Airport Adventures

My flights are always more exciting than I anticipate. I think this has proved to be both a good and a bad thing.

- My first adventure started while I waited for 4 hours in the airport for my flight (my friends' flights were all earlier than mine). There was a large group of Brazilian ladies sitting around me and it was obvious they didn't speak any English. They were having trouble connecting to the free wifi and once they saw that I was successfully using my computer... they flocked. So I helped each Brazilian woman log onto their phones and computers, one by one, while they showered me with hugs and squeals because that's the only way we could communicate. I love that appreciation can be shown simply through expressions and gestures. Language barriers can't stop all communication.

- Later while I was standing in line, a guy came up behind me and surprised me by saying in English "Why, you're as American as shit, aren't you?" He was referring to my leopard print luggage, which I lovingly bought in my junior high years but now wish I could leave on the side of the road. We got talking and apparently he makes commercials in New York for a living. Budweiser commercials, and Skullcandy commercials... or so he says. But all I could think about was the movie "Taken." I mean, he was a good looking guy in his thirties, flirting with me and telling me he lived a fabulous life in New York City. I ran away quickly.

- The flight was pretty painless from Italy to England. I slept for most of the short three hours. It was landing that was the issue. I have never been through such an intense customs line before. First off, the line was probably a good hour and a half long wait. But I met a nice Canadian girl and passed time talking with her about Italy since she had just come from studying there too. The Heathrow Airport workers are pretty fierce about their questioning. It was like an investigation and I almost didn't get through the border because I didn't have an address of my friend's cousin with whom I would be staying. Luckily they took a phone number. I was finally officially in London  :)