It's kind of fun to do the impossible - 32 days of fun and friends - updated December 29

[franandaj]

Joining in, but I'll have to be back to read! I'm so behind everywhere!

 

[dizneeat]

Joining in, but I'll have to be back to read! I'm so behind everywhere!

Alison!

No problem about coming back to read. I know the feeling, believe me! And it will take a while until we get to the point where you make your grand entrance .........

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh no!! I hope you sent in the claim for your 600€ flight delay payment for each of you?

 

[dizneeat]

Oh no!! I hope you sent in the claim for your 600€ flight delay payment for each of you?

To be honest, it was the first thing I did when we returned home and I am happy to say that Lufthansa has already made the payment of €1200. Couldn't believe that they would do it without a fight, but it was very easy!

 

[Flossbolna]

To be honest, it was the first thing I did when we returned home and I am happy to say that Lufthansa has already made the payment of €1200. Couldn't believe that they would do it without a fight, but it was very easy!

Great! When I had my claim it took the two months... happy to hear that they are quicker now.

 

[Goldys4]

Wow, sounds like an epic trip! Looking forward to reading all about it!

 

[jedijill]

I'm here! I'm so happy I could finally meet and travel with you guys! It really was an epic trip that I can't wait to do again!

Jill in CO

 

[Dentam]

Oh no, that's a pretty awful way to start a trip!

I have to say, I've never seen corn on a pizza before! Was that improvising due to a lack of groceries in the house, or is that a common topping where you are?

 

[wdwnut61]

What a stressful way to begin I’m glad you were able to rearrange everything.

 

[fallonkendra]

Thanks for sending me the link to your new report Karin! Looking forward to hearing all about this epic trip!

Sorry to hear the trip didn't get off to a great start, but I'm sure you had lots of fun one you got there!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Joining in, wow a month traveling, how fun. We were also at WDW in August!

How frustrating to have your flight canceled, ugh!! Glad you were able to get on a flight the next day!

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm joining in too! And so sorry about your flight being cancelled!! Amazing how one small hiccup could affect the remaining days Hopefully no further issues after your board your flight the next day

 

[Pinkocto]

I’m here thanks so much for the bat signal, I’m so behind on here it would have been ages before I found it on my own.

Great intro that photo of us makes me laugh!

I’m ready for the next trip

 

[dizneeat]

Great! When I had my claim it took the two months... happy to hear that they are quicker now.

First claim we had took around two months as well, that was a few years ago, when we got into Orlando with a little over seven hours delay, right after midnigh.
I was so surprised when the money arrived just two WEEKS after I had sent them the claim.

Wow, sounds like an epic trip! Looking forward to reading all about it!

Great to have you here.
It was a super fun trip (once the very first day was over ).

I'm here! I'm so happy I could finally meet and travel with you guys! It really was an epic trip that I can't wait to do again!

Jill in CO

Jill!
It was wonderful to finally meet you in person, after all that time on here. Looking forward to repeating our fun trip with ALL of you.

Oh no, that's a pretty awful way to start a trip!

No, it definitely wasn't the perfect start to our trip.

I have to say, I've never seen corn on a pizza before! Was that improvising due to a lack of groceries in the house, or is that a common topping where you are?

Corn is quite the usual topping on a pizza here and we both really like it. It doesn't work with every kind of pizza, but it was perfect on this one. And it is a staple that is always in the house as well.

 

[dizneeat]

What a stressful way to begin I’m glad you were able to rearrange everything.

It was not the way we wanted to start our vacation. But once we had gotten most of our reservations straightened out again it got better fast and turned into a wonderful trip.

Thanks for sending me the link to your new report Karin! Looking forward to hearing all about this epic trip!

Great to know you are still sticking with us, even though I really neglected my other TR this summer. This trip was really something. I hope you are going to like to read about it as much as we loved experiencing it.

Sorry to hear the trip didn't get off to a great start, but I'm sure you had lots of fun one you got there!

Once we had gotten over the disappointment of loosing a vacation day and had gotten on the way, the vacation turned out to be just wonderful.

Joining in, wow a month traveling, how fun. We were also at WDW in August!

fellow August WDW visitor!
It was HOT, wasn't it? We usually travel for a longer period of time, as it makes more sense given the price of the airfare from Europe in the hight of summer. But this vacation was even made better by the many friends we shared this time with.

How frustrating to have your flight canceled, ugh!! Glad you were able to get on a flight the next day!

If they had let us know earlier, we could have caught a train to Frankfurt and gotten on that long distance flight, no problem. But the fact that they only told us while we were already at the airport really made me mad. And in the end it could have been even worse, as there were several people who had missed their connection and were not able to fly out the next day.

 

[dizneeat]

I'm joining in too!

Happy to know you are here as well.

