Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Dingo Ate My Baby

Well, not really. But the bank machine DID eat my ATM card last night. How rude is that? Nice welcome back to Romania. Good thing we have cell phones and DHL and credit cards. So I'll have a new card by Friday.

Anyway, after spending more time in planes than I did on the ground over the last few days, I can still say that going back home for my 10 year high school reunion was TOTALLY worth it. So worth it that I was too busy chatting up a storm and catching up with old pals to take any photos during the event, or even at brunch the next morning. Oh well. Sometimes it's just better to enjoy the experience than look through a camera at it. Or at an LCD screen.

I spent two glorious days in beautiful, sunny La Jolla and I remembered that there are some things we Americans do really well. One is customer service. That ticketing lady in Chicago really helped me out, as did everyone else at O'Hare (except one very mean woman who told me I couldn't jump the line - well I showed HER!) Even uber-schnell Lufthansa in Munich doesn't even come close. I was impressed. And very, very grateful. Thanks to the lovely employees of O'Hare and the fact that I'm fit enough to run from one end of the biggest American airport to the other in 5 minutes flat, I made it to the first part of the reunion festivities on Friday night. Still smelly, but hey at least I was there. And afterward I took a Very. Long. Shower. It was awesome.

Saturday I spent lazing around the beach and soaking up the sunshine and before I knew it, I was heading to the Hotel Solamar (which is new and VERY cool) for the reunion. Had some drinks with friends on the terrace by the pool, which was strange because we were all dressed up and surrounded by bikini-clad drunks girating to very loud music, and then it was time for the main event. Which which was very low-key and a lot of fun. I hadn't seen most of the people since graduating in June 1996, and while some have changed more dramatically (read: horizontally) than others, I was really impressed by a few people who have done some really cool things with their lives. Anyway, it was nice to catch up.

The return trip was long. There's really no other way to put it. I lost a whole day of my life and yesterday morning in Milan realized it was already Tuesday. But despite some delays here and there (the first one being in San Diego, where we sat on the runway for no apparent reason from 7:30 to 8:30am) it was much more relaxed than Friday was. Security in Milan took only 30 minutes or so and there was no crush of bodies or screaming in foreign languages. Note to self: Avoid traveling the day after a near terrorist strike. Or the day of.

Some photos from where I spent most of my time: the airplane.

The Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Chicago

Swiss Alps

Oh, and only in Italy.... Ummm where did they hide the World Cup trophy?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a travel saga. Clearly you are not meant to be a travel writer. Their lives are too boring for your tastes. So what follows the Bucharest summer? Your loyal fans are awaiting the next chapter. And yes, we will be nice to the latex glove team. They are all powerful.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a weekend. If there were a prize ceremony for High School Class Representatives, you would be definitely nominated for the "most dedicated" category ever! Nice pix.

Lyndsey Medora said...

thank you for a few amazing new desktop backgrounds. and by a few, i mean the docle models/soccer players in various magnified views.

George said...

Noelle, i think you shouldn't be surprised by the italian advertising. At the end this is the same picture you had every morning when u saw me crossing the corridor to go to the bathroom... isn't it? :)

NoellieBellie said...

Yes but you didn't have those *ADORABLE* little Italia underpants. Just plain white ones.

Can you please bring me some from Milan? I can parade around the house in them when you're in NYC and I'm feeling lonely.

Grazie