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Today is Friday the 12th of June, 2015. As I head off to work and deal with stuff all day, Heidi will be sleeping in and getting ready for a big day. Today is the day that Heidi graduates from SPU with a Masters in Arts (Teaching) degree. She has worked tirelessly over the last 2 years to finish this. Heidi and I have been together almost 18 months now so I have known her through almost her entire time at SPU doing her masters.

This is a special day for her and I am sad that I will miss it. She will get to wear her cap and gown and soak in the love that will be thrown her way. I really wish I could be there but i can’t 🙁 However my thoughts and love will be with her as she walks across that stage to receive her masters, something she has worked hard to achieve. The last 4 or 5 months have been especially hard for both of us. I have been through major changes in my life on the work side, and Heidi has been by my side the whole way. However Heidi has had it rough herself. For a little while she was the only bread winner in the family and she was also doing her Masters and doing her Student teaching, All at the same time. Working essentially three jobs all back to back has taken its toll on her. She has been a real trooper doing it all and I have done everything I can to make her life easier. But the day is all about her!

Heidi, as you walk across that stage today, I want you to think about just how proud everyone is of you, how much we all love and support you and most of all. Feel proud of what YOU have done. You have done all the hard work, you deserve that praise, that love, that admiration.

I <3 you and you need to know you are the smartest person in our family :D

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So Monday was a public holiday for Memorial Day. Heidi had the day off (since it was Monday, and school was out), so we decided to head out on the road. We also had another Free Day with National and decided that it was worth it to use that free day again to grab a car. I know in the past we have said why we do this (a few reasons, 1 its fun, 2 it doesn’t add milage to either of our cars, 3 it is free!) but this time was a little different.

Rather than grab a car for just the two of us, we ended up taking a couple of friends with us, so we were targeting a larger car this time, something way more comfortable for 4 people (the one time we don’t need a car for the two of us, the Executive Line has a Mustang on it). Something like this:

From Seattle Life 2015

I have to say that I am not that big a fan of this car. It was fully loaded with all the good things (including a working Sirius XM) but yet I still wasn’t happy. There was power everywhere inside the SUV but again, still not happy. The one thing that killed it for me was the same issue I had with the F150 I rented in Anchorage last year, The indicators. They self center as soon as you begin indicating and you have to cancel them out by indicating the opposite direction, which sometimes doesn’t actually stop it. *sigh*

But other than my not so happiness with the vechile, it was a good day out. Spent some time out a couple of new places for me. Slowly but surely I am getting to experience the Olympic National Park. It was a good time, even though the weather wasn’t the best. I had fun (and so did my friends, thanks guys!) and ended up with some lovely photos like this:

From Seattle Life 2015
From Seattle Life 2015
From Seattle Life 2015
From Seattle Life 2015

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So apparently I never got around to posting some of my photos from Frankfurt Airport, so well for your long weekend admiration….

From Frankfurt Spotting

Lufthansa’s Airbus A321

From Frankfurt Spotting

Lufthansa’s Airbus A320 (with Sharklets)

From Frankfurt Spotting

Bringing up the Trifecta… a Lufthansa Airbus A319

From Frankfurt Spotting

Rounding out the whole Lufthansa Short Haul fleet, Boeing 737-500

From Frankfurt Spotting

British Airways Airbus A319 (heading to Heathrow)

From Frankfurt Spotting

JAL Boeing 777-300ER

From Frankfurt Spotting

Sun Express Boeing 737-800

From Frankfurt Spotting

Swiss Avro RJ-85

From Frankfurt Spotting

Aegean Airlines – Airbus A321

From Frankfurt Spotting

KLM Embraer E-190

From Frankfurt Spotting

Condor Boeing 757-300

From Frankfurt Spotting

LAN Boeing 787-8

From Frankfurt Spotting

Korean Air Boeing 777-300ER (Skyteam Livery)

For More goodies, check out the full album.

Frankfurt Spotting

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So tomorrow is a new beginning for me. I start my new job tomorrow, one that I am truly truly excited about. I won’t say much about who it is I am working for or what I will be doing, but rest assured this is right up my ally. I will be returning to the travel industry, something I have been wanting to do since I left my last job. But this will be a job that is not entirely travel, it will be something I have never done before.

One thing I have realized since I left my last job was that small companies are just not for me. Sure I don’t mind working with small teams etc, but having a background coming from a company where there is support in every direction, there is policies and procedures in place, this makes me want to return to that. Mainly because I know that there is always something there. That won’t be a problem with this new job as although I am sure I will be working with a small team, it will be for a multinational company, one that I am sure most of you have heard of. The great thing about this position and the team I will be working with is that this is going to be the first. It is going to be the first in many ways. Although there will be policies and procedures coming from the main division of the company, I am sure we will be developing a lot of it from scratch. Something I can’t wait to do. I get to mix in my passion, my skills and my knowledge all into one thing.

