4 flights, 4 countries

So my last few days in Winnipeg before leaving for Europe were pretty hectic. A lot of very late nights and very early mornings, and working every day up until I left. It was really hard trying to get everything done and trying to see everyone before leaving. I didn’t manage to do it all, but I certainly did get most of it done, which was pretty good, considering I’m not the most organized person, or even much of a planner. I didn’t start packing until the morning of my flight (typical), although I had been throwing things in a to-pack pile as the week went on, so it was really just a matter of fitting it all in my bag. I thought I was doing really good on time, but it turns out I wasn’t (which is usually the case, and you’d think I would’ve learned by now, but I haven’t), so I ended up in a mad scramble to try and get everything done and packed, and of course ended up leaving much later than I had originally planned.

I headed to the hotel next door and got myself a taxi and off we went. We were making good time until we got stopped by a train. And I mean LITERALLY, as the train actually stopped on the tracks. You can imagine my stress level, as I hadn’t been able to check-in online and I was getting close to the check-in deadline. Luckily there wasn’t a median, so the cab driver (sensing my panic) turned us around and took another route. Which would’ve been awesome, except that we ended up getting stopped by a SECOND train! I mean, SERIOUSLY!?!?! Now I was in a full-blown panic.

Luckily this one ended up being relatively short and in a few minutes we were on our way again. I finally made it to check-in and all was good! I headed to the security area and was about to get in line when I realized….I’d forgotten my laptop in the back of the cab!!!! OMG!

There was a lot of cursing and googling to find the number for the cab company (and to be honest, I wasn’t even sure which cab company I’d taken, so I called them both. Turns out it was Duffy’s, the first one I called). Nothing had been called in, so they said they would send a message out to all the cabs, since they had no way of tracing the exact cab I’d taken. I checked with the airline attendants to find out what was the latest time I could be at the gate, and then I went outside to wait and hope that the cab driver would return with my laptop. I’d been kind of going in and out, waiting for them to call me to say they’d found it, or checking to see if my cab driver had returned, when I saw a cab from Duffy’s sitting there. I went up to it intending to ask the driver if he’d heard if anyone had found my laptop, but it was empty. So I waited around for the driver to come back, and while I was waiting, I saw my cab driver coming out from the check-in area, waving at me and telling me he’d found my laptop and had dropped it off at the check-in counter for me!!!

I couldn’t thank him enough. I ran in, grabbed my computer and made it through security quickly and with time to spare. I even had time to sit and eat a little something before boarding! I ended up running into one of the check-in guys while I was getting something to eat, and he remembered me and asked me if I’d gotten my laptop back, lol. So in the end it all turned out okay! 🙂

So my first flight with Delta/Air France was to Minneapolis and it was pretty good. Some lady was mistakenly in my aisle seat when I got on, but she was supposed to have a window seat on the other side, so I told her I would be more than happy to just sit in the window seat instead. That was a lucky break, since I was exhausted and I ended up sleeping against the window the entire way.

I had a few hours layover at the Minneapolis airport, which was fine because it’s a pretty nice airport, as airports go. I’ve flown through there several times before, but every other time I’ve been rushing from one end to the other to make my connection, so this was the first time I was able to walk around and really check it out. It’s a really big airport, so there is a tram that connects the different terminals to make it quicker for passengers. You can walk from one end to the other if you prefer, which is what I did, since I’m in a Run for Wine competition and we can run (or walk in my case) up to 7 miles a day and I needed to get my miles in! While I was walking, I got to enjoy some of the features they have at the airport, such as free wifi, a pianist and a harpist playing beautiful music; a film screening room featuring award-winning shorts and documentaries; moving walkways; lots of different restaurants and fast-food places; lots of shops; and areas with comfortable seating.

Then it was time to board my 2nd flight to Paris. It wasn’t too bad, I had the aisle seat, and I started watching the movie Race (about Jesse Owens), which was really good, until my screen stopped working with 40 min left in the movie! 🙁 The flight attendants reset it twice, but it still wasn’t working, so I ended up sitting in an empty seat to finish it and then heading back to mine to sleep the rest of the flight.

After that I had an hour to kill in Charles de Gaulles airport, which is pretty nice. In the terminal I was in, they had these nice areas at each end, with recliners facing these big windows, it was really nice! From Paris, it was off to Edinburgh and I slept that entire flight. I was kind of annoyed when I woke up, because I’d missed the drinks and snacks and I was crazy thirsty. I find it kind of annoying that they just bypass you if you’re sleeping, although I’m sure some people would find it annoying to be woken up. They need to have some sort of sticker you can put on your seat that means wake me up if you’re giving out food or drinks. There’s nothing worse on a long flight than to wake up starving only to realize that you missed the meal! I was once super lucky on a flight from L.A. to Sydney, when I had fallen asleep and when I woke up, the lady sitting next to me had gotten a sandwich for me as well as for herself. She was the best!

The Edinburgh airport was okay, I spent the entire time walking, trying to get in another 7 miles since it was now a new day. Then it was time to board and head to Copenhagen, my final destination and my 4th country in 4 flights. Once again I slept the entire time, and I was super confused when we landed because it was still light out.

I guess the flight I had originally been looking at landed at 10pm, so even though I had booked a different flight (and I had left Edinburgh at 3pm), I still had it in my head that I was landing at 10pm. I couldn’t figure out how it could still be light out in Copenhagen at 10pm in September!!! Eventually I looked up my flight and realized I’d gotten it completely wrong. I had to send my friend Melody (who’d been there a few days already) a message, because I told her I’d arrive at 10, so I wasn’t sure if she was still out or if she was already back at the air b&b. Luckily where she was she had free wifi, so she got my messages right away and said she’d meet me there in one hour, which gave me enough time to charge my almost-dead phone and get the metro. It was so amazing to see her, it’s been 6 years since we last saw each other, when Kemi and I were road tripping around the East Coast and made a stop in Boston to visit her. We have one of those friendships where it’s like no time has passed, even though we haven’t seen each other in years. We ended up going for dinner at Grillen Burgerbar, which was decent, and then for a walk around the city while we caught up. Then it was time to chill and start watching How To Stay Single until I fell asleep halfway through.