. I think we should post a few of them in the United States.

The cab driver who took us to Dublin was hilarious. He started out kind of quiet, but was soon warmly welcoming us to Ireland, complete with dropping the f-bomb several times. We got caught in rush hour traffic, you see. Every other word was “fookin'”, which I thought was pretty funny. The cab driver was telling us about how Ireland has been experiencing a drought and all of the grass is scorched, which is a rare thing in the country known for being the most green. Like other chatty Irish cabbies, he also told us about how safe Dublin is and how much he loves the city, even as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s recent visit caused significant backups downtown.

Before too long, our driver had delivered us safely to the Merrion Hotel, where a man in a top hat was quick to rush over and grab our bags. He offered his hand to take my backpack and I shook it, which caused a moment of awkwardness for us both… I guess that’s a sign that I’m not used to posh living!

Hebridean Island Cruises

Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part two…

We left Stuttgart for our trip to Scotland and Northern Ireland on Saturday, September 9, 2017. I was in a pretty edgy state, thanks to a full summer of worrying. Although we probably take more trips than most Americans, I have gotten used to traveling a lot since we moved back to Germany in 2014. Travel is one of the main reasons I like living over here, and we hadn’t had a trip since my birthday in June, when we drove to Belgium. I was itching to get out of Deutschland, which only sounds crazy if you aren’t living here as an American.

As I mentioned previously, I booked a cruise on Hebridean Princess about a year ago. It’s necessary for us to book well in advance when we cruise on the Princess because it’s very expensive. We chose the Call of the Emerald Isle cruise, which would take us from Oban, an adorable city in Scotland, to ports in Northern Ireland. We also had a couple of stops in the Republic of Ireland.

This was technically our fourth trip on Hebridean Princess. Our very first trip on Hebridean Princess was in November 2012, when we took two five night cruises back to back to celebrate our tenth anniversary. We took our third cruise with them in March 2016, a scotch whisky themed trip, which you can read about in this blog. Fair warning. That series was divided into fourteen parts and I imagine this series will be similarly lengthy! If you like whisky and are interested in distilleries in Scotland, it might be worth reading. I did write about our first trip, but it was before I had a travel blog, so it’s not a very detailed description.

Since Bill and I are in better financial straits than we’ve ever been, I decided to make this trip as upper class as possible. I booked business class tickets on British Airways and got us a Club Executive room at the Carlton George Hotel in Glasgow, which is our hotel of choice when we’re in Glasgow because they offer a nice executive lounge and a free minibar ;-). I did not upgrade our stateroom on Hebridean Princess, though, since doing so requires quite a lot more money. We stayed in Loch Harport, a category H stateroom which is their cheapest “room”, all the way at the bottom of the ship. The cabins in H have no windows or portholes, but they are otherwise pretty nice. More on the stateroom in a later post. We have now stayed in all of the “cheap” rooms with twin/king sized beds, so I can later offer a comparison of the three.

Because Bill changed companies in July, we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to accompany me on this cruise. Had he not come with me, I probably would have either gone alone or Bill’s mom might have come with me. Fortunately, Bill’s mom is a good friend and we get along great! However, she did recently have hip surgery and I was a little concerned about the prospect of her staying in an “H” room, since getting to and from there involves climbing and descending a lot of steps. Hebridean Princess doesn’t have any elevators. As it turned out, Bill’s new boss was very accommodating, so we were able to take this unforgettable trip together. If he is reading this post, I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart.

So Saturday, September 9th was the big day. We dropped off our dogs, Zane and Arran, at Dog Holiday bright and early in the morning, then headed for the airport. We checked in on British Airways, enjoying a brief wait since we were using their Club Europe (business class) service. After we checked in, we were whisked through security. One thing I noticed on this trip, our first using the airport since we visited Ireland last November, was that Stuttgart has invested in a new security method that only takes a couple of seconds and doesn’t involve any intimate scans or pat downs. I liked it very much and hope to see its use become more common.

