For the first time ever in my traveling preparations, I actually finished packing my bags at 7pm the night before instead of an hour before leaving (ask my dad to verify)...although this didn't seem to help much because after my last night of thai food take out with my parents and final touches in cleaning my room I began to re-pack. I first tried to "go to sleep" around 1am, just to get a couple hours in before awakening at 3 but....fail. There was a massive ping pong ball match going on inside my head about my packing and what the whole trip! Did I have everything? Enough? Too much?? Definitely decided too much. So in my mental picture I was subtracting and subtracting and texting Ash asking what she packed (even though we already discussed all this). Finally I couldn't take it anymore and was up by 2:30 to unpack, only to realize the items I wanted to subtract I had already taken out in my last steps of final packin...Oh man I had lost it. Then it hit me...so this was IT!
So we departed Pasadena around 4, airport bound, and couldn't manage to get on the freeway due to construction for many entrances - but that didn't stop us (especially Mom who zoomed through a red light hahahaaa ;P)! We parked, got our tickets, gave our last mom hugs, went through security, boarded our plane, and took off at 7:15 am to Newark! Then after our 2 hour layover, it was time - Hamburg awaited us on the other side and we took off at 6pm. AHHH!!!
After movies, scattered sleep, chatter, and scary turbulence, we landed in Kiel! Although upon our descent, looking out the window, Ash asked what time it was and I said it was almost 7am; well...it was PITCH black after I said, "we'll be jetlagged, but at least it will be daylight when we land!"...We finally asked the nice German lady sitting next to us around what time the sun rises and she said around 9 or 10am! Oh man...
After pretty much breezing through customs, picking up our luggage (the only two left circling in the carousel mind you..), and a quick bathroom break, it was time to go purchase our train ticket to Kiel! We found the station and kiosk pretty easily, with the help of picture symbols heh, but buying our ticket well..dumbfounded us (yes, we even had it on the English setting...). We couldn't figure it out for the life of us and had no brain power left to try; so back up the escalator with all our bags to ask the Airport Concierge what to do. So the nice German man told us there is a more direct route by taking the bus (and cheaper, which at this point Ash and I didn't care) - sold.
About an hour and half later we arrived in my brother's home town! YAY! Off to the Opernhaus to pick up his apartment keys (which was also a maze for me that took 10 minutes), and then final destination - Nik's BOMB pad!!! I am in love with his apartment already - even though he has no furniture or lights or uses his heat haha. Everything took us twice as long to figure out and accomplish the minute we stepped off the plane and the thought of "WHAT are we doing?!?!" definitely was in the forefront, but once we got settled, we went wandering the streets, had some Schnitzel (well Ash did haa), and a coffee. We were trying to stay awake the whole day but then I started speaking jibbersh and knew it was time for a nap. An hour and half later we woke up, and not too long after, this phone starts ringing only to realize it was the downstairs door which meant...NIK! Oh seeing that goofy face just MADE the whole crazy day worth it. Finally reunited with my brother! We went out for a nice dinner and then the rest of the evening was filled with constant laughter, especially filling up the queen sized air mattress with the smallest pump ever.
Finally around 10pm Ash and I crashed and slept for about 12 hours. Now we are ready to venture off into Kiel, maybe see Nik in the Nutcracker tonight, and plan our weekend in Berlin!!!
Oh man, I knew it was going to a challenge, but never could I imagine how it was really going to be...I do feel a bit homesick, but not to the point (yet..?) where my stomach is totally in knots. My theory revolves around how I've traveled a lot and lived on my own a couple times so I have a tougher exterior. Or maybe it's a simple as I have Nik and Ash with me =]. Either way, it's going to be rough at times, but once we get going, those rough times will still occur but we will be stronger and laugh harder - Europe is daunting but bring it on because we are READY to conquer and have FUN!!!
Talk soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment