Defnitely Back in Aberdeen

My trip home yesterday went smoothly and then not so smoothly. The first train my brother and I got on decided not to go all the way to Kastrup due to technical problems and it looked for a while we would have to wait around ten minutes or so for the next train. But they held a train there for five minutes while passengers from our train ran to get a spot on the waiting train. So, really we just lost a few minutes getting to the airport and we were able to find nice seats on the new train. And once we were there it took about five minutes to get my baggage checked and then another five or so minutes to get me through security. You know, it's funny. Every time I fly through Denmark the security people start speaking Danish to me. I could probably muddle along if they spoke Swedish to me, bu not Danish. Not at all. Of course, I knew what she was saying. They needed to re-run my bag without the Kindle in it. Happens sometimes. But I figured if I said, "Jag." and "Nej, det ar Kindle." she might get the wrong impression and start speaking more to me. So, I spoke in English. I should really wear a sign. "I may be blond, but I'm not from here." Haha!

Anyway, past security is when it started to go not so smooth. By this point I was super hungry. It was about half past one and all I could think about was food. Unfortunately for me, I had to get through passport control and there was a long line. I've decided something. I hate people when they're travelling. Why? Because they are inconsiderate to everyone else around them. I got into this line which was one line that broke into two smaller lines. And I was standing there when this couple comes up right next to me and starts pushing me out of the way. Kinda like, "We're gonna make sure that we get in the faster line before you!" I eventually just sort of gave up trying to hold my spot in the line because...well, everyone was doing something like that. After I resigned myself to being a doormat these two women came up behind me and started bumping into me. It was like they had never heard of personal space. So every time I moved a little further so they wouldn't be bumping into my bags they moved twice as much as me and were practically on top of me for the whole thing. They finally opened two more lines for EU passport holders and the lines went quicker after that. Unfortunately, I still made it through after both rude families. That's what it pays to be nice and considerate I guess.

At this point my plane was due to start boarding in twenty minutes and I still didn't have anything to eat. I figured that the flight was less that two hours so I could just wait and eat when I got home. You know what the Universe did to prove me wrong? They served a meal to those in business and economy extra class. So, this is how SAS designs their cabins. There are no curtains or anything between the cabins which I usually really like. I always hate being separated from the "rich" folk. It just feels so...classist. But yesterday I would have loved curtains instead of little signs above the seats saying, "in front of this seat economy extra". Everyone was eating and I'm sitting there with my tummy growling away. Then the guy next to me pays for a sandwich! So absolutely everyone around me was eating. I thought about ordering some tea to sort of trick my stomach into thinking it had some food. No tea on the plane. Water for Erin's grumbly tummy.

Instead of trying to read while my stomach growled in envy I slept. And when I woke up the captain said something about it not really being summer in Aberdeen because it was raining and only about 15 degrees. From what I saw of Swedish people this past week, they don't do rain really well. I figured it was only a little rain and some minor wind. Well, I was wrong. Landing was not a fun experience. But I'm very impressed with the pilots on SAS because he landed pretty smoothly all things considered.

I'm home now and all in one piece so I should be glad. But I have so much to do today. The joys of being an adult right? I might update about it tomorrow since what I'm doing today actually involves University. For now though, please enjoy some pictures of the animals I met in Sweden.

A white ostrich we met on the hike

These little, brown frogs were everywhere on the hike!

When we were passing by some one's field we met this pretty black and white horse

And this gorgeous brown horse with black legs, mane, and tale and a white stripe down his face. She was really curious about my brother and me.

Lucifer the kitten. Astrid's sister had kittens around and I got to play with them. They were grey tabby coloured but super fluffy!

Elvis the kitten with his arms stretched out like he's giving me a hug. He was my favourite and I would have bought him and taken him home if I could.

Chess the kitten. She pointing one paw to the camera.

James Bond the kitten. He's a chubby guy!

This is Parus the Momma cat. She was a kitten three years ago when I went to Sweden for Christmas.She was the kitty of Astrid's parents' cats Sirius and Sasha. I wanted to take her home with me if I remember correctly.

A Swedish sheep. I like sheep!

And Lyka the dog. I really like Lyka. She's big and furry and oh so sweet!

