Press Your Luck: World Cup Part Zwei

So, I just got back from my second trip to the World Cup in Germany. Instead of another self-inflicted sleep deprivation test, this time it was a test of nerves.

Here's the lowdown on pass traveling - it's super cheap and incredibly easy... IF you're traveling someplace that isn't wildly popular, or a big business market, or overseas in the summer. Traveling standby is a game - one that requires you to be flexible, tolerant, and fully prepared for the possibility of being royally screwed.

Case in point, our trip to Germany this weekend required us to hurdle these obstacles in just the first phase of our trip:

1. Crazy rain in the NE had resulted in irregular flight operations in NY for the past 6 days.
2. All flights to Europe were at capacity or overbooked except one flight from Newark to Cologne and one flight from Houston to Amsterdam Thursday night.

Therefore, the first big gamble we had to take Wednesday night was whether I should try and fly up to NY or if Brian should try to fly down here. After watching flight loads jump around from one minute to the next and coming up with options like "fly to Dallas and spend the night then drive back, or fly to Toronto and then fly to Houston Thursday morning," Brian ended up running to Newark only to have to cab it over to LaGuardia and use reward miles to guarantee himself a seat on the last flight to Houston, which was severely delayed.

We were putting all our chips on the Houston to Amsterdam flight Thursday, which would get us to Europe the morning of the game. There were 17 open seats when we checked the loads Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday morning, there would be 4 seats, with multiple people ahead of us on the standby list.

I couldn't concentrate at work on Thursday. The entire finance organization was caught up in my "Get to Germany" drama. People were checking all kinds of information and trying to be reassuring. They were saying things like, "You never know; there are always no-shows and misconnects." We were collectively praying for accidents on the highway, mechanical problems on connecting flights, and bad weather on the West Coast. As you can tell, holding 2 tickets to a World Cup quarter-final game and a hotel reservation with a $200 cancellation charge really brings out the best in people.

Brian and I end up heading to the airport early in an attempt to get on a couple of overbooked flights to London knowing full well that if we made it to London, we were not guaranteed to make it to continental Europe let alone to Hamburg in time for the game. But then again, getting from wherever the hell we would land in Europe to the game wasn't something we could focus on yet - that would be Phase 2 of the strategy.

Both flights to London ended up being full. But, it turns out that there were a couple no-shows for the Amsterdam flight, just enough so that Brian and I got some of the last seats on the plane. When the gate agent called our names, you would have thought that we had won the lottery because we were jumping for joy. Flying is such a different experience when you're just grateful to have a seat on the plane. We could care less about crying kids or bad food. Everything was fantastic.

Now that we were safely on the plane, it was time to come up with a strategy to get from Amsterdam to Hamburg. Again, it was a gamble. We only had 2 options and one chance to make the right choice. We could A) run off the plane and try to make the only train that would get us to Hamburg in time for the game (after 6 hours and 3 transfers), or B) try to rent a car and drive the 300 miles. We chose the rental route. Europe is known for their love of tiny cars, tiny cars with manual gear shifts. This we knew, but we didn't realize exactly how hard it would be to find an automatic car among the 6 rental companies at the airport. After going to a few counters and inquiring, we were starting to get a bad feeling. We had already missed the train, and all we had so far was 2 flat out "no" responses and one $500 luxury Volvo to choose from. I was seriously starting to convince myself that I could learn to drive stick in Europe... on the Autobahn. Luckily, our buddies at National had a nice Kia Carens (mid-sized MPV... kind of like a mini-minivan) for us, and with an airline employee discount no less.

Now, neither of us had driven in Europe before, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. In fact, it was probably the best part of the trip. The highways from Amsterdam to Hamburg were all so nice. Everything was perfectly paved. Road signs were clear. They even had speed indicators to tell you if there was a lot of traffic ahead.

Here is a picture of our little Kia Carens at the Burger King/Aral gas station we stopped at along the way...


Kia Carens

Surprisingly, this little sucker was quite stable even at speeds above 100 mph. Which brings me to my next point - driving without speed limits on the Autobahn is awesome. I'd say our average speed was around 90 mph, but there were times where people would pass us going maybe 120 mph. Check it out. This is me hitting 170 km/h... somewhere around 105 mph.


170 km/h

If you're wondering if it's wise for me to take pictures while driving 105 mph, let me just say that Brian took this picture while I was driving. But, you definitely feel more comfortable driving at high speeds over there. At one point I was eating a chocolate croissant, taking swigs of my apple soda, and brushing my hair while driving with one hand... at 100 mph.

The only drawback of driving so fast - crappy gas mileage. The fuel gauge needle would drop a little every few minutes. We had to fill up in the middle just to make it the whole 300 miles. If you think gas prices are high here, just wait till you pay $7.22 a gallon.

I'm not complaining. It was fun. There was quite a bit of traffic around Amsterdam, which made us extremely nervous again. It would have sucked to have lucked out on the flight and the rental car only to be thwarted by traffic. In the end, we made it to the game with some time to spare though. It didn't even matter that we were at the least exciting of the quarter-final games. Italy spanked Ukraine, and they weren't even that good. Those Italians sure do like to flop a lot.

Anyways, I was more amused by the people in the stands than in the game itself... like this guy. I guess this is what you do when you need to cheer before you finish your delicious soft pretzel...


Pretzel

All in all, Germany was great. Hamburg is not quite as clean or cheap as Gelsenkirchen, but it was scenic and enjoyable. We walked around and shopped on Saturday before heading over to the FanFest area to watch the Brazil vs. France game. During the day, Hamburg is quiet with lots of picturesque outdoor cafes lining the cobblestone streets and a lovely boardwalk area where you can stroll around while enjoying an ice cream or a beer. At night, the place becomes crowded and rowdy. You start noticing that all those nice stores along the main streets are actually bars and sex shops. We were staying in the heart of the red light district apparently. It was a very strange mix - theaters with Broadway productions were across the street from sex shops, fast food restaurants like McDonalds and Burger King were mixed in with the peep show clubs. Forget about having to drive out in the middle of nowhere to visit your favorite XXX superstore, everything you need is right next to each other. It's so convenient. The only dilemma you would have to face is whether or not you have enough money to maxi-size your whopper meal AND get that dildo you saw in the window display next door... that's if you hadn't already blown all your money at the brothels.

Needless to say, I don't think Brian and I were the right type of people to fully enjoy everything that Hamburg had to offer, but it was still a great experience. On Sunday, we drove back to Amsterdam to see if we could make the flights back to Newark (Brian) and Houston (me) that day. Taking separate flights probably wasn't the smartest move considering that neither of us would know if the other had made it until we got back to the States, but the stars aligned, and we got on our respective flights. I made it by the skin of my teeth. It was nerve-wracking, and the gate agents weren't exactly sympathetic. There were only 2 seats on that direct flight from Houston to Amsterdam Sunday and 3 people ahead of me. Fortunately, it was a family of 3 ahead of me. They decided not to split up, so I got a seat on the plane. The alternative was that I would have to spend 24 hours wandering around Amsterdam by myself (since Brian's flight to NY left 20 minutes before mine).

I can't really count the number of times the gods smiled down on us for this trip to go so smoothly. That's not even taking into account the fact that we were lucky enough to get 2 tickets to a World Cup game from our generous cousin in the first place. I may not have any lucky with casino games or broadway ticket lotteries, but something in the universe is definitely working in my favor... either that or I may have sold my soul to the devil for this trip.