I took a little trip to Europe - it blew the lid off my little world. That was month's ago and I'm still recovering.
Sat myself down at the airport cafe and ordered myself a coffee and a mineral water, and pulled out my itinerary. Not that I hadn't looked at it a hundred times by now, but this time it was for pleasure. Until 24 hours ago it was my responsibility to double and triple check that the details were correct. But now was my time to look over the details and imagine what would transpire. No longer could I fret that the hotels wouldn't live up to their names, no longer could I worry that somehow it all might not happen. After 22 years, and months of coordination, I was here!
Lynda and I have been adventuring for years. It started when her daughter Anji was born and we were introduced by a good friend. The first trip we took was when Anji was 5 weeks old. Well, she was at the beginning, by the end she was 6 weeks. We knew a guy who was moving from California back to Tennessee California once we said goodbye to him at the Grand Canyon .
It may startle some of you, but we hitch-hiked an airplane back to LA and hitched a ride with an old mom and dad type in a pick-up truck with a camper shell from there, practically to Lynda's front door. Risky perhaps, but ever since fun and adventurous has been the theme of our friendship.
Lynda and I had coordinated our arrival time to within 2 hours - but as it happens Lynda's flight was delayed by another two hours so the first leg of my journey was really spent alone in Zurich
I validated our Eurail passes, picked a departure time based on Lynda's ETA and found the stairs to our platform, then sat down on a bench to read for a while.
I'm distracted, and keep breaking from my book to look around. I lived in Europe when I was a little girl, and am back to take in the air that has infected me for nearly a lifetime.
On that note, I am whimsically anticipating the smell of diesel and cow manure on this journey. They are smells, as a child, I never liked - but now I'm filled with glee at the thought of standing in city traffic waiting to cross our first busy Geneve street. Diesel in Europe smells better than anywhere else. Same with the cow shit. Why is that? I don't know. Well, they say that sensory recall is very powerful. Maybe that's the pleasure. I'm sure it is.
Ok, it's time to go wait for Lynda's flight. So easy. Just drag my bag across the street back to the airport.
It's good that international travelers have to collect their luggage before they're allowed to meet their friends. It's much less fussy for reunions.