So while I get myself ready for 3 days of work in Bellevue, the rest of the next coming 6 weeks will be working from home. While I worked from home basically for a little bit, this will be every day of the week. So it shall be interesting. I am looking forward to this new portion of my life and can’t wait to get started once all the training is done. But lets revisit this in a month or so to find out how I like working at home. Guess it is time to polish my shoes?

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Introduction
Seattle to Frankfurt
Frankfurt Fun Times
Lufthansa First Class Terminal
Frankfurt to Newark
Newark to Seattle
Conclusion
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

I stepped off that plane in Newark with a sad face, knowing that the fun was over. I was about to possibly go through hell. At the end of the jet bridge was a Lufthansa staff member waiting for all F guests. She apologized that she couldn’t help us expedite US immigration (no one ever can) but said she would have our bags waiting for us when we get through . I let her know that I might be a while, as I knew my process through immigration would require immediate Secondary processing. She said that she would wait for me. Now that is service!

Immigration turned out to be a non event barely a question asked and barely an extra 5 minutes added, all of which was spent me sitting on a chair pre thinking of answers to questions that might happen. I even had a very happy quick joke with one of the CBP agents about baking on my way towards baggage claim. That experience turned out to be way better than expected. My flight was late arriving (only about 15 minutes, nothing horrible) and I had a 3 hour connection. Through all of it I expected immigration to take around an hour, thankfully with secondary and waiting originally, and waiting in line for customs (and declaring a bag full of candy) took around 45 minutes. I had a good 2 hours till departure, plenty of time to connect right? WRONG! This is Newark!

I wanted a United boarding pass on United cardstock (what… stop judging me already!) and so I made a quick pit stop at airline desks after dropping my bag off at Connections. They issued me one with no problem at all and then it was off to terminal C. The airline desk staff pointed me in the right direction and that is the way I went. Sadly I don’t think they were aware that it was all broken, and that is not a good thing. Although the terminals are quite close at Newark (although not SeaTac close) they run a train (on the landside) between them. Sadly this train was broken somewhere and there was a mass amount of people waiting. No announcements nothing at all. It was bedlam. What they didn’t tell you was that yes you could walk between terminals. I waited a good 25 minutes before I knew that was even possible. At that point, it was time to haul ass, and that is what I did. I moved as quickly and as efficiently as possible between the two terminals and I was sweating (it was almost 90 out).

I made it to the C terminal with expected waits at security of “less than 10 minutes”. I had to quickly trash my water bottle and grab out my boarding pass (as I had stashed while i waited for the Air Train) and while I was doing that I thought I had lost part of my stuff. By the time I cleared security I actually found it and about 15 minutes after entering the security line, I was on the other side. This gave me just over 25 minutes till the apparent boarding time of my flight to get to the far side of the terminal. A LONG way off. I hauled butt to the United Club hoping I could jump into a shower room and clean up a bit, sadly no chance as it was a 15-20 minute wait for a shower and I had less than that till boarding. I resounded to smell and look like crap.

I grabbed a banana (for sustenance) and hot footed it to the gate area to get there before boarding started. By the time I got up there, the gate had no seats at all (literally there was no seats at this gate and the gate area adjacent was full (either from the flight from that gate or mine). I tried to see if the boarding time was realistic (in the hopes that I could maybe find somewhere to sit close enough) but as usual, this is United and it comes with mandatory surliness. I found a table close by to drop my stuff and kind of get myself sorted so that I could quickly email Heidi to let her know all was ok (since I had not done that yet). When it got close to boarding time, I went and joined the gate lice who were already clamoring for positions in the wrong boarding areas. What is it with American’s doing that! The only thing is we just waited and waited and waited some more. I wasn’t surprised at this, like I said this is United.

United Airlines – UA1160
Newark to Seattle Tacoma (EWR-SEA)
1900-2222
Boeing 737-900ER (N64809)
First Class – Seat 2F

Boarding: 1835 (Gate 131)
Push Back: 1913
Take off Roll: 1928 (Runway 22R)
Top of Descent: 2147
Touch Down: 2208 (Runway 16R)
Shut Down: 2217 (Gate A11)

Boarding was called almost 20 minutes later than the time noted and it was blamed on “cleaning the aircraft” yet by that time, the plane had been on the ground for quite some time. Me thinks that someone was telling porky pies! They called every conceivable kind of person before allowing First Class to board. By now I was just wanting to sit down and relax, maybe put my feet up a little. When they got to Zone 1 for boarding, I was happy to jump onboard.

I got myself sorted in my seat and didn’t spend a whole lot of time taking too many photos. This is United remember so it is not all THAT special. The flight boarded and the seat next to me remained empty, right up until the point they paged someone for a “new seat assignment”. Yep F was going out full tonight… sadly. Having a spare seat next to me would have been nice as I could have spread out a little more.

The pushback was delayed due to “the printer in the cockpit not working” (or at least that is the reason given by the flight deck) so we missed our push window and had to wait, I enjoyed watching the ground crew working seeing the slight differences that happens between airlines. When wef did push, we taxied out fairly quickly all the way out to the runway adjacent to the one we landed on earlier.

