Day 12 - Monday, October 10 - Returning home

 The trip home went relatively smoothly although it was a very long day.

We got up at 4am in order to get a taxi to the airport at 4:30. Our taxi driver must be a race car driver as it only took 11 minutes to get to the airport which is usually 15 - 30 minutes.

Check-in was quick and we were able to have cappuccino and snacks in the lounge before our 6:40 flight to Frankfurt. We arrived in Frankfort around 8:15.

The Frankfurt airport is immense and it took a while to get to terminal "Z" where our flight was departing. We waited in line for our first passport check and when it was our turn, we were waved through with the person at the desk saying United had a separate passport check. Then to another line for the official immigration passport check and stamping that we were leaving. Then the United passport check at the gate.

Boarding for our 11:20 flight started at 10:30 - a huge Boeing 777. But there were delays waiting for additional luggage to be loaded and we didn't leave until noon. The pilot said we would only be about half an hour late, arriving at 2:30. But because we were late, there was too much air traffic at Newark and we had to circle around Albany for another half hour.

It was interesting watching the screen showing our path down the Hudson Valley as it went directly over the Ashokan Reservoir. If we had window seats, we might have been able to see our house!

We got off the plane around 3pm and there was virtually no line at immigration, only taking about 5 minutes to get through. We then waited in line for our Global Entry in-person interviews which took another half hour. Global Entry allows one to skip the main immigration line and generally is much faster.

My suitcase was damaged and the handle wouldn't pull out. The metal tubes inside had been bent during handling.

One aggravation is that our phones again didn't work which meant that we couldn't call the off-airport parking shuttle. I had to ask someone else who was waiting to call for us. And we couldn't use Google Maps for directions to get from the parking lot back onto the Interstate. Fortunately, I had printed out the directions beforehand. 

We left the parking area around 4pm and it was a pretty smooth drive home even though it was nearing rush hour in New Jersey. We arrived home around 6:30 and were welcomed by bright fall foliage. After getting home, I realized that the solution to the phone problem the previous time was to due a network reset on the phone. I should have tried this at the airport - next time!

Foliage on our return home

Back home

Menu on return flight
Grilled vegetables with couscous were delicious


 

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