I made it!
It’s been a busy few days, but the travel days for the most part went really well.
The flight was perfect. Jett was amazing in SeaTac and Frankfurt airports. We flew business class, and ended up with TWO seats!
When we landed in Frankfurt, Germany Jett diligently waited an hour in line for customs, where my passport was stamped after 2 questions, and the officer didn’t even ask about Jett. I’ve been stressing about Jett’s paperwork since May, and Dad and I went on an emergency paperwork run to Tumwater the Friday before the flight, but no one even asked to see it!!
We stayed that night in Frankfurt. I paid for the hotel breakfast buffet, but didn’t really think it through. Although it was a dog friendly hotel, no doggies in the restaurant. I had to leave Jett at the door (thank you Paul for the carabiner for Jett’s leash!) and quickly rushed around the buffet, grabbing as much food as I could, and then ate it in the lobby. There was a business man who had followed me in, who looked slightly uncomfortable by Jett’s presence, but by the time I was leaving the buffet with my full tray, he stopped me to tell me how impressed he was by my dog, and it was a shame that he wasn’t allowed in the restaurant as he was behaving better than some people!
I paid for a shuttle service to pick me up in Frankfurt, one that my Aunt Lynne had used on her travels. So Chris picked me up and drove me to the train station in Prague. He was a wealth of knowledge and very interesting to listen to. Unfortunately the only tidbit that I remember is the fact that Czech vodka is apparently so gnarly, that Czech grannys drink it to get rid of their bunions! I think I’ll stick to beer!
The real action happened on the train. Chris was kind enough to park and escort me through the train station. At one kiosk, you can look at a map of each train to know where your car will be, which for me was the carriage in the middle of about 9 cars. Then you have to wait in another area, as train platforms are only announced at most 20 minutes before departure. Then it’s a rush to get to the platform. Thank goodness for Chris, as we had to take an escalator. He took 2 of my suitcases, and I had one in one hand, and Jett under my other arm. Chris left me in the middle of the platform, about where we thought my carriage would stop.
Except, the train overshot all of us. I wasn’t sure how long the train would wait, so I caught up to the last carriage and just starting throwing my suitcases on. I wasn’t going to miss this train! As it turns out, my carriage was actually the very first car, directly after the engine. A very kind young Czech guy offered to help with my suitcases, but it was a struggle. They barely fit in the aisles, plus Jett got stuck moving backwards at one point and had to travel the length of a carriage tail first (that’s how small the aisles were, even Jett couldn’t turn around in that carriage). And once the train started moving and listing back and forth to each side, it became very difficult. The Czech guy let go of my carryon for a brief second to make sure one of the doors didn’t close on me and Jett, and my carryon rolled down half the length of the carriage! We were both very sweaty in the end, but made it to my seat. There were 6 total seats in my room, 5 were occupied and there was already a dog on the floor. And my assigned seat was right in the middle. It was a tight squeeze. There was also no place for baggage, so mine had to roll around in the hallway until the room had cleared out. But it didn’t matter, I had made it!
Niki, my contact and some sort of deputy head of school, picked me up in Ostrava at the train station, so the struggle was over. About 40 hours after leaving my house in Bellingham. She got me to my new flat, and took me out for a beer. A well deserved beer.
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