"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." - J.R.R. Tolkien

I am eating a ham and cream cheese sandwhich while flying into Flughafen Muenchen (Munich Airport) looking down at the Bavarian countryside, and it begins to really hit me. I am in Germany! Perhaps it's the pilot speaking in German, but that sensation of "We're not in Kansas anymore Todo" really begins to sink in now. My adventure, however, began much earlier, with my flight into LaGuardia. I arrived without much incident and proceeded directly down to trasportation. I packed everything I needed for a month in 2 bags, and was therefore able to skip baggage and head straight to Kennedy. Standing outside, however, I am told that the bus to Kennedy would be another 20 minutes and I am supposed to be there in less than an hour. While waiting, I meet a lady from Charlotte who is also switching airports and is on her way to England to meet friends. We decide to skip the bus and split a cab instead. This turned out to be an adventure in and of itself, as the taxi driver zipped us to Kennedy in about 25 minutes in rush hour traffic with over half a dozen close calls and near misses. Once in Kennedy, I went directly to the terminal and waited for my flight. I met some backpackers on their way to Rome and then an older couple from Argentina who spoke no English but were going to tour Europe for 7 weeks. On the plane, I ended up sitting behind the Argentinans and helped translate for the flight attendant. The flight itself was long but comfortable, although I was unable to sleep very well. This was due in part to the excitement, but also because I kept thinking I was going to miss the drink cart.

I found Heathrow to be a bit spread out, and we were asked to go down to a terminal, then down some stairs to wait for a bus, which then took us on an almost 20 minute ride to anther terminal, then up more stairs to another area before reaching our departing terminal. Here, I was told that I could only carry on 1 bag and so I had to leave the terminal, exit through customs, re-enter the airport to check a bag, then go back through security. Once inside, I bumped back into the backpackers and the Argentinans. The couple had a very similar itinerary and even joked that we were all too likely to see each other again on a train somewhere. After some waiting, we all said Bon Voyage and went to our respective flights. And here I am, eating an interesting take on the ham and cheese sandwhich, thinking about Middle Earth and landing in the middle or Europe. If the entire point of traveling is to see and do novel things, I think I am well on my way.