Class on Thursday and then Off to Berlin!

Yes, I do take classes! On Thursday, as a class we went to the Mind, Body, Spirit exhibit on the other side of town. Keep in mind, one of my classes is a "complimentary health" class, si we are being exposed to many things that are new to us. This exhibition was the peak of new experiences! There were hundreds of booths on every kind of activity that is thought to have healing or diagnostic powers that you can imagine!

I was assigned to find out about iridology. In the brochure, it was listed under "Clinical Iridology!". I was so glad to see that it is clinically based. For those who don't know, this is the "science" of determining all that ails you by examining your irises! I talked to the women, who had more initials after her name than anyone I've ever met, and, not surprisingly, I wasn't convinced!

Well, I was full of anxiety today as I prepared to go to Berlin. I am guessing that this was because it was my first time flying alone outside the United States. The first challenged was to get to the airport. Because I made a mistake right off the bat, this involved a bus, a ride on the tube and the the train. I had to laugh when outside the window from the train, I saw where "Take Courage" had been painted on the side of a building. As it turned out, I got there in plenty of time.

Things are different flying out of London. To start with, nobody looked at identification until I was getting on the plane. Secondly, they don't post the gate in advance. Instead, from something like the food court/shopping area, we all watched these boards. My flight was listed and it indicated that the gate would open at 17:00. My flight was to take off at 17:40 and my boarding pass said that the gate closed at 17:10. Very confusing. What happens is that at the time listed Ian the boards, the gate number is posted and you have 45 minutes to get to the gate. This was my first indication that things were running late!

Well, at 17:00 they posted , "Please wait.". So I waited. And waited. Finally at about 17:45 the board was updated to say, "Gate. Closing!". I've never seen a group of people move so fast down a concourse to a gate in my life. Nobody knew what was happening! This is all compounded by the fact that you don't have an assigned seat on these discount airlines, so your place in line to board really matters.

So, now I'm in a mob at the gate where we wait and wait. Finally they tell us to take a seat because they don't know how long it will be. They were waiting for the plane to be refueled. After nearly an hour, someone turns around and says okay, and the mob jumps to their feet and stands waiting to board!

So I board and just take the first seat I see. I am glad I brought a very small bag so that I didn't even have to put it overhead. No frills airline-you pay for everything! Thankfully they haven't started charging to use the restroom, but I hear it's coming!

All that to say, I made it to Berlin, where, thankfully Doug met me at the airport! Two buses, later, I arrived it Doug's apartment, where I was greeted by 75 steps! My word, haven't they heard of elevators?

It could have been worse. A classmate of mine was also flying to Germany on Thursday, but out of Heathrow Airport. He arrived at his destination at 5:00 Friday afternoon!