Archives for December 2010

I’m finally home.

December 23, 2010 filed under: Germany, travel

You guys, I’m finally home with my family.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know already that I got stuck in London not for one night, not for two nights, but for 4 freakin’ nights. I really thought this was never going to be over.

I’ve become a quite experienced solo traveler in the last few years, due to our previous long distance relationship and regular cross-atlantic flights. I’ve had stopovers at many different airports with better and worse service, but London-Heathrow Airport was just pure madness these last few days. You’d think that one of the biggest airports in the world would have some kind of emergency plan for virtually any situation and one can’t really say that this was the first time in history that London ever had snow. So the reality of how the airport handled – or better, DIDN’T handle – the thousands of stranded passengers was a nightmarish surprise, to say the least.

The airlines provided handouts with a hotline number and asked the passengers to rebook their flights over the phone.
Reality: The hotline was completely overloaded (no surprise there!) and almost nobody was able to rebook their flights through that hotline. I had my sister call Lufthansa within Germany to get my flight rebooked, I heard that others did the same. There was nobody to talk to at the airport.

I spent two nights at a hotel close to the airport monitoring the situation via the Heathrow website. Sunday the airport was completely closed down, so I made my way to the airport on Monday, because my sister had been able to rebook me for a flight on Monday night. She told me to just make my way to the Check-in and have somebody print my boarding pass.
However, Heathrow was completely chaotic and overcrowded and there was no way to even get close to a check-in counter. I waited for 7 hours in a completely overcrowded area, just to find out that my flight was canceled. Yet again, there was no rebooking at the airport and by the time I got in touch with my family, they had already known for a couple of hours (!) about my canceled flight and had been lucky to be able to rebook me yet again for Wednesday.

While waiting in line, I talked to a lot of people. Everybody pretty much recounted the same experience: rebooking was only possible through the Lufthansa Service Centers in Germany, there was no getting through on the hotline number and chances of making it out of London any time before Christmas got slimmer by the hour.

People kept saying, “make the best of it and enjoy London! Do some sight-seeing!”
But to be honest, I didn’t have the peace of mind to go sight-seeing. If you’re in total limbo about when and how you’re going to get to travel on, and you’re constantly on the phone or online to get flights rebooked, accommodations taken care of, and the like, there really is not much motivation left to go sight-seeing.

I met two girls from Berlin while waiting at the airport on Monday and we decided to stick this out together. We ended up in the same hotel that evening (this time, Lufthansa pulled us out of the cue and asked if we wanted to go to a hotel, which they put us up in with free lodging and meals). We spent two nights trying to get train tickets, bus tickets or a car pool ride out of London, but no such luck! Everything was completely booked. It was insane! (You might have seen some of it on the news… the lines that they showed on the news were NO exaggeration!) The only thing was to hope for our flights to go out on Wednesday.

Since Heathrow asked passengers with no confirmed flights to stay away from the airport, we didn’t even go to the airport on Tuesday, but actually had a half day to do some sight-seeing in London. Since I had never been to London before, I really hated the thought that the airport disaster might be forever ingrained in my brain as a really bad first experience in London… because otherwise London seems to be such a pretty place! See for yourselves!

Tower Bridge

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Big Ben

London Eye

On Wednesday, our flights were on the list of flights that were scheduled to go out that day. We were ecstatic and made our way to the airport at around 11 a.m. This time everything was much more organized compared to Wednesday. People weren’t let into the Terminal without an actual confirmed flight and a pending departure. Since I was way too early for my evening flight, I had to wait in one of two tents that were put up in front of the terminal. They provided blankets, hot coffee and tea, soup, candy and phones (to make free national and international calls).
The two girls made it onto their flight to Berlin in the early afternoon. I had a few more hours to kill and kept checking the monitors within the tents to make sure that my flight was still “on”. I met some other nice people while waiting and I have to say that this made the whole ordeal so much more bearable: meeting all these nice people that were in the same boat as yourself.

