Tuesday, 28 May 2024 Berlin to Tallahassee

Written 18 August 2024

Alas, the next morning, it was goodby, to Germany and to Gritta and Leon. We didn't have to get up impossibly early—we actually had time for breakfast at the hotel—and they drove us to the airport before setting off on another week's travel without us. We were sorry to leave them, and I hope they felt the same, though I suspect they might have been a little relieved not to have to haul us around, translate for us, and otherwise work during what I hope was still a good time for them.

No slip-ups at the airport, though it took us a while to find the VIP lounge. Here at the left is David, settled into his seat for the flight to Atlanta, glass of white wine at his elbow (well, wrist).

At the right is my little cubby, taken as I sat in the seat. Beyond my knees is the grey zipper pouch containing my pillow and cozy quilt (all made of recycled plastic bottles). I've stuck it out of the way in the space that will be occupied by my legs when I adjust my seat flat. Actually, although I dozed a little, we never actually tried for a real sleep, since we were traveling by day and would arrive at home in the evening. You can see that I've already got the selection of movies up on the screen, deciding what I want to watch during the flight.

Here's the first course of my dinner: a bread roll (the cylinder to the left of it is foil-wrapped butter), a salad with individual tiny glass bottle of vinaigrette, three little cold shrimp, and a bowl of excellent hot mushroom soup with croutons. The blue thing between the butter and the salad is an individual cardboard salt and pepper shaker.

At the right is my main course. I chose the cold collation, which included a couple of herb-marinated olives, a bowl of cut tropical fruit, a couple of two-packs of Acacia brand cream crackers, and a plate bearing several kinds of cold cuts, a scoop of herbed white cheese, some slices of other cheeses, a gherkin, a few pink pickled shallots, and some grapes. Behind one of the packs of crackers are a couple of little cream puffs for dessert. That's my used tea bag in the upper right corner.

For once, it wasn't meal time as we passed through Atlanta, but we still checked out the buffet in the Delta lounge.

At the left, vegetable (and watermelon) salads.

At the right, cold cuts and cheeses.

We're seldom tempted, though. Even when we're at Atlanta at meal time, we usually go to a real restaurant rather than relying on the lounge food.

So now we're back home, planning the next trip (France and Italy again in the fall). Gotta get going on those reservations . . . .