It was also wonderful to make it back to the office. Yes, I’m being serious. I am so lucky to have great co-workers on both sides of the ocean. In addition to catching up with everyone, I was able to get a lot of face-to-face time and additional training. It’s all coming together now.
The only unusual thing about coming home was knowing that I didn’t know when I’d be back again. At one point I joked about the fact that I should have held a press conference because I was always asked the same questions. Albeit great questions. And, of course, one question was about my return—which is unknown.
I took my one-way ticket back to Hamburg via Warsaw, Poland. As suspected, the man at the ORD checkout counter tried to speak Polish with me after seeing the name on my passport. I felt guilty as I told him I could speak German.
As this was my first evening transatlantic flight, I incorrectly assumed that it would be easy to sleep. I sat next to a coughing man. A loudly snoring man sat behind me to my right. Someone in my general vicinity had the volume on his or her headphone too high. A screaming baby was just a few rows ahead of me. And directly behind me was one of the worst encounters—the man who doesn’t realize that when he pulls himself up on the seat in front of him he is also pulling down on your seat. Plus, my back was a little achy from the lovely drunk who unknowingly pushed me off of a barstool on New Year's Eve. Although I have to say that Lot was a very nice airline despite these clichés that I encountered.
It’s really too bad that a 9:55pm flight wasn’t conducive for sleeping though, especially when I didn’t sleep well the night before. All of the lights were off for take-off, yet once we were up in the air the lights were back on and we were being served what can only be described as two dinners. Too much. Plus, I had a 3pm dentist appointment, which left my very clean teeth covered in fluoride until we were airborne. That made for awkward eating and smiling.
Unfortunately, there was one thing that didn’t make me smile. The complete oversight that I was leaving out of Terminal 5 and didn’t have access to Garrett’s to bring back popcorn for the office. I had to settle on Fanny May, which thankfully is a solid backup choice.
After a fairly turbulent flight, we landed in Poland so that I could hang out at the Warsaw airport for more than a few hours. Thankfully I had my book to keep me occupied. After a half hour delay, we were finally Germany-bound. Again, a very turbulent flight. I am a pretty tolerant flyer, but both flights on both eastbound trips had me having a Tebow moment or two. Apparently I picked a good day to fly in though because the storms were even worse the day before and after. And it’s pretty much been raining ever since.
The night I landed, I stayed up until 12:30a only to wake up at 2:30. I read while I was wide awake until 5a. The beeping of my alarm came much too quickly at 8a. I forced myself out of bed and got ready for work. At 8:45, when I should have been walking out the door, I found myself walking back to bed. I needed a few more minutes of shut-eye.
It was a very busy first day back including currywurst for lunch. Unfortunately, not busy enough to trick my body back into German time. This time, I spent the hours between 3a – 6a cleaning the kitchen and putting things back in their proper places. Thankfully, a very rainy weekend called for movies and sleeping.
You see, you think I’m writing this blog for you, but really I’m just trying to tire myself out. And it’s working. Multi-tasking extraordinaire or selfish traveler? – you decide.
So many phrases made my heart smile. Love youuuuu.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're trying to tire yourself out by blogging again! :)
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