Masmar's (mis)Adventures

I know...I know...I'm terrible about blogging lately. After spending 19 days back in Minnesota and finding out that people really do read my blog I've made a mid-year resolution to become more consistent with my posting. I guess I forget that what I find routine here in Poland may still hold some interest back in the good ol' USA!!! With that said here is a quick update of my trip back home followed by good, the bad and the ugly from our return trip!

For those that have not heard, Craig and I will be staying another year here in Wrocław. Our new return date is October, 2009. This became official right before our trip to Minnesota so my list of "to-do's" grew a bit longer than anticipated. Most notably... renew our international driver's licenses, register for absentee ballots (don't want to miss out on this year's presidential election) and trying to get another year's worth of our prescription medications (which will run out before we return home in December)! Of course, nothing about any of this was particularly easy but we got it all done just under the wire. We will now wait for someone to tell us what to do to extend our VISA another year. Something tells me that will make getting a year's worth of presriptions feel like a piece of cake!!!

It was weird being "home". Funny, how your house can feel like a hotel when you spend the whole time living out of suitcases. My yard looked horrendous (although I was basing my opinion on Wrocław which is about a month ahead in terms of "spring"). I forgot how to use the remotes, what day the trash needed to be put out, how to dial to retrieve voice messages, what channel is NBC and CBS and TLC...AND....how wonderful it is to get a huge load of laundry done in less than three hours!!! I satisfied my cravings for Jimmy John's vegetarian sandwich, a Dairy Queen blizzard, a patty melt (although not from Champps), french silk pie, Papa John's Pizza and Sargent Pepper's popcorn. I caught up on four month's of People magazines and managed to deplete our US bank account in just 19 days!!! Most importantly, I cried as Erica graduated from nursing school and saw Michael for the first time since we left for Poland in October. Lest I forget...we squeezed in a trip to Iowa for family pictures and celebrated my dad's 80th birthday with a surprise party! Oh wait...I also had one heckuva a good ribeye steak!!!

As expected, it was hard to say good-bye this time. We won't be home again until December which is the longest stretch we've been away without touching down on US soil. Your e-mails and Skype calls will be truly appreciated during this spell.

So do you want to hear about our return flight??? Let's just say three days in the same clothes, a head cold and a dog without food makes for pure entertainment!!! Here goes...

Flight One: Our original flight from Minneapolis to Chicago was cancelled due to mechanical problems. A lovely lady from United Airlines called to let me know ahead of time and worked with me to rebook on an American flight. Being expressly told to check in at the American gates Craig and I stood patiently through a very long line (living in Poland was helpful for the first round of lines) we were told we were NOT booked and we needed to get our ticket from the United gate. To avoid a long line of United passengers waiting to rebook we headed directly to the First Class line before getting to the front of that line I was helped by another agent who kindly rebooked us (never travel with a dog...it makes things sooooooo complicated) on a United flight leaving at 2:30 (saving us double the dog costs by not switching airlines)!! We hit Chicago with plenty of time so relaxed in the gate area. Hmmmm....too good to be true!!! As our 6:30 departure time approached, aircraft seemingly large enough to fly 300 people to Frankfurt, Germany sure didn't seem to be arriving on time. Finally, we are told the plane was late arriving from Thailand but would arrive at our gate as soon as the plane is serviced and food loaded. Ok...we had a long lay-over in Frankfurt so not to worry...yet!!! As our plane pulled into the gate it managed to hit a luggage cart parked in the wrong spot. To make matters worse, the engine was damaged!!! The plane captain inspected the damage and found it sufficient enough that they needed to call in experts! At this point it was undetermined if the damage was "cosmetic" or whether another plane would be required. Being the patient soul he is, Craig immediately left the boarding area to see if we could get on a flight to Munich. Of course, five minues after he left it was announced another plane was found and we should relocate to a new gate. The gate agents told me to move to the new gate and they would page Craig!!! That left me with two carry-ons, my honking big purse and the dog to move!!! I did manage to find out from the gate agents that the pilot was none other than our old neighbor! We were able to catch him at the new gate and get caught up on the kids and neighborhood! For some reason I felt better knowing the pilot!!! Ok...new plane now what??? Of course, 747's don't just hang out at airports waiting for an idiot to leave a luggage cart in the path of a moving plane do they??? Before moving the new plane to the new gate they had to finish the repair that grounded the plane in the first place. Let's not do it before loading all the passengers though!!! We knew we were in trouble when they started a round of beverages before leaving Chicago. Luckily, Craig had gone back and forth trying to upgrade our seats enough that we were moved to economy plus seats at no charge - meaning we had much more leg room and faster beverage service!! We sat on the plane long enough to watch "Grey's Anatomy, The Office and 1/2 of The Monk" before departure. Instead of leaving at 6:30 we finally took off at 11:45 p.m. (meaning I was in my clothes for 13 hours before leaving Chicago)!

Upon arrival in Frankfurt we were told our flight to Wrocław would need to be rebooked. Unfortunately, they didn't tell us it would be on Wednesday!!! I'll leave out all the details and line standing required to book a dog - suffice it to say we got our tickets, a complimentary room at the Sheraton, meal tickets and free breakfast! Could they add dog food to that list???? FYI...we also received two free tickets on United Airlines (mom....could you be sure to watch the mail for them????)! Although, we weren't impacted we also found out there was a bomb scare at the Frankfurt airport. I was soundly asleep during that!!!

Our flight from Frankfurt was boarded on time but once again was scheduled for a plane with maintenance problems. We sat for over 45 minutes in a hot plane, with a dog panting under the seat and me in 2-1/2 day old clothes!!! Did I mention I not only had a head cold but had developed the accompanying cough too!!! Finally, I passed on germs in an airplane...I'm sure those around me were not so thrilled but it provided such an odd pleasure for me!!

Got home...opened the windows...unpacked and took Oliver for a much-needed walk - only to have him attacked by a very large St. Bernard. I don't think I can adequately describe how it happened, but the St. Bernard's owner took the hardest fall, the big dog managed to somehow fit between my legs before landing on Oliver and Craig needed his full pant leg to dry the slobber left on Oliver. We had two beers and called it a night...enough said.....!!!