In Belgium 2006 Journal Part One

I want to state right now that I do not dislike America, Arabs, Pigmies, or anyone else I take stabs at during the following journal entries. Everything in these journals is meant to be funny and written as a joke. I love everyone and everything and above all I love to laugh. I hope you will too. Enjoy...

Today is Tuesday, March 21st, 2006. It was a long and exciting adventure making our ("our" meaning Marvin and I) way to Belgium. Let me briefly go back in time and explain how things progressed. I'll do so to the best my memory will allow...

I said a lengthy and extremely sad "goodbye" to Sasha. (Sasha always makes the event of saying goodbye much easier by supporting my everlasting habit of chasing dreams. For this, she gains and unsurpassable amount of love and respect from me.) Next I traveled to Clawson to meet Drew for a breakfast of eggs, pancakes, sausage, toast, and good cheer. The plan was to get in the car by 12:00 noon, drive over to Marvin's house, and head for Metro Airport. Unfortunately our fairly simple plan already had one major setback, becoming the event that would set the tone for our journey to Brussels. Drew's car starter failed to turn over its American engineered V6 leaving us feeling as stranded as the poor Lincoln in the driveway with its inoperable engine.

There will always be problems in life, these problems can always be overcome. Drew immediately swooped into action. He was able to borrow his roommate Matt's Nissan 240SX. You see unlike the Lincoln, Japanese cars are built to last. They are also apparently built for pigmies. Drew, myself, Marvin, and enough luggage for two people to be overseas for a month had to literally be crammed into the tiny Nissan. We arrived at the international terminal at Metro Airport stiff legged and two inches shorter by 12:45 pm. Problem one solved.

In front of the terminal Marvin and I pried our body's and luggage from the minute Nissan. We said our goodbyes and thanks to Drew and headed into the terminal. Good for us everything seemed to be operating as usual in the international terminal. What was not good for us was that we had to take a domestic flight out of the Smith terminal to Washington DC to catch a connecting flight to Brussels. We flagged a cab and 10 minutes and $10.00 later we arrived at the airport for the second time that afternoon. This time the ride was much more comfortable. Problem two solved.

We successfully printed our tickets, checked in, and then easily passed through the "ultra efficient and secure government appointed" airport security. These modern day heros protect good Americans from evil terrorists by denying them access to the boarding areas. By performing there demanding and extremely dangerous job each and every day they ensure "good Americans" will not be blown up or overwhelmed with the essence of expensive cologne. But most important to me it guarantees that I will be able to see the in flight movie rather then staring at a towel. (Problem 2.5 solved)

Problem Three: We had made it to the airport with plenty of time. With our bags checked, tickets printed, security passed, and gate found we were feeling pretty confident. We decided to have a quick drink at the classy and very inexpensive airport bar. As boarding time drew closer I walked over to the departure screen to make sure everything was on time only to find our flight had been delayed indefinitely. In order to make our connecting flight to Brussels the flight would have to be boarded and in the air by 4:30. This did not happen... Not arriving at our connecting flight became problem three.

Solving problem three weighed completely on United Airlines shoulders. The following was their solution...

1. we get on the original flight to DC
2. we take a Lahftgansa flight to Munich
3. in Munich we would pick up a Lahftgansa flight to Brussels

If all goes well we will be in Brussels by 12:30 pm only 5 hours later then our original arrival time. Simple enough.

This is were problem four and five unravel rather quickly. I'll list them with a short description.
1. Problem Four: The flight to Munich is delayed, we miss the connecting flight to Brussels.
2. Problem Five: The next flight from Munich to Brussels is delayed.

Problems four and five were solved by waiting, eating, talking, and of course the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Who is to say problems can't be solved by drinking and eating. In Munich I placed a 2 minute phone call on a credit card pay phone to Bart (our host in Belgium) to let him know what was happening. Unfortunately I would later find out that this 2 minute phone call from a pay phone in Germany to Belgium cost $40.00.

We finally arrived at the Brussels airport (I'm not sure of the formal name) at 8:30 pm nearly 13 hours after our original arrival time. Problem six involves our checked luggage which had been loaded onto an earlier flight headed for Belgium. Needless to say our baggage had arrived many hours before we did and was now nowhere to be found. We spoke with a really nice baggage claim employee who helped us to take the proper steps in claiming are bags and getting them delivered to where we were staying in Deinze. After that situation was solved we bought 10 euro train tickets to our final destination. Unknown to us problem seven would come much later that night or actually very early the next morning. To be continued...