Germany Tour #43 Report

15 November 2017

For those of you who were unable to attend the Institute’s 43rd Biological Medicine Tour to Germany, here are some of the highlights of this exceptional program. In light of the lower number but highest caliber of elite practitioner participants, there are numerous changes in format, presentation, accommodation and program planned for future tour programs.

Planning and speaker invitations for 2017 have already begun and the excitement is building already. Watch for announcements of details, speakers and pricing in “The Bridge” newsletter and on our website. The following report taken from the infamous “final letter” for all participants will “whet your appetite” and we will look forward to meeting you in Frankfurt, Germany next Halloween Eve.

s/Carolyn

A big hello. . .

. . . to those of you joining us in Frankfurt, Germany, on Wednesday, October 26th. Here is the letter we write to those who have paid their tour balance. I do hope you now have your plane tickets and a valid passport (and any necessary visas) on hand. Please double check your passport to make sure it is valid well beyond your return flight date, and do not forget to bring your passport and plane tickets with you to the airport.

Over past years this “final before-the-tour-begins letter” has grown to 30+ pages and during the 42nd tour program I was mercilessly teased by “first-” and “many-timers” alike about the too long and too detailed information. And I must admit that this letter has developed from the letters used during the past 42 tours, so it has definitely become quite unwieldy. This year, I have revamped the whole thing and will add much of the detail and “first-timer” info at the end. That way all of you can scan and easily find all the pertinent information regarding the itinerary with specific comments and introductions to the speakers. Here then is the basic information on where and when to meet us in Frankfurt along with a schedule of events and activities with my usual introductions and comments about the various speakers and presenters. Then, added at the end will be the many hints, tips and FYI details for easier access when needed for reference.

This year after much hoopla and excitement we have returned to a medium sized but very elite group of professional practitioners for our 43rd Tour program. There will be a grand total of fourteen (14) of us altogether going on this Tour, including myself (Carolyn Winsor) and Marguerite Lane as your hosts along with several other five OIRF Board of Director and Advisor members!. These director/advisors are joined by several other OIRF Advisors as well as colleagues from other teaching organizations. This is a truly exceptional group of participating professionals and I am looking forward to meeting and visiting with each of you. Countries represented are Australia, Canada, Philippines and the United States. Six of you are “first-timers”!

We were pleased and surprised by the many advance registrations, and want you to know that we appreciate being able to finalize our reservations and arrangements right at the deadline date. Because this is a smaller group than we had initially anticipated (and compared to some previous tours with 30-50 or more participants) you will have an excellent opportunity for one-on-one interaction with OIRF advisors and other participants. In light of the high level of participants and the way this educational program has come together I am convinced this will be one of our “best tours ever”. You will definitely not get lonely and you will not go hungry or thirsty!

Information about where we met in Germany was included at this point.
Our arrival and departure hotel is very close to the airport, has a free shuttle, has lots of English speaking, friendly and efficient staff and has a very nice restaurant (and bar).
Most of Participants arrived on Wednesday the 26th. Their room at this hotel for Wednesday night (26th) was covered in the price of the tour, and they will have your name on the “Occidental Institute Group Rooming List”.

REGARDING THE TOUR ITINERARY & PROGRAM: I will outline the schedule of activities and presentations that were given in our six-page printed tour brochure,. I will not be repeating that information here and request that you review the following in conjunction with it. There have been a few scheduling changes as we approached the deadline, and the program should unfold as outlined here (barring circumstances completely beyond our control – like traffic jams on the autobahn!).

WEDNESDAY (October 26th):  I (Carolyn along with accompanying directors) should be back at the “Mercure Hotel Frankfurt Airport” in Kelsterbach today during the late afternoon to look after any registration or other problems you may have had and to greet you. If I am not in my room, you will likely find me in the hotel’s restaurant or bar. By this time, I will have made the entire route of the tour to check restaurants, hotels, travel times and all the other myriad large and miniscule details to ensure everything is in place and ready for your arrival.

