Long Over-due update

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." ~ Jawaharial Nehru

Travel continues to hold a special place in my heart. While I have not had the opportunity to travel the globe lately, I have gotten to explore a handful of places in the eastern part of my home country. Gettysburg, Orlando, Detroit, Washington DC (and surrounding areas) have provided plenty of opportunities for adventure.

My first trip to Gettysburg, PA did not disappoint. It is less than 3 hours away from my home, but I had never gone to the historic place until April of this year to visit a friend. It is absolutely a location I intend to revisit.

I rented my first car. It turned out to be very nice and I briefly considered purchasing one... until I met the Hyundai Veloster, of course. The rental car was definitely not bad.

The GPS, however, was far less than helpful. The dead-end you see here was the result of a "Turn Left" and go straight. Experiences such as this have lead me to the conclusion that one should probably have a backup set of directions.

The business trip to Detroit in June was actually pretty impressive. The whole office was sent up north to work at a 3-day hiring event in COBO hall. Our mission: to assist veterans and service members with creating or editing a workable federal resume, preparing them for interviews, etc.

Our first night in Detroit offered a pleasant surprise. Boyz II Men had a concert along the river right by our hotel. For a mere $5, I had the pleasure of hearing their beautiful voices live and in concert. :)

There was also an incredible restaurant that had some of the best sushi I've ever eaten. An interesting lobster bisque soup and delectable dessert display were fantastic as well. If you're ever in Detroit, stop in at Joe Muer Seafood and order the Detroit Roll. Good times for sure.

There was even a firework display in front of the hotel. Boats were lined up along the river between the USA and Canada and served as the setting for one of the most stunning displays of fireworkery that I have witnessed in a very long time.

Orlando with my sister was truly delightful. We spent 3 beautiful, sunny July days wandering through the offerings of Universal Studios. Staying at the Hard Rock hotel proved to be an excellent idea as we did not have to worry about driving, parking or getting lost. The hotel was a short walk, boat ride or bicycle-towed wagon ride from the main gates of Universal Studios and the Islands of Adventure and everything was on the same resort. We had purchased an excellent package that covered the room, breakfast at The Three Broomsticks in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and hopper passes for the three day stay. We didn't even need a car as there were fabulous restaurants within walking distance. We ended the week in a beautiful condo along the gulf of Mexico with the rest of our family.

Hamburg via Frankfurt

When my flight from Toulouse to the connection in Frankfurt was delayed, thoughts of "Here we go again" flashed through my mind. If this flight through FRA had been anything like my first stopover in Frankfurt, there could have been a bit of an issue.

We finally boarded the flight to Frankfurt about a half hour or so after its scheduled departure. Landing in Frankfurt, I was delighted to find that I would not have to go through yet another screening before finding my next gate. If I had, there was absolutely no way I would have made it to my destination tonight.

As it was, I did have to run from one end of the airport to the other... through a series of tunnels and lifts... in pursuit of my old nemesis, A Gate.

As luck must have been smiling upon me, the FRA->HAM flight was running a few minutes late, itself. The small delay provided plenty of time to pick up a bottle of coke from a rather conveniently placed newsstand.

Landing in Hamburg, I was happy to find that my luggage landed with me. Who else feels a huge surge of relief upon seeing their bags come up on the belt? Armin picked me up and we went to his lovely apartment. Seriously, it's pretty bad ass :). As it was late, we enjoyed a glass of wine and chatted a bit before bed.

Ferries, Flights, Language Barriers

We left quite early this morning in order to catch the ferry to the mainland. Of course, as we were in Italy, everything was in Italian and my parents weren't sure where we were going. Thus, another Lynch family saga began before the sun came up.

The online ferry itinerary said the first boat was scheduled to leave Lido at 4:50. We left extra early in order to make it. The dock was completely silent without a life in sight. Accompanied by nothing but the rain drops crashing against the windshield, we found ourselves to be in a difficult situation. Perhaps there is no ferry today? Could this be the wrong place? What's going on?!? We really need to catch our flight!

We drove over to the bus/vaporetto ticket booth, as it was the only populated business on the island, to ask for assistance. Through broken English and really bad Italian, we were able to communicate with the men. We learned that the ferry would leave at 5:00 and it was only 2 kilometers away. Ok, so the dock we found earlier was the right one... where are the people? How do we get a ticket?

We waited at the dock for a few minutes until deciding to go on another search for the ticket booth. Driving around the dark streets of Lido, we eventually found the proper signs and followed them to the booth. As it was quite early on a cold, weekend morning, there weren't many cars waiting to board the ferry. It left at 5:30.

