The children and I have done many long haul trips together, but primarily by plane. This year we are driving up to the north woods of Minnesota since we are already on this side of the Atlantic Ocean and we have a car. I told the kids that it would be better than flying – that we’d be able to make our own schedule, eat what and when we liked*, and I even borrowed a dual screen portable DVD player for them to simulate that plane experience (which is more than I ever had on our long drives from Louisiana to Minnesota when I was a child we didn’t even have air conditioning or radio for many years!)
I also told them we’d have more space in the car. I may have misled them a bit on that count. A Volkswagon Golf hatchback holds more than you’d think, but not quite as much I’d like. Every square inch of space is taken, including the back dash and the floor space in the backseat. On the up side, no one will be reclining the front seats into their laps, the kids have about twenty new-to-them movies to watch, and all the other stuff I told them is true – we can eat when and what we want, *provided of course I can find anywhere to stop in the rural areas we’ll be passing through.
I expect the drive to take between two and two and a half days. I used to make the 19 hour drive between Kent, Ohio and Baton Rouge, Louisiana in one shot back when I was in grad school by leaving at 3am, but I think if I tried that now, I’d have a mutiny on my hands. Besides, I’m not 22 years old anymore. One benefit to air travel is that someone else is doing the driving so you can nod off if you wish!
Given the limited nature of the internet connection at my father’s house, I may post a bit irregularly in July and August. That’s okay – it’s summer and I’m sure you have better things to do than haunt my blog anyway, right? I’m sure I’ll be around at least a couple times a week though – after three years of blogging, I’m well and truly hooked on it!
My trip back to Egypt went smoothly enough, in spite of a surprise re-route through Paris. I was worried about that – can you blame me after the trouble I had on the first part of my trip?? – but it all went well enough. I am almost positive two of my bags were over the weight limit but with the distraction of re-routing me and the children either the gate agent didn’t notice or chose to let it slide. Phew.
I arrived in Cairo three hours later than originally scheduled, just before iftar (the sunset breaking of the fast during Ramadan) and was a little concerned about that timing because typically nothing happens for about two hours after that. It was in fact the most efficient arrival I’ve ever experienced. I was through passport control in about five minutes and all of my bags came through one after another, bam bam bam. I was through customs and driving away in half an hour. Unheard of. The call to prayer (and the signal to eat) came as I was waiting for my driver to bring the car around. The timing worked out in another way as well: the roads were nearly empty so we cruised home in no time.
I can almost hear you thinking what’s the catch. Well, let’s just say I would advise you never to assume an airline with have the sense to throw a tarp over your luggage, even if it is raining steadily for a five hour layover. All of my bags were damp and the contents of two were actually wet. One quilting magazine and some other assorted paperwork were soaked. It could have been worse I suppose – at least all my new books were well protected (I tend to pack with lots of plastic bags, against interior explosions of shampoo, etc)
I’ve been back a day and my bags are unpacked and put away, until next time. I am however still settling in. After being in the quiet of the north woods for six weeks, things here seem really loud. Air conditioners perpetually blowing, two toilets running, traffic noise – not to mention the children. It will take me a little while to tune it all out again.
It’s quiet in other ways though. Two of my closest friends moved away at the end of June. No more girly chats, no more wine nights. No more silly text messages throughout the day. I’m sure I’ll find ways to fill in the gaps and distract myself but for right now it all feels a little hollow.
School starts on Sunday. I’ve been ALONE for more than half an hour since the end of June and I’m looking forward it. I haven’t been able to write since two nights before I left Minnesota and I’m itching to pick up the story again…
I keep hearing from everyone here how hot it is. Frankly, until they mentioned it, I didn’t really notice. Compared to what I’m used to in Cairo, it’s been absolutely heavenly. I think I’m in the minority though.
The foxes are either hot or very, very relaxed.
I think they mistook the function of this pool of water – or maybe they like the bird flavor!
