We went to bed last night at a reasonable hour, around 10:00 PM, knowing we would be getting up early this morning for our travels home. We set an alarm for 5:20 AM, and also had a back up wake up call set for 5:30 AM, not knowing how reliable either would be. Stephanie had to reset the time on her phone for the alarm, and we did not have any experience with the wake up calls here at the hotel. We were not sure if the hotel had an automated system or not, and we have not had good experience with wake up calls handled by a person.
I actually woke up about 5:00 AM, and went ahead and got up. I realized that we may not have given ourselves enough time to get ready and pack our bags to get an accurate final weight. I showered and then woke Stephanie up at about 5:15 AM, and she showered and dressed in quick order. We had set a goal of leaving the hotel by 6:15 AM so we could get down the slow elevator, check out, and walk to the bus stop to catch our 6:30 AM bus to the Berlin Tegel Airport. We had done a pre-walk of the route to the bus stop from the hotel the other night, and had looked at the bus schedule, and saw that there was a 6:30 AM bus and a 6:55 AM bus. We both thought we needed to catch the 6:30 AM bus to give us enough time to get to the airport and check in.
The bags weighed in at just above 50 pounds, but below the 23 kilograms allowed by European flights. Since we were on a Delta/KLM shared flight, we were not sure which weight they would use, but figured if we were just at or above 50 pounds, we would be good. The 23 kilograms is about 50.6 pounds. It actually worked out better than we thought, we did not have to move anything around, and only had to leave a couple of bottles of half used sunscreen behind, and we emptied out our toiletry bags of all the partially used consumable items.
We did have a little breakfast before we left the room, I had purchased a yogurt yesterday for today’s breakfast and Stephanie still had some leftover cheese slices.
Waiting At The Bus Stop With Luggage
We left the room at about 6:10 AM, and headed downstairs to check out, which only took a few minutes since we had prepaid the reservation and had no incidental charges. It was only a five minute walk to the bus stop, and we actually were able to catch a slightly earlier bus.
Somehow, we had read the wrong bus schedule the other day, and the buses to the airport run every 12-15 minutes, not only at 6:30 AM and 6:55 AM as we had thought.
Bus To Flughafen Tegel Arriving In 5 Minutes
There were hardly any passengers on the bus, and we had plenty of room for our luggage. The bus ride to the airport was supposed to be about 45 minutes long. We initially set our luggage by some folding seats made for wheelchair and baby stroller access, but the seats were not comfortable, so we left our luggage in that clear area and sat in some regular seats in a row right near the luggage. I had initially thought that this bus was for airport passengers only, but it was really a regular bus route that just ended at the airport, so there were a lot of passengers getting on and off at the various stops along the way.
The bus never got crowded except for one stop that was a S-bahn train station stop not far from the airport, where quite a few passengers got on, but almost all of them got off at the very next stop, which was quite a distance from where they got on, even though it was just one stop.
We arrived at the airport at about 6:55 AM, and then walked around a bit to find Terminal D for the KLM flight to Amsterdam. We saw a sign for “D” when we exited the bus, but there was no building. We went inside for the A, B and C terminals, and found signs for D and ended up going back outside to a small sidewalk to access the D Terminal, which was mostly hidden around the corner. Once inside, we found the check in area for KLM flights, and waited in line to check in.
We had done electronic check in last night on our phones, but that did not really accomplish anything since we still had to wait in line to check our bags. The attendant just used our passports to pull up our tickets. Both of our bags weighed exactly 23.0 kilograms on their scale, right at the limit, so we were glad we did not have to make any adjustments. We still had about 90 minutes until our flight departed, so we had accomplished everything so far with plenty of time to spare. I am sure we could have taken a later bus, and not gotten to the airport so early to check in, but without the benefit of knowledge about the airport, check-in and security, we always err on the side of having more time. Nothing worse than having stress right at the beginning of long travel day.
