Saturday, January 8, 2011

06/12/2010 My Nicolaus gift arrived

Today, my brother is coming! I am very excited. To pick him up from the airport, my friend promised me to drive me there. Unfortunately, she cannot read the time and when I came to the meeting point, she was not there. Her excuse was outstanding: “Well, I texted you 5:45, however, I meant 4:45. Now, it is too late for me.”…. Aha… How shall I know what she means, if she is writing and confirming totally different things? Puh… My brother should be arriving at 6:30, and the airport is far away… Taxi fare is round about 50$ but with a waiting time of more than 1 hour, no busses (welcome suburban America) and no one near, who I could ask. In addition, my smart brother forgot to take my number and address with him, and has no working cellphone. I was almost freaking out… So I started to call each and every one of my contacts in my cellphone. And finally, a boy who I am not dating anymore (or better, he is not dating me anymore) was nice and left his boys-meeting to pick me up and drive me the 30 miles to the airport. I arrived almost in time; however, my brother was not there. I neither had not his carrier number, nor his last stop in US. So I started to stroll the baggage claims up and down and searched for him. But he was not there. So I went to the arrival and waited there for him. (Jacksonville airport is the only airport I know, where you arrive and have to leave the security area before you get your luggage). But also here he was not. I started to ask at the airlines, if my brother was on board, but they were not allowed to give any information out. I was really worried, that something happened, he missed the connection flight, or that he had problems with the customer control or homeland security.
Somewhen, the last suitcases were picked up and I was lonely at the airport. I found out, that the next plane is coming in 2 hours, so I stayed there and waited… I went to Starbucks and drank coffee, hung out at the souvenir shops and voted for the most beautiful decorated Christmas tree. Jax-airport has each year a competition, which of the businesses at the airport decorates the most beautiful tree. Therefore, all the businesses and departments get a standard tree and can be creative. Those trees are presented during the advent in the big waiting hall, where visitors and passengers can vote for their favorite tree by donating a dollar to this department. Surprisingly, I liked the Christmas tree from homeland security the most. However, I would never donate for homeland security. And I was really surprised, that I like a tree like that the most… It seems that the months in Florida are really changing me. To explain it a bit better: The tree was very nationalistic. It has had a lot of white, red and blue decoration, bows, and: American flags on it. Also they have had several small notes on it saying: ”we never forget” (well, this, I did not like, that was even for me a touch too much). But strange, isn’t it?
Back to the point: I waited, waited and waited. The battery of my cellphone went off, but finally my brother arrived. He was in a plane 2 hours later than he announced. Seems, he also cannot read the clock. And I felt silly, that I stressed my friends so out by getting in time to the airport, when I was there only waiting for 2 more hours. Nevertheless, we went to the rental car company, where we got the next shock. The lady at the rental car looked at us and told me that my car is a very small car and she does not think it will fit us. Means, she do not think, the car will hold 2 adults and 2 suitcases. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Images of Smarts raised in my head. In Europe, I always book the second smallest car to ensure I do get a car fitting 4 people and some suitcases. In US, I always take the smallest car size, because they do not have something like a smart, and cars Americans consider to be small are normal size cars for Europeans. The lady was really stressing out the problem with the car. I was already tired from waiting and from the stress to get to the airport, so I have had no head for more drama that day. I told her that I booked a car fitting 2 adults, 2 children and 2 suitcases (they really describe it like that on the webpage) and if this will not fit, they would have to provide me a car adequate to my booking. The lady was shocked that I would get the idea to put children in this way to small car and was really upset. End of the story: My brother and I arrived at the car, and surprise! The car was a medium sized compact car, with plenty of space for 4-5 adults and luggage. ….. Ahhh… too much unnecessary drama… we drove home, and went for his very first American burger. 

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