September 13, 2007

Happy Birthday Roald Dahl


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROALD DAHL!
To find out about Roald Dahl, click on the image above or check out what the wikipedia has to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl
Author of James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and many, many other great books!


September 03, 2007

Easter Europe 2007 - The beginning

At the end of last year, my brother asked me if I would like to go with him and some of his students to Eastern Europe - for FREE. How could I turn that down? The only thing I would be responsible for would be lunches and souvenirs. How sweet is that? So... months passed. I turned in my vacation request and before I knew it, it was July and time for me to go!

Preparation and Flight in the USA

I usually overpack, so this time I was pretty good about packing only what was necessary. I managed to pack most of my suitecase before 1am on the morning of my trip. I even caught a few hours of sleep. As I wasn't leaving until the early afternoon, I was able to hitch a ride to WW with Carrie and then she took me to the airport. I arrived at the airport in excellent time, checked in and iTuned out until it was time to board. We flew on a US Air flight to Chicago. I had about three hours to kill, so I freshened up and grabbed some food, found my flight and waited. The next part of the journey was the longest.

Lufthansa - Airline service at it's best!

I switched carriers in Chicago and was on a Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. When I borded the plane, I hoped my seat didn't have any people next to me, that way I could stretch out and maybe get some sleep. I sat down on the aisle seat in the middle row. A man sat on the far end of my middle row. I was relieved as passengers loaded and nobody sat between us. I even said a prayer asking God that if he was going to put somebody next to me, please be it a small bodied person. Then it happened. Two attendents came over and asked the man to move up so a really large man and his tiny wife could sit in my row. The large man needed a seat and a half so his tiny wife sat next to me. Though she smelled heavily of musky perfume, I thought it was so much better than if it had been body oder. This flight was about 12 hours long, so there were a few dumb movies and lots of good food. The flight attenants brought around snacks and dinner. The dinner was cordon bleu with veggies and rolls. They poured wine and we dined like kings and queens. After they cleared the dinner, they came around again with brandy or Bailey's. Who am I to pass on that?

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After that, there were moments of intermittent sleep followed by iTunes and reading. I was super tired, but couldn't really go into a pleasant, deep slumber. I got up a couple of times for a bathroom break and stretching my legs.


When we got to Frankfurt, I checked into customs, which took no time at all. I waited about two hours before boarding the next plane (also on Lufthansa) to Berlin.
Clean, chic - Frankfurt airport
One thing that struck me as very interesting was that though there is generally no smoking throughout the airport in Frankfurt and Berlin, there were these smoking sections that people were huddled around. Even in the wee hours of the morning, people were lighting up.
After waiting for a bit in Frankfurt, I boarded a much smaller plane to Berlin. This one had a 2-4-2 combination. I was again in the aisle of one of the 2 seater sections and had a neighbor from Russia who slept during the 1.5 hour flight.
All in all, this was going really well. Sure the flight was super long and I lost a whole day by traveling. But I was about to embark on a great adventure and see things I had only seen in movies, tv and books. Plus I was going to see my brother again, meet new people and see my dad who I hadn't seen since last fall.

When I arrived in Berlin, it took about 15 minutes for me to get my bags. I walked out and was met by Maggie, our tour guide. I recognized her from a photo my brother had sent out to our group. She was a petite brunette with a warm, friendly face and a huge smile. She is Polish and speaks three languages - Polish, German and English. She was so welcoming, I felt right at home.

No more g-store

Sad, but true. I quit the g-store because my job at Company X is stressful and I need to focus my energies on making it better. I turned in my two weeks' notice at the g-store, which is the only proper thing to do. What did they do? They cut me a week early. I suppose I should be thankful, but I thought it was a little rude of them considering how under staffed they are. Oh well. I will pick it up again if/when things calm down at Company X.

I had a great experience working at the g-store and it has prompted me to write a screenplay. Deffinately worth the time I spent there!