Try to catch us that evening, so we know you have arrived safely and can advise you of any important last minute changes. If you are too tired to stay up to meet us, leave a note for my room at the front desk – see you in the morning.

The “final briefing” usually simply involves a reiteration of the bold emphasized info in the next few paragraphs. With this warning I do want to suggest that you get a good night’s sleep (jetlag allowing!). To take advantage of our Frankfurt arrival location and the Medicine Week speakers, the 43rd tour week schedule is very busy. It eases off a bit later in the week, but whatever your personal cure for jetlag is – do it! As you will see we have a full day of lectures tomorrow as well as our travel down to the Baden-Baden area. We have lectures and important speakers every single day – even the three full days scheduled to take in the exciting lectures, activities and exhibits at the famous Medicine Week Congress in Baden-Baden.

THURSDAY (October 27th):  Have a great breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant [included in the tour price]. We must then check out of our rooms in preparation for departure to the Baden-Baden area on our private motor coach.

Once you have finished breakfast this morning, you must manhandle your own luggage out to the bus pickup area (there are no bellmen or hotel staff to help you!]. Our modern motor coach will be there waiting for us and we must leave promptly by 08:30 hours [8:30 AM] – in this case the earlier the better since we will be starting out at the end of the Frankfurt morning rush hour!

Our deluxe motor coach will take us southward by autobahn (freeway) to the Baden-Baden area, where we stay for five nights. During this ±2 hour bus ride (depending on traffic) I will be handing out the Medicine Week program books and will try to give you a short orientation talk about the layout of the Congress Hall and some tips about the exhibit stands. With additional tips, hints and suggestions from other attending OIRF directors and advisors you should be ready to attack the many exhibits and stands at this amazing conference.

There will hopefully be ample time in the evenings for myself and any of the “many-timers” to answer your questions concerning integration of Biological Medicine into your practice as well as opportunities for you to ask questions (hopefully we can stay awake with the jetlag).

Policy Statement: Today, and over the next few days, we will hear presentations from several different instrumentation companies. Because this immediately drops you into the realm of devices and instrumentation I want to be clear about our purpose and policy with these types of presentations. Yes, of course we want you to purchase every single device (only a little sarcasm there). As a non-profit research organization, the Institute looks to the sales of devices as our main fund raising activity and source of income. However, all instrumentation sessions are intended to present practical, non-theoretical ‘workshops’ on the use and application of the various devices since many of you already have devices, or are here to see the broad range of possibilities (especially at Med-Week). Our goal is that you will not be pressured into purchases in any way. In the realm of instrumentation we are here to show you what is available and then to advise you and work with you to find the device(s) that will work best in your practice with your patients. In other words you do not have to purchase anything – but, if you do please understand that you will receive a small discount by mentioning the Institute, and OIRF will receive a small donation to support our continuing work and research.

After lunch (and check in) we head down to our very nice meeting room in this wonderful “Wellness Hotel” for the first of two exclusive (required attendance) English language sessions. This will be a special presentation sponsored by the ONDAMED Company (Germany/USA/Canada). This company is not exhibiting at the Medicine Week Congress.

I am very pleased to once again introduce Silvia Binder, ND PhD who will give us a presentation about the application and effectiveness of the ONDAMED device. Dr. Binder was added to our elite OIRF Board of Advisors last year and her annual articles now regularly appear in “The Bridge” newsletter. Dr. Binder is the president of ONDAMED (Germany and USA) and the founder of the Binder Institute for Personalized Medicine. Her stated goal is to identify the roots of medical conditions and use a non-invasive treatment approach. Dr. Binder is a dynamic speaker and will talk to us about “The Domino Effect of Unresolved Emotional Issues”. Note that ONDAMED is registered in the USA and Canada, is supported by some excellent studies and is listed as “a specific Electro-Magnetic Field Biofeedback device combined with the patient’s own pulse biofeedback”. Rolf Binder, the developer of Ondamed will likely join us for this session and be able to answer all technical questions. Maybe we can even get a jetlag treatment?? If you decide to purchase, please order directly through Ondamed mentioning OIRF.

