Final Tallies and Thoughts

We were up and at’em bright and early this morning. Schiphol Airport has been having staffing issues coupled with high volumes of flights (says the news). United Airlines told us to get to the airport four hours before our departure. So we did …

Now, we’re not complaining, because we are extremely grateful that we get to travel at all, and, we don’t have to take a ship across the Atlantic and then a steam train across the US to get home. 

After a short line to check our bags we hopped in the line for security. After meandering for about an hour (think Disneyland line for a newly opened attraction, without any of the fun other than the people watching) we came to the sign that said 40-50 minutes from this point. Surprisingly, most, not all, but most people were civil through the whole process. 



Let us return to our statement about being grateful … while it seemed irritating at the moment, we are still going to comfortably fly through the air in a metal tube, while being served food and drink, and arrive on a different continent in a matter of hours.  We’re happy!



While we concentrated on the Netherlands and Germany this trip we also visited briefly, or just drove through: Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, and Belgium. 

We walked approximately (according to Kristi’s Fitbit) 73.35 miles. 

Elevation gain while walking: 5,034 feet. 

We drove pretty close to 2,144 miles. 

Lowest point on the trip: 6.5 feet below sea level (Amsterdam)

Highest point on the trip: 9,718 feet (Zugspitze, Germany)

Beer intake: probably more than the average German (we had to make up for lost time) 

Sausages consumed: plenty, but we could have had more

Traveling like we did can be fun, but it can also be stressful. Anxiety levels, especially while driving in cities, was high. Not speaking the language makes even getting gasoline a challenge. But the the fun times, the sights, the silly mistakes and experiences make it all worthwhile. Kristi found this quote which sums up our thoughts well:



And as we sit in Chicago’s O’Hare airport waiting for our connecting flight, we ordered some fried cheese curds… Just to let our bodies know we’re back in the States. 😂😂





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