I woke up at 7:30, took a shower, got dressed and gave the room the once over. I entered the “breakfast house” on the other side of the courtyard and settled up the bill. Two nights @ 85 Euros. I offered my credit card twice before, and both times was told, “we’ll take care of the bill later”. Every one of my interactions with the friendly people of Germany was like this. They went out of there way to accommodate me. I drank a couple glasses of juice and was on my way.

I followed the Autobahn signs to Frankfurt and filled up the tank on the way (33 Euros). I made it to the Hertz garage at the terminal right at 9:00am. It took me 40 minutes door to door and that included stopping for gas (actually diesel).

I checked in upstairs at the KLM counter, once again my Elite card saving me 40 minutes on a check-in line. I was taking a plane to Amsterdam and then a non-stop flight to Newark on Continental 40 minutes later. The flight was almost full, but I had the middle seat open next to me. The flight was uneventful and we landed early, at 3:30pm. Cleared immigration quickly and was out the door and in a taxi to Newark’s Penn Station before 4:00pm. Took the Path train into Manhattan and was in my apartment before 5:00 – I was still able to catch the overtime of the Jets/Giants game. It was good to be home, but it was great to get away.