Europe Trip - Day 1

June 15. 2010

Emily Porter spent the night and we headed towards the airport just after 7:00 am. We could not find any long-term parking at the airport and drove around for quite awhile. We drove through every lot on one side of the terminal then realized there were lots on the other side of the terminal!

The group met up at 9:30 am and getting boarding passes and through security was quite uneventful. Bob Sako seemed to be the only one who had trouble getting through security and I never found out why.

Brittany and I watched Portugal vs. Ivory Coast at TGIF in the Pittsburgh airport. Sarah Steele's dad (Robert) and brother (Micah) were also watching and enjoying a beer, setting in place a trend for our travels.

At one point we heard loud clapping behind us and wondered who could be walking through the airport. Turned out to be a soldier returning and being greeted by his wife and young daughter! The crowd waiting for their flights errupted with applause for the soldier and the wonderful greeting of his daughter jumping in to his arms!

Our plane from Pittsburgh to Newark was a turbo-prop! Very scary! Brittany and Emily Porter sat together and I sat with Kelsey. It was their first flight (and also the first flight for Alyssa Purman and Hannah Scott). This is going to be a great trip with this core group. And thanks to Nick Pokas for switching seats to allow Brittany to sit in the same row with me.

The plane was a q-400 and the pilot said we might have a few bumps. Kelsey's legs were bouncing a mile to minute. Brittany had her hands together...smiling but looking terrified. Take off, all is well (but actually a smooth flight at 19,000 feet).

The plane sounded a lot like the CRV!

It was a beautiful day and the flight was fine. We flew over New York City landing at Newark and we could see the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. We arrived at about 2:30 pm.

At the Newark airport I somehow became in charge of currency exchange for about half the group. I had already exchanged via mail through AAA.

Our core group played cards at Newark (B, K, E, A and H) and Alyssa kept saying "balls" everytime things didn't go her way. She's quite the funny young lady. She also muttered "it's wierd, like toads in the street"...hmmm.

When we were boarding they asked Brittany for her passport, which I had. When I started to get it he saw that it was blue and asked "U.S.?" I said "yes" and he waived us through without looking at any passports.

We boarded the flight to Berlin at 5:30 pm. Kelsey had the window seat beside me and the seat to my right was occupied by a German lady returning to Berlin. I asked if she would switch seats with Brittany (who had a window seat about two rows back). The lady would not switch because she had recently had knee surgery. This turned out to be just fine as Brittany sat with Regina Thalman and Sarah and she had fun. The lady beside me is 64 and, once she understood our tour, talked all night about Berlin and how the World Wars and the Holocaust impacted her family and friends. Very personal stories with both of us crying. She talked about the wall coming down and how her relatives were treated by the SS/Gestapo. Amazing.

She discussed German politics, food, economy, other surrounding countries, the military, Afghanistan, etc. Just marvelous! She told me her husband was working in the states with a Nobel Peace Prize winner developing water improvement / infrastructure for developing countries.

We are flying at 36,000 feet in a 757-200. A small plane for this flight, so says Sarah.

3 things that make me feel small; which is good:

1. The ocean
2. Seeing the world below while in flight.
3. Hearing someone else's life story, like the German woman who just brought this whole trip to a very personal level for me.

We landed safely in Berlin at approximately 8:30 am Berlin time (6 hours ahead of US time). I've been awake 12 hours and the day is really just starting.