11-9

Day 17

Jeff got me up a little bit early (3:45am), but that was probably for the best--I'm slow-moving at the best of times, and in the morning, fugettaboudit.  Virtually every day since this started, I've been worried about forgetting something, leaving an item behind that I need to bring, and today being the last day in Europe, if I forgot something (like I did my mask yesterday), I can't just go back and get it.

We took a cab, because the trains don't run this early, and once again, I was floored by how expensive it was to ride just fifteen minutes (or less) to the airport.  Before I left, my mom told me I should take a taxi or shuttle to the airport at home, and I was too cheap to do even that, preferring to buy my cousin a meal for taking me there and picking me up.

Sunrise at Amsterdam airport.

Well, I tried to record, but there were too many people around, and I tried to blog, but started falling asleep.  Guess I'll give in to it for a few minutes more.

Eventually, my flight came, and I was on my way.  I watched a few television episodes, watched CYRANO, tried to watch Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY (I tried, man, but didn't make it through), and before long, we were in U.S. airspace again, and I could turn on my phone's dataplan again (I had made exactly zero calls and used it for internet not once since leaving the States).  Everyone around me was speaking English again, and we were back in the Land of Pepsi.

It turned out that my cousin's wife got sick, so he had to take his daughter to a field trip only a few miles from the airport, so even that wasn't particularly inconvenient.  He waited for me to go through Customs, get my suitcase, and I met him at the curbside, and I was back on my way home.  It was cold here, and bright, because I had gained eight hours on the flight.  That would plague me for the days after the trip, with me waking up before dawn almost every single day (regardless of what time I had gone to sleep the night before), but that seems like a small price to pay for a European vacation.

A few days later, my uncle's daughter found out I had been overseas and asked, "Why would YOU get to go to Europe?"  It was a question I had difficulty answering, because I did nothing to deserve such an excellent trip, with so much attention and money showered on me, but just like sometimes bad things happen to good people . . .

Anyway, I leave you with this, a montage of warning signs I saw around Europe (I had a friend, years ago, who was always entertained by them, pretty inexplicably).  Enjoy?