Finally, at 5:15 p.m., my flight to Cologne was called. I hardly couldn’t believe my ears! I made my way to the Terminal and was checked-in and through security in less than 20 minutes. I had an hour and a half to stroll around the airport, have a cafe latte, and get myself to the gate. The plane departed on time at 7:35 p.m.

Now, imagine my absolutely shocked surprise when I found out that my plane was HALF EMPTY!

People had been told that hardly any seats were available for days. People, who were desperate to go anywhere in Germany, just to get out of London and off the island! Somewhere, where they could catch a train or bus to get home.

The guy two rows in front of me had actually purchased a business class ticket to make it on that flight. Imagine how pissed he must have been when he found out that half of the economy class seats were not taken!
I really don’t understand why – apparently – there was nobody, who was coordinating the flights and could have filled up those empty seats. I bet you that there were hundreds of people still stuck there in London, who would have loved to take that flight to Cologne. Absolutely insane!

I feel cheated out off 4,5 days of my very precious vacation time with my family and that is what I am most upset about, really. I had so many plans this week already that had to be canceled. However, the most important thing is that I made it home for Christmas!

Thanks to all of you who kept up with me via Email, Facebook and Twitter in the last few days. For all your kind words, your mental support in keeping up my good spirits and all your finger-crossing. Much, much love! ♥
I hope to catch up with all of you (and reverb10) in the next few days!

When joy and anticipation meets sad and frustration

December 18, 2010 filed under: my so-called life, travel

You guys, I am stranded in London (and apparently, I can’t sleep).

Everything started out so very well. My flight from LAX to London Heathrow was (almost) on time, I was impressed with Air New Zealand’s extra leg room, in-flight entertainment, and food and I was seated next to two very lovely English ladies, who both had very English English accents (and who attested me an American accent in return. oh-kay?!)

Everything could have been so great! But then everything went down the wrong path. We landed in heavy snow fall, but it honestly didn’t look like it was going to be a problem. At least not a perpetual problem, but I learned soon enough that all flights to Europe for the day were canceled.

CANCELED.

I mean, WHAT? That meant that I didn’t get to go home today, I didn’t get to cuddle with Greta and Tom, and embrace my family in a tight hug.

Ugh. Punch to my stomach.

Instead, I spent 10 hours at the airport trying to figure out what to do. Thank God for my iPod Touch and an Internet connection (since my cell phone doesn’t work in Europe). I was in touch with my family through Email and with friends through Twitter. They helped me out so, so much. I can’t even start to explain.

My sister spent numerous hours on hold with the airline (Lufthansa couldn’t rebook us, but said we had to call the Service Center hotline which – of course – a) I couldn’t do because I had no cell phone and b) which was completely overloaded, because hundreds, if not thousands of people tried to get a hold of someone at the same time.
My parents and aunt kept up my spirits by keeping in touch by email and trying to find a Eurostar (train) connection for me instead, and my friend Kim finally booked me a hotel near the airport through an online booking site, which turned out to be a real blessing, because I don’t think I would have been able to get a hotel room for the night, hadn’t it been for Kim‘s online booking. There was no way to get a hotel room (or if, not under 300 pounds) through the airport information desk.
I am hoping that the airline or my travel insurance will reimburse me for it, but it still has to come out of my pocket first.

I spent five freakin’ hours roaming the baggage claim area looking for my suitcase. It was completely chaotic! There seemed to be no organization whatsoever! You would think a big hub airport like London Heathrow would be a little bit better prepared. I am just so glad that just when I was about to give up and go to the hotel, because I was tired and exhausted, I spotted my suitcase on one of the conveyor belts near the exit. Total coincidence, but definitely a silver lining! Then I had to stand in line for 1,5 hours in the freaking cold, before one of those lovely, very original black cabs took me to my hotel. The cab driver said he had never seen such a long cue… ahm… line (the British English is so lovely :)) at the cab stop. And, OMG, I couldn’t agree with him more. The line was so insanely long!
Since this is my first night (ever!) in London, it was my first ride in an English cab as well and it was so strange to see the driver sit on the right and drive on the left side of the road! Heh!