I love this pose. It makes you wonder what he was thinking as he gazed at his own reflection. Mirror, mirror, on the wall…
How would you caption this guy?
Today it’s cool and damp and drizzly. Uncomfortably sticky, perhaps but NOT HOT.
The only thing better than a swim in a cold lake on a hot summer day…
is a beer margarita on a hot summer day!
My son is off on his overnight camping trip with his grandpa and step-grandma – and I’m on fox feeding duty this evening and tomorrow morning. The question remains whether I’m brave enough to try hand feeding them and whether or not they’d come up to me if I did.
Who needs a trip to the zoo when you have creatures like these visiting the yard on a daily basis?
My stepmother has made pets of several foxes in the area. At least a few of them come around for breakfast and dinner a couple of times a day.
My stepmother has also got a couple of “pet” deer. One of them will even let her pet them when she is in the mood for an ear rub.
I myself haven’t seen many bears in the yard personally, which is why it was that much more thrilling when this guy showed up on Monday evening.
He didn’t look so very threatening, grazing on clover in the yard – but I still took these pictures from the safety of the house!
When he started to look too comfortable and got too close to the house, my father shooed him away. They can be incredibly destructive to things like bird feeders. The deer were keeping a close eye on the bear as well.
Is it any wonder the children prefer to play in the clearing, closer to the house??
I’ve heard about the fabulous blueberry picking opportunities in the area nearly every summer I’ve visited my parents, but have never gone picking myself until this weekend. There is an area up the Gunflint Trail that has been cleared at different times by forest fires where the blueberries grow plentifully. I could tell you more specifically where we went, but then I’d have to kill you.
It was a hot day and very still – and it takes longer than you’d think to fill up a gallon sized ice cream bucket even if the berries are fat and juicy!
If I crouched too long, I’d get stuck in that position.
But standing wasn’t so much better!
Even after we’d been out there a couple of hours and I’d filled my bucket 2/3 of the way, I still couldn’t stop. We had decided to go back to the car and maybe find another spot but I kept having to stop and pick just a little more because the berries were so pretty!
As you can see, all that hard work paid off in the end. Is there anything better than fresh blueberry pie?
The first week we were on vacation we were staying in a hotel while my daughter attended a tennis camp. The room didn’t have a refrigerator, so we were dependent on eating in restaurants. At first I was looking forward to it – any day I don’t have to cook is a good day.
I quickly went off eating in restaurants. Is there anything on any menu that isn’t deep fried and / or covered in cheese? It’s as if these places are looking for ways to make things as unhealthy as possible. And the portion sizes are ridiculous – even when I ordered a half order of pesto for my son it arrived in a serving bowl and was enough to feed at least two adults.
The children’s menus were just as ridiculous. There weren’t so very many options in the small town where we were staying so we ended up eating at Perkins (a large chain) a lot. If you ordered the macaroni and cheese from the children’s menu, they gave you an ice cream scoop sized portion of pasta and a small side order of your choice. I understand that the children’s menu covers a wide age range and that not all children have the same appetite, so I didn’t think much about it the skimpy serving until my son ordered the “dollar pancakes” one evening instead. The pancakes were actually $1 cheaper than the macaroni, but the stack of pancakes they brought him would have been more appropriate for a truck driver. Where is the rationale in that?
I finally managed by skipping meals or picking off my children’s plates.
It’s not a whole lot better now that I’m at my father’s house however. My step-mother plays dirty: she is a great cook and she spoils me rotten by not only making my favorite entrees, but she also makes dessert every night. How am I supposed to resist carrot cake with caramel frosting, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, or ice cream with fresh raspberries? And just in case I could resist all of that, she bought my favorite mint ice cream bars as well.
She looks perfectly pleasant, but she’s evil, I tell you. Pure evil. No one could resist her wiles – I don’t think I’ve been hungry since I arrived. I’m powerless in her grasp – and it would be churlish of me to refuse her hospitality. I’ve gained about five pounds in my first week, and at this rate even my baggiest pants won’t fit by the time I leave. I’d have to kayak all day, every day against the wind to keep up with this intake.
