It’s always hard saying goodbye to family. After our farewell, we walked through the customs gate with shaky hands and anxious feet fumbling our passports and strolling behind 200 pounds of luggage. The 5 days of packing are behind us and were ready to board the flight to a land of which only my imagination can show me what to expect. The land of my love, Romania.
We got 2 hours of sleep and the last thing we needed was security asking to peak inside our bags. The external hard drives and guitar pedals required additional inspection. It took so long to pack because we didn’t want to exceed the weight limit. Were waiting for the Polish Air Lines to open up to board our second flight to Poland. A Lady is walking in front of me and her cane taps the ground to the beat of the Beatles song, “Yesterday”. I’m surrounded by foreign language and I just had the realization that I am actually taking a plane across the world.
Alex’s carry on bag weighed 38 pounds. Hard drives and camera lenses aren’t light. She wasn’t able to check the bag because of the weight so a Polish girl gave her a separate bag for some of her equipment.
I’m sitting in the boarding room listening to foreign language over the intercom speakers waiting for everyone to get up and board the plane to Poland. I can barely see the Chicago cityscape. The sky is gloomy and the weather is dreary. The line is getting long and it’s time to board the flight. Our seats were changed at a moments notice upon boarding the flight and we weren’t going to sit next to each other. A family wanted to switch seats to provide their baby with a window seat. We argued in broken English with the flight attendant about switching our seats with the family. Then we decided we would trade seats but they changed their mind. That is the good part of the flight.
Then there are the crying babies that were programmed to cry every half hour. It’s impossible to sleep in these 15-minute increments. There is no turning back now I thought as I peered through the clouds out over the vast green landscape of Norway.
