The trip home Stockholm to Portland

We get our 3:30 AM wake up call. First the T.V. comes on and tells you it is time to get up. Then about 5 minutes later the phone rings with the same message. OK. OK. We get it. We get ready. Arvid gets a big cart and we go down to the lobby. He goes and gets the car. I check out. They give us a sandwich and a lot of fruit and 2 drinks to take with us. We go to the shuttle and wait. Hmmmmmmmm.

We go, get to the airport and check in. With little disruption, we get on our flight promptly. They do not check our bags for security. You check in, get your boarding pass, put your bags on the belt and you are set. Not like in Portland where you take your bags to another security area so they can check them before they load them on.

The flight to Amsterdam is nice. There is a young man who is from Linköping sitting next to Arvid. They talk a lot. At first we all are groggy, but toward the end it is a fun conversation. We get off the plane together and walk through Amsterdam airport together. He is going to Dallas so we have different gates for the US flight.

We get to the gate and there is a LONG line. Here is the security. You are called up one by one and interviewed by airport personnel. You are asked questions and your passports are scrutinized. Then you go to another room. I wondered why you are directed to go to your gate an hour early. This process takes a while.

On this flight I was planning on sleeping a good portion of the time. But the Northwest plane has individual TV screens for each person and a personal controller. It is amazing. There are at least 50 movies to choose from. There are games, maps, news stations, and flight information. There is a music option where you can select from play lists and create your own play list then you can play it at any time. It is fun to explore all the options. We watch several movies and the time goes by quickly actually. I get up and walk quite a bit and drink water, water, water. I believe that helps your body adjust quickly to your new time.

We fly from Amsterdam to Portland directly. We pick up our bags. We go through customs and they take our bags again. We find them on yet another baggage claim conveyor belt. It is more tiring to do that than the whole flight here! Richard is waiting and we are home! Yea!

Thank you Sweden for all the adventures and memories with our special family and friends. We are home but our hearts are still in Sweden.