Home Again

As you may have guessed from the title I am finally back in Aberdeen. The flights were pretty uneventful which is how I liked my flights. The car drive from my mom's place to LAX was more eventful that the flights (then again, it was LA traffic at 3:30 in the afternoon). Basically the flights went like this;

Get to the airport, argue with mom over which terminal I was suppose to be in, go to wrong terminal, walk outside and around to right terminal, argue with mom over whether I can go straight to the counters to check in bag, go straight to counter to check in back anyway, take 2 pounds of clothes out of bag, check in bag, hug mom goodbye, go through security, wait at gate for 2 hours, board flight, talk to man sitting next to me about divorces and psychology, sleep, get off first plane, take terminal bus to the next terminal, go through immigration, go through security, wait at gate for an hour, discover that flight has been delayed 20 minutes, take a survey while waiting, board plane, read, sleep, get off, claim bag, get taxi and go home.

There are a lot of steps involved in flying anywhere, but really it was an easy travel day. There were no problems with my seats or getting the vegetarian meal. They didn't charge me extra for my bag being slightly overweight. We didn't sit on the runway for hours before actually taking off and my bag was the first one out on the baggage claim. I didn't have to wait in a ridiculously long line for a taxi. There wasn't even any traffic from the airport to my flat. The whole travel thing went very smoothly. So smooth that it actually unnerves me a little.

But, now I'm home trying to get my new room in order. At least I have a few weeks to get everything sorted out before classes start. I need a mattress topper, an extension cord, a bedside table, a pencil holder, some pictures...

In the Sky Again...

Well, it's almost time for me to say good bye to California. I got into LA yesterday by bus and train and spent this time with my mother. We'll be leaving for LAX in about two hours to get me there by 5:00pm (LA traffic is not something I took into consideration when I booked my tickets). Summer is almost over, but at least I'll have a few weeks at home before school starts. The down side? I already miss my zoo back home.

Good Bye America. I'll be seeing you again soon...ish.

Back

Well, I arrived back in Aberdeen yesterday early afternoon. There is absolutely nothing to say about the flights. They were uninteresting and boring as usual, though I did finish one of the books I am reading (I'm a really slow reader, but I finished over 200 pages yesterday. I suppose that isn't saying much as I was on one plane for over 9 hours and on another plane for 45min and the other for 1.5 hours...still). Anyway, it wasn't what happened on the plane that was interesting. It was what happened in the terminals.

First off, I didn't get to sit next to any cute guys. Which is disappointing, but unsurprising. I did get one seat next to me empty on the plane from LA to London which is always lovely. I also got upgraded to...I don't think it was business class, but it wasn't coach either. More room and the flight attendants care about you more. Hooray! Though, I did get to see the seats in Business class. They recline ALL THE WAY! And they have bigger screens for in-flight movies and outlets and... *sigh* someday, when I'm Queen of Awesome, I will be on Business class during a transatlantic flight. Someday I even hope to be in First Class...oh yeah, that would be LOVELY! Anyway, back to the terminals.

From my home terminal to LA absolutely nothing interesting happened. I got there after saying a long Good-Bye to my Arwen, got on the plane, and landed in LA. Boring. But I was on an American Eagle flight and all American Eagle flights come in to an isolated terminal. This means I have to get on a shuttle bus to the terminal I need to get to. I showed the person running the shuttle buses my boarding pass and he ushered me to the first shuttle. Now, when I get to "my terminal" I start thinking, "This doesn't look like the Tom Bradley International Terminal, but the guy must have known what he was doing so..." I looked at the screen for my gate number and it said "TBIT". At this point I was still under the impression that I was in the Tom Bradley International Terminal so this confused me just a little. I decided to sit and read for a little and after that chapter was over and the departure screen was still telling me that my gate was "TBIT" I decided to ask someone and behold! I got on the wrong shuttle because the guy didn't look at the whole ticket that said "LAX to LHR British Airways". No, he just looked at the top that said American Airlines. *sigh* Second time this has happened to me. Note to self: Don't show your ticket anymore, just say which airline you're on. So, I had to go out of security and back through. Now, at this point I'm a little nervous thinking whether or not I can make my flight. The security line doesn't seem too long so I decide there's no need for me to politely ask to get to the front of the line and make everyone mad. So I stand at the end and have to go through the whole body screen thing, not the medal detector, again. That's twice in one day and two TSA agents who owe me dinner. Then, of course, half of the screen on the conveyor belt is cut off and they have to do a rerun on a pair of shoes. Of course they're my shoes and of course it takes 10 minutes for the rerun to happen. After I was all put back together again I rush to the screen, check my gate, and rush to the gate. All that rushing was unnecessary as the flight had been delayed. I must admit, I let out a sigh of relief. At this point I was upgraded (Hooray!) which meant that I didn't have to sit in the back with the EF Tour teenagers. Another sigh of relief. Unfortunately, what was suppose to be just a 10 minute delay ended up to be an hour and a half delay, but the seat next to me was empty and I wasn't ridiculously tired so I was ok with this. Except for the fact I had to sit in a steaming hot airplane for about 45 minutes. That wasn't so fun. But, I finally got to see MegaMind (which is really cute by the way) and there was actually a vegetarian entree I could eat so I didn't have to wait for the muffin they served at the end of the flight to get some food. That always makes a flight just that much more enjoyable.

