Return trip to Frankfurt
It's time to head back home after 3 really nice days in Sitges. We have some plans for the weekend and on Monday, it's already back in the air: over to Paris for some work and then a visit to the Olympics (including tickets for Beach Volleyball and Tennis.. really looking forward to that!). But first things first...
After the morning run, it's time for breakfast and being so early means that the outdoor space is very empty and quiet - perfect.
Once I am done with all my favourites from the buffet, I feel like a quick nap is the next order of the day - and I wake up 90 mins later. So much for my plans to hang out by the pool :-)
A last view of what I am leaving behind... see you soon again, Sabatic!
Around noon, I am leaving the hotel and take the bus back to the hotel. It's onetime, fast and cheap... all good here.
Arriving into the terminal at BCN, you can tell that its high season... the terminal is quite packed by BCN standards and I make a quick detour by the LH checkin desks - they are pretty busy and I can imagine a lot of people are still stranded from yesterday's shuttered FRA ops.
Also, my flight will be packed. Even though the seat map on EF shows 5 empty seats in the small J cabin, availability is shown on EF as J0 Y0 etc... so def. some operational upgrades today. But all good, I am in my favourite seat anyways and I am always happy for fellow status passengers when they get treated with an OpUp.
From there, it's over to the Fast Track at BCN, where I have never ever waited for more than 5 minutes in the past. They are really well organised and quick there.
But today is the one exception, yet it's not the fault of the airport: Two passengers are trying to bring a total of 3 large suitcases (each of them too big for the overhead bin alone) plus one huge box onto their flight... noway that's gonna work but there are a lot of debates and even the police has to be called over. After 10 minutes the line finally moves again ad the couple needs to take the walk of shame back to the checkin counter with their household stuff... if they would fly on Vueling today, it will easily cost them 200 EURs in excess luggage that's how much and big the bags were that they tried to bring onboard. People....
Once I am through security, I am heading over to the lounge. LH (as most airlines here) is contracting with the Airport's Pau Casals Lounge, a really nice place given that it's a common user lounge.
But today, it's a zoo... Summer peak travel brings out the worst in people, I am afraid...
There is garbage left over almost everywhere, tables filled with half-empty plates of food, people with their blank feet on the couches, a group of 20-somethings in flip flops, trying to stuff their Gucci man bags with cookie from the sweets bar and so on... where did all the common sense and good manners go? Call me old (FYI, I am below 50 :-) ), but this is not how I was raised.
When I try to sit down in one of the more quite corners, a young lady starts to videotape for TikTok, Instagram or whatever: sitting in Yoga-style on a couch, making sure her hair is adequate and asking her InstaBoy (Is that what they are called?) to adjust the location of the tripod... that's the moment I leave....
I finally find a really quiet corner near the buffet area and grab a small plate of food plus a water. While the lounge is usually quite pleasant, today I won't stay long.
Oh, and the staff is really trying their best, they are everywhere to refill the buffet, clean tables etc, but it's a bit of a lost mission. Well, let's head over to the gate then...
Arriving in the gate area, pre-boarding for families with small kids and HON Cirlce members has just started (Group 0/PRE) and I let the families with their kids go first before then joining the line in the end - somebody in the Group 1 and 2 line gives me big look of disbelieve and shakes his head. I ask him in a friendly manner if he is also Group 0 and invite him to go before me… which he refuses.
I settle into my seat and moments later, Mr Shaking-My-Head appears and sits in my row - I congratulate him on the OpUp and have a grin on my face while he quickly hides his new OpUp boarding pass 😂