After we passed through security, went up to the very pleasant but small lounge in Stuttgart’s airport. A delightfully cheerful German lady was running things that day. I remember her well, since her extreme cheerfulness is kind of an anomaly in these parts.

For those who are curious about British Airways’ lounge in Stuttgart, here it is… You get free WiFi, drinks, and snacks. It was the smallest and least impressive of the lounges we used on this trip, but it was still pretty nice.

We were in Club Europe, which is British Airways’ business class in Europe. Basically, the seats are the same as they are in coach, except you don’t have anyone sitting in the middle. Instead, you get this cute little table thing in the center seat. Business class also entitles you to a meal and free drinks.

A couple of aerial shots of Stuttgart as we took off.

This was the food they served us. The first photo is chicken with some sort of potato salad, that I didn’t touch. There was also bread, salad, and key lime pie (which was pretty good).

I also enjoyed champagne.

Bill had the “beef panini” with red wine. This was the same food they served us yesterday on our return flight from Glasgow to London, although the red wine was a cabernet.

And here’s an aerial shot of London as we were about to land at Heathrow.

A word about Heathrow Airport… This was probably my first experience there since the late 1970s, when my dad retired from the Air Force after his last job as base engineer at Mildenhall Air Force Base. I seem to remember we flew Pan Am, which is a long defunct airline. Because I was a small child in the late 70s, I have no memories of Heathrow during that time and only the vaguest memories of Dulles Airport, which was where we landed when we arrived stateside. Consequently, I had no idea of what a zoo Heathrow is. Sure, I had heard stories about it, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the madness of the place. I thought Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris was bad. Heathrow gives it a good run for its money. I think I will try to avoid using it in the future, if I can.

This is actually not as chaotic looking as the airport was at the time.

We landed at Heathrow at about noon and had to go through border control. The guy who stamped us into the country had one of those mustaches that curls up on either side. He was very charming and we had no problems getting through. Next, I’m pretty sure we went through customs, then another very obnoxious turn through security, which was complete bedlam. After that, we found our way to British Airways’ enormous south lounge. I say “south lounge”, because there is also a smaller north lounge, which apparently gets very busy. There is a sign out front that says if you have a long layover, you should use the south lounge, so that’s what we did. It, too, was a total madhouse, though slightly less obnoxious than the airport’s facilities for the masses. Imagine being a captive audience at a large mall which is completely overrun with people, most of whom are walking slowly and not watching where they’re going. It reminded me of Breuningerland in Sindelfingen during the Christmas season.

We spent our four hour layover trying the many drinks and snacks offered in the lounge. There wasn’t a lot of seating available, since apparently a lot of people are either frequent flyers or booked business class on British Airways. We sat near a man who spent over an hour on the phone speaking what must have been some sort of East Indian language. He was pleasant enough, but it was like eavesdropping on tech support, since he was clearly talking business and seemed to be instructing someone.

There are a couple of other lounges for first class passengers. They are closely guarded by staffers who shoo away any lowly business class passengers trying to sneak in. The British Airways lounge also has a spa, which I was tempted to try. I never got around to it.

At about four o’clock, it was time for our flight to Glasgow. We had to go through yet another annoying security feature. When we first arrived at the airport after our Stuttgart flight, we had to go through a scanner which involved showing our tickets and having a photo taken. When it was time to board our flight to Glasgow, we had to go through the same type of scanner and another photo was taken. Of course, the second photo came after I had spent four hours in a packed lounge drinking wine. And, naturally, it didn’t work properly when it was my turn. I had to have an agent help me through, which was irritating. I probably looked pissed off in my second photo.

Once we were settled into our seats, it was time to lift off. We enjoyed an uneventful flight to Glasgow after a short weather related delay. I enjoyed British Airways’ new safety film.

They showed this on three of our four flights… It’s pretty clever. Sadly, at first, I only recognized Thandie Newton. After the third viewing, I also recognized Gillian Anderson, even though I never watched the X Files.

Upon landing in Glasgow, we collected our bags and took a cab into the big city.

