March 31, 2004xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com ffice ffice" /> > >

>  >

>  >

11:42 P.M. - In the xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com ffice:smarttags" /> lace w:st="on"> laceName w:st="on">Frankfurt laceName> laceType w:st="on">Airport laceType> lace> > >

Hard to believe I’ve actually got my feet on German soil. The lace w:st="on"> laceName w:st="on">Frankfurt laceName> laceType w:st="on">Airport laceType> lace> looks like any other – pandemonium over luggage retrieval, crowds sweeping all around – you wouldn’t even guess you were outside the states if not for the fact that all the signs are in GERMAN and everyone is speaking GERMAN!!! I’m so excited . . . and I know I’m probably looking pretty ridiculous with this smile pasted all over my face! Daddy’s gone to look for a phone to call the rental car company. We’ve gotten our luggage; thank goodness the red bags are easy to spot! Customs was not difficult to pass through at all. A quick flash of the passports, and we were on our way. > >

4:20 P.M. – Driving through lace w:st="on">Germany lace> (searching for a campsite!) > >

The rental car agency saved us the trouble of finding them; they found us! The transit to our car’s pick-up location was carried out with practice ease by our rental agent. We were loaded, bags and all, onto the waiting shuttle right outside the airport. Everyone agreed if our waiting van were as spacious and well equipped as the shuttle, we wouldn’t have any worries! [We’d tried to find out before the trip the exact amount of interior space in the van, but without success. Guessing at how much luggage we would be able to bring was our last resort.]   > >

Our driver, the rental agent, explained to us (much to our relief) the rooftop carrier had already been installed, so we were saved that headache! When we pulled into the rental lot, I could see my dad visibly grimace and grit his teeth. I looked in the direction he was looking, and saw he had good reason to do so. The only van with a rooftop carrier in the lot looked disappointingly small. Five large bags and two backpacks hadn’t looked like much to sustain a family of six for eight months, but now it appeared we didn’t have much choice other than to dump some of our gear. The question was, what could we dump we didn’t desperately need? We pulled our bags out of the shuttle and opened the trunk of the rental to have a look. It was worse than we had anticipated. Less then two feet of space was available to stow our luggage. The sporty (but very slim) carrier on top didn’t look too promising, either. Calculating mentally, I decided the only way we would even begin to think of fitting all our stuff inside that car would be to remove one of the back seats. However, after raising the issue into consideration with the rental agent, the idea immediately greeted trouble. “We don’t have the room to store a seat . . . This lot is only temporary until a new facility can be built . . . I don’t believe you can leave parts of our rental cars behind . . . [etc., etc.]” he said. My dad went inside to settle the matter with his supervisor. In the end, we left the seat in the storage closet. My dad is very good at what he does (he’s a lawyer). > >

     > >