Up Up and Away

Well, I have an hour or more to kill here at the new Indianapolis International airport.  I have never traveled internationally going east and west.  My trip (4) years ago to Argentina was strictly north and south.  I did not have to deal with much of a time zone change or with flying over any oceans so this trip to Romania will give me experience in both.  I woke up this morning at 3:30 (actually Oreo decided he wanted to go out).  After his return to the house, I decided to stay up anyway though I did nod on and off while on the couch waiting for 6 am to arrive so I could make the coffee and wake up the wife.

I started packing for my trip around 9 or so (nothing like waiting until the last minute) and other than almost giving up on my 2nd pair of jeans that I wanted to take (I found them after the luggage was already in the van) all went well.  The trip to the airport (75 minutes or so) went well and we all enjoyed some final moments together as the foursome that constitutes our immediate family.  The wife and kids did good and were not overly emotional when dropping me off and I quickly made my way to the United Airlines ticket counter.  It was there I met Nick, the behind the counter guy that I had to use as the self service computers did not like that I was switching to another airline in Toronto so I had to rely on Nick.  Nick didn’t seem to have it all together as he was asking ME for airport codes (which I did not have).  But, after another attendant jumped in to help, my single bag was checked and I had all (3) of my boarding passes (from Indy to Toronto, Toronto to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to Bucharest).  Nick was able to calm one fear, namely that I would have to seek out and re-check my 30lb luggage at every stop.  He assured me that my bag would be there when I was (Nick, I hope you are right [though I always carry an extra pair of underwear in my carry on just in case {yes, I know that might be too much information}])

The TSA experience was uneventful (just the way I had hoped) and after I put everything back in my pockets and put my shoes back on, I was on my way to the terminal to kill some time (and write this blog).  I think I will log off and find a place to relax with my headphones.  I do not have internet access here (or that is to say I don’t want to pay for it) so I am not sure when this blog will post.

Jon