After only having to wait for 1 or 2 other planes, we lept into the air and settled in for a fight to the west coast. I wanted to try and finish my book for the first part of the flight and I accomplished that quite a bit, until my new seatmate wanted to chat. It wasn’t all bad (found out he used to live in the same suburb of sydney that my grandparents did) and his talking kept me awake and entertained for a while.

I had not flown Transcon UA F ever before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect and when the starter salad came out I thought to myself “where is the salmon”. Woops! Didn’t expect a course by course meal. But the good thing with that was the fact that they had ICE CREAM!! I ate away while chatting and once the meal was complete (and ice cream bowl licked) I switched over to working on the trip report some more while trying not to fall asleep.

Thankfully the WiFi was working as I had to buy a couple of bucks worth to organise my ride home since we were getting in early apparently. Way to schedule pad united. When the internet ran out (I spent most of my WiFi time goofing off) I went back to the trip report and also tried hard to keep my eyes open. They were just so heavy and tired and once I had caught up on the trip report, well my eyes just kept on shutting.

I didn’t sleep, but I know I zoned out to relaxation mode and soon enough we were on descent to Seattle. I couldn’t see squat outside since it was dark and it looked like the weather had rolled in. Add in the fact that my eyes were so heavy and tired and I just didn’t care. I thought we were approaching from the South but when we touched down on the right runway I didn’t see anything out there on my side, turns out we had come in from the North. Soooo observant there Malcolm.

We touched down and taxied over to the A Gates where we would pull into A11 and end our trip for the night. I was hoping that the priority bag tags would have me out quickly (in the past it has been a hit or a miss) and I moved my way over to the baggage claim. Since we were meant to get in early (But apparently landed on time instead) I had reached out to a friend to pick me up since Heidi was working (and actually finished late) and as soon as I had my bag, he came down to grab me. Homeward bound to Heidi & my bed only after being awake 27 hours, way to end a trip!

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Introduction
Seattle to Frankfurt
Frankfurt Fun Times
Lufthansa First Class Terminal
Frankfurt to Newark
Newark to Seattle
Conclusion
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is tough being back to reality now (although not full reality as I don’t start back at work till Monday). The craziest part about the whole trip was just how easy it was to put together. I always expected that when I wanted to do my Lufthansa first class trip, I wouldn’t be able to do it, that I would never find the space. Well that was a total non event because I was able to get what I wanted, fairly close to when I wanted. Now that I am home and able to look at it all, I am so happy to have done it. Before I get to far into it though, all my photos are up:

Weekend in Frankfurt
Frankfurt Spotting

Let’s look at these pieces one by one so that I can give some comments on them really quickly. First up, Condor. I was hoping for an upgrade on Condor, but then life was not able to do that (since we had only a 3 row J class config). This did however give me a first opportunity to fly a Premium Economy product. Now unlike a lot of airlines, Condor use a standard Economy seat with more legroom for their PE service but they have upgraded amenities. This flight was actually pretty good and one of the first times in a while I have flown long haul. I didn’t have a horrible experience but it wasn’t all that great as well. It was fairly so-so. Nothing really to complain about at all.

Frankfurt, o Frankfurt. You were wonderfully relaxed and quiet. One thing my friend Clare said (and I kind of agree with) is that Frankfurt is a city you could move to. It is a city that just confused me in the fact that a Sunday would be so quiet. The city is such a large and pivotal city and yet on a Sunday it is shut down to bare essentials, if that. The hotel, the Radisson Blu Frankfurt, let’s just say that you were not my favourite and I probably wouldn’t go back again. Only if you managed to fix up a whole lot of the issues I addressed with you and you didn’t seem to care.

Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal will remain as one of the main reasons I wanted to go. I wanted to explore what is reputed to be the epitome of the airline lounge. I have to say that it did not disappoint. I was in awe of this facility before I got there and I feel now that I see the draw. I see why so many people say that this is the best they have ever visited, that it is one of the best lounges in the world. The staff help make this lounge. You can have the best restaurant, the best facilities, but without the service, you have just seats. The Personal Assistants are what make this lounge fantastic. Antje really did have passion for what she did. I could see it in the way she talked, the way she spoke about what she does and why. Nothing felt like a hassle and normally I would be all excited about being in the airport lounge prior to a flight. This time though, I was totally relaxed, it was something unlike me. I was still excited but I wasn’t like the Energizer bunny. Considering that I will be doing something similar in life now, it has given me an insight to show that a passion for this kind of work really can make someones day and make their time feel even more special. Mine certainly did!

The flight on Lufthansa itself though, I can’t put in words how amazing that experience was. I feel like I was doted on by the two flight attendants. Kira and Oezlem, you both deserve recognition for what you did. I know that you both were just doing what you do, but you made me feel like the experience was worth it. I had an amazing time on this flight and enjoyed every minute of it. The only thing that i can complain about is that the flight was not long enough, add a few hours to it and I would have been happy. I want to fly it again! The 747-8i was also an amazing aircraft. I loved sitting right in the nose as I felt like I was the first person to do anything on that plane and I was happy to be able to tick off another new model to my list.

