Frankfurt Airport

The end of our holiday today - we checked out of the hotel, got a taxi to the airport, found our plane, boarded and then sat on the Tarmac for an hour. The pilot apologised, saying they had been late arriving at Florence in the first place, due to traffic(!) and this had delayed their return flight.

When all was set to continue, the air steward appeared on the tannoy and asked for "Herr Dannen" to come forward. A few minutes later, the captain came back over the tannoy. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have terrible news. A passenger checked in a bag but has not turned up at the gate. We must remove his bag from the hold and this will take no more than ten minutes. I'm very sorry."

Millie - God bless her - said, "Oh that's nice, that they don't want him separated from his luggage! What a nice airline!" I stared at her for some minutes before explaining that it might be a terror plot. Her innocence and trusting nature is what makes her such a good friend for a cynic like me.

Then, once the bag was out, the captain got back on the tannoy and promised we would leave as soon as there was a gap in the traffic. We left an hour late and flew off over the Rhineland.

Halfway to Frankfurt, the captain came back on the tannoy and announced they had lost the "data link communication" and were unable to give us any flight data. Millie, now terrified by my explanations earlier, immediately assumed that meant the pilots had lost touch with air traffic control and were simply 'giving it their best shot' with a map and a CB radio.........

When we landed at Frankfurt, the captain explained further: the information about connecting flights had not reached them, so several ground staff would be waiting to greet the plane and tell people where they needed to go quickly. Millie's face melted with relief!!!

This aeroplanes carried us on the second part of our journey - it had no passenger problems, no communication issues, no potential terrorists and a nice smooth flight all the way back to London. Millie's only complaint was the meat in the sandwiches on board!!

At least she kept my mind off the actual flying!!! Sad to have left Italy but glad to be home. What a lovely week it's been!