Day 14: Travel day
I woke up today and had to
mentally prepare myself to for a grueling day of travel. The day started out a
little rough when the S-Bahns were running slow/late due to continuing
construction on the tracks. Not only that I had to do a train change at
Friedrichstrasse to get to Hauptbahnhof. I finally had enough of it and took a
cab the rest of the way to the airport. My cab driver was nice enough to look
up the gate that I would be departing from and took me straight there.
I got there a little early so
the British Airways counter was not even open yet. So I had to wait a good 45
minutes just to get my ticket and check my bag. Then the waiting really began.
The security line was really long because they were boarding two different
London flights and two Turkish Airways flights at the same time so the number
of people was more than the little airport could handle. The flight to London
was short and sweet and I got a really good “sandwich” which was basically a
vegetarian wrap. Going through security at London was expected, but it was
again another set of long lines.
The flight to Dallas was long
and painful. I had an aisle seat in the middle row of the plane, but the little
girl sitting next to me drove me nuts. She fell asleep for a grand majority of
the flight where she proceeded to kick me consistently for 7 hours despite her
mom trying to move her feet every 5 minutes. Hurray for children.
Got to Dallas and was welcomed
by more lines, one for passport clearance, one for customs, and security yet
again. I don’t think I want to see another security line for a little while. I
am trying to stay awake despite me being on Berlin time which means that while
waiting to board my flight back home my body felt like it was three in the
morning. Also, there were 36 people on standby for El Paso because a flight got
cancelled. Those poor souls.
CNN in Dallas talking about
the immigration issue of the Syrian refugees. “The Germans did the morally
correct thing rather than the wise thing in letting the refugees into the
country and helping them out.” Someone on our trip mentioned the importance of
Germans being morally correct all the time as it was part of their culture. It
is crazy to think that I experienced that first hand only a couple days ago and
now I’m sitting in an airport in Dallas reflecting on the truth of that
statement.
Despite the crazy traveling
for 24 hours and all the little things I’m sad that this trip is over. Upon
reflection of all of this, I realize how much of a blessing this trip was. It
opened my eyes to a new country and a new culture. Moving to Europe is no
longer just a distant dream of a small child, but a close reality if I am
determined to do it. I’m a year away from graduating, and I still have yet to
figure out what I want to do with my life, but if I could figure it out while
living somewhere in Europe I think it would be a dream. I accomplished my goal
of pushing myself to graduate in three years, the next challenge? Live in
Europe.
It's good to be home.
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