Trip Update:  On a sad note, our Wisconsin friends, Stan & Cindy Jaskolski, had to cancel this trip at the last minute because Cindy had her gall bladder removed. We had hoped that Cindy would have recovered from her surgery by now but she has not returned to her usual peppy self. Get well quick, Cindy; we will be thinking of you.

The nice thing about leaving on a trip originating in Germany is that it only takes one flight from Seattle to get to our destination. This trip we are flying with Condor Airlines, which is owned by the UK based Thomas Cook Travel Group. Condor is headquartered in Frankfurt and surprisingly has 41 aircraft that serves some 90 destinations. They fly older Boeing 767 aircraft but their business class (featuring lie-flat seats) fares are hard to beat. Our children have flown them several times and were quite happy with the experience. It is also nice that Condor has a relationship with Alaska Airlines so we will get mileage credit on Alaska for the flights.

Trivia for the day: the Boeing 767 was the first wide-body, twin engine plane that flew on transatlantic routes and with a two person cockpit. It entered commercial use In September 1982 and became the primary aircraft used in the 1990s for transatlantic flights. As of August 2019, 1,161 planes have been delivered to 74 different customers. Delta Airlines has the most in use-77. It is still in production (military tankers and cargo versions). The newer 787 will undoubtedly make it obsolete one of these days.

Because the incoming flight was delayed we were delayed about 30 minutes in leaving. I continue to be amazed at how they are capable of turning around these planes so quickly. The flight from Frankfurt to Seattle was due in at 4:10PM and our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:10PM. Do the math. They expect to refuel the plane, clean it and restock the provisions in 2 hours! Surprisingly, even though we left late we were able to make up the time and arrived in Frankfurt almost on time, after a 10 hour flight. So this plane basically is in the air 20 hours a day!  Talk about reliability.

I simply have to comment on the food and service on the flight. It was simply amazing. Our dinner was one of the best we have ever had on an airplane, and we have eaten a lot of airline food!  And the service provided by the staff was equally impressive. In my book, Condor is certainly an airline to seriously consider for any future flights.

Frankfurt airport is huge! We breezed through immigration but had to wait a good 20 minutes for our luggage. I had arranged for a private car (Suntransfers.com) to take us to Mainz (pronounced “minz”) where we will be boarding the ship. Because of the airport size I was a bit concerned about making the connection with the driver but there he was with our name on a sign as we exited the baggage claim area. It was a 45 minute drive to the city of Mainz and we both dozed on the way. We are staying at the Hilton Mainz on the shore of the Rhine River, not far from where our ship is expected to be docked. It is also located about 10 minutes from the old town section of Mainz.

Tomorrow we will do a bit of local sightseeing, then board our ship in the afternoon to begin our river cruise on the Main and Danube Rivers. Our travel companions, Bruce & Jan Bender, will be arriving from Denver tomorrow and we will meet them on the ship.