Germany 1988 - The Adventure Begins
When IBM insisted its employees use up their vacation days, a couple seized the chance to return to Germany — armed with a pocket translation book and an open invitation from an old colleague in Mainz.
1980s Germany 1988 This will be the start of the Germany trip. It will be taken from notes that were recorded by Joan during the trip.
Chapter One: THE PLANNING BEGINS
The trip concept began when IBM decided that we should use up as much of our vacation time as possible. After spending a few days in Germany in 1976, Bob had a strong desire to return. When an extended vacation to Germany was suggested to Joan, she was concerned about the language difficulties. Bob assured her that this would not be a problem. All that was needed was a small language translation book to cover the ordering of meals, etc. Joan went out and bought the book and we thought that the problem was solved. Bob made contact with Peter Ihlow, an IBMer living in Mainz, Germany. Peter had worked for Bob on a temporary assignment for about two years. Peter and his family had spent time in Raleigh in the mid 70's and had asked Bob and Joan to come over and see them some time. Bob asked Peter to make some hotel accommodations for the first night. Peter said that would be great and that they were very eager for us to come. Ticket arrangements were made and the trip was scheduled to begin on June 14, 1988 and end on July 26, 1988. We had planned to spend 3 weeks in Germany and then come over to England to see Julie, Sam and Madison. We were planning to spend time touring England and Scotland prior to our return. The trip was planned through Delta using "Frequent Flyer Mileage". Our itinerary was to leave Raleigh for Atlanta and then get a flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt.
Chapter Two: THE TRIP BEGINS
The flight leaves at 4:30pm and we are driven to the airport by Tim. The flight to Atlanta was fine and we made our connections without problems. We were flying on a Lockheed 1011 and we had very good window aisle seats. We left Atlanta on time and were very surprised when the Captain made the announcement that we would be flying over Memphis and then Detroit as we proceeded on our way. After the flight began, the Flight Attendant distributed copies of the menu for the dinner. Because this was a US to Germany flight, the menu was in English and German. Bob took the menu and folded it so that only the German words were visible. He asked Joan to get out the little translation book and find out what we would be eating that evening. Much to his surprise, there was nothing there that matched. As you can imagine, Joan was not too comfortable with Bob's prior confidence about how easy it would be to handle the language problems. This inability to understand the basics of German would create a few more problems before we got out of Frankfurt. The flight was very comfortable; even though we were flying in coach, we had a window-aisle seat arrangement and were able to move around as needed during the trip. We arrived on time in Frankfurt on Wednesday, June 15 at 10:00 and went down to pick up our luggage. Everything arrived but it took a long time to come through the conveyors and we were some of the last people to get through customs. After we came into the main terminal, Bob planned to go directly to the Avis counter and pick up a car, but in this airport the rental agencies are not located next to the baggage claim and were not visible. Bob's limited knowledge of German did not include "Car Rental". However, Joan happily sat with the luggage while Bob went roaming around until he found that they had to go down a small hall and all of the rental companies were located there. The Avis people were very nice and helpful. They also did not have a "small" car as specified in the reservations, but they gave us a VW Golf instead. This was almost exactly like the car that we had at home and we were happy. Off we went into the streets of Frankfurt. We had some confusion getting out of the airport, but once on the main roads we were able to find our way to the Autobahn and we were on our way to Mainz. We followed the directions that we received from Peter, and without any major problem we arrived at the main entrance of the IBM Mainz Education facility. As we pulled up to the front entrance, Peter walked out. He thought we would be arriving soon and he came out to check. After exchanging greetings, he took us over to the MAG Hotel. This is a facility that was once run by IBM for the students and has since been turned over to a private company for operation. We got checked in and made arrangements with Peter to be picked up later for dinner at the Ihlow home.
The rates were great. Because IBM keeps a block of rooms there, Bob was treated as a guest and Joan was charged 40DM for her portion of the room. The room was small, with two twin beds, but it was very clean and comfortable. Peter left us to go back to work and Joan took a nap while Bob did some exploring in the neighborhood, looking for some food or a restaurant. There were no eating facilities in the hotel except for "Frustock" which is breakfast. That evening Peter came to the hotel to pick us up and take us to their home for dinner. We met Mike (sp), Oliver their son, and their daughter Alexandria. We had an excellent meal and great conversation. Peter wanted to know our plans and we said that we didn't have any except to see Germany and to avoid the common tourist traps. When he asked what we wanted to see, Bob told him that we did not want to see Americans. Peter thought that that was great and said that he would work up an itinerary that would take us into the real Germany and also keep us going away from the many of the Germans who were beginning their vacations at this time. He gave us some ideas about the Mainz area and we decided that we would stay for a few days and do some local trips. One suggestion was that we take a drive along the Rhine. This we decided would be great for Thursday. We had a great time with the Ihlow family and were sorry to end the evening except that we were really feeling the jet lag symptoms. Peter returned us to the hotel and we settled in for the night.
Thursday, June 16, 1988
We arose early and went to the facilities for frustock. It was a very good meal. It was self-service with rolls, cold meats and cheeses, cereals, juices, coffee, etc. Most of the people that were there were IBM students from many parts of Europe. It was fun listening to the different languages and the fact that they used English as the common language.
