25 AUGUST 0817 (GERMANY)

Holy cow, where do I begin?

So yesterday I took at 0500 shuttle to the airport for my 0825 flight. I got there, walked around, bought a book by the same author as My Sister's keeper. Can't remember her name right now. Didn't end up reading it yesterday. Then waited for my plane after waiting in line forever to go the washroom.

They had free wi-fi so I was able to use my ipod to surf the net while I was waiting.

Then they opened the gate, and I was walking along. I was supposed to be in 19F on a 777 300 series. When I went through the line to check my boarding pass, she took mine, printed me a new one and said "Business class". I was so stoked. I didn't even ask for a free upgrade. It was the best moment ever. Then we went downstairs and waited a little more and then they said, boarding for business and first class passengers, so I went and boarded. It was soooooooooooo amazing. I had the seat that reclines to a bed. It was sooooooooooooooo awesome. It had a massage option too so I used that alot. It was the best flight of my life. The meals were pretty good although I ate 3 chocolate croissants along with the fruit selection and yogurt. They also brought me champagne while I was waiting to take off. we were 25 minutes late leaving but landed 10 minutes early. There was hundreds of movies to choose from. When I reclined to sleep I only got a half hour because they woke me up to see if I wanted wine and lunch. Lunch was alright. I had a chicken dish which seemed to have alot of curry. Was so amazing. So I arrived to Frankfurt on top of the world from my first class treatment. I made it out the gate with my luggage to Paul and Logan. He had a huge smile and let me pick him up and kiss him tons. Then I found out the hell of an ordeal that Paul had been through. First he left Logan's backpack on the shuttle bus in Vancouver. This one had the passports in it. He got it back luckily. Then he said Logan didn't fly very well. Then when he landed in Frankfurt, he drove around for 5-6 hours trying to find the hotel I booked for him. Poor guy. He finally got to his hotel at 2300. Then Logan was up at 0400 or 0500. Oh yeah, and the car seat didn't show up so he had to rent one with the car, the gps, and he went and bought the insurance. So I showed up and instead of the car costing 534 euros + the gps, was a bill for 1200 euros and the car was so small it barely fit the luggage. My dear hubby brought way too much luggage, He brought his huge samsonite, and my huge mec bag. So we had this tiny volkwagen car. Luggage everywhere and I didn't think it was very safe so I said we were returning it and trying for a bigger one. So we were leaving the parking garage and Paul realized that he lost the parking ticket. He had already paid for it but couldn't find it. Logan and I waited in the car for 45 minutes while he went in to talk to the people to see what we could do since we already paid. They were going to charge us for a whole day, then Paul finally walked back the way we came and found the ticket. Yeah!!!! So then we went to Terminal 1 and Paul went to find Logan's car seat and I went to the rental counter. He had already went to get it before my flight landed and they said it wasn't there yet. I talked to the budget people and they wanted to charge us 920 euros to get a station wagon or something like that. Then I went over to national. The company that screwed me over before when it was supposed to be $300. That would have been a sweet rate. She said we could have the audi that I originally booked for $300 for $740 euros. That has a built in gps, and is a sedan so way more room. Very sporty though. So we booked that, and then we had to go back to the other car which was full of our luggage and move it all to the new car which we had to walk forever to get the new car. First off we couldn't find the car because it was parked in the wrong spot. I was having nightmares of "planes, tranes, and automobiles" Thank goodness for key fobs. I opened the trunk and then we found it. Then we couldn't figure out how to start it. There is no key, just a fob thing, so you put that in and push it in. It is a standard and it is amazing. We then drove to the other car and moved all of the luggage. Then Paul tells me he can't find the passports for him and Logan. Last place I saw them was at the national counter. He ran back there, and they said they weren't there. It was so frustrating wondering where they could be and him freaking out. So he walked around for awhile. Logan crashed in the back seat, he returned the other car. Then we drove around 3 times into the same parkade and couldn't find the one that we got the audi from. He thought he may have put them on the roof of the car and they blew off while we were driving. So we went to national in the wrong parkade, and he got a guy to drive him to the other parkade, nothing there, and then the guy drove him back to the main terminal counter and the national counter actually did have the passports so he got them back and came to the car and we were finally on the road. Was now 1730. I had to pee forever but I just held it. We headed out since we had a booked hotel in Munich which was 4 hours away. Paul was driving and was very tired. It was an emotional and exhausting day. He was like" we should have stayed home!!" instead of Europe, but he feels better now. So we drove for a bit, and then we stopped at burger king for supper and to let Logan run around. Then Paul drove a bit more, and then he went to sleep and I drove. This Audi has 6 gears. It is amazing. CAn hardly tell when you are driving 200 km'hr. Just kidding, I only did that once, just to see. But 160 is the norm. We mostly went 120 km/hr. Then Paul slept while I was driving and then took over driving for me. We stopped again at a rest stop and the WC (water closet) aka bathroom was in the basement. Paul went down first and then Logan and I and it was like a subway where you pay to enter. .5 euros. I have no euros but there is a child cutout for kids and I climbed through there and we went to the washroom. You get a ticket that is a coupon for .5 euros off the price of a purchase. So then we took off again. we finally made it to our hotel at 2205. Logan waited in the car and we ran inside to get our room. 46 euros. Then we went to get our luggage and Logan and the lady freaked out on us. She said, 3 people, you have 3 people. You can't have 3 people in double room. I didn't know why since the booking said kids under 4 are free if they use existing bedding. But finally because it was late she let us go but she wanted to charge us 76 euro for a 4 bedroom. crazy. We got up to our room, and I grabbed a quick shower with logan and got him ready for bed. He was having a blast climbing on the beds. (it is 2 singles pushed together). Then Paul grabbed a shower and it was almost midnight when we finally went to sleep. Logan was so cuddly giving me lots of kisses and saying Mom mom mom. He is so adorable. Then we slept. I woke up at 0640 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Paul got up at 0730. Logan is still sleeping right now. Paul has showered, I am updating blog, and got the address for Dachau. We are going there later this morning. It is 13 kms north of our hotel here.

That's all for now. We hope all of the badluck is behind us. We are ecstatic to be totgether as a family unit again. Dachau concentration camp today, and then Off to Jabing Austria to see the relatives!!

Love Rae-Lynn, Paul & Logan