Epic European Cycle : 2015-06-12 : Metro Chores Day in Frankfurt

Buy backpacks, do laundry, mail stuff out.

Tip
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Notes Actions
Reminder To Do List Confirm My Place Storage
Wash Bikes
Waschsalon
Buy backpacks
Mail stuff out
Scout route from airport to train station
Leave Bikes in Storage
$0.00
Service
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Notes Actions
Storage Bike Storage MyPlace in Frankfurt. See e-mail in docs. $0.00
Accommodation
Type Name Service Provider Confirmation Location Cost Notes Actions
Bed and Breakfast Jessica Tyerman Air BnB Frankfurt $175.00 2 nights. $87.50/night
Fantastic property - very comfortable and spacious. Jessica is a fantastic host. I would definitely stay here again and would definitely recommend.


Trip Log

Notes Actions
I just got some messages from Ian regarding Ryan Air to alert us that Ryan doesn't fly out of Frankfurt airport. They fly out of Frankfurt Hahn, which I didn't know was a separate thing. Frankfurt Hahn is over 100km away from Frankfurt! OMFG! We've booked a train with The Train Line to get us there. It will be an early early morning....
Our first stop this morning was the main train station in Frankfurt. We wanted to go to the Tourist Info office there, and also scout out where we'll go to catch our train early on Sunday morning. We wandered around and around, looking and contemplating. We didn't see any information about trains going to Frankfurt Hahn airport. The Tourist Info office was closed briefly when we got there, and when it opened, we went and asked the lady about it. She said it's not a train - it's a bus, and handed us a sheet of paper for where to catch it. Ian was right again... bus, not train. I'm so glad we looked into it today! 5AM on Sunday when you have a "train" to catch is NOT the time to be figuring out that you've missed the "bus" you were booked on.
After sorting out our Sunday morning bus, we did a laundry at the nearby Waschsalon, had some Curry Wurst mit bier, then went in search of backpacks. The Tourist Info lady had suggested a couple of places to look, and where we ended up was at an enormous department store called Galleria. Brent and I contemplated the backpacks on offer, and decided on a couple of 35L + 8L ones. What on earth was I thinking? I don't have compression sacks along for my sleeping bag, nor my clothing. 35L? Where did I think I was going to put everything!? The Galleria turned out to be on the same subway line as where we're staying, so we had a quick ride back to "our place" where we tried to figure out how to make our woefully inadequate backpacks work to carry everything we want to take to the UK. Backpacks (and camping) weren't even part of our original plan for the UK, but now that we've decided on it, we want to be able to do it. I was pretty done already at that point and ready to pack it in, but Brent suggested at least going back to Galleria and trying to exchange the packs. We had discarded the price tags off of them, but there was a spare one stuffed in one, plus we had my credit card receipt. So, back down the U-6 we went to Galleria. Exchanging the packs turned out to be amazingly painless... no questions asked... badda bing. We traded the 35L ones in for 65L ones. If those don't work, well... we probably shouldn't be traveling.


Photos