Thursday, July 7, 2011

Jet Lag Never Felt So Good

I made it.
20 hours of travel and I am still intact- this alone proves that there's friends and family back home feverishly praying for me to have supernatural peace =)
My ADHD kicked in somewhere over Canada, so I took plenty of pictures and spent a little time on my laptop organizing my iTunes account. I also tried to sleep a little- what a futile attempt. For some reason, earplugs just don't drown out the sound of jet engines or screaming babies- both of which filled the semi-quiet passengar cabin for a good 7 hours.

The highlight/lowlight of the flight was on the flight between Reykjavik and Stockholm where I got a random bloody nose. Dry air? Maybe. Whatever caused it, I can assure you that the two beautiful blonde teenage Swedes were horrified and didn’t speak to me the rest of the trip. Something about having blood drip down your lip makes for a good conversation-smasher.

For those back home who know how cranky I get when I am hungry, you'll be happy to hear that I didn't get cranky at all- not one bit- even when I realized I took the metro the wrong way and had to drag my tired hiney and all my freakishly heavy luggage out and on to the other metro going the right direction. Things were looking a little down when I had trouble hailing a taxi in downtown Stockholm and was rolling my luggage over the bumpy bajillion year old cobblestones- enough to make such a racket that locals stopped and stared at my undulating luggage and it's tired, hungry owner.

I caught a taxi just before things were starting to look down- and for a small (not) fee of 200 Kronor (about $30), I was dropped off right at my hostel. Hey, I'd pay $30 anyday as long as I didn't have to heft my luggage around those cobblestones and make a spectacle of myself. My hostel is centrally located, filled with friendly visitors and fairly reasonable (about $34/day). I’ve taken a nice shower to wash off the grime of travel and went out for a superb meal (I spoiled myself with a real meal at a real café since I hadn’t eaten anything since Wednesday at noon).



After dinner, I sat at the water's edge and let the day soak in. The sun warmed me as I started realizing that I'M ACTUALLY HERE! WOO HOO! I admit, I started to cry a little bit because of the excitement and happiness. I am truly blessed.




Swedes are such cool people. They're polite, quiet, clean, and ready to help at a moment's notice. Thanks to the random girl at the metro station that literally steered me in the right direction and explained how to decipher between a 'green' line and a 'red' line. Obviously, I have much to learn.

Here's some highlights of the trip:





Juanita is ready to roll!







Boarding in Spokane






Almost to Reykjavik






Happy Passenger






Sleepy passenger






"I didn't get a wink of sleep and I am super tired" passenger





Headed to customs in Iceland





My last plane ride- headed to Stockholm





Stockholm airport. boo-ya.





Taking the bus into town- I fell asleep and twitched.




First cup of Swedish coffee- delish.






Entertainment on the streets of Gamla Stan





Dinner. Oh, sweet joy!





Panoramic view of the harbor.




PS. For those who want to know, my 'man repellant' worked great. No guy even tried to talk to me- maybe having a huge zit on my chin helped... oh, and the bloody nose. Trifecta.














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