And so sorry about your flight being cancelled!! Amazing how one small hiccup could affect the remaining days

We had it all planned out so nicely, events around the resorts we were staying, so we didn't need additional transportation and everything and with arriving a day late quite a few things needed to be rearranged and all my good planning went out the window. But it was all good in the end.

Hopefully no further issues after your board your flight the next day

Everything turned out pretty good, once we got over the first initial disappointment.

I’m here thanks so much for the bat signal, I’m so behind on here it would have been ages before I found it on my own.

Pamela!
Tell me about being behind ......... it seems to be the story of my life nowadays.

Great intro that photo of us makes me laugh!

That photo is so fun. That photographer really knew how to take a fun pic!

I’m ready for the next trip

So are we ......... unfortunately my wallet is not.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 2, August 9

Let’s try this again! - Part 1

It felt like Groundhog Day when we got up again, got ready to head to the airport again

and finally sat in a taxi taking us to the airport again.

Thankfully, this is where Groundhog Day ended.
We arrived at the airport about 45 minutes before we were supposed to take off, dropped off the luggage, walked through security and sat down for a while until we were able to finally board the small plane that was taking us to Frankfurt.

They handed out small bags of uneatable hard and dry breadchips, which we did not even open as we had had a nice breakfast to hold us over.

After only an hour’s flight we arrived at Frankfurt airport,

where the aircraft was parked at the furthest out spot

and we waited for a bus to take us to the terminal for a while, but once we had made it to the terminal we just checked which gate we needed to go to and off we went. Short bathroom break and some duty free shopping later we were on our way to our gate and when we arrived they had already started boarding. The line was long and it took quite some time until we were able to board, but we finally sat down, stowed our luggage and waited for the plane to leave.

The flight attendants handed out welcome drinks,

Mango-Orange juice with some mint in it, which was quite nice and we sat and sipped and while doing so the captain came on to inform us that we were waiting until the baggage door was sealed and he would give us more information lateron.
About 10 minutes later we were told that we were to sit where we were for another 45 – 50 minutes as there was thunder and lightning over Belgium and they were trying to find us another flightpath, but for the moment we were stuck.
After an hour and a half of just sitting there waiting, the bad weather had finally made it to Frankfurt and it was now starting to rain.
Again, the captain came on and informed us that they were now working on a way to get us out of there, before the storm.
Just what we needed.

Thankfully it only took them about 10 minutes and we rolled onto the runway and off we went.
We were now about two hours late.
The captain apologized for the delay and went on to tell everyone that he was clear to use the shortest possible way and we might make up some time, but we would not be there on time.

Okay, at least we were moving.
The flight attendants were quick to hand out

small bags of crackers and some drinks and then vanished to prepare lunch.
About an hour into our flight we were served a (now) quite late lunch. Flying premium economy the food usually is quite good on the way to the US and by now we were hungry anyway. They handed out the trays with our choice of chicken or pasta and we were ready to dig in.

We had a

Seasonal Salad with Cherry Tomato accompanied by Italian Dressing. For our main course we had chosen the

Fried Chicken Breast on Cream Sauce with Spinach Leaves in Garlic Cream and Roast Potatoes, which was really nice and tasty. For dessert there was

Tangerine Cake with almonds and garnished with whipped cream. Nothing to write home about, but not bad either. We also had some

Pretzel bread and some butter and Camembert Cheese, which was really nice. They handed out some chocolates after dinner and then we just watched a few movies on the onboard entertainment system.
We were surprised to see that the captain hadn’t lied when he had said that he was to fly a direct route.

It was straight across the Atlantic and on to Florida. The flight was mainly uneventful and about two hours before we were supposed to land we were served dinner.

To be continued .....​

 

[buzzrelly]

This sounds like an amazing trip!

That flight delay on your first day must've been s stressful! I'm glad it eventually worked out better for you on the second day!

 

[dizneeat]

This sounds like an amazing trip!

It really was an amazing trip and everything worked out perfectly well, apart from the flight disaster the first day.

That flight delay on your first day must've been s stressful! I'm glad it eventually worked out better for you on the second day!

It definitely wasn't what we had hoped for, but we were lucky to score those two seats on the plane the next day. There is only one plane to Orlando a day, so we could have had to wait even longer.

 

[Flossbolna]

Since I have been flying to Miami quite often in recent years, I am always surprised how those flights usually do the direct shot across the Atlantic, but every flight to Orlando was always the northern route via Greenland. Interesting that they chose to go across the middle of the Atlantic for you to make up time. I wonder if they need more fuel for that route?

The one benefit fo flying to Miami that way is that you fly across the Bahamas. I am quite confident that I was able to spot Castaway Cay once from the plane, but so far no Disney ship. I have seen other cruise ships though.

I really do like the look of the Premium Economy on Lufthansa. With Michael and me flying so often, we are still trying to get the cheapest ticket possible. But we have a big trip planned for next fall and I am secretely lobbying for us to use miles and fly Premium Economy!