I began writing from the gate in the Frankfurt Airport where I would catch the rebooked flight to Dubrovnik, the last leg of my three trips from Los Angeles, where I left Thursday morning at 8:30AM. Smooth as clockwork from LA to Montreal, and from Montreal to Frankfurt, Germany. Both were really big planes, with hugely diverse families traveling. I met some nice folks in the lounge before boarding, Yuki, a young IT worker who also coaches middle school kids in soccer. He was going to Frankfurt for the weekend to see one of the Euro 2024 football games. We got separated on the jetway while boarding, but he gave it the good college try when we tried to install my eSim card.
The transfer from Frankfurt to Dubrovnik would seem to be easily doable at slightly more than two hours connection time. Then I got off the plane. Frankfurt has to be one of the least modernized, least tourist-friendly travel hubs I’ve been to. The signs were so confusing about even where the baggage claim was that my seat partner had to ask me for help. I pointed her in the right direction and followed the “connections” arrow to find a directory of gates. I found the directory, but at 8:20AM, they were not yet listing anything past 9:30. I scoured the surrounding area for a bathroom, and a charging station to rev up my dying phone. I finally decided that I would sit right by the departure listing so that I could jump up as soon as the Dubrovnik connection came up. Which it did not at 9:00AM, but at 9:26. I was in Terminal B and the connecting flight was in A; I hoofed it down to the sign pointing to A/Z and saw a serpentine body of hundreds of unhappy humans waiting to make their way to A/Z. I joined the line, and patiently waited. The line streamed to the top of stairs where there was someone holding folks back at the top. After making it past him I realized why. At the bottom of the stairs was another theme-park-like waiting line to board a bus to the A terminal. Fortunately I made it on that bus (I think I was the last one he let through before closing); The bus wound around the dingy airport and finally arrived at the A terminal. Among the folks on the bus were about 10 Scotsmen in their kilts making their way to the EuroCup games somewhere. They ran past the rest of us up another flight of stairs to the documentation line. Now it was 10:00AM and I was about 40th in line. My right shoulder was inflamed from carrying my Mary Poppins bag – it really does look like her bag, the bottom of it completely full of SM supplies like glo tape and sharpies, bandaids and alcohol wipes. I got to the head of that line and presented my passport to the customs control agent who asked me if I was there vacationing. Yes, I said, because honestly, what’s not a vacation about this gig? I went on and realized I was at the throat of terminal A and my gate was in the tail. I walked (this girl doesn’t run anymore, sadly) really quickly and before going down the lane to Gate A26, I checked the board to make sure it was still there. I had 8 minutes left before the flight was scheduled to leave.
I pulled up at the counter sweating profusely and the gate attendant began to try to scan my boarding pass. To make a long story short (too late, my Dad would always say to his lovely second wife, Joan), I was not getting on that flight even though there were 5 minutes until it left. Pulling up right behind me were a lovely couple from Glasgow who were trying to get to Dubrovnik and couldn’t either. It was all the fault of the poor organization of the airport. The three of us went to find the Lufthansa service desk and they successfully rebooked tickets on the 4:20 flight – a mere six hours hence. I must not have said the right words, or the agent didn’t like my United/Canada Air/Lufthansa/Croatian Airlines ticket and told me I had to call United. With my nearly dead phone. I wandered away from the counter tears beginning to sting in my eyes. At this point, it was 3:00AM in LA, and my day had started 24 hours earlier when I left my apartment.
By this point, I was having Florida flashbacks but went and opened my laptop to try to book a ticket directly with Croatian Air. I figured I’d fight it out later with the United folks or Canada Air or Lufthansa people – I successfully booked a ticket on the 4:20 flight and then went foraging for food.
The Frankfurt airport seems to have one thing right – there are smoking lounges all over the airport and they are full. Some people’s needs are being met. I found another red-coated airport employee who looked up my gate number on his phone and sent me BACK to Terminal B. But this time, there was no bus, and it seemed very close to where I needed to go. I charged my phone for 20 minutes or so in Gate B3, then walked to a sandwich and beer counter where I bought a caprese sandwich and a strong capuccino. As I was in line, I saw the lovely couple from Glasgow but didn’t want to interrupt so I went to eat at another table. After I was finished, I found them and asked them how their luck and been and ended up sitting down with them for the next close to 2 hours. We had a lovely time getting to know each other and talking about life philosophies. They were on their way to Dubrovnik to celebrate her birthday and he was surprising her with the trip. Lovely getting to talk with them. We finally boarded the plane in good spirits at about 3:45 and arrived in Dubrovnik by 6:10PM.
My suitcase was not as lucky and didn’t make it to Dubrovnik. I think she must have stayed in the lounge.
Took the cab to the Air BnB immediately outside the walls of the old city, where I was greeted by Erika the star of the production, and my roommate and one of the stage magicians, Jay. Happy to be there, I barely noticed the the stairs. It was lovely to be greeted, and the view from the terrace was extraordinary. I was ridiculously jet lagged and visibly so.
Since I had nothing to change into, we all walked down into the city to a delicious sushi restaurant just inside one of the two gates to the walled city. There, I met Ivan, the director and producer for the first time, as well as Irfan, the video technician. We had a lovely dinner, and soon called it a day so Jay and I walked back up the hill. I was out within minutes of lying down.
Our first rehearsal began with coffee in the cafe adjacent to the theatre. Our merry group is below, where I met Paul, the LD, and Yiannis, the Sound Designer, and Kestrel, the other stage magician. We were very happy to meet there, and soon retreated to the blackbox space upstairs above the stage area of the KMD theatre where we will be performing.
Load in went well, and we are moving into tech in the coming days. This project is very exciting. To see more about Lulu XX in Dubrovnik, you can follow KMD_Dubrovnik on Insta.
lifeinthethe8tre 