Edit: I forgot to mention, my sister did get me rebooked on a flight to DUS tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. I can only hope that the weather has calmed down by then and that I will indeed be able to get on that plane.

I think I am going to try and sleep now. I’ve been up for way too long! Hopefully I’ll have better news for you soon!

Things I love Thursday

December 16, 2010 filed under: TILT

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This week I am loving…

… the fact that today is my last work day for 2010 and that there will be coffee and cookies in the break room later on for a little Christmas get together.

… the anticipation of getting on a plane to Germany in less than 36 hours. Weeee!

… that I am going to be able to spend precious time with my niece and nephew soon.

… the three days I got to spend in San Francisco, attending the American Geophysical Union Conference, having my name mentioned twice in my supervisor’s lecture about our work (yay!), sipping hot chocolate and watching the ice skaters at Union Square, enjoying the Christmas decorations and really getting into the Christmas mood.

… the lovely Christmas Cards that I already received in the mail from Susi, Steffi, Maribeth, Sheryl, and a penfriend from Germany. Thank you, thank you, thank you, guys! I love Christmas mail!

… that I was able to manage to get all Christmas cards crafted and the ones for the US written and ready to be mailed out.

… the two great Christmas surprises that I have for J. He’s usually very hard to shop for, but this year, I had not only one, but two really great gift ideas! This usually never happens and I am so stoked!

… candles, blankets, hot tea and holiday movies. (Mmmh, that seems to be a reoccurring theme around this time of year!).

What are you loving this week?
(8 days until Christmas!)

Reverb10: Appreciate

December 15, 2010 filed under: about me

This post is part of the online initiative of Reverb10. One prompt a day for each day of December. You can find all of my Reverb10 posts here .

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Prompt: Appreciate. What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

I think the one thing that I really have come to appreciate this year is honesty.

I had a penfriend once who completely out of the blue send me a letter saying that she was really sad but needed to end our correspondence. I was shocked at first and very hurt and disappointed, because there had not been any indication prior to this letter that would have hinted at her not being interested in our correspondence anymore. I didn’t understand why and how she could be so mean to just end our friendship like this, without actually giving me a real reason. But you know what? In the end, I really learned to appreciate her honesty. She saved me from months, possibly years of trying to figure out why she didn’t respond to my letters anymore and what might have happened to her. She really taught me at an early age that honesty is always, always better than whitewashing the situation.

Honesty might sounds like a pretty obvious concept to some people, but you have no idea how much BS I had to deal with this year, just because people couldn’t be honest and upfront with me.

I mean, is it really that hard?

I take honest words that hurt now over any carefully-phrased misleading words that hurt (a hell lot more) later any day!

I always contributed some of my disappointments this last year to the fact that I am European and we are generally more direct and straight-forward in our relationships, but that theory does not completely hold because I’ve also had disappointments with other Europeans that kept “beating around the bush” when it would have (and could have) been much easier just to say it like it is.

In general, I am pretty good about reading other people and being able to tell when somebody needs a way out. What I don’t understand is: if I make it is easy for them and pretty much put words in their mouth to get out of a situation, why don’t they take my offer?

Why do they still insist that they do want to __________(fill in blank), when I just gave them the perfect excuse to get out of the obligation? Why don’t they just say “Sorry, but I don’t think so”?

I know, being honest with someone can be hard and often very unpleasant, but here is what I don’t understand: completely catching somebody off guard with an honest statement, is one thing, but pretty much just having to say “yes” to the excuse that I present you, is another.

I usually tend to give people the benefit of the doubt one too many times, so when they insist that they “really, really know where I’m coming from” (most people have no idea where I am coming from!), that they want to “be friends” and “hang out with me”, I get my hopes up. Only to be repeatedly disappointed, when in reality, they have no intention of doing so. I have a really tough time dealing with people, who can’t just cut the crap and tell me what they really think. Avoidance/ignorance drives me up the freakin’ wall.
This has nothing to do with politeness, I think this is first class asshole behavior.