Coming home to Seattle on United was like going back to reality. I came home to rain and grey skies. I had left when it was bright blue and sunshine (so I am claiming I took it with me to Frankfurt). Life has to go back to normal now, but really how much normal do I need to get. I will remember this trip for quite some time to come, the only thing I wish i could have shared it with Heidi. Although taking her for her first time visiting an airport lounge or flying true first class, this would probably ruin her for good. Sorry hun… but SQ Suites will have to do for you.

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Introduction
Seattle to Frankfurt
Frankfurt Fun Times
Lufthansa First Class Terminal
Frankfurt to Newark
Newark to Seattle
Conclusion
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lufthansa – LH402
Frankfurt to Newark (FRA-EWR)
1320-1545
Boeing 747-8i (D-ABYA)
First Class – Seat 1K

Boarding: 1248 (Door 4/Gate Z69)
Push Back: 1338
Take off Roll: 1348 (Runway 25C)
Top of Descent: 1525
Touch Down: 1614 (Runway 22L)
Shut Down: 1622 (Gate 62)

After hopping into the Mini Van to be taken to the gate, myself and the other two passengers in the van enjoyed our quick little drive towards A/Z69. Technically my gate was door 4, however I am not quite sure exactly if it was A or Z that the plane actually arrived from. All I know is that when I arrived at the gate, I was standing on the ramp just outside the circle of safety. From the mini van I stopped to take more photos (was already taking them inside the plane and had missed out on seeing the Retro 748) of the plane we were flying. This was my first time onboard a 747-8i as a passenger, and I was about to step foot on the first commercially delivered 747-8i to an airline.

As we got in the lift that took us up to the boarding jetbridges, we stepped off into a maze of people. However the driver who was our escort just pushed his way through, and ran interference for us. We essentially pushed our way through the entire crowd of people and the next thing I know, I am standing at door L1 and turning left into First Class. I was now here. This was not my first time making that turn. The last time was back in 2007 on my first solo trip to the USA. I had paid to upgrade to Business on Air New Zealand and although I couldn’t get the nose for the main part of the journey from LAX to AKL, I did manage it from AKL to home. This time though I was going to be in Row 1 and there was going to be a lot less people up there. Score!

I took a number of photos and tried not to bump into anyone while I was doing it. When I did sit down a glass of sparkling water and macadamia nuts were placed at my seat. I wasn’t sure if they were meant for me, because I had not spoken to anyone by that stage, so I was astounded at the fact that they had read my mind. That is what I was going to ask for, the crew had the best mind reading skills (or so I thought). I was shown where my personal locker was and I took the time to get myself sorted, dropping the camera bag at the back of the cabin. I took my seat and stashed the rest of my gear and got myself situated.

The crew introduced themselves to me and I relaxed as best as I could. I was excited and that meant I didn’t need caffeine or anything as I was already buzzing. We waited a while once the doors closed for the cargo doors to be shut and then we had to wait for another aircraft to clear the taxiway before we could push. When we finally did, it meant that my journey was about to truly begin. It was around this time that the safety video played and unlike on Condor, this one plays part of the way through in German then repeated it in English. By then we were on the taxiway heading for departure. The crew got us situated correctly with the seatbelts in place (the sash belts had to go on as well) and we waited our turn to depart behind another Lufthansa 747. Behind us were two more 747s as well. Score!

It was around that time that the battery in my camera finally died after 2 days (was waiting for that) and since I was strapped in, I couldn’t reach my other one. From then it was just time to enjoy the view as we climbed out. The ride out was pretty bumpy and I wasn’t sure if that was just because you could feel it more in the nose. I can tell you that sitting about the nose wheel gear set up means that you hear extra noises that just truly do not sound normal. We climbed out and once the dings went off to signal the seatbelt sign had been turned off there was a mad dash in F to the bathrooms. I managed to squeeze my way past someone else discussing pyjamas and relieve myself quickly. I returned to my seat and got myself sorted for the upcoming meal. I was going to enjoy this!

Before the meal service started we got all the good stuff brought to us. Amenity kits (no rimowa… *sad face*), pyjamas, slippers, menus. All the stuff that I would be stashing away later (including the safety card). I took it all in while perusing the menu. I could see caviar would be on the menu and this was going to be my first time trying it for real. There was a total of 8 courses on offer with an Amuse Bouche, Caviar, Starter, Salad, Soup, Main, Cheese and then Dessert. If you count cofffee and chocolates that is 9. A LOT of food. But there was one thing on that menu I was really hoping would be there. Aspargus. The famous german white aspargus. I was going to have that no matter what.

