A Travel Tale
- By: Jack and Jill on the Hill
- On: 05/30/2008 10:08:09
- In: Prospect/Farwell Neighborhood
Not all travel these days is awful.
Jack and I returned a week ago from a two-week tour of five countries in Eastern Europe. We spent a few days each in Warsaw, Krakow, Vienna, Budapest, Prague and Helsinki. Of those countries, only Austria and Finland use the euro, so the change of currency as we entered a new country was confusing, especially for those of us not adept at mental mathematical calculations. The one thing we knew for certain, the American dollar was worth painfully little.
That is not, however, the reason for this article. I was mentally prepared for the worst possible travel experience. I had promised myself that whatever delays, schedule changes, cancellations, discourteous security people, etc. we encountered, I would take it in my stride. I had cut out dozens of "Cryptoquips" and crossword puzzles from the Journal Sentinel and brought two paperbacks to occupy me in case of extreme frustration. We flew Midwest to New York then Finnair to Europe. At no point were there any problems either going or returning. Airport security people were pleasant, planes were as much on time as could be reasonably expected and no luggage was lost. The passport and customs people at JFK were pretty jolly considering that they must have been counting the minutes until they could start enjoying their Memorial Day weekend.
We will be travelling again in July, and we may not be as lucky, but we’re grateful for May’s trouble-free trip.