Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Cars! Dh gets a company car, although right now it's a tiny loaner that's a tight fit for our family of 5. They're ordering him a nice new Volvo XC-90, which is a plush SUV with seats for 7, which we can't wait to get. I say ordering, because you can't walk into a car dealer in Germany, pick out a new car, sign your contracts, pay your money, and drive it home. You pick it out, option by option, and they build it specifically for you - over two months time.

And I mean option by option. Not just things like automatic transmission (which is rare), or CD players or a navigation system (basically a must here for us). I'm talking - do you want air conditioning? Do you want hooks to hang your dry cleaning on? Do you want cup holders? If so, how many? (In German cars, these are more rare and so small as to be practically useless.) Every little thing must be ordered individually. So, since it takes about 2 months for them to build the car, and since the "car guy" at dh's work is on a 3-week vacation, so he won't get it ordered until at least the end of September - we won't get it until nearly Christmas. But, at least we have a car to use in the meantime.

So, we started looking for a car for me even before we moved, but got serious about it within the past 3 weeks. I checked out every car we passed on the street and spent hours on a used car website, which is very good by the way and in English. Dh talked at length with people he works with, got suggestions and even went to see a couple of cars. At first, I was thinking small station wagon or mini-van. But, since dh's car will seat 7, we can use it when we have visitors or for family car trips. Besides, the company pays dh's gas - a huge benefit here where the cost of gas is 2-3 times what it is in the States.

So, I changed my thoughts and started looking at small hatchbacks. I don't like sedans, as I'm always hauling stuff for something or other and I don't like being limited by a trunk. I wanted 4 doors and seats for 5, so there's room for the girls and I and maybe even a friend. I will have to drive to their school once a week to coach Destination Imagination teams and volunteer at the library. On those days, Illl probably bring the girls home w/me. I could take the train, (and will this week), but it takes over an hour and I'll always have lots of stuff to haul with me.

Well, I narrowed it down to VW Golf's and a few other small hatchbacks, and we found a Golf in our price range last Saturday. We couldn't take it for a test drive, as they had no plates to put on it due to some car show, and we couldn't buy it, because someone had a reservation on it until Monday. In Germany, you can make a reservation to test drive a car and take it for several days when you do. Anyway, on Monday the dealer called and said the reservation was lifted and the car was mine. I took two trains and a bus to the dealership on Wednesday to fill out the paperwork - taking dh's & my passports, our registration documents, our visas, dh's paystub, our bank info. and a ton of other stuff w/me. I was hoping to take the test drive for however many days it was going to take to process everything and drive the car home that night. Still, however, they had no dealer plates, so it was back to the train station for me.

I got a call last night that the financing went through, so I have to go back on Monday - two trains and a bus again - to take the paperwork dh had to sign and his passport, which they'll keep overnight. Tuesday, they'll get the license plates, clean the car, inspect it and call me to come get it. Of course, I'm off on a day trip all day Tuesday with the American Women's Club, but I hope I'll get back before 6 p.m. (and can get someone to drop me in the general vicinity of the dealership) so I can drive the car home on Tuesday. Of course, then I'll need to go buy my navigation system - one that speaks English - or I'll never be able to drive any further than the mall or the school. :)

While looking at cars constantly these last 3 weeks, I noticed something fairly significant, in my eyes, anyway. Germans don't have bumper stickers. There are no window stickers, ribbon magnets, or any other propoganda for their political views, home businesses, kids honor roll status or college affiliations. They don't seem to feel compelled to drive around town in a moving billboard the way so many Americans do. I have a discreet little window sticker for my alma mater on my car back in the states, but I don't think I'll be adding one to my new little VW Golf. By the way, in German, VW is pronounced "fou-vay."

As for planes, well, this weekend we're flying to London for my birthday. We're taking Ryan Air, the relatively new, very low-cost airline. The downside is that carry-on luggage is very small (16 in x 13 in x 6 in) and we'll be charged for any checked luggage. We decided to check one bag, with everyone's toothpaste, dd#2's contact solution, and other toiletries. Since we're flying into London, we can't bring anything like that in our checked bag. Hopefully we won't have any trouble bringing on our Epi-Pens, since 2 of my dds and I have serious food allergies.

We're leaving at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, from a "Frankfurt" airport actually located in Hahn - 1 1/2 hours away. So, we'll be leaving the house at about 3 a.m.! We'll have one very long day of sightseeing, spend the night at Baden-Powell House, the hostel in central London owned and operated by the Boy Scouts & Girl Guides. And then, after our included breakfast on Sunday morning, we'll head out to London's Stansted airport - also a ways out of the city - and fly home about 12:30 p.m. So, it's mostly one long day and one night in London, but it'll be a fun day and a great way to celebrate my birthday.

One of the main reasons we decided to pick up our lives and our children and move from Illinois to Germany was the opportunity to travel Europe and see many different countries and cultures. Although we can't afford either the time or the money to do all the traveling we'd like to do, nor go on the posh scale the girls would like most, we're going to fit in as many little trips and inexpensive travels as possible. The fact that we can go to London for the weekend makes it definitely worth doing, at least once. :)