The ride lasted about half an hour and we were not permitted to stay in the car. We went to sit in the lounge on the second floor. It was freezing and the coffee counter wasn't open yet, but the furniture was more comfortable than it was on the way over. So, half asleep, I relaxed in the chilly room on my way back to the mainland.

We returned to the car shortly before we docked and I fell asleep promptly after securing my seatbelt. As far as I know, we made it to the airport without getting lost. I'll never know. :)

It was a bit of a hike from the car park to the airport, but it wasn't bad. We were pretty early, so our flight hadn't been assigned a check-in desk. The gate was assigned, but we couldn't check in... weird. Eventually, after every flight listed on the screen had been assigned, our flight was assigned to desk 13. The girl behind the desk took a very long time to get everything in order, but she gave us a map of where we'd be landing and how to get around once there. It was a nice gesture and quite appreciated.

Going through airport security, a very polite security agent asked if he could inspect my purse. He was not rude or pushy like the TSA people at home tend to be. I said, "Of course, I have nothing to hide." He looked through the bag, found nothing out of the ordinary, and tried to close it. Well, of course, the zipper decided to act up and he was a bit embarrassed, but I just smiled and said not to worry. The zipper gets stuck when opened fully.

Our gate was pretty easy to find and I took a short nap before the flight, using my backpack as a pillow. When it was time to board the plane, we hopped on a shuttle and waited about 10 minutes or so for everyone to get on. The shuttle went about 30 yards, stopped, and we were at our plane. It would have been so much faster if we could have just walked over to our tiny plane. Oh well, that's airport security for you.

The flight was pleasant. At one point, the puffy white clouds we were flying over were broken up by the peaks of a mountain range. That mountain was huge, climbing higher than the clouds. Interesting, beautiful, and slightly terrifying... nothing should be that big! :)

As we were en route to Paris for our connection to Toulosue, I was curious to see if the demonstrations and strikes had made their way into CDG. Gladly, it wasn't and we were able to pass through relatively smoothly. Hindered only by the ridiculous practice of having to exit the secure area to pass through carry-on security yet again to reach our connecting flight, everything went smoothly. I doubt I will ever fully understand the reasoning behind leaving a secure area only to pass through screening again before a connecting flight.

There's a bit of advice for all you happy travelers out there, if you'll be flying internationally and have connecting flights, make sure you leave plenty of time to go through security again.

We arrived back in Ambialet and it was another beautiful evening at the priory. :)

Watch out, Italy! Here I come

I'm enroute to Italy today, with my parents. We will be visiting the lovely Venice as the students explore London for their long weekend break. I plan to do a bit of exploring on my own while in Venice. I enjoyed exploring Barcelona by myself, it always provides for a more interesting adventure.

The flights, themselves, were pretty uneventful. I enjoyed not being frisked going through the security check in Toulouse. I just had to have my bag looked through. Apparently my haphazard way of packing my electronics' cords looks rather alarming when going through an x-ray machine. Ha ha. Oh well. Take that into consideration when packing for your next vacation by airplane.

Our flights were on time and we had no delays in getting to Venice. Both suitcases made their way to Baggage Claim in a timely fashion and we went to pick up our rental car from Hertz. The car is an adorable little model from Fiat called the Panda. It is small, but spacious enough for everyone and the bags to have a comfortable fit.

In true Lynch fashion, we got lost on our way to the ferry. Then again once we reached the island to look for our hotel. When I called the hotel, the woman at the desk was less than helpful in telling us how to find our way. I told her where we were and she merely said things like "No, not there." No helpful words like, "Oh, you're almost at the golf course? Ok, turn around, follow this road, turn here... etc." were provided. Then, as I hadn't charged my phone before leaving, it died halfway through the conversation anyway. Ha. What luck!

Everything turned out alright in the end. We made it to our hotel and I can safely say it is a rather nice place. The lobby is spacious and clean. There are beautiful plants, including orchids, around the main desk and entrance. Our room is pretty nice and the shower's water pressure is fantastic!

I am disappointed that I will not have a usable internet connection this evening, we arrived pretty late and the front desk didn't provide us with the access code. Not to worry, though, tomorrow is another day.

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

but the plane is not...

I get to the airport, quite ahead of schedule. Check-in and security go smoothly, with limited hassle. On to the gate… all is well, flights appear to be running on schedule. Europe, here I come! But wait, the 4:50 flight to Washington (IAD) has been delayed! Oh the humanity! It has been bumped back to 6:45 and there is no way I will ever make it to my 7:00 flight out of IAD for Frankfurt, Germany. Time to stop at the United desk and get a new flight plan.