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Celebrating 14 years in Ireland! Part twelve

We spent Saturday driving from Sligo to Dublin, eventually stopping in Mullingar for lunch. As luck would have it, the weather happened to be beautiful on Saturday. It would have been a great day to explore Sligo and the surrounding areas. Ah well. Now we have an excuse to go back to western Ireland.

We stumbled across the Newbury Hotel in Mullingar after a quick search. The hotel was old fashioned and kind of cute. I wished we could stay there a night instead of in Dublin. It was a nice place to have lunch, though. It appeared to be very popular with the locals, who were sitting around two televisions. One was tuned to a rugby game and the other, which was closest to where Bill and I were sitting, was set to a steeplechase.

Oops!

Obligatory shot of Bill.

I grew up around horses, so I’m always attracted to equestrian sports. I don’t remember seeing a lot of steeplechase in the United States, but it appeared to be a very popular sport in Ireland. There were several guys watching the races. Bill noticed that some of the horses had full body clips, which I had to explain to him. Sometimes, horses involved in serious competitive sports have all of their body hair clipped off. It makes for easier grooming as well as allows them to keep cool if they grow a heavy winter coat.

Steeplechase!

Anyway, the steeplechase kept us occupied while we waited for lunch. A handsome but somewhat inept young fellow brought us a couple of overflowing Guinnesses. I had a bacon panini and Bill had a chicken and cheese “whoppie”, which was basically like a panini made with tomato bread. The sandwiches were served with excellent chips (french fries).

Nice hotel!

Mullingar looked like a pleasant town.

After lunch, we finished our drive to Dublin. I had booked us a room at the Clayton Hotel Dublin Airport. We had a real problem getting to the hotel because it was located in a strange area. Bill made several wrong turns before he finally managed to get there… just in time to run into a huge influx of people. It turned out someone was having their wedding reception at the hotel and we happened to arrive just as they did. The lobby was teeming with people in their Sunday best, swilling Budweiser and obstructing things.

I was pretty tired from the drive and really just wanted to go take a nap. After a speedy check in, we went to our eighth floor “suite”, which was really just a big room. I took a shower and climbed into bed. We spent the evening watching TV over a meal provided by room service. I’m happy to report that the food quality at the Clayton Hotel Dublin Airport was much better than at the Clayton Hotel in downtown Dublin.

Unfortunately, the wedding party then proceeded to have a very loud reception, complete with blasting music that we could hear in our room. The noise made me very grumpy because I just wanted to rest up for yesterday’s journey back to Germany. Advil PM came to the rescue once again!

Yesterday morning, we got up and went to breakfast, which I had pre-booked. Unfortunately, the guy running breakfast couldn’t seem to find where I had pre-booked. It took a couple of minutes for him to tell us to just go eat and he’d sort it out with the reception. The breakfast at the hotel wasn’t all that good in terms of food quality. Fortunately, there were plenty of things to choose from, from fresh fruits to cereals, that couldn’t be screwed up by someone cooking.

This was the meal we had on our Dublin to Zurich flight. They also had lasagne. I might have had that, but I was too worried about fungus.

After breakfast, we checked out, paying the nine euros to park our rental car in the hotel’s enormous garage. Then we made our way to the airport, where we dropped off the car and checked in at Swiss Air. This was my first time flying Swiss Air. It was great to try it for the first time in business class. In fact, I’d say I liked Swiss Air better than Lufthansa. The food was better and the service was impeccable. Aside from that, the business class lounge at the Zurich Airport is fabulous.

My only complaint was that Bill ended up sitting behind me instead of next to me. The lady sitting next to me had a daughter who sat across the aisle from her, so we weren’t the only ones a little put out by the seating arrangement. But the flight was only one hour and forty minutes, so it was no big deal. I noticed the flight attendants made a point of being nice to the lady’s little girl and even invited her to go see the cockpit.

We had a long layover in Zurich, which we spent in the Swiss Air Business lounge after we got through passport control. Once again, I had to explain SOFA to the lady who looked at my passport. I guess next time, I’ll give her my military ID, too.

