Journey Home

On Sunday, January 12, I traveled back from my winter break in Germany. My journey involved:

- getting up at 4:45 am and a 1.5-hour drive from Mayen to the Frankfurt airport (great thanks to my cousins who drove us there!);

- as a first traveler at the airport security line at 6:45 am, I got an honorary full-body pat from a female officer who didn’t understand my joke about untying my double-knotted boot laces “good thing there’s no one behind me in line right now, I’d be annoyed beyond words if I were them”;

- trashing a jar of expensive Manuka honey I got as a gift because it was 50 ml above the carryon limit;

- a 3-hour wait for the cityhopper flight (KLM partner) in a bare-bones waiting hall for domestic flights. This would have never happened if I were traveling alone. But my son’s international non-stop flight to Atlanta was scheduled to leave 10 min before my flight to Amsterdam and he likes to be at all airports early, so we had to travel together much earlier than I would like. My waiting hall didn’t even have electric outlets to power up my devices, so I just read a paper book;

- a 1 hour and 20 min. flight from Frankfurt to Amsterdam on a smaller propeller plane that was surprisingly smooth, without turbulence (usually, the smaller the plane, the wilder is the ride in turbulence);

- a 2-hour layover in Amsterdam - not much sitting there, as Skiphol Airport is long and large and getting from the domestic European terminal to the International Terminal is a chore. And still, I managed to buy duty-free beautiful Dutch Gauda cheese of several varieties and some good chocolate for a gift;

- a 7-hour flight from Amsterdam to JFK on a huge Airbus, squeezed in the middle seat between two large and tall men. The flight was also smooth but I couldn't sleep, so was knitting and watching the final season of Young Sheldon;

- a 2-hour trip by AirTrain, subway, and local train from the JFK airport via Grand Central to New Rochelle, to pick up my car that was parked at a friend’s house;

- a 2.5-hour drive on I-95 and I-80 to Hazleton, PA. I was overly ambitious thinking that I could drive straight through to my home in north-western Pennsylvania. But the sleepless flights and jet lag caught up with me, so I had to stop at a hotel for the night. Surprisingly, I slept through most of the night even though I did wake up several times;

- getting up at 8 am to have breakfast and continue for the remaining 4-hour drive home and getting delayed because of a tragic car accident news and communicating with relatives;

- finally leaving at 11 am and driving for 4.5 hours straight, with two short stops to fill up the gas tank and to use the facilities. Got home around 3:30 pm, unloaded the suitcase and went grocery shopping right away. They say a big snow storm is coming tomorrow, so it’s better to be stocked up.

I think the only mode of transportation I didn't use in these two days is a ship. As a friend suggested, I should have taken a 2-hour cruise on the Hudson while I was in New York. But then I also didn’t use a horse carriage around the Central Park, a public bus, or a bike. So lots to catch up with on future trips.

Wish me luck, my classes start the day after tomorrow and I'll be teaching jet lagged but with lots of good memories and impressions from my vacation. This break was too short but This Is Water (thanks, David Foster Wallace for a great metaphor for life!)