Well, the big day of traveling is done and now comes the revival stages! Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think it will be that bad, but that might have to do with the 3 hour nap I squeezed in on my first day (FYI you're not supposed to do that).
So here's the scoop on our big day of traveling. Wednesday rolled around and I finished my packing as the snow fell and the wind blew. I began to worry about my flights getting cancelled, but some of my fellow travelers reassured me it'd be fine. Around 8:30pm we were informed our flight was cancelled and we had to get on a 1 o'clock flight. Frantically I checked the status of my flight. As the page took 920651 years to load, I began to freak out. No way can this happen! I am getting to Europe at 9:30AM on Friday morning, and that's that! Well, online it said my flight was confirmed. So I continued with my plans for the evening. At 10:30pm, I received a phone call saying it was cancelled, the 1 o'clock was full so I had to get on a 10:26am flight. Crap! So I hurried back to campus, shed a few tears of anxiety, called United and got on the flight. Phew, that was close. Well, I called my dad and told him that United's service was just not up to par these days. Who cancels flights and doesn't send out e-mails? They were going to hear a few words from me. Curious, my dad called them and found out the flight was still in operation. What? Then why did they tell other travelers it wasn't? Confused, I called the girl I was riding to Sioux Falls with to tell her the news, but we decided to stick with the 10:26AM flight, just in case.
Thus, my adventure to Europe began approximately 4 hours earlier than anticipated. At 7:50AM, I said my final goodbyes to my roommates, grabbed my 2 suitcase (54.5 lbs, 35 lbs), backpack, double checked for my passport and letter of acceptance, and met my ride by the door. Turns out flights were backed up and taking the early flight was the wisest decision, so it all worked out in the end. We arrived in Chicago around 1:15pm, grabbed some food, met a few of our fellow travelers, and eventually all 12 of us congregated at gate C18 to wait to board our 6:02 PM flight to Amsterdam. At 5:15PM, we boarded the plane, texted our last texts and envied all of the people in the first class lounges. The flight seemed to go by fairly quickly with food, drinks, movies, and sleeping, but I was so tired when I got there! Not only tired, but anxious for Customs. What if my passport isn't valid? What if they send me back? What if's every where in my weary mind! Well, customs just asked for our passports, stamped them, and sent us off to baggage.
I once read that when you're packing to travel, lay out all your clothes and money. Then, take half the clothes and twice the money you originally had out. Seriously, rule #1 of traveling to Europe: pack light. And when I say "light," I don't mean 2 suitcases. I mean pack like you're going to a hotel for one night, because trust me: if you tell yourself, "I have 2 suitcases," you WILL fill them. And you will regret it. This is why: airport carts. They are so tricky to get loose! The guys in our group seemed to get theirs out just fine, but when a few of us girls tried, we got mocked by Europeans for like 10 minutes! I finally gave up and accepted that I'd have to haul my 2 suitcases and backpack by hand, but then my wonderful roommate figured out how to get the carts loose. Needless to say, we were quite the scene in the baggage claim. Literally every person in our group, with the exception of one boy, brought 2 bags plus backpacks and such. You could tell our Dutch buddies thought we were crazy, but alas, it is the American way. Consumerism at its finest. Also, don't forget their cars are much smaller, so cramming 4 suitcases (2 for each roommate) into one vehicle is a bit tricky. And hauling them up those steep stairs, yeah good luck with that! Needless to say, after a "day" full of cars, planes, trains, and battles with our luggage, Larae and I were exhausted and decided it was a good idea to nap for 3 hours, until our mom came and woke us for dinner-- some sort of curry chicken and rice, which was quite delicious.
After dinner, devotions, and clean up, we sat and visited for a few hours with our parents and 2 of our brothers, drank some coffee, obviously had a stroep waffle, washed our faces, and are now ready for a good, long slumber before our first adventure into the city of Zwolle. It was a long 36 or so hours, but I am safe and here and ready to begin what I am being repeatedly assured and proven to be a once in a lifetime experience I will never regret and always remember.
"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." --Martin Buber
Here begins mine.
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