Destination P

For Poland! No, no, not really. It’s almost like I planned “M” for Munich and “P” for Poland, but I honestly did not. In any case, I’m here and still recovering a bit from my cold that seems to want to linger. It must be from flying – all that recycled air doesn’t do anyone much good.

In fact, this was my 18^th flight since the trip started. I found myself at the airport and not feeling the excitement of actually being at the airport, just seemed completely normal now. Planes are another part of home, as well as the screaming children on the plane. I wish I could tell those mothers that no, not everyone thinks your child is cute for talking or crying endlessly – but it is just another routine part of my week.

Each Saturday is filled with: getting up early to pack, logging online to check into the flight, asking reception to print out the boarding pass, check out and linger around until its time to be on the way to the airport, research how to get to the airport, strap on the 60 lbs of baggage, get on the train, then get on the bus from the train to the airport, search the board for check-in times and area, check luggage, get food, get through security and if you get searched throw your hands up and scream “I win!”, find the gate to depart from, find the nearest bathroom, get on the plane, sigh in relief that you have just accomplished exactly half the battle of the day. When getting off the plane make sure to find one of those free luggage carriers (or if you are in the USA, refuse to pay for one), get luggage and find nearest ATM, if you don’t know the conversion rate beforehand, ask at the exchange counter, find the bus or train that heads into town, get on it, arrive into town and ask for directions (because you never have a map) but don’t necessarily believe them, find place of stay eventually and make sure to have a credit card and passport handy, get into the room and drop everything on the floor, rub shoulders and stretch back accordingly, wash up and expect to sleep almost immediately.