miles without having to purchase any more miles. The only catch was that we had tocomplete travel by May 15
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and that was fine with us. We also had a limited numbercities and available seats for our “saver award tickets”. The travel Gods had spoken andwe set our dates. We now knew when and where we were arriving (Frankfurt) anddeparting and had to only fill in the rest of the trip. We had traveled on severaloccasions by train but now preferred traveling by car on this trip. The car had becomeour preferred travel mode mostly for the flexibility it offered in choosing roads lesstraveled. To most people, planning a trip like this would be relatively easy but for John and Cocoplanning the first day became a sparring match from the get go. Coco was set on onlydriving a short distance after leaving Frankfurt and my idea was to travel no less thanthree hours. Since we were arriving at 10AM we would be leaving the airport by 12 afterclearing customs and renting the car. In the end we choose to drive for a few hourssince we had a great hotel already booked on line. The month prior to departure Coco spent using Google maps to plot each segment of our trip. We have to purchase new printer cartridges as often as we changed ouritinerary. This was also an opportunity for Coco to research her ancestors on hermother’s side to possibly include a visit to her great grandmother’s birthplace. It tookseveral trips to Powell’s Book Store to finally select an appropriate Europe Road Atlas.As part of the road trip, we were planning to visit lifelong friends in Lugano, Salice Terme, Italy plus visiting Coco’s cousin from Boston who invited us to spend some timewith them in Provence and a house they had taken for the month of May. Additionally,we had a unique opportunity to visit our nephew Brian who would be exhibiting newdesigns from the architecture department at Columbia University in the InternationalFurniture Design Show in Milan. Other than those dates our trip was open for discussion.Early in our planning we also decided to leave the cell phones and computer at homeand travel as we always had in years past—“off the communications grid”. The day had finally arrived. We boarded a united flight to San Francisco where we wouldconnect to a direct flight to Frankfurt. After a few boring airport hours we found ourhome in two exit row seats adjacent to the WC and narrower than what I rememberedfrom my last international flight 5 years ago-maybe the seats hadn’t changed as muchas our bodies. The 747 was full, the tailwind was strong and we started our 10 hour journey. Since the airlines began penny pinching, the impact to international “cattleclass” couldn’t have been cut more. The meals were small tasteless portions of lasagnaor chicken. I was surprised to be told that my travel profile had been checked for Kosher.For a moment I thought this could produce a surprise but in the end it only added to ourdining disappointment. They even charged for drinks which used to be free oninternational flights. If traveling in economy again I would strongly consider purchasingfood prior to the flight. On the brighter side, the movies were free but the headphoneswere still lousy.Landing in Frankfurt, we wound our way to baggage and bathrooms. We also decided tostop by the ticket counter to reset our return seats further from the WC. Arriving at the
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love the pothos frind requst
love the photos