We woke up to a quiet house; the girls were sleeping, and Dave had gone to work to get his new boss signed in, and Sheila had run out for a bit--but not before making a batch of lemon poppyseed muffins! Crazy woman--crazy, wonderful woman! How I miss her and David already! It was good we got our hugs in with him the night before because he was already at work when we got up.
Last minute bag weighings and other details stopped Sheila in her own packing, so we hurried as much as possible to finish our travel preparations. Finally we were all ready to go; I usually like to get to the airport very early, so I was a bit skeptical when everyone else said that two hours would be plenty of time. She drove us to the airport, a 45-minute x 2 out of her day, but she accepted that in good humor, which we greatly appreciated, especially knowing that she would be making the same trip herself only a couple hours later! She walked in with us and helped us find our British Airways check-in counter--the two terminals were not clearly marked, and of course we went in the wrong one first. Fortunately, it is a small airport, so we quickly found the right line to get at the end of; that, and, as Sheila said, she figured out where SHE was supposed to go that afternoon, so it was a good use of time.
So we made it! The line was very long because the Great Britain Swim Team was apparently returning home from a meet, and so we stood for about a half hour without moving forward. Eventually they opened up another counter, and things went quickly after that. However, it was only due to the grace of strong headwinds of our incoming flight that gave us enough time; had it not been delayed a good half hour, we would have been late. As it was, we had adequate time.
We managed to get through the check-in process with just two "irregularities." The first was that, though Iceland Air allows 2 checked bags per person, British Airways only allows one, so we had to pay a fee anyway. Oh well, thanks to Sheila, at least we hadn't bought a suitcase--and it's a great bag, a nice sturdy framed neon yellow duffel bag with a large main compartment and another subcompartment to hold shoes and the like and strong straps to hold it all together, even wheels and a handle so we didn't have to carry it. That plus it took some strain off the large suitcase we had brought that had less than totally reliable stitching.
The second little hiccup was that, when we went through the carry on security x-ray place, we were required to put our ticket and passport in the bin with our carry on stuff; I guess that would help employees identify if there were some question as to ownership--who knows? Anyway, when Andy got his bin back, one of the boarding passes was missing! It apparently had gotten stuck when the little rubber curtain strips drag over the bin as it went through the machine. Fortunately, he noticed it and was able to retrieve it before we moved on to the gate. It might not have been a problem, but it was a bit unsettling at the time. Obviously that stress called for some iced coffee.
We got to the gate with enough time to get a bite to eat. Andy got some pizza, and I got my iced coffee--this was the first time that someone really didn't understand what I meant though she spoke English very well; she made a regular cup of coffee, put the hot coffee in the handled coffee cup, and then put a couple ice cubes in it. Oh well, it wasn't awful, and she was really nice. I also bought a plastic cup with some cashews which I thought would be good for the plane ride. Actually it was just the right size for a certain lemon poppyseed muffin we had abducted to bring to Dinah, so now it was safely ensconced in protective custody.
I had not eaten the cashews, just wrapped them up in a napkin, so I decided to get something decidedly European for my last meal on the continent; I opted for a long, narrow baguette with Hungarian salami and cheese, a sliced sweet gherkin, and a very light cream cheese spread. Once it was heated up and served, it was delicious ::waxing eloquent a la Chopped or some other cook show::
At the gate was a piano that said, "PLAY ME!" but I couldn't break the relative quiet for more than a couple seconds...it turned out to be out of tune, anyway, which would have been painful for me if no one else...however, those few notes were the only ones I had played in over a week. Time flies.
Anyway, it was interesting to see that at airport, well maybe appropriate to THIS one, Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, named in honor of the composer and pianist Franz Liszt.
British Airways is known for its excellent service, and they were getting off to a good start.
We weren't up in the air long before they offered us a snack--Andy chose the chicken bacon wrap and I got the veggie option of couscous and pumpkin seed salad--yum! But it was very filling, and I couldn't finish it. But immediately following was the drink cart--with REAL DIET COKE!!! None of that Coke Light stuff. Ahh, back to civilization...
I'm watching the plane map as we fly over Cologne, and for some reason I feel more international than in all the other places we've been. Now we are crossing The Channel. Watching the plane progress map makes me realize how small our world really is--we're not that far from Rome, even Egypt, and the rest of the Mediterranean--just a couple inches away.
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