You'll probably hear me say it again before this trip is finished, but Rick Steves wasn't joking when he said traveling cheap keeps you close to the ground. Yes, I know this title has to do with flying and no I'm not trying to be fecetious. He meant that traveling on a budget forces you to experience Europe as the people of Eurpoe do: without a purchased smile.
One thing I've learned in reading the local papers (in London) and watching locals is that Americans really like to bubble wrap their world. We cower in fear when someone calls us a bigot, instead of standing up for the issue, we don't like to wash our hands and then touch the door knob on the way out of the bathroom, and we like to be encased in a connection ramp on our way to boarding a plane.
As the time drew nearer for out departure, Heidi and Paul informed me that we would be finding our own seats and would most likely not be able to sit together. I found out that on this particular airline passengers line up in order of appearance and walk on the landing strip to the plane. What fun!
The natives were getting restless as the clocked ticked closer to departure time. Tension was in the air and eyes began to shift back and forth. The idea was to appear calm, yet ready to respond. Heidi thought she saw something going on close to the landing strip stairs and jumped up to have a "look see"; before we knew it, the entire gate had swarmed up to stand in line. Paul and I quickly jumped in. Heidi came back and soon whispered, "I think I started the line by accident." We had a good quiet giggle.
The "run" was not really a mad dash but an Olympic-esque walk to the plane. I was able to get a picture of the passengers boarding.
On my trip back I sat by an engaging English teacher that lived in Spain. We had a wonderful conversation about teaching techniques and compared experiences. I never would have known he was an English major except for the fact that he was reading a grammer book and looking rather serious about it. I couldn't help but talk to him.
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