Home Again

Made it home, after the worst connections I’ve ever had! This part of the trip makes up for every other flight I’ve ever taken that has had generally good fights and connections in the past.

I had just arrived at the Munich airport via the train from Garmisch on Sunday, heading to Sunday night’s hotel near the airport, with an early Monday flight to Newark and on to Minneapolis. I received a text that because of another round of snow storms on the east coast, my Newark to Minneapolis leg was cancelled. They suggested a Munich to Houston to Denver to Minneapolis flight. Since I was already at the airport, I walked over to the Lufthansa counter to make the changes. The very nice lady at the counter found a flight that was leaving in an hour from Munich to Chicago to Minneapolis! After printing my paperwork, she walked with me to baggage check and expedited me through the line. Got through security ok and hit a 30 minute wait in the very large crowd at Customs control. Then a 10 minute walk to the gate. I always wondered who that guy was that was the last one to board the plane. Now I know!

The 9 ½ hour flight was uneventful. Got to watch the Super Bowl on the airplane live feed. As we neared Chicago we were told it was snowing and blowing. Landing was no problem, but for some reason there was only one gate in operation, and we were the tenth plane in line! After a four hour wait, we finally got off the plane. That is only the beginning of the mess. To summarize, it took another 2 ½ hours to get our bags, another 1 ½ hour wait for a hotel shuttle which never arrived so ended waiting in the taxi line for that ride. Got a two hour nap and a shower then back to the airport. Finally getting out of Chicago and landing in Minneapolis. At this point, Chicago and Minneapolis weather was fine. My flight had a three hour delay because Detroit planes ahead of us were being delayed and cancelled all morning. As a bonus, once I got to Minneapolis, my checked bag didn’t. So, I filed a claim and headed home. By the time I got home and had a bite to eat before falling asleep, I had been up for 44 hours with a two hour nap in the middle. After a 12 hour sleep in my own bed, I’m starting to feel better.  It was quite an adventure!