When I arrived to Düsseldorf Airport from Vienna, my mind hopped to the very first moments of this trip when I landed to begin my 2 and a half week trek. Patiently waiting at the train station of the airport to go to Emden to visit my best friend and his wife and see their daughter for the first time, this was the beginning of the reflections of this entire trip coming before my eyes and it hit me hard after experiencing everything I managed to accomplish, and it was A LOT. After I made my way to the public access part of the airport, I needed to utilize the restroom and that's where I encountered the perverted side of Germany.
This would make an excellent Channel 13 post if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't buy it.
I went to the car rental office that acted as a field office for the hotel I booked (The Mercure) to get picked up, but I waited a long time. At first, I thought the hotel didn't have anybody to pick me up, but as I soon found out, the hotel was a long distance away from the airport. This was not good as I had plans to go out on my last night in Germany. Unfortunately, I didn't factor in the hotels shuttle service stopping the service very early (about 7:00PM) and the only method of public transportation (bus) near the hotel also stopped very early as well. This left me with the taxi service which would have costed me roughly €40 Euros (About $55) one way to get where I wanted to go. After pondering my situation, I have come to the conclusion that I should best stay at the hotel as I had a long flight the following day, and did not have a proper place to call my own with the basics of lifes luxuries (bath, bed, air conditioning, TV, and not sharing this with someone else who I did not know (think of the plethora of hostels I stayed in.).) through out this entire trip.
When I checked in to my room, they added a personal touch for my stay.
I spent my last night in Europe at the Mercure, and while I could not go out into Düsseldorf and check out the local Metal bars, at least I was comfortable and even had a good dinner with dessert and plenty of German beer to finish off this final part of my trip.
The following day, I grabbed my gear and made my way to the front desk to check out, and off to the flughafen (German for airport) I went. When I arrived to the flughafen, knowing this was the last moments of my trip, I had a lot to reflect on, as this was the longest I have been in Europe, going into 2 countries I have never been to before (Czech Republic and Austria). When I arrived to the AirBerlin counter, I noticed next to the counter that had Miami as the destination was one with Vancouver as a destination. I immediately remembered my new-found friends I made back in Brutal Assault and as quickly as I thought of them there they were, in the flesh. We found our way to the terminal and hanged out with each other until our respective flights departed. Before departing, I noticed one of the airport staff members was looking for Brittany, and they asked her and her boyfriend Jackson to go with them. I was naturally concerned as something like this typically means somethings wrong. Later, they came back to the terminal and told me the airport security needed their permission to open one of their bags as it had a "Heavy Metal" they needed to inspect before allowing the bag into the plane. The item in question was a bullet belt. Talk about a Metal inconvenience. When it came time to board my plane, I bid my farewell to my friends. When the plane took off, it left me with a sense of accomplishment as the last part of my trip was getting back to the beast known as my normal life.
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