Monday, September 25, 2017

Day 16: Good-bye Germany

Day 16, I woke up early and tired.  The bus was leaving for the airport at 6:30AM.  We were supposed to be in the hotel lobby before 6:30 so we could grab our breakfast to go (breakfast didn't start 'til 6:30 so we had to get "to go bags"), load our luggage, etc.  Well, truth be told, the bus driver loaded our luggage for us.  After our farewell dinner followed by a drink in the lobby (and a game of Heads Up), the previous night, I still had to finish packing.  According to my Fitbit, I got 5 hours of sleep (4 hours and 59 minutes if you want to be exact).  I don't sleep well (if at all) on planes and I not only had a long plane ride ahead of me, but also a 6 hour layover later in the day.   I have no right to complain, I had a wonderful trip, but yeah, I was worried about the long day and lack of sleep.
We picked up the other group, got situated at the airport, and took a short flight from Berlin to Frankfurt.  We had a bit of time in Frankfurt so I got some last minute souvenirs and a terrible pretzel. I thought oh, one last German pretzel before I go home, it will be delicious.  Nope!  Stick with non-airport pretzels for deliciousness.  Before long we were on the plane headed to Washington, D.C.  The flight was a little bumpy at times.  I tried unsuccessfully to sleep, though I may have dozed here and there.  I did read and watch a movie, but of course, right now, I can't remember which movie.  I know at some point I saw "Lion" and "Crazy Stupd Love" so I'm going to go with those two, though it's certainly possible I watched one of those on the way TO Germany.  (I also watched "Hidden Figures" on the way to Germany, which I very much enjoyed.)  "Lion" made me cry, but I still liked it. Crazy Stupid Love was funny.  We got to D.C. a bit later than we were supposed to, but like I said, I had a 6 hour layover so no worries there.  It did take a little time to get the luggage, clear customs, and recheck the luggage, but we managed.  We said good-bye to some people in Germany, to more people as we left the plane--some had to hurry ahead because they did not have 6 hour layovers--I think two ladies barely made their flights.  And to a couple more who were staying in D.C.  And soon we were down to six of us. Said bye to two more, only to run in to one of them again going through security.  Then four of us were in the same area--Terminal C I believe so we all had dinner together.  It felt weird to have to pay for dinner again after so many delicious free dinners.  It was nice to have still water without having to ask for it though.  :-)  Three of us were on the same flight so after dinner we said bye to one more as he headed down the hall the other way to his gate.  I was so glad to have people to wait with because I was too tired to really read or journal much, but I also was afraid to nap for fear I'd miss my flight.  I was starting to feel weird.  I've never done drugs, but I felt like I was getting delusionsal from lack of sleep.  I was wondering if that's what it felt like to be on something.  By the time I made it home, I'd been up for over 24 hours on only 5 hours of sleep and the night before, I'd only had 6 hours of sleep.  Eventually 10:45 arrived and I was on my flight home.  I rotated between reading and sleeping--didn't make much progresss with either.  We landed around midnight.  It took a while for the luggage as it always does at that airport, but it came and I said good-bye to the last two people from my group who were headed to  a workshop for a week and then home the following weekend.  Mike was waiting for me outside and I got home a little after 1am.  It really was a wonderful two weeks in Germany.  I had a great group of people, learned a lot, saw some great places, heard some great stories, ate some great food (and Raddlers), cried a little, and overall, enjoyed myself.  Thank you TOP!

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