Always an Adventure with Amy: December 2008

5:15 AM Thursday morning - St Andrews time - Woke up to nervous I would sleep through my alarm.

6:15 AM - Fergus came, loaded my luggage and picked me up.

7:50 AM - After driving through a traffic jam on the Forth Road Bridge, we arrived at the airport. I checked in with two bags (Overweight, but they didn’t say anything 26 and 27 kilos) Then on to security, I was being nice and let a woman walk before me through the metal detectors. When I walked through, the detector didn't go off, but I was picked at random to be padded down. fun...

9:30 AM - Boarded flight 1: Edinburgh to Amsterdam – 1 hr 30 min – Not too bad, we got crackers and a chocolate wafer. A quick hour lay over...

After some security questioning boarded.

Flight 2: Amsterdam to Detroit, MI – 8 hrs 45 min – No personal TV screens in the back of the seat. I had an empty seat next to me (bonus) and I met my seat neighbor – retired college professor of psychology, he laughed easily, loved to cook, travels everywhere now, and is very close to his only daughter. Tried out my noise canceling headphones (AMAZING!!) Had a pasta lunch, then they couldn’t get the inflight entertainment working. (although the guy I was sitting by was pretty entertaining, but not really 8 hrs and 45 mins worth!) We had a few beverage services I started reading a (bad ) book, played a chemistry sudoku, continued to wear my noise canceling head phones (The saving grace) and listened to music. Had a veggie wrap. On a walk, I over heard a stewardess say that they would call the paramedics and see what country the guy was from so they could find out what he had… (!?)

Upon landing, we were told to stay seated so the paramedics could remove a sick passenger. A guy from the back of the plane walked to the front and got off. As we got off the plane, we walked by him sitting in a wheel chair surrounded by medics.

We got a $50 coupon because the inflight service didn’t work.

Waited for my luggage to go through customs, got targeted by the little dog that checks your baggage for Ag products. I had carried on an apple that I ate on my flight. As I was waiting for my other luggage, the “sick guy” walked over to collect his baggage and started talking to two of his traveling mates. (I tried to stay away) At customs, I had to go re-unload my two *HEAVY* bags in the agriculture section so they could analyze them. The guy behind me in line was one of the sick guy’s friends.
I asked him where they were coming from
“Kenya” (hmmm, great!). They did humanitarian work and toured around a bit. His suitcase was broken into and his camcorder was stolen. “Where are you going?”
“Salt Lake”
“Hey, we are too” (another great!)
I picked up my luggage and went to leave. It was a little awkward, so I turned around and said “I guess I will see you at the gate”.
I rechecked my luggage and went through security. No lines. I had a 3(+) hr lay over. I wandered for an hour. Stopped at a sports bar and had chili (it was 11 PM St Andrews time) I walked through the shops – Kept walking – Walked around the moving sidewalk 5 times. Over heard the “sick guy” on his cell phone saying “I was sick on the earlier flight, I think I am just exhausted, but they had to check to make sure I wasn’t bringing in any communicable diseases.”
I felt better about things, but still tried to stay away and hoped I wasn’t sitting by them – Boarded the plane.

Flight 3: Detroit to Salt Lake – 4 hrs – I had a row to my self, the only saving grace. I asked the flight attendant for a pillow
“We don’t do pillows anymore, not since 9/11” (I knew I should have followed my instinct and stole a pillow from their previous flight!) I leaned against the window and a little girl kept kicking my seat, luckily she went to sleep pretty quickly. Read my book a bit, closed my eyes and rested. We had a beverage service, I got water. NO FOOD SERVICE. NO INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT, not even a place to plug in headsets. I used my noise canceling headphones (Only saving grace).

10 PM - Local Time - Arrived at Salt Lake City (5 AM St Andrews time). Collected my luggage and my sister drove me home. We got in 2 hours later, unloaded my luggage. I was sooo moody. I couldn’t believe it! Went to sleep for two 3 hour "naps".

I am still tired.

The problem with being busy and not blogging, is more and more stories pile up and they get ignored. So maybe I will ignore the others, maybe I won't, but I figured I should at least write something down.

Today's post is going to be about the latest cake I made. The problem with me making cakes, is I am a perfectionist, the bigger problem, is I am not artistic and I am not creative. I don't know where this cake decorating has come from...

Anyway, here is my latest cake, in the beginning stages,