The service for drinks etc was kind of slow, but it turned out to be a pretty full cabin, 7 of 8 people. The sad thing is that as people were not really eating and getting ready to sleep, I was just going to be enjoying this flight. This flight really isn’t a busienss flight as you arrive into Newark at the end of the work day. It is a daylight flight going over as well, so I was determined to soak it all in and stay up. Why sleep and miss something when I can soak it all in, then sleep on my connection (though being United, that was doubtful).

When the menu orders were taken, I put in my preference for the aspargus and said that I would be awake for the 2nd service (though doubtful I would have space to try anything). Once everything started it was a slow affair for the first couple of courses but then it hit the right pace. I saw a few people just have cheese, one person didn’t eat at all, me I just soaked it up. The best part of this flight was going to be the indulge, because they don’t come along all that often. I have flown Qantas, Emirates and Cathay first, this would just add another experience to them all.

The meal came out with caviar after the amuse bouche (you can find a copy of the menu in the AR report, but I will update that when I get a chance so there is one here too). This was my first time really trying it and it was presented so nicely. I screwed up the photo of the cart service so that was just dumb, but I did try it with everything. I have to say I am not a fan, maybe I didn’t do it right, but it just didn’t do anything for me. The rest of the meal was amazing. The salad and starters were tasty and then the main was what I was waiting for. I didn’t really want the whole thing by that stage as I was slowly filling up but I downed that asparagus, with a little bit of the ham and hollandaise, not much. I didn’t have much cheese and I gave a little break so I could stretch and use that bathroom before dessert. When dessert rolled around, Kira (the english speaking crew member working first) asked me which one I wanted. I wasn’t sure and said “whichever you think”. She replied with “How about both?” Who am I to say no to that!

I had both desserts with coffee and by this time my movie had finished (Ex Machina) and I was watching a tv show to fill the gap. With Lunch out of the way (is lunch the right meal… I don’t know) I settled in with some more coffee to work and get some of the trip report out of the way. A couple of coffees later I was up to date and decided to settle in to a few movies on a nicely outstretched bed. YAY!

I let the ladies in charge of first change my seat into a bed and I ducked out to the bathroom, when I came back it had all been fixed and I settled down in a slightly modified bed mode (head elevated). I didn’t want to sleep on this daylight flight as if I stayed awake I could keep myself going and crash out when I finally reached Seattle around my bed time. The bumpy flight helped to ensure I didn’t really try and sleep all that much. The flight had been bumpy from the start and with so much bumping, lying down to sleep was not really going to happen.

While I watched my movie, I ended up with another coffee (somehow) and I also wondered if they had any cookies (hey… you know my weaknesses… stop judging). It seemed to be the one thing the FCT was missing and I was hoping they had something with some crunch. The flight attendant on duty (it was Kira at the time) said she would see what she could find as I don’t think it was a standard F item. I sipped on my coffee and low and behold a few minutes later a plate of wrapped cookies arrived at my seat. I am not sure where she got them, but damn they were delicious. I will deny any knowledge of half the supplied cookies landing up in my suitcase.

By the time my movie was finishing up, the cabin was starting to wake up from all their sleeping. I think I was the only one up front who did not go to sleep at all. This was something that confused the hell out of me as if I was heading just to EWR, I wouldn’t want to be waking up around 2pm local and then getting in at 4pm local to then head to bed a few hours later. That doesn’t make any sense to me. As the cabin slowly started to strip down their bedding and the crew put it all away, people started getting ready for the 2nd meal service. I was really not at all that hungry at this stage and thankfully Lufthansa probably knows this. The 2nd meal service is more of a light meal service with a salad cart buffet followed with a piece of cake or fruit for dessert. For me this was perfect but since I just wasn’t hungry at all, I got just a small amount of vegies (I was dreaming more vegies I swear). The salad was fresh and tasty and hit the spot for something that just should top me off.

We started a very long gradual descent over New England and it was still bumpy. I don’t think there was a moment on this flight where there was not a whole lot of bumps for anything more than say 10 minutes. Crazy! We descended with fantastic views of New York City on the wrong side of the plane to me. That was just not fair. The touch down at Newark was a sad moment, it meant that this dream flight was over and now I had to contend with US Immigration and the worst part. Transiting Newark.

This flight of just 8 hours in length had been something I had dreamt of for quite some time. I wanted to ensure that this flight was everything that I could want and more. If it could have continued on forever I would have loved that. The crew looking after F (insert name & Kira) were two fantastic ladies who could not do more to look after me. Even though we had an almost full cabin, they were fantastic and helpful and amazingly kind. They were the epitome of their job imo. As we pulled up to the gate and the seat belt sign came off, I grabbed my stuff and lined up to get off the plane. I said my final goodbyes to the ladies and resounded to make sure that they would get the credit that they deserve for being such an amazing crew.

I stepped off the flight into the terminal at Newark and knew that this part of the adventure was going to be interesting.

