The Guadalajara Reporter

Local hikes provide perfect training for mad dash through Frankfurt Airport

Dear Readers,

Lest we forget the blessings of living in a nearly perfect climate and having an International Airport so small you can cross the whole thing in two minutes, I offer you the following.

I am on my way to Guadalajara, after having taught a week-long course on Desert Caves at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. I found the students brilliant and enthusiastic, truly delightful and the crowning point of the week was a class visit to a truly spectacular Lava Tube. Now I am enjoying the benefits of Business Class on my Lufthansa flight back home, relaxing in a complex mechanical seat which, at the first touch of a button might appear to be a cross between a barber’s chair, a Transformer robot and a car compacter, but, in reality is so wonderfully comfortable you can actually sleep in it without having to take a pill.

From the deserts of Saudi Arabia I now arrive among the snows of Europe, the first leg of my 26-hour trip.

In Frankfurt, where “It was raining ice cubes yesterday and many flights have been cancelled,” according to a local informant, I get off the plane from Jeddah and head in the direction of Gate C16 where my next plane will hopefully be waiting for me, passing through a thorough security check on the way. Upon arrival, a Lufthansa agent looks at my ticket in dismay. “Why does it say C16 here? Where did they issue you this ticket? Ach, in Saudi Arabia, eh? Well, your flight has not been cancelled, but your plane is actually at gate Z62 … at the very opposite end of the airport.”