Tuesday, August 7, 2007

The anal-retentive travel overplanning begins

So, I spent some time today trying to decide how to deal with my trip to Germany. For example, I'm in the process of memorizing all the train routes and schedules between Frankfurt and Heidelberg. I believe that I will need to make a seat reservation, but I'm also not ready to commit to such a thing until I'm on the ground, because I can't predict flight delays and getting lost in the airport and so forth. I'm also trying to figure out the best way of getting myself some Euros before I leave. If anyone has advice on that, by all means, let me know.

What I think is going to be the larger problem is what I will do in Detroit, where I have a 5-hour stopover. WTF does one do with a 5-hour stopover? I'm thinking that's almost enough time to actually leave the airport to do something interesting... but in this case, as we're talking about Detroit, I'm not really sure of the options.

5 comments:

Laura said...

Well, shopping, random laptop stuff, sleeping, eating in airport restaurants, and walking-around-getting-tired-so-you-can-sleep -on-the-plane are all popular options. So are books, but they won't help you get to sleep later. The airport bars are popular too, and they will help you sleep, but air preasure differences (I've heard) sometimes cause odd hangovers.

Or you could send postcards to your friends all of three hundred miles away...

m.guru said...

"WTF does one do with a 5-hour stopover?"

Ah, a question most suited for a m.guru...

After intense contemplation, and ingestion of the holy tea, I have found your answer.

Start a family.

m.guru said...

Um... don't tell your mom I said that, by the way.

Oh crap.

chrisarts said...

I believe that banks are usually the best places to get good exchange rates...alternatively, if you use your credit card, I'm pretty sure that the transaction will take place at a better rate then you're gonna get on your own.
You might want to look that up.

I highly recommend the postcard idea. I don't suppose you'll have juggling supplies on hand...

Anonymous said...

Five hours should be more than enough time to write, edit and publish a biography of the life and wisdom of M. Guru. Someone will undoubtedly want to remember him someday.