We're off! ...and we've landed!

Right now we are on the first of 3 legs of our flights taking us to Berlin. Last night around 10:00 I happened to check my email and saw something from United. Well, it was business as usual for United: our 6:45 AM flight out of Lincoln going to Denver, was canceled. The reason: the flight crew couldn't make it. This airline has serious problems. So Sara said to get on the phone IMMEDIATELY and get them to fix things so we wouldn't miss our connecting flight to Germany. Sara told me the secret to avoid the 9 million prompts before you get a real person on the phone. The next secret is to not talk to the guy in Timbuktu but to ask for the head supervisor. So the guy I spoke with shuffled around and got us on an earlier flight out of Lincoln...leaving at 6:00 AM (I only hoped that the crew would show up). So we are on the plane now, headed to Chicago. The amazing part is that our seats are in the exit row...yay! The next 2 flights...from Chicago to Newark and from Newark to Berlin...we have seats in Economy plus...the first in row 8 and the 2nd in row 11.

Well, we have landed in Berlin. The long flight from Newark to Berlin felt like it was a day and a half long! It was nice to have the extra leg room, but you still feel like a bunch of sardines in a can. We were served dinner on the flight and to get a picture of what it was like to cut your chicken and get it up to your mouth...think of bringing your elbows in tight to your waist, then keeping them there, get your fork to your plate and then raise it to your mouth. Argh!

Dinner was served around 6:30 PM our time and the lights went out on the plane about 7:30 (our time in Lincoln) and then that was the time to sleep. Breakfast was served around 11:30 PM (again...OUR time) and we landed at 1:00 AM our time...but that is 8:00 AM Germany time. Long story short...I got no sleep and Dad got a few dozes here and there. But we were rarin' to go when we landed.

We got our rental car and made tracks on the autobahn to get the heck out of Berlin...too big! We drove for 1 1/2 hrs or so...and add on an hour or so of getting lost in Berlin and having to pull over and figure out how to use the gps system we rented. But the good news is we made it to Prenzlau, Germany...in the northeast corner...close to Poland. We found a quaint hotel where we are staying tonight and they have a restaurant here. So we ate dinner (or whatever meal it was) at about 2:30 PM Germany time and we had a beer, a plate with schnitzel, potatoes, and shredded carrots and cabbage, and then split a piece of apple strudel! Then we went for a walk. We were trying to stay awake for awhile longer, but Dad is snoring away right now in bed at the hotel (4:00 PM Germany time)...it is broad daylight but that is not bothering him.

Obviously, I'm still up because I'm writing this. But I'm about to go through the shower and wash off the sardines (from the plane!) and then read for awhile and get to bed. Going to bed in daylight reminds me of simmer dim!

Sorry for no photos today...I didn't have my camera with me at dinner or on our walk. I'll do better tomorrow. We're off to Poland tomorrow somewhere on the Baltic!


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Location:Lincoln to Berlin