So it begins….Saturday morning, I swear I hear someone talking. A glance to the alarm clock says that it’s shortly after 4 am. We wanted to get up at five? But most definitely Karsten is up, so I drag myself out of bed too. The risk on getting stuck in a traffic jam on the A1 is high, so we decide to leave early. Which is fine, I don’t enjoy panic attacks while trying to reach a plane.

The drive to the Düsseldorf Airport is uneventful and easygoing. Instead of the planned 4 hours, we just needed three! So we curve through the parking garage looking for a free spot. No hectic, it’s still early, boarding is in 4 hours. When we reach the monorail, we discover the lack of information regarding which airline is located in which terminal. We ask our mobile phones. First stop is where we get off.

Arriving at the terminal we head towards the open Eurowings counter only to be told that we have to go to a different counter, which isn’t open. So we wait. We stand in front of a small pedestal that informs us that our passports will be checked. At quarter to nine an employee shows up and ushers us all back a few meters. We’re the first in line. Eric is then asked how old he is and we are informed that we are to be interviewed separately. I throw in that we are a family. I get back: Chldren aged 12 and upwards are interviewed separately. I mention that this wasn’t done last year. The response: That may be true but things have changed under the rule of Trump. Eye rolling from my side.  Also it is requested that Esta forms need to be shown. Through a past experience that Karsten had, we have the forms printed out.

TIP: You are not required to carry your Esta form with you! It’s the airlines who come up with this crap and in the case of Eurowings, they usually fail to inform you about their wishes. Note to myself: letter of complaint goes out to Eurowings as not so seasoned travelers might have a panic attack because they didn’t bring their Esta with them.

Finally we reach the check in counter. We have to present our passports and tadadada…the Esta forms AGAIN. I won’t write what was going through my mind.

Now without suitcases and enough time we can finally eat breakfast. Still enough time to get through security too. Also uneventful. I have never been so calm and relaxed. We stroll through duty free, buy a bottle of whiskey and start heading for the gate. Arriving there we see a demarcated area. Now what? Seriously, we are interviewed once again, passports and Esta forms presented. When the flight is finally called, with the information that the rows will be called we know that we are finally starting our vacation. But wait….. we’re in Germany. No rows are called a mass of human bodies is moving toward the boarding area, so we get in line too.

TIP: Forget the idea that you have your seat reserved and we’re all heading for the same destination. The problem lies with your fellow travelers and their carry ons. Some have so much that there won’t be room for your little bag because you dummy followed the regulations. So get in that line and make sure you get your bag in the bin before they do!!!

But alas, we need to present our passports again! Oh and one more time too. When we get to the plane I really want to ask if they need to see our passports before we put a foot in the plane. Seriously.

We find our seats and settle in. Karsten and Eric already have there headphones on and are fiddling around with the in-flight entertainment. I’m trying to figure out if I’m too stupid to get my headphones connected to the socket. Thankfully I’m not. Some idiot broke off the pin on theirs and so my socket was blocked. I feel sick, a ten hour flight with no movies. Karsten heads for the purser. Lady Luck hasn’t left me. I’m in the four seat row and the two seats in the middle are empty. So I get to move over and have two seats for myself. We had good winds so we arrived an hour earlier and everything was great.

Arriving in Fort Myers was ok. Again the checks and questions at the terminals. The security officer was nice, we chatted about baseball and hockey. The suitcases were already waiting for us, so we headed for the rental cars. We booked our car through billigermietwagen.de and ended up with Budget. Normally we rent from Alamo, but that is a different story to tell. No long lines and Justin wanting to upgrade us for “only” 10$ a day. Forget it. Then he wanted to sell us every insurance he had on offer. No way. As a former employee of Sixt I know that every insurance sold is a bonus on the paycheck. When we reached our car we felt as if Lady Luck had left us. Small, damaged and no USB ports. We had especially asked for that. So we ask an employee and he points us to the counter in the garage. There a lovely young lady helped us and upgraded us, free of charge. Heading for the new car our eyes lit up. This is a car to travel with in the U S of A. We have a Chevy Equinox. All the suitcases fit and we’re heading for our house.

Upon arriving we drop off the suitcases and head for the next Publix to find our dinner and stock up on breakfast essentials. Dinner is pizza, red wine for us and Mountain Dew for Eric. We’ve been on our feet for 23 hours. It’s time for bed!

 

Sunday morning five am. We’re awake. Karsten and me. Our teenager will sleep for hours. We decide to get up. This is what we have been pinning for the past weeks. Sitting outside with a cup of coffee and not shivering for cold. It’s warm, the first birds are slowly chirping, it’s pitch dark outside, sunrise is at 6:28 am. It’s our first day of vacation. We take it easy, have a leisure breakfast and head for Walmart and BestBuy and dinner is steak and salad.

As I’m writing this, it was five am, another sunrise another beautiful morning. Let’s see what we’ll do today!