Long way back home

Up at 3 am on Tuesday morning to take the hotel shuttle at 3:30 am (15 min). Despite of the terrorists’ attacks in Brussels (of which we didn’t know until an NBC TV-Team interviewed us on the airport), there was no extra security or checks. In addition, we were fortunate and got a third piece of luggage checked in for free.

Our Delta plane to Atlanta started at 6:30 am and arrived 20 minutes early. It’s been a modern, new plane and in contrast to our international flight it appeared "roomier", cleaner and more comfortable. The B767-400 ER, which brought us to Munich, didn’t have electric outlets at the seats, the seatback-monitors were old-fashioned and - I didn’t notice this before - seats could only slightly be reclined. Legroom is sparse (less than on U.S. flights) and with the seatbelt sign more on than off and the belt around the hip, it was hard to sleep, even on a two-seater row; the plane was only about 60 % full.

Though, I am repeating myself in regard to food, but I will never understand why they can’t just simply serve a good sandwich or wrap instead of all these tiny, overcooked portions of some tasteless food, wrapped up three times, so that at the end there is more plastic on the tablet then the food wood amount to. Rolls and pastry is always old and ice-cold and salads are not really fresh. Surprisingly, they have started to serve all kinds of alcohol complimentary again (it would be much better, to improve food quality instead!), but there is no duty-free purchase anymore on the plane.

Same constant bother with carry-on luggage: Since new luggage regulations were introduced, travelers have much more carry-on and because it’s usually not controlled, at least not strictly (and never weighted), it’s always a run for the overhead bins. This slows down the whole boarding process considerably. Not very clever...

Sleep wouldn’t come, too tired and too awake and wired at the same time. Hate to arrive in Germany early in the morning, with a whole day to "survive“ (otherwise jetlag is even worse!). We arrived half an hour early and were picked up by our friend Silvia. Bless her, in regard to our approx. 170 pounds of luggage in total! Back home at 8 am exactly after five weeks of traveling. 35 deg. F and rain - what else could we have expected? Easter is coming up, but the weather forecast doesn't look too good.