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Introduction
Seattle to Frankfurt
Frankfurt Fun Times
Lufthansa First Class Terminal
Frankfurt to Newark
Newark to Seattle
Conclusion
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday 12th May 2015

The train ride into the airport was packed full of people. Most of them did not even get off at the airport and were already on the train when it arrived. It meant that I just had to stay standing the whole ride. Not to bad when it is only 2 stops and about 12 minutes or so. Getting off at the airport it was time to see if the instructions I downloaded were correct. Getting to the First Class Terminal (FCT) by foot is not something they really advertise.

From the station I followed the way I originally came into the station area from the Arrivals area, had I gone back up following the crowds to departures I would have been way to high and have to backtrack down. So back to the arrivals area it was, just where I had been 2 days earlier. I went outside to the street and then turned left, back towards the taxi waiting area. About 5 minutes stroll later and it was crossing the street in-front of the Lufthansa Crew entrance (also where I think there HQ is.. maybe?). Then it was just a little bit more further down the road towards the FCT. Once you get to the crossing it is highly visible what is there. This was the place I had waited so long for, where I had wanted to be for so long. This was the almost ultimate of experiences. Also it was going to be a place where I had hoped to learn a little about being in the lounge, if this was the best place, perhaps it was somewhere I could learn a little.

From the bottom entrance to the FCT you head up in the lift and as you exit you are greeted by Lufthansa staff. When I came up I was not alone, there was 2 other passengers in the lift with me and they took their time coming up and out. For me though I scooted around them and it was there I met Antje. She was going to be my Personal Assistant for my time in the lounge. This is one thing that I think the FCT does right. In a lounge like this, you should have someone there to greet you and that person should be your point of contact. Need something fixed, well your PA is that person. They will make sure that whatever you need done is done. Antje took my suitcase away from me and escorted me the 3 steps to security where there was only one other person ahead of me. She had my passport and my details and she would meet me on the other side. Security took just a few minutes as I had to get my camera bag swabbed for explosives. Not a big deal and here it was all so pleasant. No shouting no yelling just quiet and calming. The way it should be.

Antje returned while I was waiting for my belongings to come through the scanner (the second staff member was out the back checking the swab scan) and when she returned my belongings came out. Antje explained that my passport would be held downstairs by the Immigration desk and that they would return it to me when I leave. After that she took me on a quick tour of the FCT. I stepped foot inside the main door and that was it…. that life achievement was now unlocked. I was there!

After a brief explanation of what was what and where things were, I was starving so sat down to a delicious breakfast. Something I desperately needed was coffee. So while I could order off the menu for eggs etc, there was an amazing buffet set up. While I couldn’t decide on what to get my first thing was coffee and after that it was some fruit. That was a given and an easy way for me to decide what I wanted. The easiest choice is never all that easy. I knew I wanted eggs but then what kind… they had so many options. I took the easy way out and went with poached and while that was happening I was eating my fruit. I grabbed some kind of yogurt thing (or so I thought at the time) and took that back to the table with me. Turns out that it was more cheese like than yogurt and in fact may have been quark (not quite sure because I had never had that before either).

The fruit was amazing and what looked just as good was a waffle, so that is what I went with as well as my eggs (along with some bacon… and a sausage, and some potato… what I am on holidays, stop judging me). It was all so tasty and a good way to start off some of my time in the lounge.

After a full breakfast and catching up on life thanks to the free wifi (it also allowed me to tweet away and make me feel slightly more connected again) I decided to pick up my belongings and relocate to somewhere a little more conductive to working (ie away from a table in the restaurant). The first thing after dropping my gear was to walk around quickly and grab a number of photos (a full description of the lounge will go into the FCT piece for AirlineReporter so you can wait for that can’t you). The place was as good as I had pictured and dreamed. I wanted to be everywhere at the same time.

As I walked around I thought to myself how surreal and peaceful this place was, especially at an airport of this size. Frankfurt airport is not exactly small, compared to Atlanta this place was almost on par. The size was astounding, I had read so many stories and pictured this place to be immense, however the size of the lounge was a lot smaller than it seemed. It would have been about the size of a small corporate office, yet it was big enough. It did not feel crowded and there was so many different nooks and crannies you could easily feel alone. I sat down back at my stuff and got myself sorted with power etc so I could work. I browsed the drinks menu (about 25-30 pages) and found that the water menu alone was a whole page. Who am I to decline something new, so I tried some Glenlivet water. Since I won’t be drinking their scotch, the least I can do is drink their water right?

That was where people think that I went crazy and indulged like no other, downing snacks left right and center or getting drink after drink. Well to be honest, that didn’t happen. I just drank my water and worked away. During the entire time in the lounge, all I really had was that one 750ml bottle of water and a coke zero (later on before leaving). The view from the lounge was of the crew bus departure area, so it wasn’t as if I was going to be looking at planes and be distracted. This was about peace, tranquility and just time to zone out. So that is what I did. I finished up my work and took some time to read a real, actual book.

