We are flying KLM and wow do the Dutch have it together for getting through the airport. A very convenient kiosk that is easy to understand and has language presences allows us to simply scan our passports and via a few intelligent questions has our boarding passes ready and guides us to the self service baggage check in. Here you scan the barcode on the boarding card and place your bag into the baggage handler which automatically weighs the bag, checks for size, and if overweight suggests that you take the bag to customer service as there is an additional charge. I knew we were ok just misallocated clothing when repacking so we shift a bit from my bag to Joan's. Then scan the boarding pass, weight is ok, prints a luggage tag which you fix to the bag, then closes it and scans, X-rays, and affirms it is tagged and off it goes into the netherlands where we hope it will reach the plane. No congestion. No assistance needed, and we are off to security which again is individualized for massive crowds. Clear messaging on what one may or may not bring through. We empty the bags of all electronic items, yes even the neon and the flash attachment and our bags whisk through security check.
Well........ all except my extra bag with my pillow, jacket, and souvenirs. It gets stopped and I get flagged over to the lovely lady who takes me to a separate counter where they now start examining every piece of the content of the bag. They are deliberately looking for something only I can't figure what it could be. We have Chocolates form Belgium, a wooden shoe, a couple of other gifts. Then..... Ah Ha! Cheese Knives! Joan had bought Ashley and Beth some nice Dutch Cheese Knives with Deflt handles and they looked like miniature Warcraft Axes. She gives me that "I am sorry look", the Security lady gives me that "Gee I am sorry look", and we say farewell to the knives and pack the bag to go catch our flight.
On KLM our flight time is only 50 minutes yet we are served a drink and a sandwich. Impressive. When we land in Frankfurt we are excited to grab our bags and meet up with Lieselotte. We follow another couple from the plane to the right while everyone else seems to go left. Must be making connections as the sign overhead definitely says baggage with a picture of a bag. We enter a huge baggage claim area where it seems everyone is from the middle east. There are signs for Iranian Air and AE and some Turkish airline, but nothing marked for KLM or its Delta partner.
Come to find out we are in Baggage claim E and we need to be in D. The only way there is to leave security go through immigration then try to get clearance back into Claim D. There is young Japanese family that was on the same flight standing with us. When I figure out what we need to do, I try to explain to them in my best oriental english that they need to follow us to get their bags.
Baggage claim D is huge. There are a million people and shops all around and this is just where you wait for people to come out of immigration with their bags. We get to the exit and I can't find anyone to talk to to let pass. Finally a janitor I ask how do I get in and she directs me to find an information booth in the front middle of this huge hall. We go there and once again I explain my story to the lady behind the desk. She tells us to go all the way past the exit and then look for the hidden door on the left with a big circle on the floor in front of it. To the left of the door is a telephone. Stand in the circle and pick up the phone which will ring her desk. She will then be watching us on a video camera and will buzz the door open only long enough for us to go through.
So Joan and I and the Chinese family and a girl from Holland we picked up on the way, go looking for the Hidden Door with the circle on the floor. We find it and we all gather within the circle and I pick up the phone. Ring.........Ring..........Ring..........Ring........ Ring........ You get the picture. No one answers. We are standing there for a full minute when the guy who is responsible for moving the baggage trollies from outside security to inside security has a gaggle of trollies to move and we are in the way. I now relieve the story with him and he holds up his finger in the universal sign for give me a minute. He slips his security badge opens the door and whisks us all through along with his trollies into a deadman lock chamber. Once secure, he opens the other side where we are once again reunited with our bags.
And now to find Lisa in this mass of humanity.
When we exit the baggage claim, like a bright star shining our way and waving jubilantly, there is Lieselotte. We are all grinning and hugging and kissing. Oft her car where she will get us safely to her apartment on the banks of the Rhein in Ludwigshafen (just the other side of the river from Mannheim).
Lieselotte's apartment is fantastic and so very comfortable. She has given us the big bed which I quickly take advantage of for a nice snooze to get some strength back. She has these massive floor to ceiling wall to wall windows everywhere. And the couch you see in the pictures is good for both sitting and chatting as well as taking a snooze as I find out later.
She has planned a lot to include in our week with her and we iterate again that our main purpose is to see her. She is family and we just love her company. But she is bound and determined to show us some of her Germany while we are there. So this afternoon we walk across to Mannheim Castle (which it is not) as we discover.
No comments:
Post a Comment