Voyage to Europe – Getting There is Half the Battle

They say getting there is half the battle. Well, if that’s the case, the ours was one hell of a battle and it better be over. First, my reliable secretary / wife let me down for the first time when it comes to booking travel. She is normally so good with the timing of flights that I am not sure what happened this time. Needless to say, I found out a week before the journey that we had a five hour layover in Chicago of all places. Isn’t the the black plaque of airports and the opposite direction of Munich? To make matters more laughable, Lufthansa had a direct to Munich flight from Charlotte.

Augustiner Kellar in Munich

Chicago O’hare has to be one of the worst airports to have a layover in. I have no idea how people do it during one of the many flights that get stranded in this airport due to the weather. All we wanted was a nice place to sit down for lunch and have a drink while we reviewed our itinerary and to do list. This proved to be a huge challenge since most places were fast food or lunch counters advertised as a tavern or restaurant. There was an Italian eatery but the temperature in that part of the airport was set on boiling. We ended up at Chili’s with no free WiFi and my T-Mobile hot spot wasn’t working. Awesome.

Mrs. Gourmand Enjoying Her Much Needed Liter of Helles

Please Sir, Can I Have Another?

Speaking of temperature, apparently the architects who designed the airport weren’t of the same brilliant minds as I am currently reading about in Devil in the White City. I understand the need for natural light in a building the size of a major airport, but the skylights are blinding and make it impossible to control the temperature. We were both walking around with our sunglasses on drenched in sweat.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel - Marienplatz

And now onto the flight. Never, and I mean never, travel on an airline during a merger. If something goes wrong, you’re in for some trouble. We learned this when US Air lost our luggage for a week long cruise during the American West merger, but apparently forgot when booking a flight during the United Continental merger. Everything appeared to be smooth. My Star Alliance status got us upgrades to Economy Plus and we boarded before the masses in the back of the plane. Mrs Gourmand hands the attendant her boarding pass and boards the plane. Not so lucky for me. “Sir,” she explained, “It appears that you never checked in.” “Well how do I have a boarding pass then?” I asked.

Climbing Saint Peter's Church Bell Tower - Imagine Racing Down These Stairs Having to Drain a Liter of Beer.

A half hour later, I board the plane with a new seat not next to my wife. They gave that seat to someone else in error and nothing could be done. Furious, I board the plane only to find someone else sitting in my seat with a ticket for that seat. I’m hot now. I waited with five other angry passengers while they bumped the people in our seats up to business class and first class. Hey! Weren’t we the ones inconvenienced? The issue was a half hour before the original plane we were flying had a mechanical problem and the new plane had a different seating configuration. It went from a 3-3-3 to a 2-5-2. This was too much for the merged computer system to handle and seating was haywire. The kind passengers on the plane were overly accommodating and moved around to allow those of us displaced from our traveling companions to sit next to each other.

View from Saint Peter's Church Bell Tower of Munich

View from Saint Peter's Church Bell Tower of Munich

View from Saint Peter's Church Bell Tower of Munich

View from Saint Peter's Church Bell Tower of Munich

I wish I could this was the last of it. But no, it wasn’t. The flight was an hour late. The crew had no idea what food they were serving and advertised brisket or BBQ chicken but instead passed out spaghetti and meatballs or orange chicken. The movie system also did not work on the plane. And they didn’t comp us drinks. I am writing a letter.

But wait, there’s more. We also got lost trying to find our hotel. We spent an hour lugging our suitcases around Munich in nicer weather than we were dressed for. After the flight and walk, we had to wreak when we arrived at our hotel. But the light at the end of the tunnel was the hotel was great and the staff friendly, and one of Munich’s best biergartens, Augustine, was two blocks away. It was our first stop on our cultural tour of Germany and Austria.

Marienplatz Glockenspiel

Next, we hopped subway to Marienplatz and were welcomed by the enormous gothic town hall. This was reassurance that the trip was worth it. After admiring the building, we climbed the 310 stairs up Peterskirche for some amazing views of Munich before winding up back in Marienplatz for the 5:00 ringing of the glockenspiel where the Hatfield’s always beat the McCoy’s. I mean, the Wittlesbach always beat the Hapsburg’s in the ceremonious clock ringing coopers dance.