Der Abschied

Der Abschied

After a filling breakfast and extra-long shower, the car ride to the Raleigh airport began.  I consider myself among the most fortunate of people to have such a great family.  My mother, step-father, and step-sister all rode with me to the airport, helping me with my luggage all the way into the terminal.  Naturally, my mother was a little emotional and insisted on reminding me to be safe and “don’t do anything stupid or crazy.”  I’ll do my best but my friends know just how crazy I can get...right guys?

(This is the part where my mother is suddenly stricken with severe heart palpitations.)

No, nothing I can control will be crazy or stupid.  But, let’s face it, there are people in every culture on the planet that can and will be both.  Which leads to the first problem of my journey...

Air Berlin flight 7249 from JFK to Berlin should have departed at 5:30 p.m.  Instead, an unruly passenger aboard that very same plane coming into JFK raised such a raucous that the flight crew decided to kick him/her off in mid-flight, in Iceland (they left him there).  Apparently, the whole fiasco took three hours which translated into a three hour delay for my journey to Berlin.  I don’t know who the person is or exactly what they did but there are sure to be updates as more details emerge.

The flight was otherwise smooth.  The pre-selected movie was Trout Fishing in Yemen, or something like that.  It stars Ewin Mcgreggor (and a few others but who cares) and the title pretty much sums up the film.  It was good, quaint even, but no American Beauty or Lord of the Rings.  I made small talk with the German guy sitting next to me who just graduated with his PhD from Yale and was on his way to begin a new teaching position at a university in Berlin.  Smart.  Alas, like most airline acquaintances, you’re nice and then you go your separate ways.

As I write this, I’m sitting in concourse C of Berlin, Tegal airport waiting for my 12:40 flight to Vienna.  I am now five hours behind schedule.  Oh, how did the airline compensate?  With a 5 euro voucher good in the entire airport.  Awesome!  I definitely feel redeemed.  The concourse has a very industrial feel with cold, concrete floors and steel girders lining the ceiling.  A trio of trapped birds flit among the girders and rowed seating.  They chirp sporadically begging the question, do they live in here?  It’s clear this is not meant to be a permanent structure. 

I’m tired, have cappuccino breath, and growing impatient but am still excited and grateful to be here.