Who would have thought that a volcano can bring out the best and the worst in administrative and corporate Europe? Well, I guess everybody. Politicians fumbling around for an entire week “just following EU law,” airlines suffering a complete communication meltdown… Dear Lufthansa: there is this fancy tool called email; and, yes, you can even send an email to a “group,” which is perfect to update your passengers on basic things, such as what you intend to do once air traffic resumes. To this day, I have not heard a peep.
But one sight in Paris restored my belief in the human race. There were no rental cars from any of the usual suspects — except one. Apparently Sixt’s war room was in full swing, and they decided to collect all the cars they had from the provinces, then send them into the city by truck. I picked mine just off one of those trucks, and was on my way to Berlin within an hour. Watching the daring driver swiftly maneuver the giant truck through the small streets near the Sixt office at Gare de l’Est warmed my heart.