So... I left the Czech Republic on Monday. And it was loooooooong. Actually, I woke up at around 11 am on Sunday, then went to Brno at night where I stayed with Linda and John for the last time (thank you, guys! also for the gifts!) and didn't go to bed at all, then took a bus to Prague at 5 am, got to Prague... my plane to Atlanta was leaving at 11:10 am. And the flight was very long - something between 11 and 12 hours, I think. I didn't sleep because I simply can't sleep... bus, plane, whatever, I can't fall asleep when it lasts more than one hour :) Then I was waiting in Atlanta and started to feel really sick... I was in Pittsburgh at about 2 am (Czech time) on Tuesday. Didn't sleep all the time...
So, how was the flight? It wasn't that bad as I was lucky enough to meet interesting people. I think I don't like airports because they involve waiting... Planes aren't much better, though, because they involve waiting concentrated to much smaller space. I didn't even h
ave a window seat, which I always take despite the fact I'm never sure if I really want it. They didn't ask me so I couldn't choose. At least I didn't get the middle seat. They are the worst. (Also I was lucky on the bus to Prague as there was nobody sitting next to me. :))
So the flight from Prague to Atlanta, as I have probably already told you (I'm to lazy to check if I did :)), took about 11 hours and 20 minutes. I was sitting next to a Czech guy on whom I probably didn't make the best impression at first. But he didn't make the best impression on me at first either, so we both had the same start. :) He turned out to be a very interesting person, although I can't say I agreed with everything he said, and as I can't sleep on planes, we talked pretty much all the way to Atlanta, which is quite amazing. I mean - he slept for about an hour, then we both read for a while and also watched the Greenland. But still, we did talk a lot and since he was a very smart and educated guy, it was interesting. He himself told me before we said bye to each other on the plane, that he never spent the whole flight talking to somebody. :)
So I got to Atlanta where the immigration officers were waiting... not for me but for the hundreds and hundreds of people coming to the US via this point. In the queue, I met another intersting guy who was from South Africa. He just arrived from Mexico where he was selling safaris in Africa. He was going to do the same in the US. He told me he goes to the US often and doesn't like it mainly because of the immigration officers. I told him that I was going to make the bold tough-looking officer smile and he didn't believe me. So what do you think? Of course I made him smile. :) I don't even know how... Maybe it's the fact that people usually come to them nervous, whereas I don't care. They're only people... :) So after a short talk, some fingerprints (which I had to do twice because he didn't pay attention :)) and a photograph I got a stamp saying that I can stay here until August the 17th. So I don't even have to go to Canada. :)
Then I picked up my luggage again, left it somewhere again... and started to feel really sick as a result of which I made an idiot of myself by asking a silly question... Anyway - I really didn't know where to go and stuff, so I asked this guy who told me, laughing, that I'm a smart girl after I repeated what he said to make sure I got it. :) He apologized then because he could see that I wasn't feeling well, but it didn't matter because I thought he was nice anyway. :)
So I went through another security check (these make me think about buying a new laptop bag since the one I have makes the checks very annoying :)) And then I started to feel even worse... Fortunately, I was better before I was getting on the plane to Pittsburgh so I survived this flight too. And again - I was very lucky. Next to me, there was a young lady with a 5-month old daughter and they were both so nice. I really liked talking to her and playing with the little girl who was amazing because she didn't cry at all the whole time! I even talked to her parents at the airport which was kind of weird, because her dad was telling me his parents were from Czechoslovakia, but he didn't know where from... Also, I was a witness to a very heartbreaking scene when I was on the train that takes people at airports from one part of the airport to another. There was an American family (and in this case it was a very fat one) trying to catch the train; however, the only member of the family who made it on the train was a little girl (about ten years old, who wasn't that fat :))... Then the door closed and she was inside and the rest of her family outside. There were some nice people who tried to make her stop crying and helped her, but she did look scare.
So, I made it to Pittsburgh. And, believe it or not, Jirka was waiting there for me. :) And it was nice, although I was really exhausted. So we took a taxi because it was faster and I didn't see much of Pittsburgh on the way because it was dark. And I fell asleep almost immediately.
