A slight delay on this entry, probably because I didn't really want to relive my trip back to Eugene:
I knew going into this that my epic odyssey to get home was going to be just that: an epic odyssey. From Venice to Madrid to JFK, then switching to LaGuardia, then on to Minneapolis and finally Portland, and if all that goes well then the car ride back to Eugene. I guess that’s what you get for having adventures on the opposite side of the world.
Some statistics:
• Trip legs (or more pertinently, opportunities for lost luggage): 4
• 39 hours in airports and airplanes (from 5am Venice time to 11am Portland time)
• Total flight time (that’s time my butt spent in a coach seat): 18 hours
o Venice-Madrid 2.5 hours
o Madrid-JFK 8.5 hours
o LGA-MSP 3 hours
o MSP-PDX 4 hours
• Times through security: 3 (Venice, Madrid, LGA)
• Window seats/Aisle seats: 2 and 2
• Airport food consumed: magnum ice cream, bottle of water, peanuts, pineapple cubes, oreos, salad (with balsamic vinegar!), chai latte, yogurt, fruit cup
• Airplane food consumed: tortellini, red wine, coleslaw, lemon/chocolate cake, roll, coffee, kit-kat bar, icky fruit cup, disappointing muffin
• Passport Stamps: one leaving Madrid, one arriving in New York
• Time zones: 9
The flight from Venice to Madrid seemed longer going back, especially since a little girl was kicking the back of my seat for the entire two and a half hours. I had a 6 hour layover to recover, at least. The flight from Madrid to JFK was the one I was least looking forward to, it being 8 hours and all. On the bright side, I sat towards the front in a window seat, and next to a man I at first wanted to call Señor Body Odor (for obvious reasons), then Mister Lush (when he poured a mini bottle of vodka into his Coke light and asked me if I was going to finish my vino tinto) but finally we settled on the title of obnoxious Luxembourgian interpreter. He was a bit pompous, bragging about how Indira Gandhi was the favorite person he’d worked for and making me guess that he was from Luxembourg (I can only imagine the gloating if I’d not guessed correctly).
Our arrival in JFK was delayed slightly by the fact that we had to circle the airport for a half an hour because they only had one runway open and then we sat on the tarmac because we had no gate. Luckily, I was asleep for most of that. Unluckily, that was pretty much all the sleep I got on that flight. In LaGuardia, I sat outside security with my bags all night because they cannot check bags overnight with a few of my new closest friends and three vending machines. Unfortunately, I had zero American money and no ATMs to be found. What I did find was a nice Italian woman to talk with, and we commiserated about transatlantic flights. We were then joined by kind of a crazy woman, who proceeded to tell us in great detail about how she has visions of places and people, and feels strongly connected to Saint Francis of Assisi, and how that figures in to each and every coincidence in her life (which, of course, are not coincidences at all). The flight from New York to Minneapolis wasn’t bad; I even got some Dunkin in the airport. In Minneapolis, I was worried about connecting because our New York flight had been a little late. No need – the Minneapolis to Portland leg left an hour and a half late after a “weight issue” in which they called for volunteers to be bumped. Thankfully, Delta felt my pain and had free wifi on both flights. Well, really it was Google who sponsored it. Thanks, Google!
Then, after arriving in Portland, we still had the two hour drive home. This is why I like to fly into Eugene - once I touch down in Oregon I expect to be home pretty much right then, not have to spend two more hours sitting on my butt on I-5. But I digress - I've now been home for four days and still have 11 more before I have to get on another plane.
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