Irrepressible Tangent

We left Australia on 29th May 2008 at 13.10, bound for a three week stint in Europe. The countries we were visiting were Germany (Cologne 7 days, and Berlin 3 days). The Netherlands (Amsterdam 3 days), Belgium (Brussels 2 days), and finally France
(Paris 3 days).

Excitement mounted as we arrived at the Brisbane Airport. We were flying Etihad airlines, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. The trip to the airport by taxi was more expensive than we had been led to believe. We had calculated the trip on the taxi web page for 2 people and it appeared to be just a little more than the taxi to the station plus the Airtrain fare which we had also checked. Bad luck for us, but the taxi service charge to the airport which is extra, was not listed on the webpage and therefore the fare cost us more. Not a good start to the holiday. So beware.
After that, we decided that when we returned from our trip, the train and the short taxi ride would be the go.

The check in at Etihad was speedy and the attendant thorough and pleasant. Our bags were checked all the way through to Frankfurt. My husband had bought a digital camera for the trip and we searched for the TRS (Tourist Refund Scheme) office, to have the GST refunded. Where was it? We finally had to ask one of the customs officers as TRS is tucked away out of sight. When you go through customs, go to the far left hand corner of the area and look behind the chocolate shop. Service at TRS was also speedy as we were the only customers. (Note: this service is also available OS if you shop at designated stores and show your receipts.) Upon arrival at our gate we found the toilets needed cleaning, no towels and paper on the floor, not a good look.

The Etihad aircraft was comfortable, meals were good and plentiful. We travelled Coral class (economy) and had enough leg room to cross our legs if necessary. Our 1 hr stopover in Singapore went smoothly, but on the next leg, the stopover in Abu Dhabi took much longer as our plane to Frankfurt was delayed. A long day so far as we still had a 6 hr flight to Frankfurt and then a further 1 hr train trip to Cologne (Koln).

Traveller Tip: If you have a lengthy stop over in Abu Dhabi, find a seat and sit on it if the transit lounge is crowded, otherwise you may be standing until your plane is ready for boarding. It is also wise to double check the gate number as we were directed to one gate when in actual fact the plane was boarding at another. That caused a lot of people much confusion.

Next Installment: Germany (Frankfurt to Cologne (Koln).

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Tags: European Vacation

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.