So, this past year I really have come to appreciate honesty. I respect people who can be candid and straight-forward so, so much more than people who just try to leave a good impression, but, in fact, leave you with a bad aftertaste in your mouth. It’s better to make a painful break than draw out the agony.

Reverb10: Things

December 11, 2010 filed under: about me

This post is part of the online initiative of Reverb10. One prompt a day for each day of December. You can find all of my Reverb10 posts here .

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Prompt: 11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011?
How will you go about eliminating them?
How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?

1. Regret. I want to stop feeling regret over lost friendships, wasted time and missed opportunities. I want to focus less on what I don’t have, and more on what I have.

2. Worry. If you let me, I will worry myself silly over little things. I think I’ve become much better in the last couple of years about trying not to worry so much, but I definitely want to continue on this path in 2011.

3. Drama. Some people are so exhausting. Seriously, I can really do without the drama that surrounds certain people. It’s not always easy, but I want to eliminate the contact with people who always have to be the center of attention and who always pretend to have bigger problems than anyone else. Well, I have news for you: we all have problems. Get over it.

4. False promises. I really try to tell people not to promise anything to me anymore. I hate broken promises with a passion. If you want to come out to California to visit, then do it. Or don’t. But don’t promise me you will and then never follow through. I am so over that. I’d much rather be surprised by an unexpected turn of events than disappointed by false promises.

5. Stress. I know that a lot of the stress that I feel sometimes I create for myself. It’s not possible to completely eliminate stress from one’s life, but I am hoping to find better techniques to reduce the stress that is self-induced.

6. Self-doubt. I believe, I can fake it well a lot of the time, but internally I am constantly battling my own ego. It makes me question whether I am smart enough, creative enough, good enough. Next year, I want to focus on giving myself more credit, seeing things for what they are and believing in my own abilities a little more.

7. Clutter. I know that a lot of the clutter that I have at home is not really clutter (as in “needs to be thrown out”), I just don’t have a place to put a lot of my stuff. We need a bigger apartment and more closets/shelves to properly organize and put stuff away. Moving to a bigger apartment is high on my priority list in 2011.

8. Pressure. I could really do without the pressure that not only others, but also mainly I put on myself. I want to practice to say “it’s enough” and “no more”. I want to feel content with how things are and not create unnecessary pressure in trying to change things to how I how I think they should be.

9. Processed Food. We’ve been really good about not eating out as much in the last few months and I’ve been trying to cook from scratch as often as possible. Still, some processed foods still find their way into our freezer and fridge and I want to try to reduce the amount of processed foods that I buy even more.

10. Saying “Yes” all the time. In 2011, I’ll be practicing to say “no”. I’ll say no to things that I don’t want to do (and not feel bad about it), to things that I feel obligated to do, but really don’t have to do, and to things that stretch thin my time and resources. As much as I like to be a people pleaser, a healthy dose of “no” is imperative to be happy and to be able to function properly.

11. Perfection. It’s impossible to achieve perfection. The beauty is to find perfection in the imperfections of every day life.

F is for flowers

December 11, 2010 filed under: photography

The alphabet project is a 26 week adventure in photography!
Wanna play along? Check out Ashley‘s blog and join the Flickr Group!

Reverb10: Wisdom

December 10, 2010 filed under: family

This post is part of the online initiative Reverb10. One prompt a day for each day of December. You can find all of my Reverb10 posts here .

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Prompt: Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?

I don’t know if it was the wisest decision that I made this year, but I believe that it was one wise decision.

When my sister had her second baby in March, she wanted me to become my new nephew’s godmother. I already am Greta’s godmother and absolutely over the moon about it and when my sister asked if I would consider also becoming Tom’s godmother, I wanted to scream “yes, yes, yes, of course”.

Instead, I suggested that she’d consider to ask our cousin, Bastian, to become his godfather. Not because I didn’t want to become Tom’s godmother myself, but because I knew that Basti had expressed interest in becoming a godfather.

Basti is my Mom’s sister’s son. He was raised by a single mom and my parents helped my aunt a whole lot in raising him. He’s like a little brother to my sister and me and I thought it would be a really great opportunity to get him closer tied to the family by having him take on some responsibility towards my sister’s son.

