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The summary of our free flights is as follows :
25 long-distance flights in Business Class with OneWorld :
Air Lingus to Europe,
British Airways in Europe, to South Africa, to India and to Australia,
Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Bangkok and from Japan to Europe,
Qantas Airways to New Zealand, within Australia and to Japan,
American Airlines from Europe to the United States.
Total price per ticket, if flights purchased: $ 39,462 per person.
We paid 220,000 miles and $ 451 in taxes per person.

United Airlines round-trip from London to Albany in economy :
price per ticket $ 810.
We paid 50,000 miles and $ 78 in taxes per person.

Continental Micronesia round-trip flights from Australia to Guam, Yap and Palau in economy : price per ticket $ 1,260.
We paid 35,000 miles and $ 61 in taxes.

Our thanks to the airlines for flying us safely around the globe. We could not have done this journey without the frequent flier programs !
It was a lot of fun to see the world from 37,000 feet.

JFK New York – DUB Dublin 3170 mi
DUB Dublin – FRA Frankfurt 674 mi
STR Stuttgart – HAM Hamburg 343 mi
CGN Cologne – PRG Prag 318 mi
PRG Prag – CGN Cologne 318 mi
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We arrived back home at the ” Stratford Inn” in Clifton Park at 2 AM this morning.
Our 24-hour day began yesterday morning in Paris at the Hotel Mercure Terminus across from the Gare De L’Est. We took a cab to the CDG Airport and had a sightseeing tour of Paris without the tourists.
I was in shock when we entered the departure hall : a line with about 200 people was snaking its way through the terminal to the Air France check-in counters. I did not see any movement and was thinking : air traffic controllers are striking ! We came to the American Airlines counter and were pleasantly surprised : nobody lining up to check in for Business Class. The French agent was very nice and checked in 4 suitcases and one ski bag without charging us for exceeding our baggage allowance. The AA Admirals Club lounge, on the other hand,was a big disappointment and could not compete with our past experiences with British Airways, Cathay Pacific or Qantas. We could not get any breakfast, but had crackers and cheese with beer instead.
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This time our arrival from Germany into Paris landed us in a new section that we have never discovered before. Many of the trains arriving from outside of France arrive at Gare de l’Est, which is in the 10th arrondissement, a non-touristy section of Paris. After checking in at the hotel, we were on our last exploration of this year long journey. On previous trips to Paris we had already taken in many of the tourist sights, as the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, the Louvre, Montmartre with Sacre-Coeur and of course a ride on the Seine River. This time we wanted to not be tourists, but rather pretend we were Parisians.
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Yesterday was our last day in Germany. This world journey is coming to an end and we are flying home today. Gabi is very depressed about the fact that her sabbatical year is almost over. We are in our last airline lounge at Charles De Gaulle Airport and they are announcing our flight from Paris to Boston. I will have to continue this post when we are back in Clifton Park !
Our cheque from the restaurant “Canal 96″ last night says : “Merci De Votre Visite”.
Now we have to say : “Au revoir Paris”.

We arrived at Paris Gare de L’Est and the only porter on the whole station platform had positioned himself right in front of our 1st class car, looking for easy prey. He probably knew that no travelers in 2nd class would hire him.
I motioned him to take our luggage (remember 5 suitcases, 2 backpacks and 1 ski bag) and he happily piled all of our worldly belongings on his dolly. I told him ( in French) to take us to the Hotel Mercure Terminus Est, which, according to their website, is located right across the street from the train station, Gare de L’Est. He pointed to a Mercure hotel about 200 yards from us and started to walk toward the hotel. I asked him if there was another Mercure hotel closer to the train station and his answer was no. He took off with our luggage ( all 320 pounds of it ) and we had trouble to keep up with him.
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On July 25th, we were greeted with rain and clouds, the weather matching our mood. I have to admit, that we have been very lucky with the weather on our journey. We probably had fewer than 10 rainy days in the last 6 months !

We checked out off our Ibis Hotel in Augsburg and I loaded our 5 suitcases, 2 backpacks and 1 ski bag onto the hotel’s luggage cart. Our luggage amount increased exponentially after we picked up some of Sonja’s belongings. She is flying home tomorrow on Lufthansa Airlines in economy class, with a stricter baggage allowance . We proceeded through downtown Augsburg, pushing the luggage cart right to the train station. We received some odd looks from the locals who were rushing to work on this Monday morning. We were used to worse in other countries.
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We arrived in Augsburg, Germany on July 24th. We checked into the hotel ” Ibis Augsburg Bahnhof ” and returned our rental car. No more driving 100+ MPH for a while now !
We walked 20 minutes to the historic town center and admired the picturesque old merchant houses of the Fugger family.
A quick discourse about the history of the Fugger family :
In 1367, the weaver Hans Fugger came to Augsburg in order to find work in the city. He started a weaving factory in 1386 and laid the foundation for a rich trading company, doing business all over Europe. Initially, the Fuggers traded in silk, cotton and barchent ( a popular wool-cotton blend used for clothing in those days ). They became so wealthy and influental, that Jacob The Rich ( Fugger) financed the wedding of the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I to Bianca Maria Sforza in 1494.
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We are in Wuerzburg and still have some days left on our Eurail pass. Yesterday we decided to take the train to Munich, so we could eat “Weisswurst”. I had consulted my German Rail timetable book and had selected an ICE high-speed train to reach Munich in 2 1/2 hours. The only problem was that another ICE train left 3 minutes later from the next platform and I got on the wrong train. No harm done : we took ICE 825, leaving Wuerzburg at 8:35 AM and arrived in Munich at 11:36 AM, only 1/2 hour later than planned. The bonus turned out to be a scenic train ride along the river “Altmuehl”, with people in kayaks paddling down the river or riding bikes along its banks.
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Gabi and I married in Wuerzburg on July 22nd, 1977. This year, we started our anniversary celebration in Biberach on the 21st. After a nice buffet breakfast at the “Hotel Reith”, we spent the morning at the spa in “Jordanbad”. We alternated between outdoor massage pool, steam bath, water slides, hot thermal pool, ice-cold foot bath and bubble water-lounges. It was hard to leave Biberach.
I drove our “Smart for- four” to Wuerzburg and we had dinner outdoors at the restaurant “Alte Mainmuehle”. The sun came out just in time for dinner and we had a nice view of the “Main” river and the fortress “Festung Marienberg”.
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