Thanks … was just looking at AirBnB for places near airport. No email yet … 

Pedalpushinllka at me dot com

Hi Larry,

My wife and I have started/ended our trips in Frankfurt airport several times.   It is very doable to assemble your bike at the airport and just head off.  There is a bike path about 50 metres away from Terminal 1, but it is a bit awkward to find and get to.  Essentially walk straight out of the terminal and continue in the same direction, (north) which means finding your way around buildings in your way and crossing a busy-ish road to get to it.  Parts of the path are visible on the north side of Airportring (i.e. Airport Ring.  Germans just love to put words together to make new words), but unfortunately not in the area of Terminal 1.  

Once you get to the bike path, turn left and ride to Morfelden Street, ride on the bike path beside Morfelden Street to Kelsterbach, ride along the western edge of Kelsterbach until you reach the Main River, turn left and ride downstream until you reach a dam where you can cross the river.  Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, this requires you to haul your trike up some stairs.  Once you cross the river you can ride the Main Radweg to Mainz, then head down the Rhine to Amsterdam.  If you don't want to haul your bike up some stairs I expect you can continue further down the river until you reach a bridge.  This route is shown on Google Maps, but I have learned not to put a lot of faith in Google Maps' cycling directions.

As I mentioned in a forum I started a few weeks ago, a problem with the whole assemble and ride is getting a box for your return trip, if you fly home via FRA.  Boxes are sold at the airport, but they are pretty flimsy, and certainly not of the dimensions you mentioned.

Hi Kelly,

I thought I would post a bit of feedback to your comments with regards to Booking.com.

I agree with everything you posted, and the lack of language barrier is definitely a treat.  When looking at cancellation policy, it is really important to look at the fine print.  Often the hotel will list 'free cancellation', then in fine print it will say 'before (a certain date) which can be a few days before your scheduled arrival, leaving you stuck if you need to cancel after that date.  I have even seen the 'free cancellation' in big letters when I am looking for a hotel after the deadline is passed. (i.e. when looking for a room for tomorrow night)

What I do now is use Booking.com to choose a hotel, then look for it on Google Maps.  When you touch the hotel's icon on GM, then touch availability, it gives you the ability to input the dates of your stay.  It then lists all the booking platforms that offer the hotel, and the price on each platform.  Booking.com is often the cheapest, but not always.  One of the options that can come up is the hotel's own website, if it offers online booking, and it can definitely be cheaper than Booking.com.  Alternately, it might offer other perks like a more forgiving cancellation date or breakfast.  (The breakfast lesson I learned the hard way.)

Hi Larry,

First time to Europe? In planning your route and determing how long to stay, the most important is knowing the Schengen rules