Lovin´ it

I had a great farewell. Mom, Dad, Aunt Jean and Uncle Bob saw me off at the airport. We had some time to burn, so my Dad had the great idea to toss a few back in the airport bar. After drinking a huge beer and right before we said our farewell my dad came with 3 shots – for himself, uncle bob and me. It went down the hatch, we said our goodbyes and I was on my way.

The flight from Milwaukee to Detroit was pretty uneventful. On the ride from Detroit to Amsterdam, I set next to a very nice kid from Saudi Arabia. His English was excellent, so we didn’t have much of a problem communicating. Apparently most Arabs don’t know or even care to learn English. This is true regardless of age. He was in the U.S. for 2 months for school and was on his way back home. We talked a lot about the many cultural challenges he faced, which instantly made me think of all of the stimulating challenges that I will face. I found it somewhat funny that he was ending his journey just as mine was beginning.

I arrived in Amsterdam early because of a huge tailwind coming out of Detroit and had 4 hours to relax in Schiple. I figured that I may was well spend it like a high roller. Being the enterprising individual that I am, I managed to sneak into the KML business leisure lounge. It has the most amazing amities – all free. A sampling of them include internet, an amazing selection of food, free top shelf booze, an espresso/cappuccino/coffee machine (I’m on my second espresso as I type), newspapers, magazines and Heineken. This is so far removed from the hustle and bustle of the concourses that I felt like I was in travel heaven.

The lounge

The bar in the lounge

I thought that I was going to be extremely messed up by the time I get to Barcelona. I slept only 2 hours on the plane and it was awful sleep at that. Then again, coach tends to feel like poor mans travel after flying first class on my one other international flight (thanks again lee/peter!!!).

I have so much more to update you on, but I’m heading to the beach in 15 minutes.