AirBerlin

Prior to this trip, I was pretty neutral on the American airline industry.  Yeah, it sucks you have to pay for all this extra stuff.  Tickets are expensive, but not terribly so.  To me, it just was what it was.  Now that I've flown on an international airline, I can say without any doubt at all that the American airline industry is miserable.  Ages ago, I purchased my ticket to Zurich, Switzerland on AirBerlin.  I chose it based on price (cheap!!!!) and that was it.  I wasn't really expecting much besides a trip over the water.  When I boarded the plane and made it to my seat, there was a little pillow, soft blanket, and a little goodie bag waiting for me.  In Economy!  In the bag was a sleeping mask, ear plugs, socks, and a tiny toothpaste and toothbrush.  There was a tv screen on the back of the seat in front of me.  We took off and the screen turned on.  All of these movie options!  And TV choices!   For free!   I watched "My Week With Marilyn" and then a ton of "Grey's Anatomy".  So that was awesome, because I can never seem to sleep on a plane.  Let's talk about the food for a moment.  Dinner was a plate of pasta, cabbage salad, bread with a triangle of spreadable cheese, and raspberry cheesecake.  Breakfast was a muffin, bowl of yogurt, cheese slices, a pickle (?????), and a cute little cup of coffee.  All of it was pretty tasty, and bonus points for having vegetarian options.  I've heard that AirBerlin is a discount international airline, but my goodness, it was pretty great.  Thumbs up to AirBerlin!!!  So now I'm just hanging out in the Dusseldorf, Germany airport, waiting for my flight to Zurich.  It's strange to be the one who doesn't know the language now.  Don't worry!, I figured out that"toiletten" means restroom.