Dave and I left Winnipeg early in the morning on Sunday, August 8th. We said a tearful goodbye to our friends and family that had come to see us off at the airport and boarded the plane to Toronto. We were in Toronto on Sunday and Monday for me to attend articling interviews. On Monday evening we went to the Toronto airport expecting to check our luggage and get on the plane without any issues.
Unfortunately, once at the ticket counter where we got our boarding passes and tried to check our luggage, we found out that the particular airline we were flying with had very strict weight restrictions on each passenger's luggage. Between the two of us we were double the weight permitted. Instead of the standard 23 kilos permitted for two pieces of checked luggage per passenger, Transat Air only allows 23 kilos total per passenger! This was not a good discovery as we each had about 45 kilos!
Thankfully, the lady helping us at the ticket counter was lovely and kind. She suggested we upgrade our tickets to first class, as first class ticket holders are permitted 40 kilos each. She then turned a blind eye to the extra 5 kilos we each had and the fact that our carry-ons were too large as well. Thus, her advice and kindness saved us hundreds of dollars that we did not have to spare. While waiting at the counter for everything to be sorted out she and I bonded over our similar stories....she left her country (Columbia) shortly after getting married to follow her husband to Canada and I told her Dave and I had just been married and we were moving to France for him to do his Masters. I will never forget her or what she did for us!
Once we got on the plane we were even more thankful for her advice as our first class flight to Frankfurt was wonderful! Neither of us had ever flown first class before (and probably never will again!), but it was lovely. We settled into our large seats - we had a row of 3 between the 2 of us. We were then offered champagne, which I accepted and Dave declined. We were given free blankets and pillows to keep, and a care package with lip gloss, lotion, hand sanitizer, head phones, ear plugs, an eye mask and fluffy socks! I was in heaven - all this "free" stuff made me very happy. We were then served oeur d'oeuvres and dinner - canapes and roast chicken, roasted red pepper and caprese salad served with your choice of 4 different wines. Then we were served "night caps" - I had a bailey's on ice and proceeded to have a wonderful 4 -5 hour sleep! I was awoken to the captain announcing breakfast was about to be served - I choose the eggs benedict, Dave choose the fruit and yogurt platter. We were then offered fresh rolls, and then fresh cinnamon buns! I really could not believe the amount of food and alcohol we were offered - definitely an enjoyable flight, but I doubt we would pay that much extra for those extra perks in the future!
Once we landed in Frankfurt it was time to find the Lufthansa ticket counter and buy bus tickets on their shuttle to Strasbourg. We had to wait for a few hours for the bus, and then drive about 2 hours to get to Strasbourg. But we arrived when it was still light out and we were able to see the city as we drove into it! We disembarked the bus, got our luggage, hopped in a taxi and arrived at our hotel. It was good to know our journey had come to an end after days of traveling from one place to another.
We finished off our day walking along the canal for awhile and eating dinner at Subway! It was one of the only places open near our hotel and inexpensive - so our French food experience had to wait a little bit longer as we partook of the familiar!
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