Around the world and back

I hope everyone had a good holiday. I sure did. I flew home and celebrated Christmas and New Years with the family. It was wonderful, but went by too quick! I was suppose to fly home on Dec. 18, but my first flight was cancelled because of all the snow that Europe got. Normally Germany does not see a lot of snow and it usually comes in the early months of the year, so the country was unprepared for the 30 cm (1ft) of snow they had. The airline (KLM) scheduled me for a flight the next day and put me up in a hotel for the night. They also bought me breakfast, lunch and dinner! I don't think any American airline would have done that. They don't cover weather related cancellations. To say that the Frankfurt airport was chaotic is an understatement. I was talking to two students who stood in line for EIGHT hours to re-book a canceled flight. Luckily I was at the airport really early, so I didn't have that problem. Oh well, I checked-in and then took the train to Frankfurt and walked around. It was nice to see the town again.

The next morning I again headed to the airport feeling that I would never get home. Afraid that I would have to stand in line for hours to check in, I went hours early. However, the airlines were better prepared and organized and in the end stood in line for less than 30 minutes. After waiting and praying, I boarded my flight and 9 hours later I landed in Philidelphia. Two hours later I arrived in Detroit and was so happy to see my family waiting for me.

The next week was spent eating all my favorite food that is not available in Germany and spending as much time with the family as possible. It was nice to see my Grandma and my Uncle and Aunt and everyone loved their gifts! On Christmas Eve, the family loaded into the minivan and drove overnight to Florida. Perhaps this is not a normal Christmas activity (we have done it the last 3 years) but we made sure to have Christmas before we left. Florida was colder than usual this year, so that was a bit of a disappointment, but it was still a nice trip. The family was joined by another Aunt. As my brother says, its now a tradition to go to Florida and be joined by my Aunt from out West. My favorite activity that we did was picking citrus in an orchard. Living in Ohio, I have picked many apples in orchards, but it was cool to pick the different citrus. Along with lemons and grapefruit, there were multiples kinds of tangerines, oranges and palmenttos.

But in a flash the trip was over and it was time for me to head back to Germany. It was hard to say good-bye, but I had expected that. The return trip to Germany was no fun, but uneventful. I can never sleep on the overnight planes. It was nice to be back in Dresden and was like I never left. But I did and I am grateful for the visit back to the US.