It may be time for new passport pictures

Oct 1
Breakfast at 2:30 am   Did we sleep much?  I didn't , Nick did fine, til I woke him.  Bags packed and out for the ship's crew to gather and we went to have coffee/ tea and banana bread.  It was one of the best things for breakfast most mornings-- very good and moist.

The bus left for the airport at 3:30 and the traffic was not horrible.  Took about 20 minutes, while last week at 9 pm, it tood 2 hours.

This is a small airport but the minute we walked in everything (bags, purses, jackets, everything) was xrayed.   Again, it's small and only one of 3 check in kiosks was working-- 50 folks trying to use one machine is a little crazy.  Finally we were allowed to go stand in line to let a human person check us in, but they didn't come on duty til 4:30, so we waited and waited and then we waited some more.  Finally we made it up to the human, bags were weighed (and whew, we weren't over 50 lbs). and then headed thru passport control.  Remember this is the country that insisted on a visa that had questions that were none of their business.  Anyway the passport control lady (young) looked at my passport and looked at me, she looked at the passport and looked at me (several times).  She then called a security person over and asked him to look at me and look at the passport.  They finally decided that I could go thru.  Realize that the passport is about 9 years old and I'm 10 pounds lighter with way shorter hair. Interestingly, Nick had the same experience.  Had to take off his glasses and cap.   Guess it's time for new passports.


After the passport control, we waited in an ugly room for the folks running the security to come on duty.  Once we went thru security we were trapped-- no bathrooms, no last minute shopping (nothing much was open anyway) and we waited and waited again.  Finally we were allowed to get on the plane to Frankfort.  N and I were in different parts of the plane, which doesn't happen often, but is okay!  The best thing is that our bags were checked all the way thru to DFW, so in Frankfort, we didn't have to deal with the large bags.

We were given ample food on our flights throughout the day-- I'll give Lufthansa that, you stay fed.  Now the quality?  Another story.  We had our boat breakfast, and then onboard the airplane we were given breakfast.   The food is hot, but breakfast was a nasty looking egg thing with some red sauce on it.  The bread was good.

We had sufficient time in Frankfort to get rid of the Euros that we got on the way over.  Folks shopped some and just waited and walked around anticipating the LONG flight from Germany to Texas.    Again when we boarded, Nick and I were in the back of the plane and when "lunch" was handed out, no choices were left.  Chicken was okay with me, but I would have liked a choice.  No one ever said that "regular" airplane meals are exciting, but they are sustenance, and an appreciated break from the 10 hr monotony.

Several movies were available and I watched Madagascar 3, Dark Shadows, and the t.v. pilot of Grimm (interesting)  I also watched an NCIS, and a REALLY OLD MacGyver.  I read some and tried to nap (unsuccessful).  I checked the music available and clicked the country/folk button.  If these are country, what have I been listening to on my radio station every morning?

Available was "Trampled by Turtles" by Stars and Satellites- a cd
Carolina Chocolate Drops by Leaving Eden
Smoke Fairies by Blood Specks
I have heard of Bonnie Rait
Have your heard of this country music?


We FINALLY arrived at DFW, went through customs, picked up our luggage and eventually found Super Shuttle.  They had to deliver someone to Grand Prairie before taking us home, which took an extra 30-45 min, but we were home way before our Brownwood friends- who still had a 3 hr bus ride to get home.