Hello Trechslinghausen

Well, here I am in Trechlingshausen (smallest)  just outside of Bingen (smaller) which is just outside of Mainz (sort of small).  Unlike the pension in which I stayed over the weekend this is not in someone’s house. This is a real - but very small – hotel. I chose it because it was on the Rhine, seemed quaint AND it advertised that it had Wifi… and it does … sort of.

Here is a photo of my room...

 

Last night I could not get online, so I went to the restaurant and asked for help. I met a nice Australian couple there who had also had problems. But they were able to solve them and had fairly good reception while sitting in the restaurant, but not in their room. The woman ‘played’ with my laptop for a bit of time trying to get access, but she could not. She had an IPAD, so perhaps there was a bit of a difference in the system, since I had Microsoft. At any rate, the couple told me they had travelled through Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and did not have any wifi problems until they got to Germany.  Here reception was quite ‘iffy’. They had not tried the McDonalds or Starbucks hot spots, just the local ones. While sitting in the restaurant, I tried to get online using my mobile stick,  it worked. Then upon returning to my room, I found that by placing my laptop on the windowsill, I could get online .. but everything was very slow… I have to find a better solution.

Also had an interesting discussion with the couple about America... When you come to Europe  be prepared to explain, defend, and/ or comment on every detail there is about the USA, our:  foreign poilcy, politics, religion, culture, current events, people, etc.  You name it someone will ask you about it!!!  Things you never even thought about (or heard of), other (non-American) travellers will insist are absolutely true (i.e. Americans sell their houses fully furnished, Hawaii toast is one of our favorite foods, etc.). Sometimes it is a daunting task to keep up with all of the information, but all-in-all, it has made me a much better American... not only because I have to be much more well-informed, but also because those questions and comments  force me to think about, understand and offer an informed opinion on (or defense of) what is going on in my country.