New plan: 8:15 out of IAD to Munich, Germany for my connection to Toulouse, France (TLS). Okay, it will be tight, but I can make that work. I think I’ll relax, grab a cup of coffee, and Skype with my family for a little while. There is plenty of time before the PIT-IAD flight leaves.

Fast forward 20 minutes, I’ve checked the flight times online. Uh oh, PIT-IAD has been bumped back yet again. 7:40 this time. I’m not going to make my connection to Munich now. Damn, better go back to the desk.

The woman at the desk tells me to wait half an hour to see if the flight gets bumped up. I think to myself, “the only way I’m going to make that connection is if we fly through some sort of magic, time changing, worm hole.” I keep my thoughts to myself and do as she asks, time to wait again. Of course, the flight is not bumped up to an earlier time. To the contrary, it gets pushed back to 7:56. Now I can be absolutely sure I’m not going to make my connection to Munich.

Back to the desk… fingers crossed that they can find a new flight for me. After 20 minutes of waiting to catch the woman’s attention, she searches for a flight. What luck! A seat has just opened on the 9:59 flight to Frankfurt. It’ll be close, but with any luck I can make the flight to Europe. As long as the 4:50 turned 7:56 flight departure doesn’t get pushed back yet again and we leave “on time”, I’ll finally be on my way across the sea.

PIT departs at 8:00, another 4 minutes have been lost, but there is still hope if the gates are close to one another. At 9:03, the PIT to IAD plane has landed, in a couple of minutes we’ll be taxied into the gate. Man, this is cutting it close, I hope the next flight is nearby. Of course, the travel gods are laughing so hard they have started to roll out of their first class seats. The next gate is on the other end of the airport. Better start running!

I reach the gate just as they are preparing to close the doors. I’m the last passenger to board the plane, but I’ve made it. Now to find my seat. .. 17E… yuck. It’s directly in the middle of the row. I won’t complain though, I’m lucky I got on the flight to begin with.

Wait a minute! 17E is in the front of the Economy Plus section! I got a free upgrade. Thank you, travel gods, perhaps I’ve misjudged you. The extra leg room and cool dinner tray and TV screen set up are pretty sweet. Plus, I’ve made a new friend, Kyle. For the next 8 hours, we spend the time chatting, watching cartoons, and listening to music. Probably should have gotten some sleep, but who can pass up friendly conversation and watching cartoons? I know I can’t. It’s just too much fun!

The plane lands, it is time to get off and move onto the final leg of my journey to Toulouse. First, a stop at the passport check counter. I’m pretty sure everyone and anyone that has ever had a passport decided to fly today. The line is incredibly long and slow moving. Will I make it to my flight on time?

I’m finally through the passport check. On to the gate? Nope, on to security checkpoint 2. Apparently the US security workers don’t do a good enough job of checking travelers, so this airport decides to go through the bags again. Of course I set off the metal detector for some reason, the wand is passed over me, I get frisked. Ok, that ordeal is over, time to move on to the gate. I better hurry, there is barely enough time to make it.

Is this some kind of a joke? Where is Gate A9? Ha! Let me tell you where Gate A9 is… it is in what looks like a refurbished basement down a series of corridors, elevators, stairwells, etc. As you can clearly guess, I didn’t make it to the gate in time. Fantastic. Now what?

I am told that the flight has already left. Ok, where can I get a new flight to Toulouse? Well, apparently I have to go to the United desk in the B Gate area.
Ok, time to find the United terminal in Gate B. That’s odd. There is no United anything, let alone terminal, in Gate B. Panic starts to creep in. How am I supposed to get to Toulouse? I can’t even find the airline! I wander around some more, frantically searching for the United name. As the wandering around has gotten me nowhere, I decide to ask someone.

There is an employee at the gate of an airline I have never heard of in my life. He doesn’t have any passengers to deal with yet, so I’ll ask him where I should go. Success! There is a United Airlines area in the airport. Failure… it is outside the secure area. But I know where it is now. What a helpful and friendly man.

After another series of scavenger hunt style flight booking, it is time to go through flight security yet again. My bags are checked for the 3rd time in this series of flights, the metal detector goes off for the second time, and I get frisked yet again. Ok, on to the gate.

Finally, a gate that actually looks like it belongs in an international airport! I find a seat, pick up a carbonated apple juice, and relax until it’s time to fly. After such a long day, I’m glad I’ll be in Ambialet in a matter of hours.
This new flight arrives on time, departs as scheduled, and I land in Toulouse shortly after 6:00. Later than originally scheduled, but I’ve made it and my next stop is Ambialet. Miraculously, my bags have succeeded in meeting me at the pickup area. Now that took some serious skill and organization on the airport community’s part.

Off to Ambialet…