My sister was a little skeptical at first. Basti is 19 years old. He’s a typical teenager with lots of interests and lots of friends. She wasn’t sure if he would take being a godfather seriously enough. But I argued, which 19-year old teenager would volunteer – almost beg – to become a godfather, if he wasn’t serious about the responsibility that comes with this? In the last couple of years, he’s become a sensitive and responsible young man and it would be a great opportunity for him to prove that he is serious about our family.
She eventually decided to ask him and I am so happy she did.

Basti was so proud to become Tom’s godfather.

https://www.theinbetweenismine.com/2010/12/11/reverb10-things/

Reverb10: Make

December 6, 2010 filed under: crafts

This post is part of the online initiative Reverb10. One prompt a day for each day of December. You can find all of my Reverb10 posts here .

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Prompt : Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

This is a great prompt, because I am in a making mode right now.

Last night, I made a huge chunk of the 50+ Christmas cards that I am going to send out this year. At the beginning of this year, I pledged that I would not buy one single card from a store, but craft every single birthday, thank you, greeting card by hand. I think that I followed through with this (with maybe one exception when I really didn’t have the time to make my own card, before the card was due).

I’ve also been trying to make some new things with my crochet hook and yarn. You’ve seen one of the new things that I tried in my giveaway last week and I’ve also been working on some other yarn projects (which might be revealed at a later time).

In the process of all this crafting, I am also making a complete mess of our (teeny, tiny) living room. I really, really need a crafting room. For my own sanity,… and J’s. Once I busted out all my crafting stuff, the dining table (ok, and part of the floor) get completely taken over and we have to have our dinners on the couch (which is something I usually despise). I just know that I am totally gonna lose my momentum if I start packing everything away after I am done.

There is definitely a lot more that I want to make but haven’t been able to find the time for. I’d like to learn how to sew, I’d like to bake more often and I’d like to make more local friends :)

What’s the last thing that you made?

Giveaway winner!

December 6, 2010 filed under: giveaway

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who participated in the very first giveaway on my little ol’ blog. It’s been fun to finally host a little giveaway of my own and I might consider doing more giveaways in the future.

There were (only) 24 entries, which really ups your chances for being the winner. Are you excited yet?

I used random.org to come up with a random number between 1 and 24, and the winner is…

CONGRATULATIONS, Kam!!

I’ll be in touch with you via email so that you can claim your prize!

Reverb10: Let go

December 5, 2010 filed under: family

This post is part of the online initiative Reverb10. One prompt a day for each day of December. You can find all of my Reverb10 posts here .

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Prompt: Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

This year, I had to let go of my Granddad.

Although he was already 87 years old and had suffered a mild stroke 5 months prior, his death was really sudden and unexpected. He had recovered so well from his first stroke and otherwise was so healthy. He wasn’t on any pills or had any other health problems (besides from some back pain). Which 87 year-old can say that about himself? I was sure he was going to be around for a very long time.

Getting the call from my sister that morning in late February was just a big shock. I had never felt so alone and helpless being over 6000 miles away from home.

I was two months away from going to visit again. Two months. At the time, it just didn’t seem fair. I had talked to him a couple of days beforehand and he himself had said that he couldn’t wait to see me again very, very soon!
After I moved to the US, he was always afraid that when I visited, it would be the last time he was going to see me again. It makes me sad to think that his fear of not seeing me again before he died actually became reality. He practically died in this sleep though and I’d like to think that none of these fearful thoughts were on his mind when he went to bed that night, not knowing that he would never wake up again.

Losing my Granddad was one of the hardest things I had to experience. It was the first death of a close family member that really hit me hard. My maternal Grandma died before I was born, my paternal Grandma died when I was only six. My maternal Granddad died 8 years ago, but it was different then because we hadn’t really had a very close relationship. With my paternal Granddad, however, I was very close. Having to realize that he wouldn’t be there anymore at my next visit was a tough reminder of the fact that every moment with family is precious, especially if you chose to live your life far, far away from them.