There was high drama in Munich yesterday. Our flight from Hamburg where we disembarked to Munich was late getting off and there was only about an hour between flights to begin with. When we landed in Munich, there was a van waiting on the tarmac and we were whisked through customs and security to the gate with minutes to spare. I thanked our lucky stars all the way to Boston that we didn’t miss the flight and have to rework the hotel in Boston and Southwest flights home, not to mention finding a hotel in Munich and getting on the next flight to Boston. Kudos to Lufthansa for getting us on the flight. Yes, it was their fault we weren’t there on time but at least they made up for it. The flight across the pond wasn’t too bad, either. The seat/leg room, while not ample by any means, was better than American Airlines or Swiss International. The food was pretty good, too. We found Aero Iberia, which we flew from Boston to Lisbon, to be a decent airline as well.
As lovely as all the amenities were on the cruise, it will be nice to get home to our hovel and our rut. You just can’t beat your own squalor and after a while the castles begin to run together. The last day of the cruise we visited Gronigen in the Netherlands. Our guide assured us that Gronigen is the prettiest city in the world but we didn’t find it so. It was OK but nothing special. International travel has a certain intrigue to it, but I’m not sure it really does that much for a person. If you were narrow-minded before you travelled, you will probably be narrow-minded when you get back. I’m not sure one couldn’t send off for a few brochures, review them thoroughly, then go have dinner at a nice restaurant and be just as well off. In fact, better off, since you haven’t had to endure the tedium of travel and the pain in the pocketbook. I’m not complaining and I’m glad we went. We enjoyed travelling with the Andrews but we weren’t tempted to take advantage of the discount for signing up for another cruise while still on this one. We heard that there are people that cruise almost continuously. They must not have much to go home to. Some of them we saw were pretty far advanced in life and I guess there isn’t that much difference between the cruise ship and the assisted living center they may live in when not cruising.