Macedonia Day 1

So day one...technically days one and two…completely exhausted me. As David so kindly pointed out, we spent more time in the airports than on the planes. My first wait was in Birmingham for 2 ½ hours, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when we boarded our plan (I would have almost walked if the sketch with the yo-yo didn’t stop looking at me.) So then 2 ½ hours of miserable plane ride later, I arrive in D.C. “But Jenna, you love to fly.” “Why yes indeed, you are absolutely correct, however, This was like sitting in a remote control airplane. There were 12 rows. TWELVE ROWS! There were only like 42 people on the plane, and every time the wind blew 2miles an hour, we flew all over the place. –The cherry on top_ My seat buddy was German. He didn’t talk, he just looked German. [sidenote: Europeans are so stylish…rarely ever do they look bad.] He was long and skinny, yet he still needed 2 armrests. The worst part was that while I was feeling nauseous. Trying to occupy myself, he not only blocked the outside view from his window, but I couldn’t even partake of his book …it was in German. So finally we land and Washington-Dulles is retarded. There are 3 entirely separate busses to travel from one building to the next. Therefore, I had to find where I was going and how to get there before I lost my shuttle and had to start over again. {Also while wandering, I found a starbucks where they barely spoke English and yet said they understood what a skinny vanilla latte is, but were that true would I have had to repeat and explain every detail about my drink? Negative. I And let me tell you, the whole five seconds of extreme panic and exasperation when I couldn’t find my gate had me channeling some Scarlett O’Hara… I wanted to yell “I’ll never sleep on a cold icy airport floor again!” All is well though because I ever so conveniently found my gate not 10 minutes later….and seeing as how I would have to sit there for apx. 8 days 4 hours and 31 seconds, it didn’t really matter anyway. LooooooooooooooongEST FLIGHT EVER.ever! D.C. to Vienna…dear goodness, I thought I would die. My head hurt my face and nose were dry, I wanted to barf. It was not a pleasant experience .Once we made it through smoke infested Vienna airport where we had been sitting .for several hours, oh and being accosted by Vienna girls passing out postcards and a condemn. But once we got on our last connecting flight…I got my second wind. I was ready to go, but then there was a problem. I couldn’t tell you what it was since all but our 11 people spoke either German or Macedonian, but I can tell you the result of the issue was to move one of the wailing 6 mo. Old babies right beside me and his twin on the isle across from me. Fortunately this ride was moderately fast. Once we got to Skopje we thought we had lost Chris’s baggage, (that was almost unfortunate), and then we lane hopped at least 4 times before we found the right customs line. Macedonia is gorgeous…It looks a lot like Brazil actually, but to be honest I wasn’t really concerned with what it looks like, since I felt so sick and tired I could’ve just passed out right then. I had then officially been up for apx. 32 hours not counting the times I actually slept on the planes….which was 1 hour. The theory however was/is if we stay up until bedtime today, then our bodies will adjust to this new sleep pattern…..hmn. But seriously I’m dozing and jerking back awake right now, so forgive me. I’ll let you know how the fatigue is tomorrow at the crack of AM when I must get up. xoxo