Hallo Berlin, ich bin Lydia aus Texas.
That's about all the German I know, besides the names of random foods/animals, thanks to my 2% fluency in Duolingo.
After 24 hours of travel time, 3 flights, and a lot of walking, I have arrived at my destination: PLUS Berlin (hotel/hostel).
I have another 4 hours before check-in time and I'm too exhausted to go explore the city on my own, so I decided to sit down and write this blog post.
I was extremely lucky/blessed through the entirety of my airport adventures this go around!
I non-reved this trip, meaning I didn't buy a ticket (hence the non-revenue name) because my dad is a captain for Delta and I can fly on Delta for free if there's empty space (at least until I graduate and am no longer a dependent).
I've non-reved plenty of times when things don't go so well, and I've had to spend full days sitting in airports, hoping that just one or two more people won't show up so I can get a ticket.
So, I was trying to not be too optimistic; my dad and I made sure there were plenty of backup flights in case I didn't get on any of the first ones.
I got to the DFW airport at 6:15 for the 8:15 flight to Atlanta. Security felt pretty long for so early on a Friday morning, but I got to the gate at 6:45, in time to see people show up late for the 7:00 flight and transfer ahead of me on the standby list for the 8:15 flight.
It went from me being number 8 on the list of 7 open seats to being number 15 on a list of 3 open seats. But, amazingly, just enough people (both paying and non-reving) didn't show up, and I was the last person to walk on the airplane.
So then I got to Atlanta and had a 3.5 hour layover before the first flight headed to Amsterdam. I walked from Concourse B to Concourse F because I had plenty of time and knew from experience that my body doesn't like all the sitting still during international flights.
I got to the gate, worked on a presentation, filled out a lengthy airport survey, and got awarded a business seat!
Now, if you don't fly very often, especially if you don't fly Delta, you may not realize how fantastic having a business seat is.
The Delta business seats are basically pods of comfort to make you want to fly internationally all the time.
You get a personal tv with a plethora of shows/movies/music/games/etc., lots of elbow room, complimentary headphones and misc. travel items, delicious food and all the free alcohol you want, and a seat that can go completely flat.
Completely. Flat.
This is a miracle of engineering that makes a huge difference when you want to sleep on a 7+ hour flight.
Granted, I'm a very light sleeper, and airplanes are always noisy with some activity happening, and this flight happened to have long sections of pretty bad turbulence, but I still dozed off several times over a 4-5 hour period, without which I would be dead right now.
Thank you, engineers who designed the business seat.
So, I left Atlanta around 3:00pm, flew for 8 hours, and arrived in Amsterdam at 6:00am.
This is when things got interesting.
I leave my beautiful, Delta, business pod and head into the Amsterdam airport.
I go to a help desk to check in for my KLM flight, only to find that my suitcase (which had to be checked in DFW because the plane was full) could not be transferred from the Delta baggage carousel to the KLM flight I was listed on.
The helpful people who helped me said that I should just get on the flight because it was wide open, and then file a report in Berlin to ask that my suitcase be sent from Amsterdam to my hotel address in Berlin.
That didn't sound fun, but I'm a good non-revver and had all my essentials in my backpack, so I would only be missing my clothes for however long it would take for my suitcase to arrive.
Thankfully, my dad was still awake (time zone difference meant it was the middle of the night for him) and told me I should definitely not leave my suitcase in Amsterdam.
With half an hour before my flight boarded, I went through the terminal to find the baggage claim with my suitcase, went through customs, ran through three terminals, went through security again (where they had to pat me down and search my bags, of course), ran across the terminal and arrived at the gate almost exactly when the plane was supposed to leave.
Miraculously, there was a delay, so the plane was about 15 minutes behind schedule and the gate agents took pity on my situation and let me get a seat and take both my backpack and my suitcase onto the plane (because the plane-checked luggage had already been put on).
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| Wind turbines are the first thing I notice while arriving in Germany for a course focusing on renewable energy management. Coincidence? |
So then I arrive in Berlin and follow a set of semi-thorough directions to get to PLUS Berlin.
I buy a bus ticket, ride it for a while, get on a train, ride it for a while, carry my suitcase up a long flight of stairs because the station is under construction, and then find myself a block away from the hotel.
Do I realize how close I am and walk to the building "directly in front of you on the opposite side of the square?"
Of course not; I'm much too tired to comprehend how clear the directions are.
I walk straight forward for like 9 blocks before I look at the map and realize I should have turned left. So then, I go left for two blocks and then left again for the 9 blocks again, and then left 1.5 blocks to the hotel.
All of this walking happened on a day with great walking weather, but in heeled boots, black dress pants and a dark, long-sleeved shirt. I'm gross and tired when I show up, and all I want to do is take a shower and fall asleep for a few hours.
This day has been filled with adventures and close calls and walking/running through airports and Berlin, but that's part of the study abroad experience, right?
Feeling pretty good but still looking forward to a shower,
I've participated in situational and SWOT analyses before, but this was a pretty unique experience, working with students who were not all public relations majors and may not have ever done this kind of analysis and planning before.
