Relo-Wrap-Up
It's been an eventful past month and things are finally settling down. I have no idea how I'll catch up in writing about it, but I'll keep it short where possible and do my best.
I managed to get the apartment in Germany cleared out. In fact, I did too good of a job because it turns out a couple of the items belonged to the owner. Oops. I really thought they were left by the previous tenant and that it was now my responsibility to get rid of them, as they weren't on the original inventory list for the apartment either. Oh well. I'm still waiting to see how forgiving he'll be when he returns my deposit (or rather a portion thereof).
The morning of the flight home was hectic to say the least. I slowly realized I didn't leave nearly enough time to get to the airport. And we were in rush-hour traffic, so I just didn't plan ahead very well at all. I got to the airport in Stuttgart about 45 minutes before the flight was to depart and then freaked at the long line for check-in. After waiting it out, they looked at me oddly and told me I needed to go to the Lufthansa counter. By the time I got to the Lufthansa area - and the end of another long line, I only had 20 minutes until the flight was to leave, so I had no chance. Then, a minor miracle. An early Christmas present. A sign of love from my higher power. I looked up at the departing flight board again and my flight had suddenly been delayed by 30 minutes! I grabbed an attendant and was taken to the front of the line amid snickers from some of the others in line. Ha. After getting there, they checked me in to the extent possible, but said I had to go to another counter first (back in the other terminal, of course) to sign for something and get the boarding pass. My company had arranged for some special ticket, blah blah, and I wasn't happy about it. It was a wild morning running around the airport stressed out, but amazingly I caught my flight to Frankfurt.
My flight on Air India from Frankfurt to Chicago was glorious. And I was only one red dot and a head scarf away from fitting in with everyone else. It was the biggest plane I've been on, as well as the emptiest. Basically everyone had a whole row to themselves and was able to lie down. I gobbled up two bags of snacks they gave me. But since we were so empty, they went through snack service so quickly that they started right up with the meal. So I kept eating and eating - and all the food was tasty and new to me - and I was stuffed. Got a tummy ache so it was good I was able to lie down. The next best part was when the stewardess was passing out customs forms before landing. She was going through the aisles asking people whether they were US citizens or not, and handing them the appropriate form. Then she gets to me, doesn't say a word, hands me a US citizen form and continues asking everyone else. Ha. I could have been Canadian. Or German.
Update 7/19/2008: So I made it to Chicago, bought a car, moved into a house, started the job, blah blah :-)
I managed to get the apartment in Germany cleared out. In fact, I did too good of a job because it turns out a couple of the items belonged to the owner. Oops. I really thought they were left by the previous tenant and that it was now my responsibility to get rid of them, as they weren't on the original inventory list for the apartment either. Oh well. I'm still waiting to see how forgiving he'll be when he returns my deposit (or rather a portion thereof).
The morning of the flight home was hectic to say the least. I slowly realized I didn't leave nearly enough time to get to the airport. And we were in rush-hour traffic, so I just didn't plan ahead very well at all. I got to the airport in Stuttgart about 45 minutes before the flight was to depart and then freaked at the long line for check-in. After waiting it out, they looked at me oddly and told me I needed to go to the Lufthansa counter. By the time I got to the Lufthansa area - and the end of another long line, I only had 20 minutes until the flight was to leave, so I had no chance. Then, a minor miracle. An early Christmas present. A sign of love from my higher power. I looked up at the departing flight board again and my flight had suddenly been delayed by 30 minutes! I grabbed an attendant and was taken to the front of the line amid snickers from some of the others in line. Ha. After getting there, they checked me in to the extent possible, but said I had to go to another counter first (back in the other terminal, of course) to sign for something and get the boarding pass. My company had arranged for some special ticket, blah blah, and I wasn't happy about it. It was a wild morning running around the airport stressed out, but amazingly I caught my flight to Frankfurt.
My flight on Air India from Frankfurt to Chicago was glorious. And I was only one red dot and a head scarf away from fitting in with everyone else. It was the biggest plane I've been on, as well as the emptiest. Basically everyone had a whole row to themselves and was able to lie down. I gobbled up two bags of snacks they gave me. But since we were so empty, they went through snack service so quickly that they started right up with the meal. So I kept eating and eating - and all the food was tasty and new to me - and I was stuffed. Got a tummy ache so it was good I was able to lie down. The next best part was when the stewardess was passing out customs forms before landing. She was going through the aisles asking people whether they were US citizens or not, and handing them the appropriate form. Then she gets to me, doesn't say a word, hands me a US citizen form and continues asking everyone else. Ha. I could have been Canadian. Or German.
Update 7/19/2008: So I made it to Chicago, bought a car, moved into a house, started the job, blah blah :-)