Our flight to Stuttgart was super short– maybe 30 minutes in all. In fact, the pilot turned off the seatbelt sign, only to turn it right back on seconds later. Even though it was a short flight, we were still given a snack and a drink in business class and it was actually edible. Our Stuttgart flight was on Austrian Airlines. It was a turbo prop aircraft. Everyone in business class got an empty seat next to them, so Bill sat behind me again.

Edible snack on Austrian/Swiss Air.

Once we picked up our bags in Stuttgart, we were in a hurry to get to Dog Holiday to pick up Zane and Arran. I had been fretting about Zane all week, worried because he had a mast cell tumor removed. As it turned out, Zane was a little out of sorts while we were gone. I’m taking him to the vet on Wednesday, so I’ll have her take a look at him. I did have him on Benadryl, though, so that could have been why he was so listless. Despite that, both dogs were very happy to see us. Arran kept his head on my shoulder the whole way home. Both dogs gave us kisses and were very excited about getting back to their people.

I’m glad to be back, too… although now the heat seems to be off in the house. It’s always something, isn’t it?

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Celebrating 14 years in Ireland! Part two

On the morning of November 11th, we dropped off Zane and Arran at Dog Holiday. Zane and Arran have stayed at this dog hotel several times and always have a good experience there. I had left some medication for the dogs, along with peanut butter to help them take it. At first, Max the proprietor didn’t want to use the peanut butter because he says it’s too messy and full of sugar. I will admit I got a little pissy, mainly because I use peanut butter that is all natural and contains nothing but peanuts. Whitley’s Peanuts in my hometown of Gloucester, Virginia sells amazing products that are very high quality. Max was under the impression that I was giving my dogs Peter Pan or Jif. No way!

I was on edge as we were leaving Stuttgart. Zane just had surgery to remove a mast cell tumor. I hadn’t been expecting the news that his lump had been cancerous, so I was upset. Having someone imply that I feed my dogs junk didn’t sit right with me, but I’m sure Max meant well.

Having dropped off the dogs, Bill and I made our way to the airport. We were there very early for our flight to Munich, which was set to leave at 12:50pm. We did the self-check in at a kiosk, which sort of confused us because I think it might have been for people who weren’t checking luggage. Because I booked business class, Bill and I were entitled to check two bags each at no extra charge. We had planned to check one bag each, but I decided I’d rather not lug around the bag I usually use as a carry on, since the only thing in it I would need was an iPad. It turned out to be a good decision to check three bags between us.

The very helpful Lufthansa agent pointed us to a dedicated security line for first and business class passengers, as well as the Lufthansa Lounge. Since I was a bit hungry and we were in no hurry, we decided to stop for something to eat before we went through security.

Salmon tapas and a croissant!

We had a quick bite at the Italian cafe in Terminal 2, which I paired with some prosecco. The salmon and shrimp salad was great for boosting my blood sugar a bit.

The priority security lane… there was even a red carpet there!

Even though our security line was supposed to be “priority”, it was crowded. It took some time to get through the process, made slightly more annoying because I was having trouble understanding instructions. One of the agents said something to me that I couldn’t quite hear. Even if I could hear it, I wouldn’t have necessarily understood it. I finally said, “Sorry, I’m American.” She switched to English and I finally got what I was supposed to do. A sharp eyed agent spotted that my car key fob had fallen out of my purse. When I went to claim it, he asked if I was sure it was mine. I was sure, especially since it was apparent that no one else in the security line drove a Mini Cooper.

Once we got through security, we made our way to Stuttgart Airport’s Lufthansa business class lounge. The lounge is actually in two parts. There’s the Senate Lounge, which I guess is for very high priority passengers with first class tickets or many Lufthansa miles. And there’s the Business Lounge, which is for business class passengers and fewer Lufthansa miles. This was the first time either Bill or I have ever accessed the Business Lounge for any airline, so it was a new experience for us. To access the lounge, show the agent your ticket. It will be scanned and you can then go in and enjoy peace, quiet, comfortable seating, food, and drinks. The lounge offers light snacks, including fruit, soup, and salads, as well as what looked like Chex mix. They also have wine, beer, whiskey, schnapps, soda, water, coffee and tea. It’s all included in the price of your ticket, so you can help yourself.

