| Off to a Rocky Start |
Day 1 of Michael's European Adventures, and boy has it been adventurous, although not exactly in the way I was hoping for.
I'm tapping this out on my iPod from the Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, which as you may be aware, is not in Europe. It's actually about 2000 miles in the wrong direction from where I started in Washington D.C., which begs the question, what happened? Did I decide to change this blog to Michael's Rocky Mountain Adventures? Or did I get cold feet and decide Europe for 2 months would be too intense? Or perhaps I pulled a Macullay Culken in Home Alone 2 and got on the wrong plane in my rush to get to the gate in time.
Actually the answer is quite a bit more boring than all that. What happened is that yesterday I did not listen to the traffic report before heading to the airport, which might have clued me and my brother in on the 90 minute delays on the D.C. beltway, caused by the painting of lines on the roadway, that we would encounter. So rather than arriving at the airport 2 hours ahead of my scheduled departure, I got there with 35 minutes to spare, which is beyond the point at which airlines consider you a no-show and give the seat you paid for to some other lucky guy. So even though I had no bags to check and I made it to the gate in time to watch the last of the passengers board the plane, they had nowhere left for me to sit. So I was stuck. Literally. Instead of being on that plane with my travel companions Marc and Alex, who had both flown out of their way to meet me in Washington, I was peering out the big glass windows of the C-concourse at Washington-Dulles International Airport, giving the bon voyage wave instead if getting it.
I have to admit I was pretty bummed. Ultimately, I ended up waiting on standby for two overbooked direct to London flights I never made it on, all while my poor brother Adam waited in the parking lot too see what was going to happen. I eventually got confirmed seating on a Denver to London flight the next morning, which explains why I'm here in Denver now.
So somehow I'm in the mountain time zone, sitting in the airport, while Marc and Alex are learning how to say "cheerio, old chap" and eating Yorkshire pudding, which I must admit does suck. But I have to chuckle a little bit at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. In the end, I'll be getting into London tomorrow at noon, which is only 30 hours late, and when I remember that the trip is 66 days long, it's hard to get that upset about it. And on the bright side, not only did I get to have Chipotle for dinner with Adam, but I got to spend the night at my grandpa's house, who just turned 92, and i hadn't seen in about six months. It was nice to sit in his kitchen eating ice cream while he told me and my brother dirty jokes and asked me how I'm doing with the ladies up at school. I never really know how to answer that one.
So off to a rocky start, yes, but I should be back on track soon. And if I can keep things this eventful for the next two months, I think it's going to be a pretty good trip! Blogging tonorrow from London, hopefully! Cheerio, old chap!
|
|
| 1 Comments: |
-
We love you! And don't worry... we haven't said "cheerio old chap" yet. =P
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
We love you! And don't worry... we haven't said "cheerio old chap" yet. =P