Tag: airport

Germany, here we come!

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It took us 26 hours door to door. It’s a drag, but I don’t mind. All the shopping and eating you can do at the airport, all the reading and watching, talking and walking: all is good!

Munich is a nice airport to arrive: it is modern, bright, light, clean, everything works, everything makes sense. German efficiency. Kind of the opposite of the Frankfurt airport, which I would title: German inefficiency / what were they thinking? But that is another story and that’s why I try to avoid Frankfurt. So I booked a flight from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles and from there directly to Munich. And we enjoyed every minute of it! We had great seats, lots of legroom, (relatively) good food, we had good talks, we watched good movies [OMG: “The Zone of Interest”. What a great movie about Germany’s worst time in history, written out of a perspective you’ve never seen before].

And then we arrived, had another hour car drive until we were at our final destination: the house I grew up in, where I spend my childhood, where I walked or biked to school from, where my sister and I shared a room in the attic, a room that took 7 years for my busy dad to finish. Up there it is very cold in the winter and brutally hot in the summer. I guess, I know that my parents didn’t have much money back then, so they must have saved money on insulation materials. But it was always like that, maybe that’s why I don’t like winter or wet, cold weather. Up there in the attic, the winter is inside, the wet, cold weather is crawling under your blanket and barely anything can keep you warm. Except the furnace and that is too small for the room. But here we are again! And every time I arrive I feel like arriving in my childhood again. I participate as if I never left. And today I baked bread…

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And that bread has a funny story: just before we left California I had asked my friend Kimberly if she could give me some of her sourdough, since mine had died. Sure, no problem, and since both our husbands wanted to meet for lunch that day, it was an easy transition to get her sourdough over to our house. Except that it was another hot day in Paso Robles, except that the marmalade jar that contained the sourdough was very full, except that Ted put this jar in his cargo pocket of his shorts, except that he and his friend went to wine tasting after lunch, until….. until Ted felt something crawling down the side of his leg. The leg closest to the cargo pocket with the sourdough jar. Can’t blame it: it was hot and it was bored inside! So the sourdough made it into the cargo pocket until that was full and out and down that sexy leg. Fortunately there was enough sourdough left to take to Germany. Inside a ziplock bag, that was inside another ziplock bag, that was inside a plastic drink bottle, that was inside a plastic bag, that was inside my suitcase. No leakage here, you just need to be professional! The sourdough survived and got to be transformed into this delicious bread! Not that we need to bake our own bread here in Germany because Germany is famous for having quite a few varieties. 3200 to be precise! The sourdough has to make it to Italy, that is known for pizza and pasta. Not for bread, especially not for dark, wholegrain, hearty, healthy bread. So I’ll bake my own. And that’s why I brought my sourdough – or whatever was left in Ted’s cargo pocket…..

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Airports vs Railroad Stations

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I love railroad stations. And I hate them. Let’s get the bad feelings out of the way to make room for the good, ok? So the story is, that I felt the most lonely ever at – guess – a railroad station. In Munich. On Christmas Eve. With a big bag full of gifts for my family. And there was no train in – what felt forever. My boyfriend and I had plans to visit my family for Christmas, so we got his parents car for that trip, prepared a nice stay with my family and I was bursting with anticipation to be swallowed up in hugs and kisses and laughter and talk and food. Of course there will be food! Delicious Christmas cookies, stollen, marzipan and all those good smelling gingerbread. I was 21, and I thought: this guy is the love of my life. I really did! And I was very wrong. So we had an argument and – just when we were supposed to leave – he decided to not go. So this was the end of the idea to go see my family, which lived an hours train ride north of Munich. And I so wanted to go and see them, I had a gift for each of them, mostly handmade little somethings, but hey: it’s the thought that counts, right? So I packed all those little goodies in a big bag and left. And it was freezing cold! It was already dark outside and because it was Christmas Eve, there was hardly anybody out there on the streets. Christmas Eve is when in Germany everybody is with their loved ones. It is the main event. The highlight! And for me it was the lowlight. Catching a bus to the next subway station was a challenge, taking the subway to the railroad station was the next challenge, because every public transportation was on a holiday schedule. Well and then there was the railroad station, deserted, just the announcements through the speakers and I. I’m not sure, but I must have waited for hours to be able to get on a train to Ingolstadt. I was freezing, I was sad, disappointed, hurt and in disbelieve what I had let somebody do to me! But I made it!!! Another 30minute walk to my parent’s house and everybody was there: it was warm, cozy, happy, perfect!

Railroad stations on the other side are fantastic! They are the start to an adventure, there are trains from everywhere, going to somewhere else. There are announcements, magazine kiosks, bakeries. You can watch people hurrying, running, waiting, strolling. Everybody wants to go somewhere, nobody wants to spend time there. Railroad station are not for staying I guess: they are just in-between launches to somewhere exciting. They are a promise to the next destination!

Airports are also temporary locations, similar to railroad stations, but in a different way. You are forced to stay there longer than you want, 2 or 3 hours before your departure, sometimes even longer if your connection flight leaves 8 hours later, like yesterday, when we flew from California to Munich and had a leisurely forever break in LAX. So you have time to kill and the airport gods know how they want you to spend your time: you should eat. Especially in airports in the US there are significantly more places to eat than anything else. You grab food to go, you sit down to eat, you hang out at a bar at 8am, everything is encouraged. Eating and drinking is the main focus what people should do when they are bored. And you have at least 2 or 3 hours to be bored, that means you can eat a tremendous amount of food! In any airport outside the US you’ll find way less food opportunities and more shopping and relaxing places. An occasional restaurant, yes, but your boredom should be filled with shopping. Not much better, but at least you’ll be healthier. Think about all the food you’re not eating and all the steps you’re walking!

And then there is the mystery about the carpet. Why do airports have carpet on the floor? Of course you think they want you to work harder pulling your suitcase, that makes you burn more calories and because of all the calories burnt your appetite builds up and – voila! – you will be happy to see all the food choices!

No, that’s not really the reason why there are carpets. The only true thing is, that it is harder to pull your luggage around. Another reason you will think is noise reduction. And you are right: it is significantly less loud if there are carpets on the floor. No matter where you are: houses, restaurants, airports, etc.

And here comes my fun fact about carpets in airports: researchers have found out that people feel more homey and cozy when they walk on carpets and therefore – drumroll – they spend more money shopping. In fact, 25% more money is made in airport areas with carpets than in those without (because without a carpet they think they are at a railroad station and they are in a hurry and don’t have time to shop. Maybe…)