Planes, More Planes, More Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Finally)

This is how it started. Our strange flight schedule took us from Chicago to Newark, where we would need to transfer from Newark to JFK for a flight from JFK to Zurich, all on American Airlines. Why the strange schedule? Because we used miles to get three of the tickets for free. So, we drive to Chicago and stay overnight (thanks for taking the car back home, Dad), we leave Chicago in the morning, no problem. Flight is bumpy but fine. About the time we expected to be on the ground in Newark, we find out that Newark is closed and that we are being diverted to Syracuse. At Syracuse, American arranges us last minute to join a Jet Blue flight to JFK. Then Syracuse is closed. Eventually, it reopens, and we arrive at JFK about 10 minutes after our flight to Zurich departed. American then arranges us to get on a last minute flight with British Airways. As we boarded the BA plane, we noticed it was a double decker. We dragged our overstuffed suitcases, barely disguised as carry-ons, down the aisle past the first class bed compartments, then past the comfy looking business class section, straight into our usual steerage. Allison turned to me and, echoing my thoughts, said "This is very disappointing." Turns out she meant she was disappointed we weren't going upstairs. All was well again when we realized that each seat had its own television screen, and the food was much better than any airline food I've ever had.

So instead of Chicaco-Newark/JFK-Zurich, we flew Chicago-Syracuse-JFK-London Heathrow-Zurich, 4 flights on 3 airlines! It was a long "day." We only got in about 5 hours later than expected. On the upside, we managed to save the $125 it might have cost to transfer to JFK from Newark. We took two quick train trips to the German border town where we could rent a car for a third of the price, walked about 2 or 3 miles with our luggage trying to find the rental car place, then finally got our car and drove to Fussen, Germany, where we checked into a basic but perfect hotel room which was purported to be right next to a lovely lake (couldn't tell as it was dark), ate some pizza, and fell fast asleep!

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