After a short break, our second exclusive (required attendance) English language lecture will take place in this same meeting room at our hotel. At this time it is my honor and great pleasure to introduce Prof. Dr. Ivan Engler. Dr. Engler (MD, PhD, HP) will be traveling by train into Baden-Baden this afternoon and will arrive here with his colleague Mr. Rolf Müller of Pulsamed Medizin-Technik as early as possible. You can see Pulsamed at Med-Week at stand 2.OG-21, 77A [we’ll tell you how to find this during our Med-Week orientation].

The CV for this kind and amazing man is pages long and outlines a career that began in a medical hospital in Slovakia in 1955 where he was already researching tuberculosis. After fleeing to Austria as a political refugee, he continued medical work with the Austrian military and veterans, followed by extensive research and study in natural healing in Germany, China, Taiwan and India. He is still – at this grand “old” age – in private practice in Salzburg Austria specializing in oxygen therapies. He speaks multiple languages, has been a professor in numerous universities and his list of awards includes the UNO Medal for Peace, a collective Nobel Peace Prize and has written and published books, articles and studies on Inhaled Ionized Oxygen according to Engler. Dr. Engler and Mr. Müller will introduce a new device for Inhaled Ionized Oxygen which works with either “bottled” oxygen or a concentrator (will replace the older Austrian made Oxygen Ion 3000 manufactured by CS Tronic). This picture was taken a few years ago when Karim and I had a chance meeting with him outside the Congress House – you meet the nicest people here sometimes!

And now, finally, it is time to have a set menu supper and that’s it for this first – very busy – full day on this 43rd Tour Program. After supper there are no scheduled activities and this is your opportunity to relax with a beer in the bar, talk with your colleagues or tour hosts, or get yourself unpacked and settled into your room. We’ll see you in the morning!

FRIDAY (October 28th):  The daily breakfast buffet (a really good one at this
hotel) is included in the tour price, so enjoy. This is another full day of lectures and classroom work. I know you have been sitting on your flights and sitting on the bus and sitting yesterday afternoon, but this is the big one. If you have to borrow a pillow from your room to cushion your rear, be ready for this all important and exceptional day – no falling asleep allowed. Today you will hear not one – not two – but five highly respected researchers and practitioners present groundbreaking lecture presentations! All of these sessions are definitely required (mandatory) attendance and represent our third, fourth, fifth and sixth English lectures exclusive to this tour program – personally I wouldn’t miss them for anything, but then I’m captive too!

First up, in the meeting room in our Hotel Heiligenstein is a gentleman who needs little introduction.

I am very pleased that Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt has agreed to take a bit of time from his busy speaking schedule at Med-Week to give a private lecture to our group. Many of you have heard him speak before and know that he is renowned for his work with neural therapy, lyme disease and generally with his innovative approaches to complementary and energy medicine.

Dr. Klinghardt has to close his lecture promptly at 10 AM in order to return for his scheduled German language lectures at Med-Week. If we can, let’s let him get away without too much delay!

Again, in between his scheduled German language lectures and duties at the Medicine Week Congress for the Complementary Cancer Society, Friedrich R. Douwes, MD will present an English presentation to us in our hotel meeting room.

Dr. Friedrich Douwes studied medicine in Switzerland and Germany and has dedicated his life to the treatment of cancer patients. For more than 45 years he sees and treats cancer patients with a combination of conventional and complementary therapies. For the past 25 years he does so as the Medical Director of the St. Georg Hospital in Bad Aibling, which under his leadership has reached international status. Dr. Douwes is active in many aspects of cancer care and research and he is the president of the German Society for Oncology and the founding member of the German Society for Biological Cancer Control and Hyperthermia. He is an international lecturer and has authored many articles and research papers.

As Dr. Douwes quickly leaves us to return into Baden-Baden, we can move into the restaurant for our lunch break. Then after lunch, back into our hotel meeting room a special presentation Dr. Daniel Beilin on Regulation Thermography.