And that's all I have to say about the flight and related stories :)
So, how was the flight? It wasn't that bad as I was lucky enough to meet interesting people. I think I don't like airports because they involve waiting... Planes aren't much better, though, because they involve waiting concentrated to much smaller space. I didn't even h
ave a window seat, which I always take despite the fact I'm never sure if I really want it. They didn't ask me so I couldn't choose. At least I didn't get the middle seat. They are the worst. (Also I was lucky on the bus to Prague as there was nobody sitting next to me. :))So the flight from Prague to Atlanta, as I have probably already told you (I'm to lazy to check if I did :)), took about 11 hours and 20 minutes. I was sitting next to a Czech guy on whom I probably didn't make the best impression at first. But he didn't make the best impression on me at first either, so we both had the same start. :) He turned out to be a very interesting person, although I can't say I agreed with everything he said, and as I can't sleep on planes, we talked pretty much all the way to Atlanta, which is quite amazing. I mean - he slept for about an hour, then we both read for a while and also watched the Greenland. But still, we did talk a lot and since he was a very smart and educated guy, it was interesting. He himself told me before we said bye to each other on the plane, that he never spent the whole flight talking to somebody. :)
So I got to Atlanta where the immigration officers were waiting... not for me but for the hundreds and hundreds of people coming to the US via this point. In the queue, I met another intersting guy who was from South Africa. He just arrived from Mexico where he was selling safaris in Africa. He was going to do the same in the US. He told me he goes to the US often and doesn't like it mainly because of the immigration officers. I told him that I was going to make the bold tough-looking officer smile and he didn't believe me. So what do you think? Of course I made him smile. :) I don't even know how... Maybe it's the fact that people usually come to them nervous, whereas I don't care. They're only people... :) So after a short talk, some fingerprints (which I had to do twice because he didn't pay attention :)) and a photograph I got a stamp saying that I can stay here until August the 17th. So I don't even have to go to Canada. :)
Then I picked up my luggage again, left it somewhere again... and started to feel really sick as a result of which I made an idiot of myself by asking a silly question... Anyway - I really didn't know where to go and stuff, so I asked this guy who told me, laughing, that I'm a smart girl after I repeated what he said to make sure I got it. :) He apologized then because he could see that I wasn't feeling well, but it didn't matter because I thought he was nice anyway. :)
So I went through another security check (these make me think about buying a new laptop bag since the one I have makes the checks very annoying :)) And then I started to feel even worse... Fortunately, I was better before I was getting on the plane to Pittsburgh so I survived this flight too. And again - I was very lucky. Next to me, there was a young lady with a 5-month old daughter and they were both so nice. I really liked talking to her and playing with the little girl who was amazing because she didn't cry at all the whole time! I even talked to her parents at the airport which was kind of weird, because her dad was telling me his parents were from Czechoslovakia, but he didn't know where from... Also, I was a witness to a very heartbreaking scene when I was on the train that takes people at airports from one part of the airport to another. There was an American family (and in this case it was a very fat one) trying to catch the train; however, the only member of the family who made it on the train was a little girl (about ten years old, who wasn't that fat :))... Then the door closed and she was inside and the rest of her family outside. There were some nice people who tried to make her stop crying and helped her, but she did look scare.
So, I made it to Pittsburgh. And, believe it or not, Jirka was waiting there for me. :) And it was nice, although I was really exhausted. So we took a taxi because it was faster and I didn't see much of Pittsburgh on the way because it was dark. And I fell asleep almost immediately.
And that's all I have to say about the flight and related stories :)
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1 comments:
Having just done the flight back from Prague as well, I know it is not a fun experience. (And I didn't even have the glory of Pittsburgh to look forward to.. just the start of classes!). Also, I generally avoid talking to people on planes because they don't always turn out to be as smart and interesting and then you can't get rid of them. You were lucky! I'm glad you made it safely!
-Susan
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