The challenge to flying west is that it is a lot longer than what appears on the clock. But, instead of gaining back useful hours with the time change, they are normally spent either on the flight or being totally exhausted with still too much to do at journey’s end.
So the brief summary – alarm 0245. Depart hotel just after 0300. Wait for cab on the corner of the cross street as they don’t drive down pedestrian zones. Catch ride with kamikaze Polish cab driver to airport. Arrive whole and shaken. Hike to Check-in, do so, drop off bags. Get back in line for hard copy boarding pass. Clear security (new machines so no emptying out electronics. Find lounge. It doesn’t open till 0430. We join the rest of the caffeine deprived in waiting for the door to open. Latte machine.
Heading to the gate which, of course, is at the complete other end of the terminal, board and have more coffee during the slightly more than one hour flight which takes a bit more than two – time zone change.
And then the fun (not) begins. We are delayed on landing then directed to an outside park position. There is a delay on getting the ramp situated which really doesn’t matter because the bus hasn’t arrived. We are not the only ones worried about making our flights- there are a number of people transferring to US West Coast destinations (SF, LA, Seattle) which all leave in less than a hour and there we are on the tarmac.
Bus, load the bus, ride it feels from our row of planes to Terminal 1 – the A/Z entrance. Up stairs and escalators, down crowded halls, clear a boarding pass control. Meanwhile, we now have less than 30 minutes till our flight departs. Boarding should be in progress. Our gate, of course is two short of the far end of Z. Boarding is just starting and I am more than glad to get on, stow my things, find a toilet, and collapse in my seat.
It is a long flight, just over 11 hours. Of course with 9 hours time zone roll back, we arrive at 1230 local after departing just short of 1100 in Frankfurt. I listen to an audiobook, have early dinner and late dinner, knit, and nap a bit. Arriving at SFO, I am not surprised to find us at the far end of the International terminal with a long walk to immigration. No machines this time, just a relatively short line followed by a long wait for baggage. Caught BART, changed trains at 19th street, and Miriam picked us up at the North Berkeley station.
There was still mail to get through, but I was exhausted and headed to bed shortly after getting home and went almost directly to sleep. It is now just short of midnight, I have a velcro cat needing all the pets, and my brain is complaining that the coffee is late….