For this English language session Dr. Dan Beilin from Alfa Thermodiagnostics will join us for a lecture and some impressive demonstrations. Dr. Beilin has been teaching and practicing thermography for over 15 years. He has evaluated over 10,000 thermograms for physicians worldwide, and brought the previous device through 510k listings with the US FDA. He holds a degree in neurophysiology from U.C. Davis, and is a doctor of Oriental Medicine and herbal pharmacology. Dr. Beilin is known and regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities on thermography and complementary medicine. He testified before US Congress with the device as it applies to detection of early breast tumors. Dr. Beilin (a long time member and supporter of OIRF) will give us an excellent presentation based on his decades of work and research with thermography. This company is also at Med-Week (find them at EG-62).

As this session comes to a close, we’ll take a short break and then right back into our meeting room with a featured presentation and lecture from the Med-Tronik Company (the home of MORA^®).

This folks is a highlight presentation for me. Nuno Ruivo, DO is a longtime MORA BioResonance Therapist, a lecturer and trainer for Med-Tronik and is also involved with software/technical development. Peter Mahr, HP (naturopath) is also a longtime MORA BioResonance Therapist, a lecturer and trainer for Med-Tronik and experienced with the methods of BETA, Dr. Kohler’s diagnostics and many others. These well known and respected practitioners/researchers will present an accurate picture of true, classical BioResonance Therapy, introduce you to the “new” Med-Tronik, inform us about some of the latest research and development for this method and then demo the modern MORA devices. We have invited Dr. Ruivo and Dr. Mahr to join us for supper and although this should be a time of relaxation and conversation, I’m sure they will be happy to answer questions. (You can visit the Med-Tronik exhibit booth at UG-2 in the Congress Hall.)

At the close of this sixth (and final for today) private session, we can meet in the restaurant for supper. There are no further scheduled activities today, but this is an excellent opportunity to speak with Dr. Ruivo, Dr. Mahr and the other tour participants. This is usually the day that we sleep for the first time after jetlag though and many of you may simply head off to bed.

SATURDAY (October 29th):  The excellent daily breakfast buffet is – as always – included in the tour price. Today is our first full day at the Medicine Week Congress in Baden-Baden. Yippee! Also this is the day when you must begin to budget your time. Not only must you choose which of the English language lectures you will attend, but also when you will take the needed time to wander the vast (four floors!) of exhibit booths. By now you have heard our orientation information and have had a chance to look through that big Med-Week Congress catalog. I hope you have worked out your plan of attack, because today you walk into the ultimate exhibition of Biological Medicine.

Our motor coach leaves the hotel for the Congress Hall in Baden-Baden, with or without you shortly after breakfast. Besides breakfast, there are no included meals today and you are on your own for both lunch and supper. For lunch, or anytime at Med-Week you can easily check out their cafeteria (they have everything from full meals to pretzels to sausages on a bun) at reasonable prices. This way you are free to explore Med-Week without worrying about meeting the bus or group meal arrangements.

This year is the 50th Anniversary Medicine Week Congress, and I have been to more than 40 of them (including all the previous 42 OIRF tours!). Several OIRF Advisors have traveled to Germany on these OIRF pilgrimages many times. We all continue to travel privately to Germany for other conferences and meeting and between us we will be able to give you a good idea about the layout of the Congress Hall and guide you to some of the more interesting, new, reliable – well you get the idea – exhibitors and demonstrations. We are here to answer your questions and like “good parents” let you fly away freely to discover this amazing Congress.

Here are your two optional lecture series choices for today. Both of these sessions are suggested (not required or mandatory) attendance by OIRF. Also consider that you do not have to stay for all the lectures in each series, but rather can listen to the ones you really want to hear and then slip out of the room to go to other lectures or to check out the exhibits.