WiFi is free in the lounge and easy to access. There are also computer desks, free newspapers, and a couple of TVs tuned to the news. There’s a bathroom right outside the lounge that is clean and quiet. You can even charge your phone up there without even entering the lounge. That’s handy information for anyone who’s running low on juice and can’t find an electrical outlet. I must admit, it was a pleasure to spend our time in the lounge. It was probably one of the nicest of the business class “perks” we enjoyed on our flights to Dublin.

Bill enjoys an Italian red wine while he reads the paper in Lufthansa’s lounge.

I had been a little apprehensive about out flight to Munich, since I wasn’t able to pre-select our seats. I needn’t have worried, though. Bill and I were given seats 1A and 2A. Although I’m sure no one would have minded had Bill sat next to me, another Lufthansa perk is that the seat next to you stays empty. Since there were only two seats to a side of each row, he was seated behind me instead of next to me.

“Free space”

Peek a boo!

Our flight from Stuttgart to Munich was running late, but it was only scheduled to be only thirty minutes, anyway. Nevertheless, I was very impressed by the service on that particular flight. The flight attendants were excellent, not just to the four of us in “business class”, but to everyone on the flight.

We were even served meals, though I opted not to eat mine. This was Bill’s meal. Note the real silverware and plates. He said the food was pretty good. As for me, I enjoyed two beers in thirty minutes. They were small ones, though– 25 ml. each.

We landed in Munich and had just enough time to rush to passport control, where there was a pretty good sized line. Actually, we got there just in time, since the line got much longer minutes after we arrived. The passport agent asked me if I had a European passport after she noted how long I’ve been in Germany. I mentioned SOFA; she found the card; and we were on our way.

Our flight to Dublin was set to last about two hours. The one thing about that flight that I liked was that we had a separate entrance that served the six of us sitting in business class. Other than that, I can’t say the business class experience from Munich to Dublin was that special.

We were served a meal not long after takeoff. This was a light chicken and shrimp salad with mango. It was surprisingly good for airplane food. There was also a berry crumble, hot roll, and Swiss chocolate. I usually don’t eat airplane food, but I did eat some of this. I think the people in economy class got sandwiches.

Not long after we were served our meal, some guy toward the back of the plane had a medical problem. The flight attendants asked for a doctor. I’m not sure if anyone was able to help; but whatever the problem was, it was evidently handled onboard. I think in the course of helping the person with the medical issue, the lavatory in economy was temporarily blocked. Consequently, lots of people from economy class were using the lavatory in business class. Technically, they weren’t supposed to do that, but the flight attendants did nothing about it.

I know it sounds snobby for me to mention this; I mention it only because some people will be reading this actually wanting to know about business class service and I want to give full disclosure for those who care. In any case, because of all of the people coming up to business class to use the toilet, it wasn’t as peaceful and quiet as it could have been on our flight. I know this wasn’t necessarily a usual thing, since at the beginning of the flight, a man seated in economy asked if he could use the business class lavatory before he sat down. The flight attendant directed him to use the toilet in the back. Later, I saw him up front standing in line for the lavatory like everyone else.

Another issue I had that made our business class experience less special was the fact that I was sitting in the last row in business class. Some guy with long legs was sitting behind me and he kept sticking his feet under my seat and kicking my feet. Even the free middle seat between us was a little annoying, since there is a place to put drinks there that is fixed. You can’t raise the arms on the seat or necessarily stretch out much.

Fortunately, since we were at the front of the plane, we were able to exit quickly once we landed in Dublin. Our bags were among the first to arrive in baggage claim. And within minutes of our arrival, some guy came up to me and apparently assumed I was a local. I think he was speaking Irish to me, though, because I didn’t understand him.

