Back in the Old USA

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007--Copenhagen

Jens and Robert invited Grethe and me to lunch. Then early in the morning, Kurt called and asked us if we could join him for lunch. He had been downtown for some physical therapy. We explained that we already had the other plans, so he asked us when we were arrive there. When we said, "1:00," he said, then come by my place for a drink and a little visit before (since his apartment is just two buildings away from Jens' and Robert's. Therefore, today became a day of partying and saying goodbye.

The weather was great and Sue wanted to go to Royal Copenhagen's nearby factory store on her way to visit the guys, so we walked. She shopped for several items to give to people as gifts. Then we were at Kurt's at noon. It was actually a warm day, and we sat out on his balcony and visited. He opened a bottle of champagne and put out a tray with chips (two kinds of potato chips and some banana chips). We had a wonderful time just chatting for an hour.

At 1:00, we arrived at Jens' and Robert's, and another bottle of Champagne was opened! We again, sat on the balcony and chatted and drank. Later, we had our lunch in the kitchen at the table there which was much cozier than sitting at the dining table. Jens had prepared three different kinds of seafood smoerrebroed (Danish open-faced sandwiches) for us. We started with one with shrimps, then had one with salmon, and finally had one with fish fillet. Like most Danish meals, it lasted for a long time as we chatted between courses. Grethe and I didn't get up from the table and leave until after 16:00.

We discussed whether Jens and Robert would return to Texas this winter. They came for 2+ months last year. It is undecided. Robert hates to make the long flight. But Texas is cheaper than going anywhere in Europe for the winter. Also, they feel cut off from getting around on their own the way they would like to do when they are in Texas. Robert suggested that Jens go there for 2 weeks when Nurse Grethe comes next March or April while he goes to Paris himself. But.... We will just have to see what happens.

The evening was one of packing and relaxing. Fortunately, I had an old suitcase in storage at Nurse Grethe's apartment with some winter clothes in it that I need if I go there when traveling. But I no longer plan to be there in the winter (only the late summer/early fall) and don't really need a heavy coat or wool shirts there anymore. So I packed most of my things I had left after my luggage being stolen and most of what I had stored at her place into the suitcase to bring back to the U.S. I left only a small gym bag there with a sweater, a bathrobe, lounging pants, and a few other items there and brought the rest home. I also included some books Robert had given me, some gifts I had bought to bring back to the US, etc. So I returned with a full and heavy suitcase as if there had been no robbery at all.

Grethe cooked us biksemad for dinner. That's Danish for hash. It is onions, potatoes, and chopped leftover meat cooked in butter in the fry pan. Usually one eats it with worchestershire sauce and a fried egg on top. It is one of my favorite Danish quick meals, and it was great. We had salad with the hash, and then we had coffee and Danish pastry for dessert. We were both off to bed around 21:00, and she was to knock on my door and awaken me at 5:30 as she was leaving for work the next morning.

Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007--Copenhagen to Frankfurt to Philadelphia to Harrisburg

Grethe knocked at 5:30, and I got up to give her a goodbye hug. Then I prepared for a LONG day of traveling. I was clean and out of her apartment by just a few minutes after 6:00, and I was at the airport at 7:15. They checked my luggage all the way through and gave me my boarding passes for there and for Frankfurt. They said I would have to get the Harrisburg boarding pass when I got to Philadelphia. My suitcase was rather heavy due to the books, but nothing was said about its weight.

The first of the travel problems began in Copenhagen. As I was afraid might happen, my flight from Copenhagen to Frankfurt was canceled due to SAS's shortage of planes which is due to all their prop-jets being grounded. It was a 45-minute delay before we were put on another plane, and it was quite a mess with them sending us first to a second gate, and finally to a third one! And after all that hassle, SAS still did nothing to ease the frustration. They still charged 3 Euros for a bottle of water or a cup of coffee on the flight; SAS doesn't even give free water on their European flights!!

In spite of the delay in Copenhagen and rain and only two runways being open in Frankfurt, we got into Frankfurt in time for me to connect to my Lufthansa flight to Philadelphia. I had to first go through immigration and security there, and we boarded probably just 5-10 minutes after I got to the gate. The flight was long, but it was fine. I had plenty of leg room. There was no limit on drinks (as there is on SAS for internatioal economy flights now). My seatmate was a friendly, nice American woman originally from Turkey, and we visited a bit. I watched the film Oceans Thirteen which I had not seen yet.

There were more transportation problems in Philadelphia. I boarded my plane and we pulled from the gate and stopped. We sat there for 1 1/2 hours. They told us the problem was a line of thunderstorms between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, that seems to have just been an excuse that would put the problems on God's shoulders (Act of God) rather than that of U.S. Airways. The real problem seems to be that traffic was backed up to leave Philadelphia and that it would have cost U.S. Airways a fortune in fuel costs to wait in line behind 40+ planes before being allowed to take off. Being honest about it would have also cost U.S. Airways meal vouchers and hotel rooms for people they could not accommodate on later flights.

I called Jack and Drew who were waiting for me at the airport at Harrisburg and told them that I had been put on wait lists for the next two flights to Harrisburg. Of course, if weather really were a factor, those flights might be canceled, too. I checked to see if the airport had limousine service to Lancaster County as an alternative, but they don't. I asked when would be the first flight I could get a guaranteed seat on for Harrisburg, and they said it would be tomorrow night at 18:55! Finally, they made an announcement that they were trying to arrange ground transportation for people going to Harrisburg, so I joined a group at Gate F2 waiting for that. We waited an hour. Then at 9:15, a man came and said he had 12 open seats on the 9:30 Harrisburg flight. We were all skeptical. The weather front still hadn't come through, so if it was a factor in the cancelation, would we repeat sitting on the runway and having our flight canceled if we tried that routing? Finally, we decided to take a chance. There were more than 12 of us waiting, however. I was the oldest, but I was the first one to make it to Gate F14 for a seat!! And, in support of my theory, the flight took off and we never encountered a line of thunderstorms!! U.S. Airways seems to be an immoral airline that will lie rather than take responsibility on their shoulders for problems they create!

Even stranger was that my luggage was already in Harrisburg when we arrived. How did it get there? The only possibility was that it was put on an earlier flight as soon as I left customs even though airlines are not supposed to do that. They should put the luggage on the same flight as the passenger for security reasons!

Related to immigration and customs in Philadelphia, that went like a dream. They have a huge hall that is modern and has plenty of work stations for processing the crowds. I was through it all in about 25 minutes. One reason I routed myself through Philadelphia is that I swore last year I would NEVER go through immigration and customs at Washington Dulles again until they get their new facilities built. There, it was congested and slow with everyone letting the process get on their nerves and with many people missing connecting flights because of it.

Jack and Drew were at the Harrisburg airport when we arrived. We collected my bag and drove back to their third home in Millersville in Lancaster County. Then we sat up visiting for a couple of hours. I gave me some gifts I had brought for them--a wool cap from Kashmir for Jack, a small pill box from Taiwan for Drew, and a box of chocolates from Riga and two pillow covers from Kashmir for the two of them. Then it was time to get some rest. When I went to bed, it was 25 hours since Grethe had knocked on my door in the morning to get me up!