The Experience of Yet Another Flight Home
It's almost started to be routine, me flying across the Atlantic, but I decided that I wanted to spice it up a bit, and it decided to spice it up a little itself. My journeys are never without a little hint of adventure. Maybe that's why I always look forward to it. It's always a learning experience that I enjoy.
It started off the night before with me figuring everything out on the internet before it went out on me. I spent the night cleaning up the homestead, cleaning up myself, finishing packing, saying bye to a few people, and by that time, the night was well in progress. It was about 2 or 3 in the morning I think and by that time, it almost seemed ridiculous to go to bed because I'm always afraid of going to bed before I fly out due to the fact that I perhaps might sleep through my alarm. So I didn't. I watched a movie on my computer and made sure I had accomplished everythign that I had needed to before leaving at a little before 5am to the train station. It would be the first leg of the journey. Was I going to Prague airport, as I had done every time beforehand? No, this is where I wanted to add a little spice to it. I got on a train heading north. I was going to Dresden. So... could I sleep on the train? No, because that leaves me with the same problem as sleeping the night before. I would be too tired and was afraid of sleeping through and waking up in Western Czech Republic. I waited at the train station for it to get there, and luckily, it wasn't late and I got on the train without a hitch and relaxed, ate my breakfast and after an hour, I had to get off and wait an hour for my transferring train to Dresden. Waiting for an hour at a strange station early in the morning, without sleep doesn't sound so appealing and it really wasn't. It was boring and I felt my life wasting away at this very point. :) But I digress and I pushed on.
I finally got on the train heading to Dresden and it was a nice one, ready for my hour trip to Dresden, so once again, no sleeping. But at this point, exhaustion started setting on and I had to get creative as to not fall asleep. I thought of a few fun things that made the time fun. Maybe hallucination of tiredness set on, so I was able to make it even more fun by setting up interesting scenarios, but for the time being, I was satisfied. I got off the train in Dresden and was in search for some way to get to the airport. After spending approx. 15 minutes working the ticket machine trying to figure out how to buy just one simple normal ticket, I was able to make my way to the train to the airport and I got there without problems. Everything really worked out quite fine. I got my ticket successfully and made it through security with them taking away from me my forgotten juice and my shaving cream. The guy said something in German, and I said, yea, ok, i don't need them. Take them away and motioned for him to take them, and he said, no, and said something. And I was confused. I tried to leave, but he said no. And gave me the stuff and pointed me out back through security. Apparently he wanted me to dispose of them myself. So, one of the guys walked me out and to a color coordinated set of approximately 10 bins with different things written on them. I looked at them in confusion until the guy said something in German which i took to mean, "Throw them in any one, it doesn't matter". I did, he was satisfied and I got my stuff again and left.
The plane from Dresden-Frankfurt was fine. I was able to sleep from take off to set down. It was nice to get this rest. But my next problem I was anticipating was getting to my connecting flight because I only had an hour to make it through Frankfurt airport, which at times has taking me an hour and a half, so I was worried. Luck was on my side because I was close to my gate, and I didn't have to go through a second security control, which was kinda strange I thought. I always have to. Anyways, I made it to my gate in 10 minutes and I was happy. Waiting sucked but it seemed as though there would be no hitches in the travel... and for once... there weren't. It all worked out. Thank God. I looked at my ticket though and saw that I had a B seat, which meant for the 8 hour trip, I'd be in the middle seat. Awesome.
I got on the plane and saw where I was to be. Between a bigger older guy with a mustache and an 70-year old lady. Awesome. This looked promising. I got comfortable and didn't think I'd be talking to either of them. However, I was quite wrong. And they were both really interesting. The guy I started talking to first. He was German, but left over 30 years ago and was going back for the first time to visit his kids, who were all grown up, but had not seen since they were kids. A really sad story, that he didn't explain to me in further detail, which was fine. I really didn't want to hear his problems anyways. It goes to show you that there's always someone who has had a more difficult life than you have.
And then I started talking to the older lady, which I had no idea of talking to, but she was Greek but worked at the embassy in DC. Really nice lady who had lots of advice to offer me about life and about settling down. I really valued her talks and she was such a sweet and nice lady. I wish her a happy life and know that she's had a rough life as well. It was clear.
And then comes the fun moment of ordering a drink. The stewardess came around, asking about drinks. I ordered something with alcohol and she looked at me and asked me how old I was. I was taken aback for a second, but then thought about how old I was and responded to her. She looked at me, wondering if she should believe me, then started making it for me and said that she's supposed to ask. Fine... then I was wondering if she was going by American rules or German. There's no reason for me to think she was going by American, but I really can't believe that she would think I was under 18, as goes German rules for liquor. Anyways. The flight went by smoothly. I slept for over half of it, and was dearly excited about that, and when landing time came, I was ready for it.