With the flights behind us, I was eager to get to the hotel and rest. It had been a long day and I was tired and hungry. Off we went to the taxi stand, where we met our first local. More on that in part 3.

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Celebrating 14 years in Ireland! Part one

Bill and I are currently in Ireland, celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary. This trip has been a long time coming, since Bill has Irish ancestry and last visited Ireland in 1984. I think I visited Ireland when my father was stationed at Mildenhall Air Force Base in England, but if I did visit, I was much too young to remember it. I’ve been wanting to see Ireland for a long time, especially since I also have a little Irish blood, though it got to me by way of Scotland (I assume, anyway, having examined genealogical research done by people in my family).

I’m not sure when we decided, once and for all, that this anniversary would be spent in Ireland. Originally, I was thinking about a trip to Baden-Baden, of all places, because I love spas and Baden-Baden is chock full of them. For all I know, I decided on Ireland after we bought tickets to the recent whisky/whiskey tasting we attended at The Auld Rogue in Vaihingen. In any case, we’re here and it’s good. I tried to make this trip as first class as possible.

Business class on Lufthansa and Swiss Air (as well as Austrian Airlines)

As is my habit when I start planning a trip, I turned to Expedia.com for the initial planning. I do that mainly because on Expedia, I can see prices for multiple airlines at one time and pair them with hotels. I know everybody has their favorite travel site. I’ve tried and used Travelocity and I’ve looked at Kayak.com, too. For some reason, I just happen to prefer Expedia. I also have a lot of rewards points there that I’m saving for a big splurge sometime.

When Bill and I fly, we usually opt for economy class because it’s often difficult to justify the extra money it costs to fly business class. For this particular trip, we ended up booking business class seats. Although business class was a bit more expensive than economy class was, it wasn’t prohibitively so. I also wanted to try business class so I could write about the experience.

We ended up paying about $840 for two business class tickets from Stuttgart to Dublin. Our first leg took us from Stuttgart to Munich to Dublin on Lufthansa. On the way back, we’ll fly Swiss Air to Zurich to Stuttgart. We have a long layover in Zurich and I looked at possibly taking a train back to Stuttgart. Unfortunately, I didn’t find one that would get us back home sooner than the plane would. I guess I will get to write about Zurich’s airport and maybe Swiss Air’s business class lounge.

The Marker Hotel in Dublin

The Marker Hotel is a very contemporary hotel located in the Docklands area of Dublin. It’s located in the center of town, making it a good place from which to explore. As it’s turned out, so far we haven’t explored much of Dublin yet, because I bought us tickets to the Smithwick’s Experience in Kilkenny. Yesterday, we took a train to Kilkenny to use our tickets and that took up the whole day. Today, we have plans to visit the Guinness brewery for a tour and a connoisseur beer tasting. Hopefully, we’ll get to see some of Dublin today, because tomorrow, we’re headed to the west coast, where I’ve rented a cottage on the water for five nights.

Nectar of the gods?

The Water’s Edge in Aughris

That is the name of the cottage I’ve rented. I found it through Booking.com. It’s located in County Sligo. I had originally wanted to find us a place in County Donegal, but was unable to find anything that really pulled at the heartstrings. The Water’s Edge is located steps away from a well regarded beach bar and is literally right on the beach. I look forward to seeing the area around there because it looks absolutely beautiful! Best of all, the price was right. Just 440 euros for five nights. I haven’t seen the house yet, though, so we’ll see if it was really a bargain.

We will come back to Dublin on Saturday, November 19th and stay a night at the Clayton Hotel, which is right next to the Marker Hotel. I didn’t know they were so close to each other when I booked. I was simply looking for an airport hotel. Now I know to check locations more carefully! On November 20th, we will fly back to Germany.

Now that I’ve outlined our main plans for this trip, it’s time to write about what’s happened so far. Stay tuned for part two.

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: business class

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A quick jaunt to Istanbul… (part two)

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Celebrating 14 years in Ireland! Part twelve

Celebrating 14 years in Ireland! Part two

Celebrating 14 years in Ireland! Part one