The weather report for the weekend was a little iffy but I’m happy to say we were in luck. Saturday we hiked for about three hours up a big hill at the back of my father’s property. The trail was marked “Hellacious View” – it was clear enough that we could practically see Canada from up there.
We spent Sunday at a birthday party for my step-mother’s niece at a place they have on an inland lake. What a beautiful day! We did some kayaking and ate some fabulous fried fish before we started to play with the big water toys.
The children looked like they were having so much fun being dragged in the tube behind the boat, I decided it was one of those seize-the-moment-moments that I couldn’t let pass by.
(Click image to enlarge)
The things I won’t do after a few beer margarita cocktails!
It was a lot of fun, though I was petrified that I was going to flip over into the lake at high speed. I have to admit that I had such a tight grip on the handles of that tube that I broke a blood vessel in one of my fingers and came away with a big bruise!
I’m glad I did it once, but I think I’ll probably stick to kayaking from now on!
When my travel agent was booking my summer travel tickets, she suggested that we fly from Cairo to Amsterdam and from there directly to Minneapolis. The benefit of this route was that I would not have to deal with US Immigration and Customs until I reached my final destination. That sounded reasonable to me. Another factor contributing to this decision was that I love Dutch caramel waffle cookies and I planned to bring along a mostly empty trolley as a carry-on bag and buy a case of them while I was in the Amsterdam airport.
I should have known that things were not going to go well when my driver was late to pick us up for the airport. I had booked the car for 1am and he didn’t arrive until nearly half past. The plane left on time from Cairo (4am) and arrived in Amsterdam as scheduled. Since I only had a little more than an hour for my connection, I hurried to find the shop with the cookies before I missed my chance.
I found the shop, got the cookies, and that was pretty much the last thing that went right on this trip.
We had all gone through security and were waiting in the gate area when Delta announced that there was a “technical problem” that they needed to address and that the flight would be delayed. We were supposed to take off at 10:20am. At about 11:30am they finally released us from the gate and gave us some meal vouchers, with instructions to watch the monitors for new gate information and to come back by 1:30pm.
I was happy that I didn’t have any flight connections to worry about but still concerned about the reservations I had for a rental car and a hotel in Minneapolis so I sent a couple of emails while I was in the Amsterdam airport (for a fee – I had my netbook but have yet to find a free wifi connection when I really need one). We had been scheduled to arrive in Minneapolis at noon, and at that point I was still optimistic that we’d arrive only three or four hours late.
We all did as we were told and were corralled into a new gate at 2pm. The technical problem? A catering truck hit a rear door of the plane and damaged it, which required repair and then inspection before we could take off. However, it took them so long to make the repair that our flight crew’s on-duty time had dwindled enough that they were no longer able to fly us all the way to Minneapolis – we would have to fly to New York instead.
Imagine how pleased I was to hear that when, ironically, I usually do a direct flight to New York and if I had done it this time, I would have already arrived by the time that we finally took off, about 3:30pm Amsterdam time.
All the way to NY our flight crew told us that we would not have to deplane, that we would simply land and collect a fresh flight crew. So we landed, then sat on the tarmac for half an hour waiting for a gate. Once we had a gate, of course we had to deplane. It was already 5:30pm NY time and we were told that the Immigration / Customs in Minneapolis would be closed by the time we arrived. So off we all trudged with ALL of our carry-on items to claim our checked bags and go through passport control – so that we could immediately recheck the bags and go directly back to our gate for our flight to Minneapolis, now scheduled for 9pm.
I wasn’t able to find a wifi connection that worked in the NY airport (of course) so a fellow passenger kindly loaned me his phone so I could call my hotel and rental car agency. I was unable to get through to the hotel directly because that would require paying for the call and the numbskull on the national help line seemed distinctly unhelpful. The rental car agency was better, but I did discover that they only stay open until 1am so unless we actually made it to Minneapolis by midnight, I was pretty well screwed.
