my time in america pt 1

as a good story always begins, with the journey there.

when i arrived at copenhagen airport at 7am that tuesday i had already been up for about two hours. after queuing for a bit i was informed at check-in that my flight was 2 hours late and because of that i had to be re-booked on my connections. said and done. instead of continuing from newark (new jersey, for those of you unfamiliar with u.s. geography) to cincinnati (ohio) i was to go to houston (texas), and then to salt lake city (utah). no problem.

the flight to newark was not full so i had some much appreciated space, even though it was coach. and because dave the considerate had pre-ordered my meals to be vegetarian, the food was great; fresh fruit, actual tastes and no chips.

we came in over the u.s. through northwest canada; newfoundland and there, and continued down towards new jersey through a beautiful autumn colored new england. it was amazingly beautiful! i couldn't stop looking out the window for the entire time from coming in over land to landing in newark. luckily i didn't already had pain in my neck from sleeping on the plane, thanks in large part to the neck pillow i brought, so i could thoroughly enjoy the view.

after getting through customs at newark - i swear the man flirted with me! - i bummed around the airport a few hours with my two old swedish lady friends i got before i boarded in copenhagen, whom i also helped translate the important pieces. here was my first u.s. starbucks experience. weak.

after boarding my flight to houston, it sat for an hour on the runway before taking off, and i quickly realized i wouldn't make my connection to salt lake. but since there was nothing i could do about it, i enjoyed the flight. the view over night time usa is sometimes spectacular. i was seated next to an american couple with a baby who was only temporarily in the states and normally lived in egypt. her teaching english, him working for some christian foundation-something. they had an interesting perspective on everything; living as white american christian minority in such a historically rich country had given them experiences out of the ordinary, at least for me and i would guess, most americans.

arriving in houston i missed my connection by 15 minutes. i was handed a new boarding pass for the next morning (12 hours later), a meal voucher and the message that because of some hurricane or other there was not a vacant room in the entire city of houston so i would have to make do with what i could find to sleep on at the airport. i had already been on the road (so to speak) for over 20 hours.

about 5 am or so at the airport in houston. this is what a sleep deprived jenny looks like..

a mostly sleepless night later it was wednesday and i finally boarded my flight to salt lake city in the morning and arrived at noon. sweet relief! i was so happy to have arrived. dave and me went to chilis where i had a delicious black bean burger, and then home to his place and my room for the coming fortnight. i said good day to the world and fell asleep.

one hungry jenny and one delicious black bean burger

it took about 40 hours to get from my front door to dave's. my adventure sure started off with an adventure.