One Last Stop At A WC – Tegel Airport
After we checked in, we went back to the A, B, C Terminal area since there were a lot more stores and eateries on that side. We stopped at a Kamps Backstube, the same store chain bakery and sandwich shop we had gotten breakfast from the previous two days near our hotel. The prices for the pastries were about the same, but a small bottle of water was Euro 2.90, which was a lot, plus the 0.25 deposit for the plastic bottle.
We ate at a small table/bar area outside, and then headed back over to Terminal D to head out to our gate. We used our boarding passes to pass through turnstiles to get to security. As we see at most European airports, they had quite a number of security scanners and metal detectors, and all of them were open even though it was early and there were not many passengers getting screened. There was no wait, we went through very quickly, and were at our gate in about ten minutes from the time we passed through the turnstiles.
Walking To Our KLM Boeing 737 to Amsterdam on Tarmac
We only had about 40 minutes before boarding started, and this is one area where the USA system is better, we use boarding zones. Here, it is just sort of mass chaos to get in what could be loosely described as a “line” to board. Everyone just sort of congregates, and heads toward the entry point at the same time, no one bothers to find the end of any line, they just go forward from wherever they were. After scanning our boarding passes, we had to go down some stairs, and then out onto the tarmac to walk out to the plane to board via a stairway. It was actually efficient because some rows boarded from the front entrance (our end of the plane) and others from the rear entrance, so it was faster.
Leaving Berlin Tegel Airport
We had fairly good seats on this flight, 7A and 7B, so we did not have to go far inside the plane to get to them. We were on a fairly new Boeing 737, so the overhead bins were nice and large, and we had no issues finding space or getting our somewhat two overstuffed carry on bags, my large camera case, and Stephanie’s full backpack, into the bins. Stephanie likes to hand carry any of our fragile purchases for protection, such as Christmas Ornaments, and she was also carrying our noise canceling headsets and travel pillows for the long Transatlantic flight later today.
This flight was full, and was about 15 minutes late leaving due to congestion in the Germany Airspace, at least that is what the pilot told us. We were served a breakfast snack, as well as non alcoholic beverages. Stephanie got a diet Coke, which came in the smallest can we have ever seen, just enough for a single airplane cup serving. I guess they don’t open large cans and share like we see on most airlines, you get your closed, personal sized can.
KLM Breakfast Snack
The flight was uneventful, and we landed about the same amount of time late as we had departed. We had a little over two hours for our layover in Amsterdam, which is about the minimum time needed to deplane, go through immigration and then go through the tedious check in process for International flights to the USA. We had gone through Amsterdam on our trip last April, so we knew the drill.
The immigration process was very quick and easy, and they have no customs inspections, at least not anything apparent. There were automated machines with gates that read your passport with a scanner. You entered, and the gates behind you closed, you put your passport face down and it was pulled into a scanner, and then it came back out. Then, you received a green light, we assume meaning everything was good, and then the gates opened in front for you to go forward and get your passport stamped. In about four minutes, we were both through immigration.
All of the flights to the USA on Delta say to go to Gate D1, which is a screening area for passengers taking the flight to the USA. First, they looked at our boarding passes, and verified we were on the Delta flight, then we went to a small desk where they scanned our passports. Then there was an “interview”, which was a little funny, because the man asking us questions was from The Netherlands, and it seemed difficult for him to ask the questions in the proper context. It seemed at first he was just asking us things to be friendly, but after two or three somewhat leading questions, we figured it out, they were trying to confirm we were who we were, even though we had passports with photos. He wanted to know how we ended up in Berlin and Amsterdam, and the answer he was looking for was we had been on a cruise.
Then he wanted to know how we got our flights for today, meaning, where did we purchase them from, which was Princess Cruises, and we needed to state it was with a credit card. Then he wanted to know what street we lived on, and then who was going to pick us up from the airport. None of these was really a direct question, more like conversational questions. Then we got the direct questions they normally ask about luggage, who packed them, laptops, and not accepting packages from strangers. With all of the questions answered satisfactorily, we got a small blue sticker on our passports to designate we had gone through this screening, and a small printed receipt with our real gate number on it in the E Terminal.