Well because of that delay we were late getting into London. Fair enough. We all knew it was going to happen. We were instructed to stay in our seats and let the people on (insert flight numbers here) get out first so that they might have a chance of catching their flight (what I found out later is that my flight was scheduled to leave just 10 minutes after this flight to...Nice I believe it was, and they didn't call my flight number which I think is weird). Anyway, I let them all off first then rushed out myself knowing I had a quick connection too. I pretty much ran to the UK Border Control and guess what. I was second in line for the Non UK or EU passports and a guy who worked there stopped me from going through to let the people in the UK and EU passport line go first. When I started seeing people who had got in line about 5 minutes after me go, I started to get mad. There were two people in the "All Other Passports" line. I didn't understand why he couldn't just let us go through. It's not like we were in line to get to our next flight or anything. So I said, probably a little more upset and angry than I meant to, "Excuse me sir, but I got in line before them, have been waiting for 15 minutes, and I have a flight that leaves in like 20 minutes. Do you think you could let me through?" He did and at least had the grace to look mildly ashamed that he didn't ask, "Do you have a quick connection?" or something to that extent. I really want to call the Border Control people and complain and say, "Just because I don't' have a UK passport doesn't mean I didn't pay for my flight and want to be able to get on it." But I know it won't do any good. But, believe it or not, this is also the second time this exact thing has happened. Anyway, got through security a little slower than I was hoping (at this point I was really hoping they would allow me at the front since my flight was leaving in 20 minutes instead of just letting into the "fast" line which really isn't all that fast. But, beggars can't be choosers.) When I saw on the board that my flight was "Closing" I had to run to the gate. Managed to get on the flight and that was that. Though, if I had missed the flight I might just have stomped back out of security and given that guy at Border Control a nice slap in the face...or that might have been the sleep talking.

The flight into Aberdeen was nothing special. I got off and waited at baggage claim. And I waited...and waited...and waited. Finally, I gave up and went to Baggage Services. Apparently, my bag did not make it on the flight but was on the next flight in from London. Now, my foul mood hasn't completely left so...I might have almost started crying before I told myself I was just tired and being silly. What gets to me is, there were two or three people on the flight to Aberdeen who were also on my London flight. Their bags made it on why didn't mine? *sigh* So, filled out the form and they told me that it would be delivered to my building tonight. Ended up waiting around for an hour after I got a text saying that the courier people had picked it up before I called the courier people. They told me it would be delivered tomorrow at some point. At that point I had to say that there was no one working in reception tomorrow and I didn't have time to sit around and that I had a few things to do tomorrow (which is really today) and really couldn't wait all day for my luggage that the airline lost...or didn't get on the right plane at the right time. Thankfully the guy understood and thankfully a driver happened into the room at that moment and said he could deliver it tonight (which is really yesterday evening). So, around 20:00 or 8pm I got my bag and was able to wash my face. After the face washing I promptly went to sleep.

I slept for 12 hours. And now that I am rested, showered, and fed I should get dressed and get food for the week and then... *sigh* do that studying for the vocab tests I have on Monday that I neglected to do all break.

Visa Arrived and Account Up

My Visa just arrived! I have my passport back and there's a shiny new Tier 4: Student Visa in it! YAY! And my checking account that allows me access to my college fund is up and running. Double YAY! This means that I'm going to start trying to find flight times that work for me. I'd like to stay until the 17th so I can go to the 16th puppy meeting, but we'll see if that actually happens. I've made the request to stay here until at least after September 11. That's when the garage sale is and I'd love to help out and say good bye to everyone. But, I am definitely allowed into the country now and that makes me very happy.