Frankfurt airport trek

My wife and I, both experienced world travelers, transferred through the Frankfurt, Germany, airport en route from Los Angeles to Lithuania and back in July ’08. We found landing at Terminal 1 and transferring to Terminal 2 (and vice versa) extremely difficult to accomplish.

There was construction going on in much of the area, and though my wife speaks German and could read all the signs (some of which were in English), they were confusing and not adequate. In addition, the distance between terminals was enormous.

On our way to Lithuania, the six in our family group took the train between the terminals in Frankfurt but did not know whether to get off at stop A, B or C. We tried A and it turned out to be the correct one and we found our way. There were stairs to go up and down as well, and we had to go through another (very strict) security check.

By the time we reached our gate, almost an hour had passed. Anyone encumbered with small children or with a walking disability might want to allow more time.

We also discovered that there are probably better places in the world than Frankfurt airport to exchange dollars for euros. In need of the latter for miscellaneous food purchases while there, I exchanged $50 at a kiosk. What a shock I had when I received only €23.87 in exchange!

In addition to a most unfavorable exchange rate of l.6994 dollars to one euro, a service charge of €2.21 plus a €4.90 “handling fee” were subtracted from our total. Traveler, beware.

DON TREMBLAY

Santa Monica, CA