Day 28 - Departure!

All right, so I'm back, but the trip over was eventful so I'll recap:

I got up at 6:30am. We left for the Venice airport at 8am, after a quick goodbye from Duska. I slept on the way there, and ate a muffin and a cappucino in the airport since we had an hour or so after security.

When we arrived in Munich, we got off the plane and onto a bus. Before we left, a flight attendant asked if anyone left behind a black fannypack. Althea ran off the bus to grab it for Alexi, one of the girls on the trip, who then said "oh my god!", ran off the plane, and came back with her passport, which she had left on the seat. Wow.... I'm glad she remembered it, but damn. You do not forget your passport anywhere. I kept mine on me at all times, in the main pocket of my neck pouch that went in between the layers of my clothes.

Anyway, we then went through the hell known as Munich airport security. Goddamn! It's worse than any US airport I've been in. We had to go through customs, then security, then past all the shops and restaurants, then another passport check, then a very invasive security (the sensor picked up a receipt in my pocket, which led to another once-over with the wand), then we arrived at the gate where there was 1 small cafe and no other shops or even a vending machine. Wtf... So then we had to sit there for half an hour bored and hungry before boarding.

Anyway, on the Munich-Chicago flight, we were joined by the Russian speed skating Olympic team on their way to Vancouver. Pretty cool, imo. They were wearing their red sweatsuits and everything. But they also held the plane for them, so we took off about 20 minutes late. Normally, it doesn't matter that much, but we only had an hour and a half in Chicago, and we had to go through customs and security and everything.

By the end of the flight to Chicago, I was so tired that I was on the verge of tears. I spent the flight watching movies again. I watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Wickie the Viking, Fame, Love Aaj Jai, and an episode of How I Met Your Mother. I cried through the end of Aaj Jai, and at the end of HIMYM. Wow. It's an ok show, but good lord, it's not cry worthy!

Anyway, back to the time crunch in Chicago. So, I am tired and my nerves are frayed, and I just want to go home. And then I go through customs, where we have to pick up our checked luggage. My bag was the last one on the conveyor. Damn. Only 25 minutes til we board. I go to the customs officer, who was nice and asked the questions quickly and nicely. Then I joined the line to recheck my luggage. SLOW!!!! Fortunately, a customs officer tells the line to just put our bags near this other conveyor and they will do their best to get it to our flights on time. So, I put my bag there and crossed my fingers. Then I took the tram to Terminal 1. 8 minutes til takeoff.

Then I look to see what gate my flight is at. Oh, it's delayed. Goody! It is leaving 25 minutes late. That makes everything better, especially since I got there 10 minutes after the plane originally should have left. I hate being late, but since 15 of us were going to be late, they held the flight a bit. It was already late coming in, too.

Anyway, I konked out during the flight to MSP. Very uncomfortable seats for sleeping, though. I figured one hour of sleep on the plane wouldn't leave me too jetlagged. In my attempt to keep from falling asleep during non-sleeping Central time hours, I stayed up 24 hours.

Anyway, I got home around 11:30pm and was sleeping by 12. A very busy 24 hours. Unfortunately, I could only sleep til 9am. I am used to that time being 4pm, now. Currently, it's not even 9pm, but I am so exhausted, I will go to bed early tonight, I think.

Also, I got my computer working again. Yay!!!