1. We were severely delayed at check-in at Dulles Airport because United's so-called Easy Check-In wasn't so easy for Alaina and it kicked her out of the system. We had to get in another line to see a real person and when that person went and got a key to open a special drawer to use a special phone after scanning Alaina's passport, things looked dicey right out of the chute. However, Uncle Sam must have given his blessing because it all worked out, especially since the flight to Munich was delayed 45 minutes or so due to mechanical problems.
2. A woman boarded the plane with what appeared to be a broken leg, and the various airline personnel, including the chief pilot, refused to let her fly and wanted her off the plane. After a half hour or so of debate and argument and a visit from several paramedics and a policeman, they let her fly. This took up so much time that, at this point, a big chunk of the 80% of people on board with connecting flights to catch had missed them even before takeoff (not us, though; we just had a 90-minute layover instead of a 3-hour layover). The best part is that this woman and her husband, on a plane with 250 people on it, happened to be sitting.......right next to me. Yes, I spent part of my trip to Munich with Broken Leg Lady's open-toed, embolism-sock-wrapped foot in my face.
3. My gig bag with all of the special percussion instruments I bought especially for this trip; my MiniDisc recorder; and all of my AC and recharging cords never arrived at the airport. In 20+ years of foreign travel I have never once not had one of my bags arrive with me until today. However, just before signing on here, the front desk here at the Hotel Tatra informed me that my bag is on its way from the airport. Whew. Will anything be inside of it when it gets here? Stay tuned. :-)
Other than that........I'm here with my new family-to-be and everyone seems to be excited to check out such an unusual location for Americans to be visiting (Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic, the eastern half of what used to be Czechoslovakia). I've been making snippets of video which I will slap together after returning to the USA.
