2 January 2009 - The beginning

Today marks the beginning of my four-year secondment in Frankfurt, Germany. I thought it may be interesting to blog about my experiences along the way for my own education and to share those experiences with my friends and family who aren't here in person to share them with me. I have no doubt that I will look back at some of these entries with a mixture of amusement and horror at my ignorance, but that's what learning is all about, right?

The flight to Frankfurt on American Airlines was relatively uneventful, though the boarding process was a bit interesting. As we were standing in the gate area, an announcement asked me to report to the desk. Uhhh....? We were flying on a 767 with a two-class configuration (business and coach) so it wasn't as if they were going to give me an upgrade. Instead, there was a woman named Sue there from American's "Concierge Services" (who knew there was such a thing?) who wanted to welcome me aboard and thank me for my business. Apparently she didn't get the memo that I lost lost my Executive Platinum status in 2008 because, ironically, of a few flights to Europe on Lufthansa. She asked if I'd like to pre-board and walked me over to the gate area, past the TSA contingent, and we stood there a few minutes just chatting while they opened the doors. I felt conspicuous and a bit like a playuh that I was getting the white glove treatment.

Anyway, they opened the doors and I and three other people boarded. And then they stopped, which I didn't notice as I had already given my coat to the flight attendant and was getting settled. Then the flight attendant came back with my coat saying we were going to be using a different aircraft and we needed to get off. Okay.... And then she took my coat again and said that we were just going to move our aircraft to a different gate. Okay.... The other three passengers were just as confused as I was. So we sat there for about 45 minutes in the nearly-empty plane as the flight attendants poured champagne or whatever it is that flight attendants do during boarding. I made it nearly through the New York Times. Meanwhile, the other angry sheep passengers could be viewed through the window in the gate area milling about and looking more angry and confused by the minute. Finally the captain made an announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves. We're gonna move." This was met with a lot of laughter from all of us and we slowly backed out of our gate and into a different one (K12 and K16, for those who know and love ORD terminal 3). And then the truly angry sheep boarded, while I sat there working on my second little glass of champagne. (Surely there must be an appropriate rap or other "playuh" song that would be appropriate if this scene were to be added to the SIP Soundtrack, Volume III.)

So that's how the trip began. I was delighted that all my luggage arrived on the flight with me, as this seems like a perfect place for Murphy's Law to intervene and take my prized possessions and hold them hostage in some dank baggage warehouse. The extended stay hotel is nice enough and I will likely be posting some photos to Facebook tomorrow. I did manage to find some time to wander around the neighborhood around the hotel, found a grocery store (a "super" market it is not), and even stumbled across an open air market with produce, tasty-looking cheese, and some scary meat. Perhaps next week I'll be brave enough to buy something at the open-air market!

SIP

P.S. In case you're wondering why the blog is titled Preuscher, that is, I believe, the original spelling of Priser. It seemed appropriate as I "get my German on."