Day Eleven – Finally we are Going Home!!!
Trip Start
Oct 13, 2011
1
12
13
Trip End
Oct 23, 2011
What I did
Philadelphia International Airport
Kreuzlingen, Thurgau, Switzerland
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Today, you could easily see the tensions running through the groups. In the last few days, I could see some people snapping at others. When they are in classes together, they spend a lot of time together. But they have plenty of time and space to get away when they go home at night. On these trips, they are together all day and all night. Today there were more than a few people snapping at each other. I think they will all be happy to get away from each other tonight.
We had three different trains to catch and the connections between them were very short. I would have liked anther hour for a safety margin, but getting the group out at 5:00 would have been difficult. We had someone who had a bottle of whiskey that had a little left in the bottom. I guess he thought it would be fun to polish the bottle off before we left the hostel. It was not the best idea. He actually got stopped several times at the airport as we went through immigration and security.
Immigration in Zurich was not happy with their counter parts in Rome. When the Rome immigration officials didn't bother to look at our passports, I thought it would not be a problem. It was. As I went through immigration in Zurich, I could hear the other students who made it to an official at the same time I did. Since there was no stamp on the passport when we entered or even an electronic record of our entry, The Zurich officials were reluctant to let us go. Eventually they let us through, but they were not happy.
We got them all on the plane. Now I can start to relax. When we touch down, they are on their own. If they miss the plane to Erie, they are in American and can make it back on their own!
I had brought the uneaten smoked sausages with me for the plane ride. I had one left and forgot to throw it out on the plane. I had to go to the Agriculture desk to dispose of it and get checked again.
We all made it easily through immigration and customs in the US; however, there were only two security personal working ticket verification before the security scanners. We waited in line for over 45 minutes! We didn’t have a close connection to make, so we were not in a hurry. Some other people in the line were not as patient as we were.
After a snack, I settled in for a one and a half hour nap. I could have used more!
It was a long flight to Erie. I could not wait to get home and see Kim.
