Ahhh to be home!

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With a day to unwind, I feel refreshed and glad to be home. Traveling is fun, but too much traveling can be tiring, and as many of you know I've been around the world and back a couple of times in the past year.

Soon after I finished writing the last blog at the passenger terminal on Ramstein air base, I was lounging around when they announced an unscheduled mission leaving later that afternoon for Dover. Man did I luck out! I was soooo grateful that I hadn't left the terminal yet. I ran down to confirm what I was praying that I heard right, and there was in fact a flight leaving for Dover later that evening. A few hours later I was confirmed on the flight and my bag was checked in. Nothing to do but wait. And wait. and wait..... It got pushed back a few times, but after a movie, playing on the internet, and a short nap, we finally boarded at about 8pm. We were in the plane and off the ground by 9. This time it was a C-17, which means jump seats lining the sides of the cargo bay that don't recline and very uncomfortable to sleep in. But, it was a free flight across the atlantic. I made do and managed to get 9 hours of interrupted sleep. Not bad! We landed at midnight eastern time. While on the plane, I met someone who was trying to get to BWI, so I told him that I was basically driving through Baltimore and he was welcome to a ride. It was a slight detour on my 2-hour drive home, but no big deal to be able to help out a fellow service member. I pulled in my parking lot at about 2am, and dragged my suitcase one more time up the stairs. I have no plans on keeping that thing, but it's kind of sad since it came so far with me. The next day I dragged it over to my parents' house (with a bunch of candy and stuff in it) and it almost felt natural lugging a suitcase with me. Everywhere I had gone in the last 2 weeks I had been dragging that lame suitcase. The blisters on my hands were just starting to harden. It was kind of sad to not be pulling it anymore because it means my vacation is really over and I have to start work soon.

Now I have 2 more days before the bell tolls. Even though it's just orientation that I'm starting on Monday, it signals the beginning of an entire year of social isolation, extreme exhaustion, stress, and a WHOLE lot of reading -- and not for pleasure.

All in all, traveling to Scandinavia has been one of my favorite trips so far. It was so vastly different from any other European country. When you come down to it, there are subtle cultural differences between Spain, Italy, Germany, but the Scandinavian countries march to their own drum. It's also a very unintimidating place to travel. Not only does everyone speak English (and I mean EVERYONE. The only person I met who didn't was the Pakistani cab driver in Stockholm), and perfect English at that, but it's the actual official second language in Sweden. That means that most of the signs and announcements are in English as well as Swedish. The entire area is relatively untouched by tourism -- the majority of people you see are actually Swedish, not other tourists. In fact, most people assumed I was Swedish or Norwegian and began speaking to me in that language. Both languages are Germanic, so they are so closely related to English that you can figure out what most signs say with just a little creativity. Understanding the spoken language is a little harder, but not much . After a few days I could almost make out what they were saying. It would be a great place to go for a month. I feel like you could become fluent rather easily, with just a little effort.

Thanks to all for the support and well-wishes. I hope you've enjoyed reading this blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it. It's been fun! So long until the next great adventure. 😊

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Photos

My chariot
I walked all over Spain and Scandinavia in these $5 sandals. I bought them in Spain because my others were giving me blisters. Very simple with foam bottoms and one strap, they were so comfortable! All that walking I did was in these. Take that hikers!

The only casualty
My poor suitcase. We had some good times together. It'll be sad to see you go.