jonathan.beckett@gmail.com

Flights Booked

Cutting a long and boring story very short indeed, this morning I have booked plane tickets and a hotel reservation to travel to Frankfurt in Germany with work. I’ll be there for the best part of a week.

There’s only one problem – I can’t read, write, or speak German.

One of my co-workers has made the same journey recently, and assures me that I will not need any German to survive on this particular trip – the company I am visiting speak English, and use it as their “official” language. Apparently the taxi drivers, airport, hotel and restaurant staff all speak wonderful English too.

I almost feel ashamed.

I never did German at school – you had to be good enough at French (which was a compulsory subject) to even have the option of learning German. My German has never extended any further than the few shouted commands you might hear in movies. I don’t expect an impersonation of a U-Boat dive klaxon will get me very far in conversation either.

Let’s hope I’ll be afforded enough time during the evenings of my stay to explore Frankfurt a little. I wonder if I should forgo a guide-book, and try to find out if there are any bloggers in Frankfurt interested in spending the night shouting very slow words at a bemused and befuddled Englishman ?