annietravels Happiness is not a state to arrive at, rather, a manner of traveling.

When we left home early this morning at the inconvenient time of 4.45 am we were not only excited but still- and maybe that was silly- optimistic enough we would be ending at our final destination tonight- San José that is. Considering that not only Germany but also the rest of Europe had suffered from tremendous snowfalls during the last days and the fact that even New York City had closed all its three airports at the beginning of this week due to those horrible and totally unexpected weather conditions (hey you out there! December means winter and therefore snow AND ice!) our attitude on this early morning was indeed very optimistic, maybe also a little naive. We ended up stranding in Brussels for 7 hours, drank and ate up all kinds of snacks and beverages at the lounge while figuring how and when to board our connecting flights to 1st) Newark and 2nd) San José. My lovely man stuck to his phone calling Continental Airlines (in their competence similar to Deutsche Bahn) to see whether they could book us on the last flight to Costa Rica tonight since due to the massive delay of our Brussels-Newark flight we would clearly miss the scheduled one. Still, optimistic like two kids waiting for the right Christmas presents, we tried and talked to nearly everyone at Continental, Lufthansa and Brussels airport. All came up with the same answer: Get to Newark first, then talk to Continental there, see what they can do. Obviously they knew what they could not so they automatically booked us on a flight leaving Newark in 2 days, going via Houston (Yes, we DO have a problem) and landing in San José on New Years Eve late enough to celebrate 2011 at the airport. Ok, being naive we had not seen this coming. If so we would have packed winter clothes- as in gloves, boots and a jacket. But we left home nearly naked- in sneakers and with light luggage which you might expect from some backpacker folks who will be staying in a country with 34 degrees Celsius for the next two months. So we tried to schedule the proposed flight from 31st to tomorrow, 30th, so we can at least celebrate New Years at the beach in the sun. Without snow. But from what they told us all 3 aircrafts are fully booked - even tomorrow. Even the friendly purser Doug my man nearly fell in love with on the flight to Newark told us we will have to see. Well, let ME see: at the Continental desk in Newark we will let you guys see how much it means to us to finally move on and not stay in the US of A for the next 2 days without having the possibility to step outside and show my Luv Manhattan.

The art of travel is to deviate from ones plans, however it is not to walk through snow in flip flops.

After all we are now sitting on our bed at a hung-over looking Renaissance Hotel near Newark airport. I nearly lost my man twice today when the second time he practically fell in love was with the funny Seinfeld-impersonator check-in man at Continental. Ok, I was also pretty fond of that one when he told us secretly he'd got rid of two passengers flying coach tomorrow morning and now put us on their seats. At least those two must hate us now not knowing us or our little scenario. But hey! 07.20 am flight awaits us and we re not only happy but knackered ans besides nearly falling in love with the wrong people we also adopted a granny for a day who is hopefully now on her way to Florida.

Saludos from the states which are btw not so cold- it s only 3 degrees Celsius ABOVE 0 and not so much snow. I do not understand what their problem is here neither did the guy from Copenhagen who stranded at the economy check in with his 10 years old daughter and maybe 250 other people waiting for their connecting flights.