Travel is not so glamorous

I was reflecting this morning on our tour in the USA. We recently left Poland for almost 7 weeks! When it was time to leave I felt unprepared and not ready to leave. There was just so much work to do, I was uncertain of how our staff could manage without us. (They did just GREAT, by the way!) I got on the plane with that nagging feeling of so many things forgotten, you know how that is...

Our time in the states was, at best, rushed and hurried. We were in Maryland, Texas, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. We did try to spend time with family. In fact we had several days with each of our girls (and the grandbaby) and several days with each of our parents. In between these days were speaking engagements, flights and road trips, LOTS of hotels, and some very uncomfortable beds. I have to say that free breakfasts in most hotels today offer EXACTLY the same fare...waffles, powdered eggs, some cereals, yogurt and coffee that tastes like bad tap water. The first day you are just so happy to see someone else prepare a meal. By day 49 you are ready to forget the word breakfast.

Planes and airports have gotten increasingly more difficult. They continue moving the seats closer together to accommodate more people. (I guess they think we don't notice, though your nose is almost now touching the head of the person seated in front of you.) Most airlines are now making you pay for baggage, which greatly increases the cost of your flight. Negotiating security in some airports demands that you walk through security with no shoes, while others actually missed a pair of forgotten scissors with four inch blades, thus negating the term "security".

When people hear that we live in Europe I sometimes feel as though they envy our "glamorous lifestyle" of travel and experiencing foreign countries. To be sure, there was a day when people probably dressed up to fly, there was an air of elegance about being able to travel, and air line attendants actually felt what they did was a privileged and appreciated job. I thought a great deal about this while the flight attendant on my flight home was pouring water down my back while trying to assist a passenger behind me.

Traveling is not so glamorous anymore. Still, there is only one way to get from Poland to the USA. You have to get on that bird and fly! I am just lucky that when I arrived I had this sweet little person waiting for me!


I got to be next to her bed the day she woke on her second birthday!




We sang happy birthday and played all morning with pink balloons while she danced about in her little pink tutu.




While the travel was not so good, what waited was certainly worthwhile!