Back to the Beginning - Part 6 - Back to Reality

May 5th, 2023

I still have quite a few hours to kill before having to head out to the airport, so I go on one final tour through the area surrounding the hotel. I do still need to get a few photos of the outside of the hotel, after all. Besides, I‘ve been staying within walking distance of the old €uro sign for the last couple of days, so of course I need to get a picture of that as well.

I'll be honest. I'll miss this view.

Yep, it's the home of the Euro. Even though the building in the background hasn't housed the ECB for years.

I still can't quite put my finger to it, but there's something weird about this building.

That's Commerzbank's headquarters at the end of this street, and the highest skyscraper in Germany.

However, even with that, it‘s eventually time to head out to the airport.  Whilst the tram ride works pretty well, heading down to the underground platforms for the S-Bahn service to Frankfurt Airport is no fun at all if you‘re dealing with both a damaged knee and have a trolley in tow, I can tell you that much! Speaking of the S-Bahn, I‘d noticed on my first arrival into Frankfurt a few days ago that the suburban train lines around Frankfurt had received a number of new train sets. There‘s no doubt that these things are a significant step up from their predecessors. Unfortunately, even these new trains cannot eliminate the nasty surprise that is Frankfurt Airport‘s regional train station. For a reason that is still beyond me, the platforms at this station are significantly lower than those at other stations on the network Making level boarding impossible and forming an obstacle for wheelchair users that is nigh-on insurmountable without assistance. The fact that neither the airport operator Fraport nor national rail operator Deutsche Bahn have managed to find a solution for this even well into the third decade of the 21st century is quite frankly shameful.

Waiting for Godot? Or the tram? You be the judge.

Once more into the station...

I have to admit, those new S-Bahn trains sure are sleek!

The airport itself is its usual buzzing self. It seems like the last three years never really happened and almost no trace remains of the pandemic and its ensuing restrictions. However, this might also be due to the fact that the Skyline, the Automated People Mover linking the two Terminals at the airport is closed for construction work. Even with all the activity, baggage drop-off at the business class counters is a breeze, as is the security check. Unfortunately, Terminal 1’s concourse B isn‘t particularly well stocked with shops or eateries and well, I‘m nearly broke anyway. So, it‘s up to one of the two Lufthansa Business Class lounges in the concourse. I‘d use one of these lounges previously, however, both previous uses had resulted in massive delays, one due to a technical fault on the aircraft and the other due to an absolutely massive thunderstorm right over the airport, so I‘m heading to the other one this time around. I‘m in no mood to tempt fate again!

Frankfurt Airport seems entirely unchanged.

This is an archive picture from 2017, but there have literally been no major changes since then.

Thankfully, the lounge is not only well stocked with food and drinks, but also pretty empty, which is right up my alley. On the downside, the view from both lounges is pretty poor, so there‘s not much to see outside the window. At least this means that after a nice lunch, I‘m able to continue working on the rough notes for this series, which are nowhere near complete, despite their considerable volume. Why do you think it took me so long to get this translation done? Anyways, after considerable amounts of typing and one final drink and dessert., it‘s finally time to head to the gate. This gate, B31, is a bus gate to the surprise of exactly no one as my return flight is handled by yet another CRJ-900. Unfortunately, this means another round of stairs, something my knee isn‘t exactly thrilled about. Interestingly, the amount of Irish and Cork accents at the gate is considerable, a complete opposite to the mostly German voices I‘d heard at the gate in Cork on the way out.

The Lufthansa Business Class Lounges are a welcome oasis of calm in Terminal 1.

One last sweet treat before I head off to the gate.

The obligatory bus trip from the gate to the aircraft heads in the completely other direction as on my arrival, as my aircraft for the return flight is parked smack in front of Terminal 2, at the eastern end of the airport. My ride for the return flight is D-ACKG, a sixteen year old CRJ-900 that had been delivered straight to Lufthansa upon delivery in 2006. Interestingly, the aircraft still bears the old Lufthansa livery, including the orange „egg yolk“ on the tail fin. Unfortunately, the air stairs haven‘t improved in the five days since my previous flight, they‘re still narrow an steep. On board, another passenger and I have to be moved back a row as even a person noticeably smaller than me is unable to fit into the bulkhead seats with the fixed arm rests at the front of the cabin. 

Slowly but surely, Terminal 3 (background) is taking shape. I still remember the days of Rhein Main Air Base, when that entire area was filled to the brim with C-5s, C-17s and even some old C-141s.

These birds are becoming rarer and rarer. I understand the economic reason for replacing them, but it will be a sad day when the last Boeing 747 is taken out of service.

Nordic by Nature - a Scandinavian Airlines Airbus boarding for a flight to northerly latitudes.

And here's my ride home: D-ACKG

The orange "egg yolk" on the tail fin is becoming rarer and rarer these days, as Lufthansa is rebranding its fleet. To think that this paint scheme was introduced when I was still living in Northern Germany...

However, despite this complication, and the fact that the aircraft seems to be at 80% of capacity, boarding is done surprisingly quickly, and we begin taxiing out to the active runway, 25C. This takes no time at all, as the taxiway leading to the threshold is right behind our aircraft stand. There‘s no kick in the rear this time, as we do a rolling take-off straight from the taxiway. However, while the acceleration is once again remarkable, the rate of climb upon take-off is once again anaemic. As is the amount of runway we need to actually get airborne. Seriously, this isn‘t a 777-3000ER trying to take off from Dubai in the heat of summer, what‘s going on? The lacklustre performance of the aircraft is not reflected by the crew, thankfully. They‘re excellent, and while the chartering is identical to that I had on the outbound flight a few days back, it‘s still tasty. The only fly in the ointment is that the Lightning port of my iPhone is clogged, meaning there‘s no music available for me. I guess it says something about the flight that this is my biggest issue.

