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Happy Halloween! I just landed in the least scary place — the great state of Hawaii. To get here, I traveled almost halfway around the world. I flew from Germany to England on Germanwings, London to Los Angeles on MAXjet, then L.A. to Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines. Phew! If you're up for some stories about my travels then sit back and enjoy this week's story. If hours of globetrotting until I finally descend upon Hawaii for a few days just ain't your thing, you may want to join my sister Georgie Jet on her travels. She will be continuing her exploration of Belgium, this week in the wonderful Wallonia countryside.

GERMANWINGS
My journey began with an early morning, 5:40am taxi pick-up from the Cologne Marriott. The Autobahn was surprisingly crowded at that hour but that didn't stop my crazy driver from putting the pedal to the metal and hitting a speed of 170 km per hour (105mph). We made it to the airport in just 12 minutes. I was flying Germanwings, one of Germany's low-fare carriers. Germanwings flies 24 new airbus aircrafts (A319/A320) to over 50 European destinations from Germany. As with all low-fare carriers, in order to secure the best deals, it's best to buy tickets as far in advance as possible or jump immediately on sale fares. You can sign up for email alerts to be notified. That's what I did when I scheduled one of Germanwings' three flights from Cologne into London-Stansted (STN) airport just 30 miles north of central London. Stansted is very popular with low-fare carriers because the landing fees are much cheaper than those at the major airports.

STRICT BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE
Germanwings has check-in counters for each destination. Only one person was in front of me in line and the agents moved quickly, especially considering the strict luggage rules. Most low-fare carriers tend to be ultra-stern about baggage allowance. Each Germanwings passenger (except those under two years old) can check baggage up to a combined weight of 20kg or 44lbs. If your luggage weight is over, be prepared to pay 7 euro ($10) per kilogram (2.2lbs), up to a maximum of 50kg (110lbs). For more information, visit GermanWings.com.

NO RESERVATION
The agent I was dealing with was very friendly but said she couldn't find the reservation that I had made online two weeks prior, paying 80 euro for my ticket. She directed me to the customer service counter where they had me boot up my computer so I could show them the email confirmation I had neglected to print. Turns out, stupid me doesn't understand enough German to know that my reservation had not, in fact, been completed but rather, had been put on hold due to a problem with my credit card. (Maybe I should take my own advice and sign up for language classes through FluencyNow.com!) Anyhow, I shrugged in disbelief but I knew I was screwed. It was my own fault; I should have followed up, or at the very least ... booked my ticket on the English site. Luckily, there were still seats available and when I asked how much a one-way ticket was going to set me back, I held my breath. I got lucky. Just 150 euro. Close call.

COLOGNE AIRPORT
The Köln-Bonn (CGN) airport is very chic. Everything is modern and it offers up plenty of options for shopping and eating. The security line was quite long, but took just 12 minutes to conquer. The screening process requires passengers to put everything into containers for examination, including passports and tickets. The agent working the X-ray screen must have had a late night because he was seriously falling asleep. Not very comforting ... so I ratted his German arse out and he was removed.



BOARDING
I sped through passport control and waited at the gate for the shuttle bus to the plane. The boarding process for Germanwings flights is similar to that of Southwest Airlines; neither assigns seats. The earlier you check in (beginning two hours ahead of departure), the sooner you can board to get the seat you want. Since they board using two doors of the airplane and have a one-bag carry-on rule, they can load the plane in record time. Flight time was only an hour, so I didn't need to purchase any of the on-board food or drink. They charge for everything, including water. I scored an empty row and was able to nap for a good portion of the flight. Stared out the window for the rest.

STANSTED AIRPORT
It was a good thing my Germanwings flight was on time because my MAXjet flight was scheduled to depart less than two hours after my arrival. Due to the fact that Germanwings doesn't have any interline agreements (an agreement whereby passengers can check their bags all the way to their final destination), I needed to go through passport control at Stansted, grab my checked luggage, then check-in for my MAXjet flight. Despite all of that, the good news is that I cleared customs in one minute (no line) and baggage appeared five minutes later.

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