Hello hello,
This time I will talk about my travel from the US to Germany. But first a note of what this all means to me.
I love traveling. I love moving about, seeing new things, trying new things, and all other things new and different. I also love flying, even though I am 6'4". I love aircraft, the sound of jet engines, and hope to get my pilot permit (license) in the future. In my future career, I would like to essentially live out of a suitcase and fly around the world, like Ryan Bingham in "Up in the Air" (but not his exact job of firing people).
However, I never get to travel much. As a matter of fact, I have never been outside of the United States before this trip, not even to Canada. I have never even seen the Pacific Ocean. Which is odd considering I am studying International Business and like learning foreign languages and I am interested in many things international.
Therefore, I have only flown domestically and only on American carriers.
So, if you did not want to read that, I have never been abroad nor traveled very far, even though I love to, so this whole thing is very new to me.
Anyway, my first flight requiring a passport was on an Airbus A380 with Singapore Airlines. I must say that I love the aircraft. Also, it is a gigantic aircraft. The picture here shows it lining up with gate A6 at JFK with a ground crewman in the bottom left-hand corner. It had two jet ways leading to it at JFK and three at Frankfurt. I cannot include a second picture, but if I could I would show the 25-member crew. When the plane took off, it felt like it was the largest passenger plane in the world.
On the plane, I was quite frankly pampered. Perhaps this is Singapore Airlines' service or perhaps my expectations were set so low by domestic American carriers that my experience was luxurious, even though it was economy class. I also got to sit by myself on the second deck with a window seat, so that may have improved my impression. I got two meals (an assembly of plastic containers) that I thought were nice and plenty of drinks. I was quite pleased with my flight and am happy to be flying with them again on the trip back to JFK. Sometime, though, I need to fly an upper class internationally.
At my arrival in Frankfurt, first thing I noticed was that it was clean. I have also noticed this for the most part here in Germany. The security systems were interesting as they enclosed me in a glass corridor before letting me out and allowing me to move forward. I thought that was an interesting method. And from there, I moved on to the attached train station to take the ICE (Inter-City Express, Germany's high-speed train) to Mannheim.
The ICE is quite like the Acela on the Northeast Corridor, only faster and spends less time at the station. It has two by two seating, some tables, sliding glass doors that lead to the vestibules constantly opening for any tiny movement, there is not much talking outside of your row or table. Very much like the Acela.
The short 30 minute ride was like going through the Catskills in New York. Nice and calming.
Next time I'll give my initial impressions of the city of Mannheim and some other initial impressions I've had in my first week here.
Ciao.