I don't think that I've ever made it to the runway as quickly as I did from aircraft stand V106 to Runway 25C.

View of Runway 07L/25R, the "Northwest Runway", where I'd landed five days earlier.

Departure is to the west, past what I think is Rüsselsheim.

After about 90 minutes, the Irish coast slowly comes into view. We pass south along the Wexford and Waterford coasts as the cloud cover begins to increase. By the time we cross the coast near Youghal, we‘ve begun our descent and the flight has become pretty bumpy, with turbulence picking up the closer we get to Cork. By the time we turn onto our final approach onto Runway 16, the only runway at Cork airport equipped with an Instrument Landing System appropriate for the weather, the clouds have closed in almost completely and rain drops start appearing on the windows. Welcome to Ireland, I guess... Touchdown on runway 16 is hard. Not quite Ryanair-grade, but not far off. It almost feels as if the CRJ turns from an aircraft into a brick for the last few seconds before touchdown. Then again, a hard landing is what you want on a wet runway, especially one as short as Cork.

The heavy cloud cover over Europe lifts as we get closer to the coast.

My first sight of Ireland is of Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford, the southeaster most point of Ireland.

The approach into Cork is mostly obscured by clouds... typical!

Welcome to Cork! Don't like the rain? Wait fifteen minutes!

After a few hairy moments while getting off the plane in the rain, the handrails on the air stairs get really slippery when wet, it‘s just a short walk to the terminal, where immigration is quick and friendly. My luggage arrives quickly as well, and within thirty minutes of getting off the aircraft, I‘m on a bus heading into Cork. Unfortunately, while being one of the most modern buses in the Bus Éireann fleet, it is still just a regular 226 service coming in from Kinsale, full of day trippers coming back to Cork. Why is no one in this goddamn country able to put two and two together and set up a dedicated city centre to airport only shuttle service? This isn‘t some goddamn grass field with ambitions like up in Mayo, or a golf course with a runway attached like in Kerry, but the second largest airport in the entire goddamn country! Still, I make it home by 6.30 PM, tired as hell, with a sunburn for the ages, but happy!

My ride into town is on this 226 service from Kindle. Why is it not possible to set up a dedicated shuttle service between Cork city and the Airport?

Final Thoughts

It is now over three months since I returned from Germany. I‘m well and truly back in the grip of the daily grind, which also means that my everyday worries are firmly back on the agenda. As the memories of this trip disappear more and more into my long-term memory, I find myself asking whether this whole trip was worth it. And every time that happens, I come to the same conclusion: Hell yes, it was worth it! It was vitally important for me to visit the grave of my parents, especially after all those years of mourning and pandemics. The wounds that the death of my parents have opened up will likely never fully heal, but at least I can now look ahead. 

I guess that was part of the reason for the whole trip. To leave Speyer, and even Frankfurt without that all-encompassing dread and despair that hung over me on that January day in 2018, when my departure from Frankfurt wWas nothing so much as an attempt at escape. Boarding the TGV in Mannheim this time around, passing through security in Frankfurt, this time around, these actions felt almost like I was lifting a curse that had been placed on me. And then, there’s still the knee. My trip to Frankfurt occurred almost exactly one year after that business trip to Munich where I had the accident. In its wake, I ended up dealing with nearly twelve months of varying health issues, surgery, a stint in hospital and months of recovery before I was able to travel again. My knee has come on by leaps and bounds since my return from Frankfurt, but I doubt much of that would have happened without the trip.

I‘ve taken home other lessons as well, some of which will eventually get a blog post of their own. Chief among them is the realisation that nostalgia is not a reliable narrator. The proverbial rose-tinted glasses don‘t only put the past in a better light, they distort the past. Frankfurt, and Germany in general are nowhere near as good a place as it sometimes seems in my mind. Frankfurt in particular seems run-down in places, and it seems as if no one in city hall really gives a damn anymore. More worrying, particularly with regards to my knee, is the fact that barrier-free access to public transport is nowhere near as widespread in Germany as I would have thought. Of all the things that differentiate Ireland and Germany, this is one where I‘d have thought that Germany would be the better country.  Equally unexpected, but much more welcome, was the realisation that contactless payments seem to have finally arrived in Germany. Even as recently as 2020, during my first business trip there, cash still seemed to be king whilst on this trip, I was able to almost exclusively use my Apple Watch to pay. 

And finally, there‘s the direct connection between Frankfurt and Cork. I‘ll be blunt, this is seven years too late for me. I really could have used this service while my parents were still alive. Despite this delay however, the connection is a massive asset for Cork Airport. Unfortunately, the CRJ-900 is a major letdown. It‘s simply an uncomfortable aircraft to fly on. The cabin is narrow, the seats are cramped, even compared to other regional aircraft, and those fold-out air stairs are an accident waiting to happen. To top it all off, the type is very „hard“, with every bit of turbulence in the air, and every pothole or seem between concrete slabs being immediately transferred into the cabin. However, even with all these issues, not to mention some of the questionable flight characteristics, I‘ll definitely use this flight again!