Today sucked. We had breakfast and Janusz picked us up and dropped us at the Krakow airport, which seems even smaller than it did when we were there last. Scott gets his boarding pass, no problem. The guy can see my ticket, but there is a block on it and they can't print it. Fantastic. He tells us to wait while his supervisor works on it. We get called back to the desk and he says that he can get me to Munich, but that's it. He suggested buying a new ticket from Munich to Jersey to Cincy, because those are really cheap the day of travel, right? I explain that we only have a 50 minute layover in Munich and won't have time to buy a new ticket, etc., but his hands are tied. We fly to Munich. Our flight is late.

Once in Munich we have about 40 minutes to figure out the boarding pass and get on the plane to Jersey. There was a guy standing on the tarmac with a New York/Newark sign who was rushing us to the correct terminal because we were so tight on time. We get to the terminal and play stupid, at the suggestion of the travel agent that Scott called in Krakow. Three really helpful Lufthansa reps helped me out. They could see my ticket but it was blocked and they couldn't print it. Now we were down to about 20 minutes before take-off. I was Frau Vilkin a few times, which I found amusing. They finally call me back to the desk with like 10 minutes to spare. They could print my boarding pass to get out of Munich, but they would have to give me a hand-written boarding pass for Newark to Cincy. Someone would bring that to me on the plane. We board...and a nice German woman does bring me my handwritten boarding pass for Newark. We settle in for our 9 hour flight.

This flight was pretty uneventful. I didn't sleep at all. About an hour before landing the pilot came on and said to buckle up because we were going to hit some severe turbulence when nearing New York City. I pictured carry-on luggage hitting people in the face and blood spurting everywhere. We felt maybe 2 bumps. That was it. On our way to Paris is was bumpy as can be and no one ever came on the PA and mentioned turbulence until it we were nearly through it. That may be one of the differences between Lufthansa and Delta. Of course our flight arrived late...so we had 1 hour 20 minutes to get off the plane, go through immigration, collect our luggage, recheck our luggage, get our boarding passes, go through customs, get re-screened at security, find our terminal and get on the damn plane. I had Mr. Question Guy at immigration who flipped through my passport, looked at all the stamps, and said, "why did you go to Poland?" in the same voice you would use if you asked someone why they just slapped themselves in their own face. At this point I was asking myself the same question. We literally run to get our luggage. We hit the United counter and get our proper boarding passes. Re-check our luggage. Run through customs. Run to the terminal. We have 20ish minutes to spare before our flight...and then we see the board that says our flight was delayed an hour and 40 minutes. Son of a b.i.t.c.h.

We were all sweaty at this point so we grab something to eat and drink. We head to security. The guy who checks the x-rays of bags...the guy at a NYC airport...sees my backpack, stops the conveyor and says, "what the hell is that?" Not exactly what you want to hear. He spotted my water bottle. I explain that we were in Poland and I had brought a heavy duty filter water bottle because I didn't quite trust the water sources. They pull my bag, gut it, run everything through the x-ray a second time, and we're off again. Then they kept changing gates. Like 4 times. When they announce the flight was boarding Scott and I lined up so the airline guy can scan our boarding passes. Mine beeps. He asked me if I had the original boarding pass, I said this is what they printed for me upstairs, he said it was the wrong boarding pass, but let me on anyway.

The flight to Cincy was uneventful. We landed well after midnight. I hadn't slept in over 24 hours at this point. We get our bags, take the shuttle to the parking lot, spot the CRV...and that red b.itch wouldn't start. Of course. We apparently left an internal light on. So we sit and wait for parking services to send us a jump. It was after 2 before we got home. Holy lord.

**The problem with my ticket was this: We were supposed to fly from Newark to Cincy on Continental. United and Continental merged while we were in Poland. Apparently they hadn't merged systems when I checked Scott in for his flight. Then they merged systems before I checked myself in. Because the tickets were connected by a credit card, it created some sort of annoying glitch that blocked my ticket.**