Across The Pond

I had so many thoughts rushing through my head. The most apparent was still not believing where I was actually going. It didn't even feel real. I was also disappointed because I couldn't see any of the cities below me. Whenever we flew over a large city it was just a brighter glow from beneath the clouds. The same storm that dropped inches of ice on Atlanta was now busy terrorizing the East Coast.

I couldn't believe the level of service we received. The moment we leveled off from take-off we were brought hot towels and drinks (non-alcoholic, of course). About an hour into the flight we actually got a hot meal. I chose the turkey, mashed potatoes and vegetables. It was very tasty and helped me settle into my seat and try to sleep. I drifted off here and there but it was not solid at all. The excitement of actually getting to Germany and experiencing some culture was just too exciting. I took German in high school and knew a lot about the country. I imagined getting into the bustling airport and seeing all the advertisements and signs in German, everybody speaking German and the chance to get some authentic German food.

I watched the clock and spent a lot of time trying to figure out where I was and exactly what time it was. My ipod had EST still but it was too cloudy to see anything on the ground. I drifted to sleep again and woke up halfway through the second in-flight movie. It was something with Jennifer Anniston. I opened the window shade and couldn't help but notice the sun was rising! I looked at the iPod and it was 315am. Weird. SO I knew I must have been at least 4 hours ahead of the East coast, so I assumed I was over the North Atlantic maybe approaching Ireland or England. The clouds never let up so I was kept guessing the whole way. I tried hard to sleep again but the plane was bumping and bobbing around, so I gave up and watched a movie on the laptop.

The Ambien guy next to me slumped over and fell on my shoulder, as I was trying to pry him off I noticed that they were serving breakfast! Not a bad gig. I ate my breakfast sandwich while still battling with this guy who was all floppy and drooly. We were told that we would be in Germany soon. We slowly descended through the clouds and little German villages became visible through the cloud cover. Small villages with red roofs and windy roads, farms with livestock roaming around and lot's of wind turbines! Go Germany for utilizing wind energy. It had been 7 hours now and I was ready to get off that plane and experience some Germany. After a descent that felt like it took forever we touched down and taxied toward the gate.

I was imagining strudel and rouladen or finding a German coffee shop and watching people. We deplaned right onto the tarmac and buses swept us off to the terminal. We got inside and the first thing I saw was "WELCOME TO GERMANY" on a big sign over a large waiting area. But, it was in English...Where were the strudels? Where was my restaurant with the Rouladen? Why was there another sign that said "GIFT SHOP THIS WAY", "BUY SOMETHING FOR YOUR FAMILY". Oh man...We were brought to an American military holding area. I just deflated. I walked through the gift shop and looked at overpriced German chocolates that I could buy at Walgreens for $5 cheaper than what they were selling them for. Dumb plastic trinkets with Octoberfest figurines on it. Yes...it was spelled "Octoberfest". They were selling Brats so I bought one. No different than a Brat you can buy at Cub or Rainbow. Across the runway I could see the REAL airport. We wouldn't even get close to it. While waiting in line to buy my overpriced hotdog, TV's came on playing Raummstein. For those that aren't familiar, Raummstein is a German metal band that was huge in America in the 90's. Germans don't even like them because they sold out to America. The DVD that was playing was a concert of them playing in New York. That was the last straw. This wasn't Germany at all, this was an Americanized pit stop for soldiers who don't appreciate what other countries have to offer. I didn't buy anything else, I didn't want to give whoever ran this place anymore of my money.

Not sleeping the night before caught up to me and the combination of not seeing real Germany and the Jet lag just made me miss home. Where was I? What was I doing here? Then I realized what was next. The Middle East. WAY out of my comfort zone. After a layover that felt like 10 years we quietly filed back onto the bus and back onto the plane. No one said much after that point. We all knew where we were going and the dangers that lie ahead. A lot of these guys were going back to Kandahar and Kabul. It went from excitement in Atlanta to Amused in Germany and now everybody was just in their own worlds. It was afternoon and another 6 hour flight lay in front of us. I was so tired I fell asleep before take off, woke up briefly when the engines roared, and was right back asleep again not even a thousand feet into the air.