travel

The trip is winding down. I'm losing steam, and looking forward to going back to Malmö and my apartment and my friends and family in Sweden.

Being here has been easy and hard. I've loved seeing everyone and spending time doing things I miss, eating foods that are bad for me, and driving around in a car.

But I am worn out. I think I could sleep a whole day.

So far, I have visited:

- Todd
- Linda
- Jenny and Cathi
- Patti and Michelle
- Amie and Brooke

I am having a fantastic time. It's so good to see everyone, and see signs in my language as I am driving, and to just be here with my awesome friends.

I've been walking around feeling awesome about the election, and being in the states, and being around so many people I think are fabulous. And laughing. Laughing. I have missed these people so much.

Last night Todd and I hung out.

Today I went to Linda's for the morning and had just the most wonderful conversation about all kinds of stuff.

For lunch I had Mexican (OMG I have missed that) with Cathi and Jenny and laughed our heads off.

I stopped at Patti's for a little while afterwards and then bought a few necessities from Target before heading to to Happy Hour with Brooke and Amie.

Now I am chilling out wondering what to write- it's so much to digest. I'm at a loss for words. These people are so fantastifc, and I am so lucky. And I can't capture the essense of all of the interesting things we've talked about and done.

Well, there goes my night. I was planning on meeting with friends once I arrived in Columbus, but I sat for 2 hours on a plan in Germany because the airline couldn't contact the U.S. Embassy for passport verification.

I COULD have made my original flight if they would have printed out my ticket for the next leg of the trip, but they didn't and I ended up waiting in line in Customer Service for 45 minutes before someone informed me that I didn't have to stay overnight at Washington Dulles, I had been rebooked for the 8:52 flight to Columbus.

At this point I have been up for 36 hours without proper sleep. I slept two hours last night, and some on the plane, but everyone knows plane sleeping is not satisfying.

The only thing that redeems this day is that Obama won, and everyone I talked to who found out I was from the U.S. commented on our new president. My response was invariably, "Yes! I am so excited!" I received the same enthusiasm in response.

I hate United Airlines, and I hate Lufthansa Airlines out of Germany, at the moment. They cut one night off of my vacation already, and they have no leg room in economy class so my knees hurt.

Did I mention that I am coming to Columbus for November 5 - 12? My cousin is getting married so I found a cheap ticket. I couldn't afford to bring the twins though. :(

Yesterday I met George, a fellow expat, at Copenhagen Central and he gave me a tour of the city. The weather was beautiful, and the lighting perfect for some great pictures, but I didn't have my camera with me (damn!). I did end up using my phone for a few pictures, but it just wasn't the same.

After we walked around the city, we went to a place that SEEMED like an Irish pub, where the bartender SPOKE with an Irish accent, but all of the food on the menu was American style.

I asked for help trying to find a beer I would like, because, as many of you know, I am a beer snob. I didn't feel like Guinness- what I really wanted was an IPA. The bartender suggested a local beer that tasted a lot like Hoegaarden- a nice unfiltered ale.

I stayed a bit to late in Copenhagen. I knew it was getting late, but I didn't know how late until I looked down at my watch and saw that it was 11! We had been in the bar for some time. I had to interrupt George's story so that we could walk down to Copenhagen Central.

He was very sweet and took my backpack for me until I got on the train. It's true, that bag was heavy, but it was good exercise carrying it around.

Home again home again.

I start the new job on Monday, not tomorrow.

We're on the train back to Malmo and Tayler was killing me by singing a verse from Winter Wonderland over and over again. Scott's asleep- the kids are playing Animal Crossing, and I've just awakened from sleeping 2 hours. Our trip north was lovely.

Quickly:

1. We were packing, and picking up prescriptions, and getting things ready up until the end there.
2. I was going to work this morning, but with all of the things left undone, I could only go in, sign my job offer and get things settled before I left.
3. I let my boss down because I didn't finish the project I thought I would, and actually the whole thing is crap. Crap I say. I'm determined not to think about it on the trip, however it's still on my mind.
4. I'm still recovering from all of the stuff we had to do over the weekend. Oy.
5. This is so completely exciting. The twins have been dancing around the airport they are so excited.
6. Tyler's bag got searched at security. It was kind of cute. She was trying to think what might be in it, and then they announced that it was her medication which they thought was something else. This time my bag did not get searched- and the airport security lady was nice to us- pigs are flying.
7. We arrive tomorrow morning at 9am.
8. I'm exhausted. Maybe I will actually sleep on the plane tonight.
9. All posts about our travel will be protected until we return as I don't want to advertise to the whole world that we will be gone for almost 3 weeks!
10. I'm going to log off soon, to try and conserve some laptop battery for the layover in Atlanta.