Next, we proceeded to another area where there were ladies from KLM, the shared airline flight partner with Delta, who once again verified our passport information on a computer terminal, and we were cleared to head out to the real gate for the flight. Everything was the same as last year except for the cryptic interview questions.
Our Delta Airbus A330 To Atlanta
We headed to the gate in the E Terminal, and sat in an area near the gate. We did not have to go into a holding area like we have seen at other European airports on international flights to the USA, which was nice. The holding areas are usually cramped, crowded, and they have very limited bathroom facilities for the number of people on these large overseas flights. The holding areas are sort of another security step to isolate you from general passengers on other domestic flights.
About an hour before our flight, we started the boarding process. It was designated to be by zones, but they just let all of the priority people board first, then started general boarding. There were not a lot of passengers at the gate, and some did not want to board that early, so there was no big rush of people. We decided to go ahead and board, and get situated, assuring we would find adequate overhead bin space. Also, we would have access to bathrooms on the plane, so we could either sit outside or sit inside, and we chose inside the plane.
We were in Row 32, about two thirds of the way to the back of the plane, but in the window seats where there are just two side by side seats. We pulled out our headsets and my laptop, as well as our inflatable travel pillows, and then stored our carry on bags in the overhead bin. We were glad to see we had seat-back entertainment systems, so we would be able to watch movies on the nine hour flight to Atlanta.
We had hoped that this would be a KLM flight, even though it was shared with Delta, but it was a Delta flight, and it lived up to our lowered expectations, mostly with the flight attendant level of service. A lady flight attendant came through with headsets and eye covers, and I asked her if there were any outlets in the seats for 110 volt power for laptops. She had no clue, and instead of just saying so, or that there were none, instead made a remark about how I should have gotten an upgraded seat in “Comfort Plus” if I wanted an outlet, which we both thought was rude. We know that on some newer planes, there are outlets at every seat on the plane, and that was why I asked. Then she said I did not need to do work anyway and that I should just enjoy the flight. We commented back it was not work, but again, thought that was rude. Of course, we had her for the whole flight, but luckily, there were other flight attendants working this area with her. We did happen to hear someone else ask the same question about a power outlet a few rows up a little later, and once again she seemed clueless. One would think she might find out from another co-worker.
Getting Settled In For Our 9 Hour Flight To Atlanta
We were about an hour late leaving, they said it was due to late arriving passengers, but they were still loading freight long after our original departure time. We did see some passengers come late, and then they said we needed to wait for a device to push us out from the gateway…really? We were not too concerned about the delay, we had over a three hour layover in Atlanta, specifically chosen just for this situation, and for the time consuming process of immigration, customs, and going through security between flights in Atlanta.
Only 7.5 More Hours To Go….
Once we finally took off, the flight was nice and smooth, at least for the majority of the time we were over the Atlantic Ocean. They served us a snack, along with complimentary wine (Cabernet and Chardonnay) and beer, and of course, soft drinks. A little while later, they served another meal, our lunch, that was our choice of chicken or pasta. We both chose chicken, and it was pretty good, but dealing with all of the plastic packaging in tight quarters, with drinks on your tray can be tricky. We had red wine with our lunch.
Our Lunch – Chicken With Yellow Rice
We had thought there were also complimentary mini bottle drinks, but they did not really say that when they made the announcement about beverages early on in the flight. We had been served them before on Delta intercontinental flights, but did not see any being served in the cheap seats in the back of the plane. It is one of the listed perks for the $99 per person upgrade for this flight to “Comfort Plus”. Stephanie did see someone get served a liquor drink a little later on, and read the fine print in the Delta magazine, which also listed it as a free option. Maybe they just don’t want to make it widely known to save cost. We did not really care, we had brought along some of our Sky Vodka mini bottles from the free Princess Elite set up on the cruise ship, and had them a little later on with Cranapple juice, so we had free drinks anyway.
