When we booked this particular trip, most of the Covid testing requirements for travel were still in place, and the thought of a normal "post-Covid" trip still seemed like an unrealistic aspiration. Still, while it has been admittedly nice to return to a much more normal course of travel over these past few months, a dose of reality was introduced when I packed Covid tests and an emergency stash of Paxlovid into my suitcase ahead of this trip.
We had a very small window during which we thought the trip would work. With Anna working full-time and going to grad school at night, we had to work around her work and school schedule. With only a week between her summer and fall semesters at GW, we knew an 11-day trip was pushing it, especially booking so far in advance. Despite the bevy of things that could go wrong, all lined up in the end. We flew out on a Wednesday afternoon. As it was, she was to have finals for her two classes on that very Wednesday and the following Thursday. One exam was moved up a week, and the professor for her Wednesday class allowed her to take the exam a day early. On the other side, one of Anna's fall classes had its first sessions at the very end of our trip, but she was able to advise the professor and -- so far -- there doesn't seem to have been any adverse effects.
We all worked on the day of departure, with both Anna and Katherine beginning work extra early. Anna came straight to the house from her office, and K logged off at about the same time. We got an Uber to the airport, which was not as busy as I had feared. I had traveled for work a couple of weeks prior, at about the same time of day, and the security lines were absolutely insane. I was very relieved to see that things were relatively sane at Dulles.
Our tour began in Warsaw and ended in Kraków, which meant our itinerary was a little "inconsistent." Given all the problems with delays and cancelled flights this year, and to help with jetlag, we also elected to arrive in Warsaw a day early, as both a safety buffer, but also to allow time for me to show K and Anna around my old haunts, which certainly wouldn't be part of our official tour.
Our outbound flight was from Dulles to Berlin on United, and then on to Warsaw on LOT Polish. We had a three-hour layover, which I thought was plenty, allowing us some cushion and sufficient time to clear Schengen immigration in Germany. Boarding for our flight to Germany was delayed slightly, but I was relieved when the first few wheelchair passengers were sent down the jet bridge. About 10 minutes passed with no more activity, and people in line started to become a little restless. That worsened when we saw all the pre-boarders being rolled back up and out of the jet bridge, back into the gate area. As I was now worried about our connection, I raced up to the counter, along with several others, but before I got there, my phone pinged with an alert from United. There was a mechanical problem with our plane and they were getting us a replacement jet. We had a new gate, too. Knowing that a gate announcement was imminent, I grabbed K and Anna and we started the hike to the new gate ahead of the throng that eventually followed behind us.
With no replacement airplane at the new gate and a departure time that kept being delayed in 15-minute increments, I worried about our connection. There were no alternative routings through other cities that had availability and which could get us to Warsaw the next day. If we missed our connection in Berlin, the next flight to Warsaw didn't depart until about seven hours later, which was far from ideal. As it turned out, we ended up with a two-hour delay, but our captain went above and beyond, filing an altered flight plan, and she made up significant time in the air, so we only arrived about 60 minutes behind schedule.
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| Ready To Get Going! |
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| Departing Dulles, Over Brambleton |
We all slept on the first flight, with each of us getting some solid sleep, which was nice. I was excited to finally get to see the new Berlin airport, too. It was originally scheduled to open in 2010, with rolling delays after that. A "firm" opening was then set for summer of 2012, when my extended family visited Germany. Our flights were scheduled for the new airport, but again the opening was pushed and we ended up at the old Tegel Airport. Another DECADE passed before the new airport -- named for former German Chancellor Willy Brandt -- finally opened last year, so I was curious to see if it was worth the wait.
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| Anna Was FAST Asleep Near Arrival |
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| The New Airport in Berlin |
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| Welcome to Berlin! |
The airport seemed nice enough, but I honestly have no idea why it took so long to open. We had a short time to relax in the lounge before catching our very short flight to Warsaw on LOT Polish Airlines, which was on time.
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