This is the start of a series of videos documenting our bike touring journey along the Danube from Ulm to Regensburg. We are an older couple with not a lot of miles in our legs. This is our first cycle touring trip. This particular episode focusses on our flight and train journeys to get from North Carolina in the USA to Ulm in Germany via Amsterdam, Utrecht in the Netherlands and Frankfurt, Germany.
Hi, I’m Jane. I’d like to share my adventures and travels with you. You’ll meet my husband, Neil, in a little bit. I hope this will be the first in a series documenting my trip to Germany and my travels along the western part of the Danube. Stay tuned till the end of the video to see the slight twist in the plot. We start our journey in North Carolina and fly via Atlanta to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, we catch a train via Utre to Frankfurt and mine. In Frankfurt and mine, we have a special stop there. But then we catch the train again to M, which is our final destination and really is the beginning of our adventure and our travels along the D. Okay. So, we’re at the airport and of course our first flight is delayed by how many hours? 3 hours. 2 hours. 2 hours. Yeah, about 2 hours. But we’ve got a long enough connection in Atlanta hopefully to get our main flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam. So, we’re happily here practicing resting, recovering. Um, and yeah, just chilling while we wait for for the flight. That’s crazy. [Music] Yeah. As we complete our final check, let us know if you have any questions. We’ll do everything we can to ensure you have a safe and relaxed flight. [Music] Just waiting at the end of the runway. Waiting for take off. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] We’re just about to pass over Lake Jordan here and you might be able to see Shear and Harris Power Station just in the distance. It’s towards the the horizon and on the left the distance on the left side. [Music] [Music] [Music] So, we just got off the train. Um, so it takes us from one terminal to another. We We came in at terminal A, I think, or at gate A and then we’ve had to come to gate F for the international departures. Great great system here in Atlanta. And those connections by the trams are are really superb. Okay, off we go. [Music] All right, so we’re going up the escalator into terminal F and this is the second of the escalators. See what we see. [Music] This is us 320 flight to Amsterdam. [Music] And for our last flight, it’s turned rather rainy. [Music] Hello. Okay, we’re going to be on our way. [Music] So, we’re at um Skipol airport and we’re just waiting for the train to get to getting our connection and then onto Frankfurt. Okay, currently in Utre waiting for the train now to Frankfurt. [Music] We’re on the train. Um, German train this time. German train. German train to Frank by Munich. And then the sign should be up there. You see the Dutch train going past. We can kiss. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Ah, this is I Not stopping, just passing through. [Music] Can you see our reflection in the glass? [Music] So, we’re approaching Cologne. I don’t know whether we’ll get to see the the cathedral. I’m hoping. I think we’re on the right side of the train to see it. I’m just a little worried. But I remember being in Cologne before, the railway station is a long way down below the the cathedral. So, we may not see it. We may be underground or too low to see it, but we’ll see. But this is a run in to Col, the outskirts. [Music] And actually, I can just see the two towers of the cathedral. Probably not visible on this camera cuz the wide angle. [Music] [Music] Hey, [Music] [Music] [Music] There you go. There’s cathedral. Here we go. Yeah. Cool. I remember going down underneath down there when I Oh, it was down here, I think, when I was here as a kid. Very cool. Beautiful. And a gorgeous day. Oh, very pretty. And here’s the ride. Yeah, just I remember all the cruise ships. So, we’ve passed through Cologne. We’re now on our way to Bon. We’re not stopping there, but the train stopping there. And what’s interesting is the train has gone so much faster in Germany than it did in the Netherlands. And we really are flying now. We’re moving. And this is the approach into Bon, which you hadn’t realized was only about 15 minutes away from Cologne by train. [Music] So, this is when the story gets interesting. We get off the train at Frankfurt Sud and walk to Frankfurt um bike tours. Neil picks up his rental bike and I unpack my folding bike which I’ve brought with me in my suitcase. So I have a little bike Friday that folds and fits in an orange suitcase and I assemble the bike. We put our paniers on the bikes and then we cycle through the city up to the hed barn hoof in Frankfurt and that’s when we get the train. Um the train’s late. It was I think the hottest day of the year. Uh there’s no air conditioning on the train on our particular carriage. Um but we had the bikes booked in. They had their numbered slot. We had our seats allocated and we were on our way. So we were happy. All right. Last leg of the journey. Oh, I’m so hot. Must be at least 90° inside and out. But we’re going to go through H Highleberg. Okay. So, we’re going to have a look at that as we go past. But very pretty countryside. [Music] We eventually arrive at home. Um, it’s a bit of a palava getting the bikes away from the railway station as as the escalator the lift was broken. So, it meant carrying the bikes up the flight of stairs. Anyway, we get to tom. It’s late at night. Um, the hotel’s about 10 minute cycle away. So, we get to the hotel. They have a nice garage underneath which is really good. Lock the bikes up and we sleep. And we’re tired, but we’ve got there. We’re in M. We’re ready for the next day when we start our ride. Come join us. Thanks. [Music]