A Night in Bucharest

May 28, 2012

There was to be no ‘rest’ in Bucharest. We completed the first leg of our journey and needed to book the next three for Rosie before we left there. My itinerary had me going from Bucharest to Frankfurt, Germany, then to Seattle, WA, and finally to Denver. To make this escapade even more fun I had awaken from my nap on the plane with the first symptoms of a head cold. After a virtually illness free contract my return to ‘real life’ would be in the grips of a virus. We now had a five hour layover until a 6am flight to Frankfurt and needed to ensure Rosie could match up my flights as best as possible. But not knowing the airport we weren’t sure what our communication options would be to make these plans.

Who knew that of all the airports to end up in we would be at one with a cafeteria opened all night that had excellent free WiFi connectivity! After buying a couple of cups of coffee we sat at a table in the corner feverishly working out the details. Ultimately we got Rosie onto the flight from Bucharest to Frankfurt, a different but essentially parallel flight to Seattle, and the same leg on the final part of the journey. We also spent time talking to the young adults working the restaurant in the middle of the night which reaffirmed the similarity of people’s hopes, fears, and dreams all over the world. This unexpectedly positive time energized us to embrace the rest of our journey.

The flights from that point on went off without a hitch. The oddest part was heading our separate ways at the Frankfurt airport but knowing that we would connect again soon after we each landed in Seattle. The itinerary, by opportunity and intent would give us an overnight in Seattle which allowed us to meet my sister, Sue, and her daughter, Suzy, for dinner as they both live in Washington. It was an excellent benefit of this rather circuitous routing. After a good night’s sleep in Seattle the final flight to Denver seemed almost anti-climactic. When we arrived in Denver, our good friend, Pat was waiting at the airport to drive us back down to the Springs. After almost five months away from home the mountains of Colorado looked both foreign and familiar. I knew that yet another adjustment was ahead of me.

And the adventure continues . . .