My journey to Germany started at 5:30 am when we started the long drive to Chicago from Ames in snowy and icy weather, though there was no issue with the drive. Dad and I arrived at the airport about 12:30 pm where I said goodbye.
Checking in and going through TSA was not a problem and it all went well. The airplane boarded at 3:45 pm and the wait in the airport was no bad at all and I even talked to a lady who had a flight out after ours left. Boarding went smoothly but because the bad weather we had to wait for them to deice the plane, and for some other passengers. It was delayed a bit more by the poor conditions in O'Hare but we were taking off about 5:30 pm.
The flight was not as bad as it would seem, and the cabin crew did a good job as well. The inflight entertainment had good options and worked well; one downside to the flight was the food. While it was good for the most part my choice for the main course was poor. I had the chicken with rice and should have chosen the pasta option, since the chicken had a weird taste to it, but the rest of the food was very good and the breakfast they served was delicious. I had trouble sleeping on the flight though and this caused some issues because my lack of sleep. Landing and deboarding went well and the security in Germany was easy, I didn't even have to pass through customs.
Then the trouble started. I had to find a ticket office for DB, the train company. I found the right area but not the ticket office and I had to run around a bit of the airport to find it. I then got a ticket and everything seemed like it would be good, then I missed my train. It went to a different part of the platform then I thought, it was early, and I didn't know how trains worked. It was my fault, so I asked for some information and they told me to get a different train so I did without realizing I needed to get a new ticket. I transferred to a new train in Frankfurt's main train station, after missing the connecting train for the second time basically. While riding it the conductor got me a proper ticket for the train and fined me as well. I was running on 5 hours of sleep with a couple hours of napping and at this point and had been awake for about 24 hours.
It was a rough start to my time in Germany, but it is a definite learning experience. Always make sure your ticket matches your train and know that they check your ticket after you have boarded. I made it to Marburg in one piece and luckily saw that my hotel, the Hotel Marburg Hof, was only about 10 minutes away by foot. The hotel was very nice and my room was great, unfortunately I was too exhausted at that point to take any pictures of it for this blog. That ended my trip from Sunday to Monday.
The next blog post will probably be this weekend detailing all the stuff that happened this week.
Checking in and going through TSA was not a problem and it all went well. The airplane boarded at 3:45 pm and the wait in the airport was no bad at all and I even talked to a lady who had a flight out after ours left. Boarding went smoothly but because the bad weather we had to wait for them to deice the plane, and for some other passengers. It was delayed a bit more by the poor conditions in O'Hare but we were taking off about 5:30 pm.
My plane that flew me to Germany
The flight was not as bad as it would seem, and the cabin crew did a good job as well. The inflight entertainment had good options and worked well; one downside to the flight was the food. While it was good for the most part my choice for the main course was poor. I had the chicken with rice and should have chosen the pasta option, since the chicken had a weird taste to it, but the rest of the food was very good and the breakfast they served was delicious. I had trouble sleeping on the flight though and this caused some issues because my lack of sleep. Landing and deboarding went well and the security in Germany was easy, I didn't even have to pass through customs.
Burt enjoying his flight with me
Then the trouble started. I had to find a ticket office for DB, the train company. I found the right area but not the ticket office and I had to run around a bit of the airport to find it. I then got a ticket and everything seemed like it would be good, then I missed my train. It went to a different part of the platform then I thought, it was early, and I didn't know how trains worked. It was my fault, so I asked for some information and they told me to get a different train so I did without realizing I needed to get a new ticket. I transferred to a new train in Frankfurt's main train station, after missing the connecting train for the second time basically. While riding it the conductor got me a proper ticket for the train and fined me as well. I was running on 5 hours of sleep with a couple hours of napping and at this point and had been awake for about 24 hours.
A German train in Frankfurt's main station
It was a rough start to my time in Germany, but it is a definite learning experience. Always make sure your ticket matches your train and know that they check your ticket after you have boarded. I made it to Marburg in one piece and luckily saw that my hotel, the Hotel Marburg Hof, was only about 10 minutes away by foot. The hotel was very nice and my room was great, unfortunately I was too exhausted at that point to take any pictures of it for this blog. That ended my trip from Sunday to Monday.
The next blog post will probably be this weekend detailing all the stuff that happened this week.
Sounds like a stressful time. It's normal to run into hiccups when traveling. Hopefully didn't stress you out too much. And hey, on the plus side you didn't have to sleep on a cardboard box in the streets of a remote Italian town. Hope you are able to get settled in okay .hugs, -- Sabrina and Ginko
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