VNO-FRA-MEX

Staying at the Le Meridien Vilnius was a bit like staying at the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. There were only about 8 guests during our stay. Despite the eerie silence of the place, the rooms were huge, and the pool and spa were impressive.


I think I shared this wing with one other guest.

Alas, it was time to move on. Our exodus from the Baltics began with a surprisingly good lunch. We couldn’t decide if this restaurant was the Lithuanian version of Applebee’s or Cracker Barrel, but it worked.


Jeff shocked his system with a salad.


I honored Lithuanian tradition by having chicken that was both fried, AND bathed in a cream sauce.


Zepellins, the local gut-busting dumplings, officially sent us over the edge.

We thought we’d explore some more back roads of Vilnius, but quickly got turned around, and decided, with only four hours until our flight, we should stick closer to town. We stopped at Lukoil, the Russian gas monopoly and filled the rig. Our next task was dropping off our crumb-filled rental car at the airport.


Hopefully, they have a good power vac.

The Hertz “lot” (two cars) was a 15-second walk to the terminal, so we took this time to transfer some of our belongings into the cheap, new Lithuanian backpacks we bought at Maxima.


Once checked in, we headed to the business lounge and had our final Baltic beers.


The flight was operated by “Cirrus Airlines”, a tiny subsidiary of Lufthansa. The 100-seat aircraft, an Embraer 170, only had 16 passengers.


The service was quick and the food was pretty good, much better than on Lufthansa’s Frankfurt-Helsinki flight we’d taken a few weeks ago.

We also enjoyed watching the “Who can wear the most makeup?” contest the flight crew seemed to be running. A photo would have been rude, right?


Vilnius, from above.


Nuclear power, from above.

Landing in Frankfurt, The Sheraton Airport Hotel turned out to be an excellent choice for our layover. It’s located right inside the airport, and has a club lounge with free breakfast in the morning, (which saved us spending 34 euro at the hotel restaurant) and cocktails anytime! Our cameraman must have gotten pretty hammered.

Frankfurt has a new first class terminal, for its departing passengers. So after getting boarding passes and dropping luggage in the main terminal, we were whisked away in a van to the first class terminal, assigned a concierge, buzzed quickly through a private security check, and then it was swimming pools and movie stars. Well, actually food and showers and internet. Another big, beautiful lounge.


When it was time to board, they drove us to our airplane in a town car.


Ours was a Porsche Something or Other.


Fine, corinthian leather!


The rain made it extra dramatic.


The rain also delayed our flight for about an hour, but it's amazing what champagne and macadamia nuts can make you forget.

The flight attendant nervously warned us that the three of them working first class had never done so before, and hoped they would do a good job. But there were only 4 of us total in first, with 16 seats. So we were treated just fine. Before we knew it, it was time, once again, to strap on the feed bags.


One of many appetizers, a cheese cannoloni.


Jeff had guinea fowl. (Wait, aren't they endangered???)


I had a filet.


Then a nap.


And later, ribs. On a plane. Ribs on a plane. Good ribs, too.

Just 12 1/2 hours later, we landed in Mexico City, whose population is many times greater than the population of all the Baltic countries put together. Que loco!