What I think about on Airport Layovers.......

Hey readers......I actually wrote this blog about 2 weeks ago, saved it, and completely forgot about it until today. Typical Viv move.
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I’m having a déjà vu moment.

So, here I am sitting in the Cincinnati airport waiting for my flight out of Terminal C to start boarding. Now this is an airport that I do not visit all that often, only about 2 or 3 times a year.

As I sit in this chair between the Brooks Brothers Store and the Quadoba…I am taken back to 2 summers ago, when I spent almost 6 hours in this exact row of chairs. My time in front of gates 20-37 on that trip really made a memory for me.

Here’s the story.

I was on a layover on my way back from 3 weeks in Poland. It was quite arguably one of the most interesting programs I had ever been on. Not only the destination, but the trip itself.

You know I love lists, so let me list the reasons that was my time in Poland will always be memorable. (No particular order…I know what my favorite would be, but the rest would be too hard to rank.)


1. It was the first trip my company had ever taken to Poland, and we were the first group that the local ground supplier had ever worked for. What an eye opening experience that was. We were taking these tours, and working with these restaurants that had NO IDEA how to operate with a travel group. Crazy.



2. The final few games of the world cup in Germany were during this trip. It was awesome to be in Europe when the tournament was going on! If there was a match playing, every bar in the city was hoppin’. I remember the night of the final between France and Italy. I was in Warsaw, and had found a great little Irish pub the night before that I thought would be a fantastic place to watch. I convinced 2 other TDs to come with me, and we hiked across town. When we got to the Pub (which was named Irelandska. Not kidding….hilar.), we were the only females in the joint. When we walked in, it was like one of those moments when the room goes quiet, and the Jukebox stops.

Anyway, we had a great time watching the intense game, and my motherland (Italy) beat the snotty, unsportsmanlike Frenchmen. However, the best part of the evening was yet to come. A little while after the game ended, we heard all this honking and screaming outside, and when we checked it out, it was a wild parade of Italian people driving around the city chanting and waving flags from their cars. We followed the commotion, and ended up at this little outdoor Italian bar for the rest of the evening dancing, drinking, and getting our pictures taken waving the Italian flag. Apparently there is a very small, but patriotic, clan of Italians in Poland. They were strong in fervor that night!



3. During this trip, I got the opportunity to take a train on my own from Warsaw (where I was working) to Krakow (the second stop for the group) for a quick 2 day jaunt. The journey to Krakow was one of those little adventures that turned into a great travel antidote. Here’s the quick version of the story…….

The train that I wanted to take left at 9:45 AM. Being the adventurous person that I am, I decided that instead of taking a cab, I was going to find a way to get to the station with public transportation. Normally, that would not be a big deal, but we were in Poland. And the only people who spoke English it seemed. But, hey….I’d found my way around 6 continents in my lifetime, I was convinced that since I had a map, I could get to the train station no problem.

Wrong!

I left the hotel at 8:00 AM. It was a mess, I ended up taking a bus the wrong direction……finally realizing that and thinking I was going to have to take a cab now to get back….I was not able to find a cab…..Took a subway that ended up dropping me to the apparent slums of Poland…Had some strange smelly man approach me at the subway stop, and then literally slap me with his empty crisp bag.

I finally found a small hotel where the front desk guy spoke English, and he got me a cab…that was at 9:30 AM. Once I got to the train station (which ended up being only about a 25 minute walk from where I started) I sprinted through the station, knocking people over with my bag. I got to the ticket counter at 9:40 AM, and saw a line about 100 deep. I panicked. If I missed this train there was not going to be another one until much later in the afternoon. Then, all of the sudden, my secret travel fairy (she pops her head up every now and then to help me) showed up. I overheard two guys speaking in English and they were the next in line. I took a chance…….I walked up to them and said “Is there anyway I can join you in line….my train is in 4 minutes and I don’t have a ticket yet." I think they were as excited at I was to find another English speaker, and they asked “are you going to Krakow at 9:45 AM…because so are we!” Just then the person standing behind them starts throwing a fit (I didn’t understand what he was saying, but I’m sure he was not happy about the possibility of my butting in line.)

So, the boys told me to wait by the stairs to the tracks, they would get 3 tickets, and we would hustle to the train…well…that’s how it went down. All of the sudden I see the 2 of them running towards me, tickets in hand, and we all scurry down to the track. It was like in the movies, when the train is already moving, and you are chasing the door, and we barely get on!

It was hilarious. Once we got on the traincar….we all collapsed in a cabin. Then, one of them looks at me and says “So…what’s your name?” Awesome. We all became fast friends on that 3 hour train ride. They were 25 year old engineers from Australia that took a month off in the summer to bum around with a eurorail pass. What fun we had! They had brought whiskey which we passed around and did shots of …we played cards, and even meet a group of students from Ireland that were in the compartment next to us. The 3 of us agreed to meet up in downtown Krakow that night, which we did (I brought the other TDs that were assigned to the Krakow part of the trip) and we all had a blast clubbing and dancing all night. You know what….Those 2 Aussies became the most fun stranger story I’ve ever had. Good Times. The only thing that would have made it better is if I had made out with one of them, because they were hot!!!!


That last point was so long, I almost forgot that I was making a list. This next one is very somber though …..

4. The second day I was in Krakow; I went and took the tour of Auschwitz Nazi Concentration Camp. It was the most overwhelming, incomprehensible, and moving place I have ever seen. I’m not going to discuss it here, because what I saw would be its own blog entry. Actually, it would probably be a series of blog entries. I will say though, that people always talk about moments in their life that they will be forever etched into their minds. That day is definitely one of mine.


From the very emotional to the very shallow….



5. At the time of this trip, I had been on the road for almost 7 years. In that period, I was very proud of the fact that I had never kissed another travel director (well, except for once when I kissed a TD who is gay, but I don’t count him) Anyway, streak was over after Poland. In fact, I managed to kiss 2 different TDs in a 48 hour span. Nice. 7 years…no TDs…..2 day….2 TDs. The funniest thing about it was that there were only 3 male TDs during the whole program, so I kissed 2/3 of them! Classy.


O.K. That really long list now brings me back to the Déjà vu moment (and my good deed for that week) in the Cincinnati airport…..

During that horrendous delay going home from Poland, I go so bored that I decided to organize my carryons. In my bag was this bottle of fantastic Polish vodka that has buffalo grass right in the bottle. We had gotten kind of hooked on it on nights outs in Warsaw, so I brought some, and was so looking forward to have it to drink at home. Well, I was looking at the bottle, and all of the sudden, I heard this voice say to me…

”I know it’s a long layover, but you don’t have to start drinking right out of the bottle!”

I look up and I see 2 army guys in their fatigues. I totally burst out laughing, and we started chatting. It ends up they were on a 7 day leave from Iraq, and thanks to Delta, were on their second day of sitting in the airport trying to get home. I felt so bad for them. As we were talking, the gate agent announced that their flight was delayed another 2 hours! Well, we hung out for another 5 or 10 minutes, and then it was finally time to board my flight. As I was gathering my stuff, they looked so sad, so I pulled the bottle out of my bag, and told the boys to enjoy it. Then I thanked them for all they do for us. They were so excited about the vodka! It really made my day to do something nice.

Well that’s enough about that trip. I’m glad I had this time sitting in the stupid airport to relive one of my favorite destinations. I hope to go back again someday. Polska!!!!!!