In regard to the Advanced Medical Systems annual Symposium, this will be presented in what I have nicknamed “Germinglish”. The lectures on Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy (PEMF) as based on the work of Dr. Wolfgang Ludwig will be in German with the slides/PowerPoint in English. Very confusing, but this is their attempt to make the information available to the widest audience. Their speakers are excellent and the information highly practical. Because this company has developed the finest and most reliable devices in this PEMF field, AMS maintains OIRF’s full recommendation for their instrumentation. You can find them at exhibit booth EG-37 in the Congress House. Should you decide to purchase, please mention OIRF to obtain a small discount.

And again here, with apologies, I must digress. I know by now you are wondering why on earth I am going into such detail in this letter – and I’m really trying to separate out a lot of “stuff” into the Comments, Notes and Tips section towards the end of this missive. I recognize that we are all adults and as practitioners many of you are fully alpha personalities. In an effort to make this special tour program run as smoothly as possible while providing you with an unparalleled educational experience that is hassle and conflict free, I would rather err on the side of giving you too much information, than on not filling in explanatory detail – that’s a Carolyn thing that involves my pulsing yellow aura as Marguerite calls it, or my transient OCD hat according to Roger, that you’re going to have to get used to during this tour program.

This second optional lecture series and presentation represents one of the few times when OIRF and I personally cannot be completely neutral in our opinion. The only company for which OIRF holds a contractual and exclusive (commercial type) distributorship is Med-Tronik and MORA. It is a loyalty that OIRF has maintained since the inception of the Med-Tronik company nearly 40 years ago (see their exhibit stand at UG-2 at the Congress House). In spite of the many changes at Med-Tronik over the past few years and the development of alternative BioResonance Devices, it is our recommendation based on all of our research and strict quality requirements that Med-Tronik is still the best company developing and producing this type of instrumentation. Thus, I want to be clear that OIRF does not recommend the BioKat Systeme instrumentation. [You heard from Nuno Ruivo and Peter Mahr yesterday regarding the Med-Tronik instrumentation.]

That said, it is my obligation to ensure that our members and participants are aware of the “competition” and (hopefully) why we can no longer remain a neutral force and reputation between the two rival BioResonance companies of BioKat and Med-Tronik. The International Physicians Association for BioCybernetic Medicine (the IÄGBM) and the BioKat Systeme Company (see the BioKat exhibit stand at UG-57 at the Congress House) are the corporate sponsors of the lecture series shown on the next page. Most of the speakers here are former MORA therapists and researchers who left Med-Tronik after the death of the Med-Tronik founder and award winning engineer Erich Rasche. All of them are excellent speakers and will present information on their version of bioresonance therapy à la BioKat. All of their information and research is based on and can be applied with MORA.

But please remember that these 2 companies are commercially competitive rivals and there is little love lost (and a lot of nasty legal wrangling) between them. Please come and talk to Carolyn before you make a purchase of BioKat instrumentation – I won’t try to stop you, but I would like to add some cautions.

On the right here, OIRF Advisor Dr. Tony Scott-Morley

And following is the BioKat lecture schedule.

And thus ends your first full day at the famous Medicine Week Congress in Baden-Baden. Whether you take the 6PM or 9PM bus back to our hotel is your choice. I will be available throughout most of the day either attending lectures or wandering the exhibits, and you have my cell phone information for “talk or text” if you need assistance or have questions. All I can say at this point is ENJOY!

SUNDAY (October 30th):  The daily breakfast buffet is of course included in the tour price – have a good one. Today we will head into Baden-Baden for our second full day of events, lectures and exhibits at the 50th Anniversary Medicine Week Congress.

Our motor coach leaves the hotel for the Congress Hall in Baden-Baden, with or without you shortly after breakfast. To leave you free to wander the exhibits, meet with company reps or attend the lectures of your choice, your lunch is on your own again today. Today, however our motor coach will pick us up at the designated stop for the Congress House for return to the hotel. Supper this evening will be in the restaurant at our hotel.

Today you have two choices for lecture series based on your own interests. Like yesterday these lectures are suggested by OIRF but are not required attendance.

