The day we left Boppard, we got up super early. The owner of the hotel got up as well to get us some breakfast before heading to the airport. We had to take a train to Frankfurt for about an hour and 15 minutes. The train stopped at the airport, which was very convenient and we were able to find our check in counter pretty quickly.
We had heard so many things about the Frankfurt airport. We really thought it would have been a nice airport, but we were completely unimpressed. You have to go through a passport security process before you get to the gates, and then each gate has its own security point. Unfortunately, only one gate actually had food in it, and of course, it wasn't the gate we needed. The only option for food that we had was a couple of overpriced sandwiches, drinks, and chips. We were so disappointed. We had gotten to the airport early because we expected a lot of lines and thought we could pass the time by having a nice hot meal, seeing as we would be on a plane for the next 12 hours or so. We also found out you were not allowed to go through the security checkpoint until like an hour before takeoff. There was also very limited seating. We ended up sitting in chairs (the only open seats we could find) to eat our overpriced sandwiches.
Apparently, Frankfurt is a much-used airport and there are a lot of military personnel going in and out. I didn't mind the security, but the layout of the airport was probably the worst I have ever seen. It would probably be fine to fly into this airport, but I don't think I would ever fly out of it again. It was an awful experience.
The plane also left much to be desired. On the flight to Madrid, we each had our own TVs at our seat and a fair amount of room for coach seating. On this plane, there were only a few TVs and of course, they were really difficult to see because of where our seats were located. We also had seats that didn't recline, but the people in front of us were able to recline their seats, which made it a really uncomfortable ride for us. For some reason, the flights back to the US are always terrible compared to the flights from the US to Europe. It was like this on our other two European trips as well.
The last day of a vacation is always so hard, just because you know you will be leaving. While I'm sure I thought it would be nice to be back home, I really did not want to leave Europe. This was our third trek through Europe and we have really enjoyed seeing the sights, experiencing different cultures, and trying different foods. This was our first trip with an almost-two year old, and I have to say that even though she had her moments, I would do it all over again. There were things we couldn't do because we had her with us, but we felt like we still got to do a lot of things, and she didn't seem to hold us back too much. It got us thinking about where we would like to go next. Some of the places still on our list include Greece (if they can ever get their act together so that it is safe to visit!), Romania, the western part of Ireland, the English countryside, Scotland, Wales, and the south of France, just to name a few. I am confident we will go back sometime, hopefully sooner rather than later!
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