I got off, went to customs. And I felt like i was in some kind of Disney film. It was so strange. They have tvs up showing motivational stuff about how amazing America is. They seemed to have very vibrant and awe-inspiring music playing. Imagine yourself waking up in the mountains, with the sun coming up and life starting anew. And that's what it was like. It was so funny coming through it all. So i got through, got my back which was already there, and walked out. I needed to call my friend, but my american sim card broke and I needed to find a way to call him. I was outside scoping out people to ask if i could use their phones when he just pulled up. Everything really worked out so perfectly and it's nice to be back, even though right now I'm in Maryland, a place even more foreign to me than Europe, but it's a nice new adventure. :) Back to home on sunday
It started off the night before with me figuring everything out on the internet before it went out on me. I spent the night cleaning up the homestead, cleaning up myself, finishing packing, saying bye to a few people, and by that time, the night was well in progress. It was about 2 or 3 in the morning I think and by that time, it almost seemed ridiculous to go to bed because I'm always afraid of going to bed before I fly out due to the fact that I perhaps might sleep through my alarm. So I didn't. I watched a movie on my computer and made sure I had accomplished everythign that I had needed to before leaving at a little before 5am to the train station. It would be the first leg of the journey. Was I going to Prague airport, as I had done every time beforehand? No, this is where I wanted to add a little spice to it. I got on a train heading north. I was going to Dresden. So... could I sleep on the train? No, because that leaves me with the same problem as sleeping the night before. I would be too tired and was afraid of sleeping through and waking up in Western Czech Republic. I waited at the train station for it to get there, and luckily, it wasn't late and I got on the train without a hitch and relaxed, ate my breakfast and after an hour, I had to get off and wait an hour for my transferring train to Dresden. Waiting for an hour at a strange station early in the morning, without sleep doesn't sound so appealing and it really wasn't. It was boring and I felt my life wasting away at this very point. :) But I digress and I pushed on.
I finally got on the train heading to Dresden and it was a nice one, ready for my hour trip to Dresden, so once again, no sleeping. But at this point, exhaustion started setting on and I had to get creative as to not fall asleep. I thought of a few fun things that made the time fun. Maybe hallucination of tiredness set on, so I was able to make it even more fun by setting up interesting scenarios, but for the time being, I was satisfied. I got off the train in Dresden and was in search for some way to get to the airport. After spending approx. 15 minutes working the ticket machine trying to figure out how to buy just one simple normal ticket, I was able to make my way to the train to the airport and I got there without problems. Everything really worked out quite fine. I got my ticket successfully and made it through security with them taking away from me my forgotten juice and my shaving cream. The guy said something in German, and I said, yea, ok, i don't need them. Take them away and motioned for him to take them, and he said, no, and said something. And I was confused. I tried to leave, but he said no. And gave me the stuff and pointed me out back through security. Apparently he wanted me to dispose of them myself. So, one of the guys walked me out and to a color coordinated set of approximately 10 bins with different things written on them. I looked at them in confusion until the guy said something in German which i took to mean, "Throw them in any one, it doesn't matter". I did, he was satisfied and I got my stuff again and left.
The plane from Dresden-Frankfurt was fine. I was able to sleep from take off to set down. It was nice to get this rest. But my next problem I was anticipating was getting to my connecting flight because I only had an hour to make it through Frankfurt airport, which at times has taking me an hour and a half, so I was worried. Luck was on my side because I was close to my gate, and I didn't have to go through a second security control, which was kinda strange I thought. I always have to. Anyways, I made it to my gate in 10 minutes and I was happy. Waiting sucked but it seemed as though there would be no hitches in the travel... and for once... there weren't. It all worked out. Thank God. I looked at my ticket though and saw that I had a B seat, which meant for the 8 hour trip, I'd be in the middle seat. Awesome.
I got on the plane and saw where I was to be. Between a bigger older guy with a mustache and an 70-year old lady. Awesome. This looked promising. I got comfortable and didn't think I'd be talking to either of them. However, I was quite wrong. And they were both really interesting. The guy I started talking to first. He was German, but left over 30 years ago and was going back for the first time to visit his kids, who were all grown up, but had not seen since they were kids. A really sad story, that he didn't explain to me in further detail, which was fine. I really didn't want to hear his problems anyways. It goes to show you that there's always someone who has had a more difficult life than you have.
And then I started talking to the older lady, which I had no idea of talking to, but she was Greek but worked at the embassy in DC. Really nice lady who had lots of advice to offer me about life and about settling down. I really valued her talks and she was such a sweet and nice lady. I wish her a happy life and know that she's had a rough life as well. It was clear.
And then comes the fun moment of ordering a drink. The stewardess came around, asking about drinks. I ordered something with alcohol and she looked at me and asked me how old I was. I was taken aback for a second, but then thought about how old I was and responded to her. She looked at me, wondering if she should believe me, then started making it for me and said that she's supposed to ask. Fine... then I was wondering if she was going by American rules or German. There's no reason for me to think she was going by American, but I really can't believe that she would think I was under 18, as goes German rules for liquor. Anyways. The flight went by smoothly. I slept for over half of it, and was dearly excited about that, and when landing time came, I was ready for it.
I got off, went to customs. And I felt like i was in some kind of Disney film. It was so strange. They have tvs up showing motivational stuff about how amazing America is. They seemed to have very vibrant and awe-inspiring music playing. Imagine yourself waking up in the mountains, with the sun coming up and life starting anew. And that's what it was like. It was so funny coming through it all. So i got through, got my back which was already there, and walked out. I needed to call my friend, but my american sim card broke and I needed to find a way to call him. I was outside scoping out people to ask if i could use their phones when he just pulled up. Everything really worked out so perfectly and it's nice to be back, even though right now I'm in Maryland, a place even more foreign to me than Europe, but it's a nice new adventure. :) Back to home on sunday
posted by Zach Barnes at 9:07 AM
1 Comments:
I'm glad you are back in the states safe and sound, just in time for Swine flu... Excuse me "The 2009 H1N1 Flu"...
I'm disappointed I missed your call from Brad's phone. But I closed my eyes and imagined drinking some daiquiris with the two of you, in a completely heterosexual way.
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