Seattle to Frankfurt

I ended up taking the whole day off of work, my flight was at 6 pm, and I'd thought I could work a half day.  Spent the morning running errands and cleaning house.  I'd scheduled what I thought was a shuttle pick-up, so I'd get to the airport on time (having found in the past, the shuttle service is better about calculating how much time I really need than I am).  It seemed a bit more expensive than I remember having paid in the past, but it turns out that I accidently booked a towncar instead of a shuttle.  The other passengers were dressed much nicer than I, I was dressed for backpacking.

At the airport I spent 20 minutes or so trying to get my walking poles jammed into my pack, one of them was missing it's rubber tip, and I was afraid it wouldn't make it through the check-in.  I ended up putting a package of tissue over it to keep it from jabbing anything.  Put my back in a duffle bag, and got in line to check in.

I was carrying cheese and fruit, and sat to eat it before going through security.  My gate was at the end of a different terminal, there were a few eateries and nowhere else to sit, so I ate again while I waited.  I chose a fish place and ordered clam chowder, all the while remembering a story I'd just been told by a friend who'd eaten bad oysters in the airport, and spent their entire flight to New York in the toilet.  This wasn't raw oysters at any rate.

This was a big plane, full flight, going to Frankfurt, I sat on the floor for a little while, but then it got too crowded.  People were backed up past the bathrooms, standing.  The flight didn't board until fifteen minutes before scheduled take-off.  I have no memory of the flight itself, except I think I had the middle seat.

Last time I flew through Frankfurt I lost my bankcards, that sat in my mind, and I hoped history wouldn't repeat itself.  Also, I'd been feeling bad for a couple of weeks, went to the doctor a week prior to make sure it wasn't anything serious.  Off-hand the doctor had mentioned my urine was a bit acidic, but didn't call it or treat it as a bladder infection.  I'd been following her instructions, but I definitely wasn't feeling better.  By the time I arrived in Frankfurt, I was quite miserable.   I had a four-hour layover, I'd land in Barcelona after 7 pm, even if I knew where to go and what to ask, how was I going to find it, and would anything be open?  I had to do something though, I was going to be travelling for 25 days, I didn't want to feel this bad the whole time.

Walking toward my general gate area, and pondering all this, I suddenly saw a pharmacy in front of me.  In the airport.  I passed by, and then turned back and went in.  A friend of mine has bladder infections a lot, and has told me the thing that works is something called D-mannose (a type of sugar, I think).  I haven't had a bladder infection since  was a little kid, but it was worth a shot.  The first person I asked directed me to a pharmacist that spoke English.  I can't remember what exactly I asked for, but they handed me a box of 14 sachets.  (I think it was called "feminose?")  You take 3/day for the first three days, then 2/day.  I bought a bottle of water and a sandwich at a cafe, poured a packet in, and drank it down.  It's pink.  It tastes like stevia.  (And it works, five days later I'm pain free.)

August 20 and 21, 2019.