The best part about the lounge was the fact that I could feel like I owned it, that I was the only one there. If I wanted something, they could bring it to me or I could go get it. If I needed something they would help me. After a while I realized that I had been there a good 2 hours and time had just flown past. I had not even gone to get a rubber duck yet! So I did, and made sure that I just asked for it without even trying to waste their time for asking for a shower.

After a while, Antje came to check on me, to see how I was going. I was totally content just relaxing away and doing what I was doing. This is why I am a lounge person, the ability to just zone out and relax and be in the peace and quiet is the best way to start travelling. From then on out I didn’t have much time left in the lounge. Antje and I had a quick chat as she noticed the book I was reading (About the 747) and I explained what I was doing etc (well not fully) and she put it upon herself to go and get me a rubber duck for Heidi. So I decided to come clean (a little) and gave her one of the AR business cards that I have and a couple of stickers. Maybe we can get them on one of the Porsches?

Pretty soon my time in the lounge was coming to an end. About 5 minutes before I knew Antje would show up to get me, I made one last pit stop and packed up most of my stuff, getting it ready for a quick departure. When Antje finally came along I dropped my book in my bag, collected the bags up and off we went, towards the exit. We took the steps down and then it was off to the passport desk to get that back and be stamped out of the country. After that the news was broken to me that I would not be riding in the Porsche today but in the mini van (damn). Sadly there was a few other people (2 to be exact) who would be coming with and they had to be accommodated as well. Can’t win them all. Time to hop onto the little mini van to the plane.

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Introduction
Seattle to Frankfurt
Frankfurt Fun Times
Lufthansa First Class Terminal
Frankfurt to Newark
Newark to Seattle
Conclusion
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Sunday 10th May 2015

After getting through immigration without even one question asked, I found my bag already on the carosel and walked through the non existent customs checkpoint. Seriously, could this be easier, even Australia is worse and it is easier than the USA. I had two things I wanted to get before going anywhere. First I wanted to get a Frankfurt Card which would give me access to the trains for the next two days. Secondly I wanted to get a sim card for my phone for Data. Specifically I wanted to get a Blau.de Sim card. They had a deal with Data for 10 Euro for 1GB of Data. Pretty decent because that is all I wanted it for. To be able to move around the city, find where I am going, find out information, tweet a bit now and then. The Frankfurt card was easy, I just had to walk up to the Welcome Center. Done and dusted super easy. The Sim Card I should have gotten from the Oracle store. However it didn’t seem to exist. There was 2 other mobile phone stores and they both did not sell that sim (and they wanted 40 Euro for their cheapest). Not Gonna Happen! Gave up and headed for the train.

Turns out as well that the day I arrive in Frankfurt is the day of a Train strike. *sigh*. Missed a train by seconds, next one in an hour… WTF. Go back to find sim card… still strike out, resign myself to try again in the city, not sure how I am going to get from Station to the hotel, as I was going to go by Uber. Yep, this could get interesting. I wait on the platform and funnily enough there is a train within 10 minutes of me sitting down, one not listed on the board. Heh typical. The Train to the city was easy and within 10-12 minutes I was at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. I found the Tourist information desk at the station to help me get to the hotel (as i knew there was a tram stop near by, what I didn’t know was the number or stop name). They wrote down all I needed to know and also told me that sunday all shops are pretty much closed. However there might be an open Mobile phone store just near the tram stop. So down I went!.

The mobile phone store did sell Blau sim cards. Sadly though it did not have that particular sim card in stock as they had sold out. *sigh*. So off to the hotel in the hopes I can get some wifi and see what I can find out. The tram was easy and getting from the tram to the hotel was even easier as it was a simple process of just following the street around the corner towards the uniquely shaped building. Checking into the hotel was simple and I asked about shops and she confirmed that I will not have much choice at all of getting it today, everything is shut. I did have free wifi at the hotel, so that would have to do. I logged in as soon as I got up to my room and let my friend Clare know I was here.

The room wasn’t bad, very spacious but the room was really warm and so cranked the aircon to the lowest setting and grabbed a quick shower. By the time I was done and clean, Clare was there and we went off to explore and catch up. We walked all the way to the Train Station at Frankfurt West and then headed off to the touristy part of town to stroll around and see random things, get some cake and coffee (it was mid afternoon by this stage) and just take our time. We had cake in some little random alley cafe and it was really good. Not bad pricing either. The cake I had was a white cake that was so fluffy and had numerous different textures. Such a weird yet wonderful taste differential.

After a quick stop for nourishment we headed off to the Frankfurt Main tower. This is an observation deck on the 55th story of a building and it is all open air. This was quite a good idea as it gave a good chance to look down over the city and see where everything was. This allowed us to work out where to walk to, to check out. We snapped a few photos, talked more, relaxed, soaked in the afternoon sunshine and planned a walk back towards the station via the Opera House. The main thing I wanted that afternoon (other than a sim if i could swing it) was some water, since I didn’t have anything but the two little bottles I had stashed from the flight (thankfully). Sadly I could not find an open supermarket anywhere but did enjoy seeing the Opera House.