Our Snack
We both watched three movies on the flight, I watched “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them”, “Rogue One”, and then watched “Arrival” again, having previously watched it on the ship. I wanted to watch it again to see if it made more sense this time, and it still was a little confusing. Stephanie watched “Collateral Beauty”, “Office Christmas Party”, and “Storks”, as well as part of “Jackie Kennedy”. Obviously we have different tastes in movie genre, and are glad to have the flexibility we have the on seatback movie choices. We did have some issues with the touch screens, which worked great early in the flight, but then seemed to have a loose wire connection somewhere in the seats in front of us, more on my side than on Stephanie’s, that caused the movie to randomly go into fast forward or fast reverse anytime the passenger in front of me moved a lot in his seat. It was really annoying, and started fairly early in the flight.
Stephanie asked our favorite flight attendant about it and she reset our screens, which helped Stephanie’s side, but I still had issues, but not as bad as before the reset. It was pretty aggravating, but seemed to come and go, and only happened a few times in each movie, requiring me to relocate my spot in the movie, once I pushed the play button to cancel the random forwarding. No one else around us had any issues that we could see, and sometimes, if I kicked the box under the seat in front of me, it made the random fast forward stop.
Stephanie’s Compression Socks
I had forgotten to add that we were both wearing compression socks, mainly due to issues Stephanie had on our last flight overseas, to Rome in October 2016, where she suffered from some blisters due to circulation issues. We both bought compression socks based on recommendations Stephanie received from a doctor at her work, fairly low compression for long flights. They seemed to be working great.
We were served a hot ham and cheese sandwich later on in the flight, but meal service was delayed because of some fairly bad turbulence we experienced for about an hour during the flight as we flew over the US Mainland. It was not stormy outside, just cloudy, but at times it was a little rough. They meals overall were not bad, and we certainly got plenty to eat and drink during the flight, as well as our “free” adult beverages.
Almost To Atlanta
The pilots were not able to make up any of the delay during the flight, there are always headwinds going in this direction, so it always takes longer coming back than the flights over to Europe that go with the prevailing winds. Headwinds in this direction generally makes it hard to gain any time back if you are delayed.
We had plenty of layover time, but we did hear a lot of other passengers ask about connections. The standard answer was that Delta would probably already have their fights rebooked, but that does not always work for some limited flight connections. The worst is when you think you might make it, but get hung up in the customs and immigration lines, dashing any hopes. They asked anyone with long layovers to stay seated and let the passengers with tight connections get off first, so we did. That gave us plenty of time to put all of out gear back into our carry on bags.
While we were waiting to get off the plane, I opened the US Customs App on my phone, now that we were back in the USA and had cell service once again. We had loaded the app when we saw the advertisement while boarding the Regal Princess in Ft. Lauderdale, and had already entered our passport information and taken photos before we left Ft. Lauderdale, while we still had cell service. We answered all of the Customs Questions, and were issued QCR barcodes for each of us. We were not quite sure how it would work, but we headed to the Immigration area inside the airport to see if it helped speed up the process.
There was a special line for mobile check in for Immigration, and it bypassed the long and busy line to use the electronic Kiosks. There are no more paper forms to fill out when arriving at airports with electronic customs and immigration entry. We had used the kiosks last time we flew to Atlanta from Amsterdam in 2016. The phone app worked great, once we figured out what to do. They look at your passports, and then scan the code on a reader for each passenger, then you are done. We received a laminated document stating we were using the mobile app, and we had to take it to customs once we retrieved our luggage from the baggage carousel. Both suitcases made it to Atlanta, and once we retrieved them at baggage claim, we headed to the customs agent, and handed him the laminated form. The customs agent just wanted to see our photos on the phone app, so I had to get my phone back out and open the app, and show him our photos on the phone to make sure they matched our passports. We were cleared to go through and then rechecked our bags for the flight to Columbia. The mobile app really just saved us time at the kiosk, but that was well worth using it, and now that we know how it works, will certainly use it again when we can.