AlfaThermodiagnotics: Here is your first optional lecture series for today. You have already received a short lecture from Dr. Beilin on Friday afternoon and have hopefully had a chance to visit their booth in the exhibit hall. Today, they have sponsored a series of excellent lectures regarding Regulation Thermography. Here’s the schedule:

I must admit that I am really torn about which of these lectures to attend. Both have excellent speakers – I mean Dr. Helmut Sauer for thermography!!! Like wow!! – but then we also have therapy with ribonucleic acids (the remedies formerly known as REGENERESEN^®). Those of you who wish to take in the Dyckerhoff Pharma lectures please stick close to Carolyn when we arrive in Baden-Baden and I will walk over to the alternate hotel location with you for these lectures. You’ll hear from two well respected practitioners who have worked with these remedies giving you practical application information. I certainly want to be back at the Congress House to hear Dr. Sauer and thus will only be staying a short while at the RNA lectures – it’s too hard to pick – argh! Here’s a picture I took with Dr. Beilin and Dr. Sauer – good one!

Here’s the schedule for your second option:

For more information about Dyckerhoff Pharma and also a source for ordering German remedies, talk to Laura Emmerich at 1.OG-23.

And thus endth your second full day at the famous Medicine Week Congress. If I don’t see you in between, I’ll see you at the bus stop. There are no further activities or events planned for today. Are we having great fun yet???

MONDAY (October 31st):  This is an important patriotic holiday in Germany called Reformation Day (all banks and shops will be closed). Also of course it is Halloween (although this is celebrated similar to us in North America for the children, in many of the Catholic areas this is considered as All Hallow’s Eve and is also a religious celebration). Since this is your final day at the Medicine Week Congress, this represents your final opportunity to run around and collect goodies from all the exhibit booths – Halloween for doctors! I hope you’ve got your running shoes on and have been practicing lifting weights so you can carry all those bags and boxes of treasures.

Again today, to give you more freedom to attend those activities which are of greater interest for your practice, lunch is on your own. Today, you have only one scheduled series of lectures and as before attendance is optional. I did promise this company that we would attend as a group and I hope that each of you will attend at least a portion of these sessions (with your green OIRF carry bags proudly on display!). Sanum is no longer officially available in Canada or the USA as actual remedies, but is available and effective in electronic format from Med-Tronik. However, as always the concepts and approach are interesting, informative and often applicable with other methods or remedies. Here is the listed schedule of lectures sponsored by SANUM Therapy for this day:

And now this is the end of our pilgrimage to the Medicine Week Congress. Sigh. Such a bittersweet time. Please be at the bus stop on time for the ride back to our hotel and supper. This is the evening that we need to pack up all our goodies and clean up the room. Be sure to pack everything into your now expanded suitcases since tomorrow we move on down the autobahn. Sigh.

TUESDAY (November 1st):  This final day of our Germany Tour #43 program will be busy, but brings us to the most important and enlightening lecture.

This morning for our seventh and final privately arranged (definitely mandatory attendance!) presentation, we are privileged to hear a lecture entitled “Developments in Energy Medicine” from Priv.Doz. Dr.med. Dr.med. habil. Hendrik Treugut. [Let me translate a bit of this title: Priv.Doz. = associate professor (usually does not have a specific university post) and of course Dr. med. = MD, while Dr.med.habil. = completed doctoral thesis and is qualified for senior university post]. Dr. Treugut is the president and founder of the prestigious “German Society for Energetic and Informations Medicine (DGEIM)” and is a highly respected researcher within our field of Biological or Energy Medicine. This will be an adaptation of a lecture he previously delivered in German. Some of us have been privileged to hear the likes of Prof. Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp and his colleague Prof. Dr. Roland van Wijk on previous tours.

This German Society has continued and expanded the work of Dr. Popp, and boasts a membership/lecturer role that includes the most famous and respected practitioners, researchers and lecturers in this field. Let us give Dr. Treugut a very warm welcome.

This lecture begins in our hotel meeting room. Like Dr. Klinghardt and Dr. Douwes, Dr. Treugut will be escaping us in order to arrive at the Congress House on time to be the Chairman for the DGEIM lectures (all in German – sorry!) today.