They herded us back on to the plane for our 9pm departure time, and only then announced that there was no food service. The one time I have not packed a picnic basket of course! I suggested to one of the stewardesses that knowing well in advance that they were going to have a plane load of very crabby people, it might have been smart to either provide a sandwich or at least warn us of the lack of service. (They don’t usually provide food on that route, but surely this was an exceptional circumstance!) So then they started to scramble to get something on board – another delay. Waiting around for permission for our special circumstances flight to take off – another delay. It was going on 10:30pm by the time we were finally allowed to take-off from NY.
And then the pilot announced that it was likely to be very turbulent due to a band of thunderstorms in the area. I’d already spent about five hours delayed in Amsterdam and another five hours in NY. What else could go wrong? Were we going to be hit by lightening next? And so much for the snacks since the captain didn’t want anyone moving around. Add to that an ill passenger (loudly vomiting) a few rows up and I began to expect a quarantine situation!
When we finally arrived in Minneapolis, we were nearly exactly 12 hours late – and from the looks of things the whole place was shut down. It’s strange to see such a big airport in a fairly populous city so deserted. I collected my $$$ vouchers for my inconvenience, good toward future travel because as much as I’d like to say I won’t fly Delta again, I doubt that is true. The least they could give me was a break on future tickets. I also went ahead and made them give me a hotel voucher for the night, just in case the rental car desk was closed.
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I really wanted to get in a car and drive to the hotel I had reservations in – it was at least half an hour away, it was dark, and I’ve never driven in Minneapolis before. In the end I decided that if the car rental desk was open, I would go ahead and drive to my hotel – I figured that at least at 1am the roads would be less congested.
It was a bit freaky to jump in a car and start driving after such a long, arduous journey – and after a year off from driving! I had to pull over on my way out of the airport when I realized my headlights weren’t on and I couldn’t find the switch! Things were going quite smoothly until I hit a patch of fog and then I though “oh crap” but it was just one little cloud. I found the hotel, the night clerk was awake and checked me in and we got cleaned up. In bed by 3am – and awake again by 6am when jetlag had the kids bouncing off the walls.
I’m whipped. One of our original flight crew said that in all of her 31 years of service, nothing like this had ever happened before. Lucky me!
The Saga of Flight 259… an epic journey, a trial of patience and endurance and the will to go on. If the lightening had materialized I’m sure that someone would have made a TV movie about the whole ordeal. As it is, I’m happy to have gotten my favorite Dutch cookies, but I could have happily lived without them if I could have avoided the rest of it!
While you are sitting comfortably reading this, I have likely been jammed into the cargo section of an airbus traveling for hours, smashed between two sleeping children (that last bit is very likely a fantasy). My route this year will take me through the Amsterdam airport where I plan to buy lots of lots of caramel waffle cookies. And possibly some booze. I think I’m going to need it once I finally get off the plane and settled in our hotel.
The benefit of traveling east is that I’ll leave my home in Egypt at 1am Friday (take off at 4am, ugh) and I’ll arrive in Minnesota at noon, on Friday. I’m getting jetlag just thinking about the time change. Do not despair though! I’ll be taking my netbook along and my hotel is supposed to have wifi. You didn’t think you’d get rid of me that easily, did you?
In case you get lonely for me in the meantime (yeah right!), you might want to consider checking out my new book.
SEPARATION ANXIETY is included in a summer sale for the month of July at Smashwords.com, along with many many other titles. Until the end of the month you can get a copy of SEPARATION ANXIETY for 25% off the regular price just by entering the code SWS25 at checkout.
I write books for fun so why is it so hard to write my own bio? I am an American currently living in Cairo, Egypt. Aside from writing, I'm a married mom of two under ten, a decent (if reluctant) cook, an encyclopedia of random scientific / medical facts, a wine lover (but not a snob!), and a Capricorn. I love to travel, spend time with good friends, and laugh at life's surprises. View of life - definitely half full.
