Kavanagh-O'Connell
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Random notes: travel

A few observations from our trip...

The afternoon departure from the US and mid-day arrival in Germany was a good way to go. The kids were in bad shape, but they would be the same with an earlier departure, and when we arrived, bedtime was closer. The 3:00 PM departure and evening arrival on the return worked well, too.

We were upgraded to an Audi A6 with GPS at the rental car desk. The A6 is a very nice vehicle, and we needed every bit of the room to get our luggage to and from the airport. The GPS, however, was fantastic. It got us everywhere we wanted to go with only two hitches (due to road construction/temporary closure) and saved Mary Ellen from demonstrating her map-reading proficiency. I'd pay for the upgrade in the future.

Driving on the autobahn, at any speed, is much less stressful than the Beltway. Drive right, pass left: everybody does it. Gasoline is expensive: around 1.3 euros/liter. We haven't added up the total cost for fuel yet, but we'll be shocked when we do.

The area around Berchtesgaden was beautiful to drive through -- although we couldn't see much because of the blowing snow and the clouds. Still, it was worth the trip.

The Allianz Arena looks striking from the outside. Inside, it looks and smells and sounds like a sports stadium. The fans, as far as I could tell, spent 90 minutes actually watching and cheering (or complaining about) the game. I didn't see any traveling food and drink or program and pennant vendors in the stands. And no replays on the jumbo-tron, although there were commercials.

We went through security three times at German airports, and were able to keep our shoes on each time. Lufthansa serves free beer and wine in-flight. I think the Germans are bringing elegance back to air travel.