My trip to New Zealand had been in the works for many months. My good friend Gary, whose wedding I attended in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in January, 2025, had invited several of his friends to accompany him and his new bride Sarah on their one year anniversary trip.
I quickly accepted the invitation. Others had tentatively agreed to go, but as the trip approached, it turned out to it was just going to be the three of us.
As luck and geography would have it, Malta is located about 11,000 air miles from New Zealand or almost exactly halfway around the world. Whether traveling east or west, the trip was going to take at least 24 hours in the air, plus layovers – by far, the longest trip I have ever taken.
Because Gary and Sarah live in Chicago and work for United Airlines, they naturally were flying the “Friendly Skies”. So, I decided I would fly to Frankfurt, Germany and spend a couple nights before the 11 and a half hour flight to San Francisco where I would meet up with them before boarding the next flight to Christchurch, New Zealand.
Day 1 – Friday, January 16
Now when I travel, I will often look at the InterNations website (the networking organization for ex-pats that I’ve mentioned in previous posts) to see if there are any events that I can attend while I’m in town.
Sure enough, the Frankfurt chapter was having a networking event (drinks and snacks) at a Holiday Inn near the main train station. The hotel looked nice enough and was reasonably priced, so I booked it.
My flight arrived late afternoon and by the time I reached the train station, it was dark. I mapped the walk to the hotel which was about 15 minutes away and quickly found myself walking through a very seedy neighborhood with a lot of what appeared to be homeless and/or drug-addicted people milling around the sidewalks. Turns out my hotel was located just a block away from the red light district and the area around the train station is known to be an area best avoided by tourists after dark.
I arrived unharmed and attended the event where I enjoyed interesting conversations with ex-pats from Italy, Poland, Egypt, Tajikistan, and Iran, among other places.
Day 2 – Saturday, January 17
Today I headed out into the cold for some sightseeing after a very nice breakfast buffet in the hotel. I walked a good distance before spending time in the Frankfurt Cathedral to warm up a bit. After that, I walked to the river and took a boat ride. Thirty minutes downstream, turn around and head upstream. Saw a few skyscrapers. Yawn.
In the afternoon, I attended another InterNations event – a photo exhibition. I made my way back to the hotel – the public transportation in Frankfurt is excellent. Dinner was at a Lebanese restaurant where I had chicken shawarma. Lecker! (that’s German for delicious).
Day 2 – Sunday, January 18
To avoid a 20 minute walk in freezing weather through the crappy neighborhood near the train station to catch the S-Bahn to the airport, I opted for a taxi (49 EUR or about $58 US). I arrived 3 hours early only to find out after clearing security that the lounge I had hope to visit was in another terminal and would require exiting, going through security in the other terminal, then a second trip through security in this terminal. Not worth it. I’ll pay for my cappuccino this morning.
The long flight to San Francisco was uneventful with a catnap or two of maybe 30 minutes. About halfway through my nine hour layover there, Gary and Sarah arrived. By the time I boarded the flight to Christchurch about 10 p.m. local time, I had been up about 30 hours. Traveling is great; travel not so much.
Leave a Reply