After the opera house we wandered back to the Hauptbahnhof figuring we could get something around there and to grab the tram back to the hotel for an afternoon drink (If i charged it back to the room, I could scam myself a 30,000 point refund). We had a drink sitting out on the patio by the fish pond at the hotel and chatted away. The vibe of Frankfurt on a Sunday felt surreal. Everything was so quiet, it was as if there was just no stress at all. Normally on a Sunday I would spend the day doing chores and even then all the stores would be busy with people doing the same. Yet this was totally the opposite, it was as though there was no one around.

We had picked out a place for dinner, something Clare and I both know each other for, Japanese food. Yep, I came to Germany to eat japanese food. Funny right? We ended up walking down there via Clare’s hotel so she could drop off some stuff, and we had a great dinner in the courtyard of what felt like someone’s garden. Like I said… surreal. After dinner we both walked back to our hotels (and I spent most of mine trying to stay awake and not get propositioned by hookers… but I failed on the latter).

By the time I got back to my hotel and did a little bit of catching up, it was close to 10pm and I practically passed out. Such a long day.

Monday 11th May 2015.

I woke up after passing out for the entire night. Damn did I sleep well, I did not wake at all. I got myself ready to go for a run and see where I would end up. However I got a message from home to tell me to call the wife before I went for a run so she could go to sleep. I was thinking to myself “really” but in reality it’s a fair request. Had a quick chat with Heidi and then went out for a run to see if I could find this “river” I had seen on google maps. River turned out to be a canal and the run was really nice. Again Frankfurt felt really sleepy.

After a run and a shower, I felt really human again and was looking to head down to breakfast. I booked the room for 2 people so Clare could scam a free breakfast as well, and since I was only going to have it on one day, was fine for me. Clare was going to leave her stuff at my hotel as well while we went out to explore. Breakfast was really tasty and I had a good bowl of porridge that was so tasty it wasn’t funny. We were both pretty happy and full of caffeine that we headed on out of the hotel for the day. I stopped to tell reception my TV wasn’t working in the hopes they would fix it.

We were going to head off down back to where we had been yesterday to start with, to get some better photos of the cathedral and also check out the Dialog museum. It also seemed to be where we were going to have lunch. Sadly the Dialog Museum was closed so we spent more time at the Cathedral instead. We decided to drop a few Euro and walk to the top of the tower. Not really realising that this meant a whole lot of stairs. A Lot of stairs 🙁

The view from the top of the tower was eventually worth it and we had a good time up there. The best part of the day was strolling along the riverbank with no reason at all other than to enjoy the sunshine and chat. It was still surreal as this was around 1030 to 11am on a Monday morning and the city felt sooo empty. This was something that felt so foreign to me, but I did enjoy it. We strolled and strolled and eventually ended up back in the city area and decided to head towards lunch. I had found a place online that had a good reputation for Schnitzel and was cheap. It also had something that Clare wanted to try which was Frankfurt’s Green Sauce. Green Sauce is essentially a lot of herbs with Eggs and Sour Cream and a few other bits and pieces. It was served with Potatos and more hard boiled eggs. The sauce was tasty.

After lunch we really didn’t have any idea of what to do, so wandered around some more, with no real plan and eventually headed back towards the station again for a tram. Picked up some goodies to take home to Heidi and for her mum’s mother’s day gift (since I copped out being overseas). We hopped on the tram back to the hotel to retrieve Clare’s stuff and for me to swap out to the camera bag. We were both going to head out to the airport so that I could get some plane spotting in.

By the time we got out to the airport, it was around 4pm and we headed up to Terminal 2 (which is also where Clare’s flight was departing from). Terminal 2 has the Visitor’s Terrace, which is a great and easy place to go plane spotting, even if it cost 3 Euro to enter. We spent a couple of hours out there until they were closing it around 6pm and even though Clare isn’t really a plane person, I could see she was interested in what got me going. I believe she even did some sketching of people watching planes.

After saying goodbye to Clare, I headed back to the city to get back to the hotel. Along the way stopping at the Supermarket about a 10 minute walk from the hotel to get some water and some snacks and candys for gifts and found a place close to the hotel to get some takeaway for dinner. Sadly no sausage or other german food, I ended up having Thai for dinner. Pretty tasty and I ended up in bed around 930pm. A long day and almost 30,000 steps!

Tuesday 12th May 2015

I tossed and turned all through the night as the room was just so hot, the aircon did not seem to work at all and rather than spend to much time dealing with it, I just got up around 5am. Thankfully Heidi wasn’t asleep at the time so I had a quick chat with her via skype and then went out for a run. Since I was up early and with nothing better to do. I decided to spent my last 10 Euro by getting the train to the airport (thinking I could get an ICE train and therefore claim I had been on a high speed rail outside of Japan, but that didn’t happen) and buying more candy for Heidi.

By the time I got out to the airport, I followed the directions I had downloaded and let the final piece of my puzzle and what was essentially the entire point of this trip begin.