So here are some are some “housekeeping” notes for everyone:

This morning we must be ready to check out of our hotel, and I ask you to make sure you are checked out long before departure time (remember to have all the usuals like movies, mini-bar, bar or beverage bills, phone calls, internet charges, etc. paid and room key handed in). The hotel accepts MasterCard, VISA and American Express cards. Please look after your checkout and any extra hotel charges before they get busy with others!

Be sure to have your luggage packed, your Med-Week literature and goodies prepared for travel and have everything ready to bring down to the main lobby or a designated storage area. I will arrange a secure place for us to leave the luggage prior to our departure while we once again head into our meeting room at this hotel.

In brief:

• Today, we leave our beautiful “Wellness Hotel” – our home away from home for the past five nights – and prepare for return to Frankfurt. Dr. Treugut’s lectures are this morning.
• I have arranged for a nice lunch break.
• In between these times, you must clear your luggage out of your rooms so that hotel staff can begin cleaning our rooms.
• Our private motor coach will depart this hotel after lunch.

After an approximately one hour drive, we will arrive into Heidelberg where I have arranged a special treat – a visit to the famous Heidelberg Castle (with a huge wine barrel) and the Pharmacy Museum. You will have about 2 hours to wander, see the castle, get some pictures and peruse the museum (truly a sight worth seeing!).

Sadly then however we must climb back onto our private motor coach and we will head back out onto the autobahn (that’s the no speed limit freeway system – yippee! – wait till we get passed by a Porsche or Ferrari) and head in a generally north and east direction back into the Frankfurt and Kelsterbach area. At bus speed limits (about 100 kph or 60 mph) it should take us about 1½ ± hours to arrive back at our Frankfurt Airport Hotel. Drop your luggage in your room, and let’s do our best to get down in the Restaurant for supper.

With no luggage or transportation to worry about we can relax and enjoy a beautiful closing “banquet” in this very nice restaurant. We can have a leisurely celebration taking pictures and talking and enjoying our final tour evening together – into the wee hours. As always, beverages are not included; kindly make sure you pay for them (plus those you ordered for someone else) before you leave the restaurant.

The tour officially ends after our certificate ceremonies, as does OIRF’s responsibility for you. You can return to your hotel room anytime and breakfast tomorrow morning is – of course – included in the tour price.

WEDNESDAY (November 2nd):  Fly home from Frankfurt anytime today if you wish, and most North Americans even get home that same day due to gaining time zones. Breakfast this morning is included in the tour price. Refer to the shuttle schedule for details about the hotel’s shuttle service to the airport and be sure to make advance reservations for your own flight departure times. Have a safe and pleasant trip home! I will be staying today (somebody has to pay the bills!) and flying home on Thursday.

I have tried to plan ahead for any contingency, but once the Tour is underway there is little we can do about the actual events unfolding (like a speaker not showing up due to illness, slow meal service or beverage payment delaying us for our next event, traffic jams, etc.). Regulars on our tours remember our absolute insistence on maintaining our schedule and we will continue that here. We’re all grownups and I know I can count on your cooperation remembering that the Germans venerate punctuality!

NOTE:  As are all of them, this tour is the product of months of planning, organization and finalizing arrangements. In light of our seven major exclusive presentations and the many lecture series during the Medicine Week Congress I suspect this is destined to be one of our best tours ever! Thank you for sharing this time with us.

With these speaker introductions and itinerary notes, I will close this part of your final letter. I’m looking forward to seeing you in Germany in just a few short weeks. With very best wishes for a most pleasant flight and a safe journey, I remain your “illustrious” tour guide. . .

s/Carolyn
Carolyn L. Winsor
Managing Director and CEO

And no – that’s not a picture of me, but it looks like fun! CLW

An Exclusive Article for OIRF Supporters
From THE BRIDGE Newsletter of OIRF
Published November 2016

© Copyright 2016, Carolyn Winsor/OIRF, BC Canada