Wenn einer eine Reise tut, dann kann er was erleben

(If one travels, one will experience quite some things)
Well, I’ve finally arrived in Hamburg (okay, I’m sitting here in Amsterdam trying to make use of my involuntary, but paid 1 ½ hour delay (130 Euro or 195 USD) of my last leg to Hamburg, but, hey, I’m an optimist). I definitely do not recommend traveling with an expired passport…it does makes things a little bit more exciting and, shall we say, “interesting”.
Arriving at the Amsterdam Airport was nice…all that wonderful chocolate and other sweets, and the booze…not to mention the salmon and cold-smoked ham and cheese and licorice….people just know how to eat over here (you could even get the absolutely fabulous north sea shrimp). I had to buy some licorice and some 2-year old Reypenaer Gouda. Also interesting was to see that the #1 DVD was a documentary about Ocean Life. Now, that’s culture!
One thing that the US though definitely has going for it, is the ban of smoking…not that smoking is generally allowed in the airport, but it is allowed in the bars/restaurants (of course there is a wine bar (called “bubbles”)) and the smoke just creeps into the adjacent store spaces…that’s not something you want to experience when you’ve just been awake for 18 hours already…
The flight was (besides my self-inflicted excitement due to my expired passport) fairly uneventful. I watched three good (on-deman) movies (Shrek III, Contact, and the absolutely wonderful romantic movie “Once”), played some solitaire and Jewels and participated in a few rounds of Trivia – where you compete against other passengers. Quite a nice personal in-flight system, even in coach.
One interesting game is to guess people’s nationality based on how they treat other people or each other. Americans fare pretty well in this game and Germans must be at the bottom of that list of politeness. Maybe it has to do with more tolerance for less personal space.
Well, one more passport date check and than I’ll be meeting my parents (tears will flow for sure) at the airport in Hamburg. And at home, I’m sure, a wonderful breakfast will await me – I’m already salivating about the idea of Nordseekrabben (north sea shrimp), herrings salad, my dad’s scrambled egg, fresh buns, really smelly cheese (like Danish Esrom) etc.