Made it to Amsterdam!!

What a trip!! I have had my share of interesting flukes this time. This trip has been interesting. I thought I was packed on Saturday morning but apparently that was not true. On Sunday afternoon I started putting the books and computers in and suddenly I was not even in the neighborhood. It is not the clothes and personal effects that I always take that take up so much room after all. It is the teacher stuff. I will be thinking about that differently in the future.

I gave my luggage to the skycap at the curb along with a $5. dollar bill and I was off to the security check-in. That was a breeze too. I was feeling really great about this trip. Good prices, good schedule. All was going to work out. Then I got to Dusseldorf. Suddenly I had too many bags and it wasn’t looking so good. At first it was 280 euros for being overweight. That was ridiculous. The suitcase and what was in it were not worth that much. If I thought I could replace the supplies in Vilnius I might have left it there on the spot. That was all I intended to spend for the entire three weeks. I considered shipping it as cargo but that was only 20 euros cheaper than carrying it. That didn’t make any sense. When someone finally thought of a way to make it 75 euros, I decided I had trekked back and forth enough and I was ready to give it up. I had gone shopping Sunday specifically to get a new suitcase that would work all the way around. This wasn’t looking very good at all. I had a fleece sweater, an empty purse, empty gift boxes and a one-inch thick file. It was overweight. This was horrible! I was unpacking, repacking, and weighing the suitcases. Thank heavens the one with my underwear was not in question. That would have been embarrassing. I had books and towels and gift boxes and clothes and sweaters and a raincoat and more books and papers and electronic toys and chargers all over the counter and the floor in front. The line was getting longer and longer.

I never figured out until the end that the agent kept holding onto a suitcase or a stack of books and supplies while I went back and forth to negotiate and pay. She was keeping some of the weight off the scale to help me out. What a crazy time. Anyway, it was finally decided that I would check the third piece as an extra piece of luggage which is apparently less expensive than overweight. After it was all weighed the agent had me put all the everything back in. I was off to Bucharest. I almost fell down the metal structure they use for an entrance to the plane. It was a steep metal staircase, which was difficult to see. The color blended in with the asphalt that showed through the grating. The grates were sharp and had holes big enough to eat the heels of my shoes. The wind was howling through the grating. I tripped once. This staircase would never pass a safety test in the States.