Thursday, January 14, 2016

when you want a boring set of hours

Oh, I know people like adventure in travel. And I know you have to patient when things do not turn out the way you would have liked. I try to be that person who does not wince, groan or grumble when the weather turns bad or when flights are delayed for some reason beyond the airline's control.

But there is a time when you just hope things will be very smooth: it's when you travel great distances for a very brief visit and you really want to get some business accomplished in the short few days or even hours you're there.

I had one other such brief hop over to Poland some twenty years ago: someone in my family needed my signature for one thing or another and I just could not spare much time for it and so I left Madison on a Thursday, to return on Saturday. The signature was to be handed over Friday. And then there was a snowstorm in Chicago and my flight was cancelled and all hell broke loose.

You don't want that.

I didn't get that this time.

But it was close. Out of nowhere, snow materialized in Detroit. Oh, but that airport is no Chicago. It can cope! De-iced, a little late taking off, but ready to pound those snow filled clouds!


Since I am a great fan of sunrises, I'll give you the one I witnessed in flying over Ireland. We were obviously flying due east, so unless you're the pilot, you don't really see the sun, but that makes it that much prettier, don't you think?


to Poland-5.jpg



No more mishaps on at least getting to this side of the ocean. Unless you count the fact that, out of nowhere, lightening struck the wing of the plane upon landing in Amsterdam. I haven't had that happen in many a year. In any case, it was quite inconsequential. No one seemed too concerned and we landed without incident.

I have a huge layover in Amsterdam, in part because I just don't ever do tight connections on long haul air travel and in part because I like the food at the airport. A first breakfast across the ocean is always exciting for me -- I haven't yet become jaded to the sight of that pain au chocolat and, because it's Holland -- dark bread with a thin slice of Edam. The solidly boiled egg seems quite Dutch as well, as does the napkin with the windmills on it. I am very easy to please when I travel.


to Poland-9.jpg



I'll post now, even though I still have my final flight before me. Once I disembark in Warsaw, I'll have plenty to think about and I do not want to include in that pile of thoughts worries about getting a good WiFi connection. Whatever mysteries travel brings with it, we are still in the era of "you never know" as far as solid internet connections are concerned.

The next post surely will be from Warsaw.