Mystery Guest Blogger ...

Well, it's not such a mystery really, it's my Dad!

As he and Mum travelled from southern Germany to Dubrovnik, Croatia,

on Friday the 13th of May, Dad wrote a bit of a story about their adventure.

Part 1 of 2

My name is Jim and I am Kristy’s Father.  My wife and I are what Kristy would call “Trailing Parents” for because of her travels we are given the opportunity to trail after her, visiting places that 10 years ago we would never have dreamed of.  Anyway, these are my thoughts on travelling on Friday 13th.

What a day to travel into a country that less than 20 years ago was in the depths of a cruel civil war,  in a plane that had only 2 propellers and over the highest mountains in Europe.  Had no idea how the currency worked, couldn’t speak the language - the list goes on!!

We left Radolfzell about 11.30am heading for Zurich Airport.  On the way we stopped for lunch at IKEA.  Their meatballs taste the same wherever you are in the world, however the price changes dramatically, especially in expensive Switzerland.

Into the airport car park went like “clock work”, parking on the 2nd floor.  At the lift entrance we took a slip of paper telling us where we had parked, what a great idea.  We confirmed our tickets and processed our baggage, then up to the departure area. Up until this stage, there were no security checks, unlike Adelaide.

As we proceeded into Passport Control, all we have to do is show our passports, have them stamped.  Then on through to Security where carry-on luggage is screened, and, guess what, as I walked through the metal detector it activated the alarm. This security bloke comes up mumbles something I couldn’t understand and escorts me into this secure room for a body search/pat down.  At this point he puts on a pair of rubber gloves that didn’t look clean and my blood pressure began to rise.

Things were moving at a rapid rate by this time, as he was saying things I couldn’t understand and, after all, it was, Friday 13th.  I was thinking why did he pick me??  Anyway all that happened was a pat down. I think they just pick people at random to break up their boring job.

Anyway, on to the allocated waiting area where we thought we had left plenty of time before the flight and noticed people gathering at our terminal about the time we should be boarding.  There was no announcement, so we lined up and were directed onto a bus.  Couldn’t understand a word being spoken, were we going to the correct plane?  After travelling quite some distance we stopped at a small twin engine D.H. 8 Bombadier aircraft, similar to the commuter planes used in South Australia to service the mines.

Pauline, who at the best of times dislikes flying, wasn’t at all impressed.  For it seems incredible, we flew from Singapore to Zurich in an A380, one of the largest passenger planes in the world to this little one and it was Friday 13th.

... to be continued