God bless oversize check-in

GBA on pizza boxes! Talking overdose - how about the view from our hotel in Fredericksburg, VA- no less than 14 flags (14!) with SEVEN (yes, 7!) on the fast food chain nicknamed by the Swiss "BIG American Tits" (aka McDonalds). Proud to be American, but this is just a little too much. (Can you tell this is Stijn talking?)

We just returned from a visit to the states, which included a weekend adventure with long-time friends at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary (see Laura's complete writeup http://transition2NY.blogspot.com) and a family reunion in Fredericksburg, VA, centered around the celebration of the 100th birthday of Grandma Phoebe. It was fantastic to see family and friends. I didn't realize how much I missed them and needed to see them again. For the past 8 months I've been trying to settle into a new culture and haven't had time to digest all the changes. But when I saw friends and family, a flood of feelings came rushing back. It's all about the history of experiences, the things we share in common, the familiarity, the language, the history! I cannot deny how difficult it is to be apart from them. It's something I'll have to learn to deal with or else I'll be spending all my time on the blog, which I'm afraid is already the case.

The other realization I had was that I don't miss a life dependent upon automobiles. The dependence on cars creates an incredibly stressful lifestyle. It's not just the traffic jams that are stressful, but also just knowing that you have to get in the car to get anywhere. For instance, from our hotel in Fredericksburg, you couldn't safely walk to the Appleby's across the street. There were no zebra stripes and there were too many lanes of traffic. American cities weren't designed with pedestrians in mind, and it's just getting worse. As we drove through the VA countryside (what's left of it), there was a sign for 17 new developments (yes, 17!) and at every intersection there was a new strip with Target, Lowe's and Kohl's. It makes one wonder where America is headed, and WHAT the leadership is doing about it! Maybe a little more GBA is needed now than ever.

But getting to the point of my story . . . we arrived at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC with 2 h to spare and a mile-long line for international check-in. It was taking folks 1+ h to check bags and 45 mins to clear security, and I was beginning to worry we wouldn't make our flight. While Stijn walked all the way to the back of the line, I remained with the kids at a half-way point and happened to notice another mother with kids doing the same thing. A few minutes later, a curbside check-in clerk brought her luggage tags and passports and checked in her luggage. I quickly approached the curbside clerk to ask how this was possible (after hearing from the clerks outside that it was NOT possible) and he replied, "I'm very busy at the moment, but if it's worth my energy then I can help you". After assuring him that it would be worth his while, he lifted our bags and said that one was oversized and he couldn't help us. However, he directed us to the oversized luggage check-in and told us that if we could pay for the extra weight there, he'd be able to help us afterwards. Turns out the oversized luggage clerk was able to check all our bags, and we then zipped through security and made it to the gate just in the nick of time. In case you never heard of oversize check-in, now you know. Maybe it will save your flight in the future like it saved ours! God bless oversize check-in!