Once we dropped off our luggage to be rechecked, we headed to the long security line. Everything had worked well to this point, but obviously, this is now the choke point in the process. They were only using two lines for security, and this really caused a backup. A young European man from our flight had a tight connection, and was trying to get through the security line faster to try and make it, but got verbally yelled at by a mean, overweight American. This caused quite a stir with some of the other passengers in line, we were all embarrassed at the treatment this man received from the rude person, hopefully this was not the first time the man was visiting the USA, but if so, he probably got a terrible impression. Stephanie asked one of the attendants if the man could bypass some of the line because of his tight connection, but she said there was nothing she could do. It was obvious he was going to miss his flight because now he refused to try and get special help from other passengers in line for fear of receiving the same treatment again. Atlanta is such a large airport that there must have been four or five other flights going through customs and immigration with our flight, causing there to be long lines, especially at security.
The security hold up was really due to the fact that there were only two body scanning machines in use. There were four carry-on baggage screening x-ray machines in total, but each of those consolidated into one body scanner, woefully inadequate for this many people. We did not see any others even available, so it was not as if they did not have all of the lines open, this was it. It was probably about 20 minutes or more of a wait to get through security, so even though customs and immigration are faster, the choke point is now at security, and they needed to add more capacity.
After security, we had to go all the way to the other end of the airport, to T Terminal, so we headed downstairs to the automated “airport train”, as it calls itself, to ride to the other end of the airport. Our flight was at gate T1, so we thought it would be close to the drop off point for the train. We headed up the escalators, only to find that the gates are listed in opposite order from what we expected, gate T1 was at the far end, not closer in.
Our DC-9 To Columbia
We walked to the gate and only had about 40 minutes before they started the boarding process, using the boarding zones. This was even different, there were signs for each of the Zones, 1-3, so we got in line for zone 3, and waited as they boarded all of the Delta priority passengers, and then Zones 1 and 2. Normally, there are announcement calls by zones, this is the first time one call was made to get in your appropriate zone line, and then calls by zone to go out the gate to the plane. When the announcement came for us to board, they just announced that all remaining passengers could now board. We were taking with a couple from Greenwood, they had been to Puerto Rico for a week, and we laughed about us not being identified by zone, but just “everyone else”. The couple made a comment to the attendant making the calls that we all felt slighted, and he was funny, he made a special announcement for the special Zone 3 passengers, and also announced that this passenger from Greenwood was buying everyone drinks. We all had a good laugh with him.
We boarded and the flight left on time. It was a full, but a short flight to Columbia, only about 35 minutes of flying time. The approach into Columbia to land was not the best, they kept giving the plane a lot of engine power, and then easing back, it was a lot of surging. Then we really hit hard on the landing, someone seemed to need a little more practice flying the plane. A lot of passengers grunted as we hit hard on the runway.
We had already contacted Mom via text in Atlanta that we were going to be a little early, and she was waiting at the car park waiting area near the arrival gate to pick us up once we got our luggage. There was a little bit of nervousness waiting on the luggage, it came out near the end, and the bags were pretty far apart coming onto the carousel. Stephanie’s came out first, and then mine finally came out. With bags in hand, we sent a text to Mom to pick us up at arrivals. She was there in a few minutes, and then we were off and on our way home.
We got home about 9:50 PM, and were tired form the long day of travel. Of course, Small was glad we were home, and would not leave us alone, constantly being with us as we got cleaned up and ready to relax a little before heading to sleep. We had one glass of wine to relax, and then called it a night at about 10:30 PM. It had been about 23 hours since we woke up this morning in Berlin, we were tired, but glad to be home.
As usual, we will try and fix up all of the typos and errors in the blog over the next several days, and add photos to the remaining albums, and and add photos to some of the later posts that we did not have time to add during the trip. As always, we will post a few closing thoughts about the trip in a future Epilogue Post.
Thanks to everyone who read along, we hope it was enjoyable. We realize that sometimes it is a little too detailed, but we also use this to look back for future trips to help us remember problems and issues, and also to remember some of the quirks about each particular trip, and without the added details, it would be forgotten. We will also put the posts in normal chronological order since the trip is over, it makes for better reading.
Also, thanks to Lorine and Fran, our moms, for looking after the house and Small. Without that help, these trips would not be possible.