Well, we’ve made it. We are in Innsbruck, outside on the street, enjoying a Margarita pizza, Rosé for me, and a tall Helles bier for Nathan. The weather is a marked improvement from Denver, where it has been raining and 60 degrees for the entire month of June.
The journey started in the usual and customary fashion with a shuttle ride to DIA. Our plane boarded on time, and while it was raining, again(!), there was no severe weather to slow us down.
Sleep on the plane was fitful and came in short bursts, just like the constant turbulence.
We arrived in Frankfurt hoping for the best and dreading a repeat of any of the 2022 European travel woes. We landed and here is where the adventure started. There was apparently no gate with accompanying jetbridge ready for us, so they parked us in the boonies and we waited for a bus. And we waited for a bus. The captain got on the PA and told us the airport didn’t have the necessary personnel to come get us quite yet, but that they knew we were here. That’s great.
After what felt like an interminable wait, what on only 3 hours sleep, the stairs arrived and so did two buses. We boarded the buses and were driven round and round and ROUND the airport. Not like they stole it like last year but maybe more as if we were precious cargo. I mean, some people think so, but I’m pretty sure all of us would like to actually deplane this bus and get on with our connections.
Once inside the Frankfurt airport, we cleared passport control, and then waited in a rather long security line. We have a solid 3 + hour layover, and I’m grateful for every minute because between bus-gate, passport control and security, we wasted at least an hour.
The carry-on bags cleared security without incident, however, my chest did not fare so well. Thoroughly manhandled (womanhandled?) by the agent, the perceived threat was neutralized, and me and my Lululemon sports bra were authorized to proceed to our next gate.
We accidentally spent more time in yet another passport control line before we discovered we could freely walk to our gate. Lines for the bus, lines for the toilet, lines for virtually everything, crabby and tired, we waited to board our flight to Innsbruck.
After a short delay, we were on our way. We landed in Innsbruck an hour later and our bags were there to greet us. We navigated the city bus successfully and found our way to our hotel.
Now, we have bellies full of pizza and visions of sleep dance in our heads. Tomorrow we have a full day in Innsbruck before we need to make our way to Lech on Monday.
Yay! So glad you made it. Can’t wait to read more in the coming days! Hope you can get some sleep now that you are through the travel headaches.