Marooned...

Well today has been quite an adventure... Was all packed and ready to head home today!  Alarm set for 2am, we were out of the house at 3am on our way to Billund to fly home through Amsterdam...  We were a little worried with the fresh snow that was on the ground but things seemed to be going alright on the roads to the airport so thought we would still be alright... No such luck.  First stressful situation of the day... phone navigation thought it would be tricky and take us some sneaky back route (off main road and through small towns where it would have been sooooo easy to miss a turn).  Whole time we were wondering where on earth we were and why we were driving through small towns and neighborhoods with no signs to the airport or to Billund the city we were to be flying out of.  Panic was setting in... where on earth are we and are we even going to make it to the airport... magically we still did (and probably wouldn't have taken so long if it weren't for having to drive slow on the small streets in the dark.. with the snow)!  So step one down.  Then we get into the airport and it is total mayhem.  People everywhere, lines almost out the door. Machines breaking, and the general lack of urgency by everyone around.  an hour later we had managed to check in for the flight (barely in time) - after I somehow pressed the wrong button that said I am a US citizen but do not have a passport from the US (I suck!!!).  I think I was in full on panic by the time I finally managed to get someone to help and I was all checked in, and my bags checked through to PDX.

Oh but wait... the flight is delayed 2 hours (leaving at a more reasonable time of 8am instead of 6).  So now it is 5am and we have 3 hours to spare.  Lucky for us we were going to have a couple hour layover in Amsterdam so we were still going to make our connections... 2 hours later (at about 7:30am) an announcement comes over the loud speaker "if you are on the flight to Amsterdam please come to the information counter for re booking of a flight as we are not allowed to take you to Amsterdam if that is not your final destination.  Ummm, what???  Freak out #3 of the morning begins.  So we get shepherded downstairs where we get given our bags back and told that our flights in Amsterdam have been canceled due to the major winter storm which has hit.  Later we find out that is not necessarily true, they just will not let anyone else be brought into the airport because there are thousands stranded already and they are just trying to get all of them out of there (so our seats are gone and we have to find alternative arrangements).

Step 1. Call BCD Travel (or company travel agency where we have to book/change our tickets through), sit on hold for an hour and a half I think?? But hey got plenty of time because we had to take a number (like at the DMV) and were numbers 346 and 347 and the current number they are on is 318... and moving about as fast as the DMV does. Not fast at all!!!  But I guess that is understandable when really there are thousands stranded in Amsterdam, and Frankfurt, and London as all England flights are shut down all together.. Everyone trying to figure out how to get home.  Well finally talked to the travel people and there are no more flights out till Monday.  And I can take a flight from Copenhagen through JFK in New York instead of trying to go through Amsterdam.  Hopefully the weather will clear up and I will be able to make it home that way!!  But alas now I have to still sit in line to talk to the KLM airport people since my flight wasn't officially "cancelled", as it was still going to Portland, but just with other people  :(
Several more hours later we finally get in to talk to the airport people and I am squared away on my Monday flight... FINGERS CROSSED

Sooo my great love for snow not quite so great today.  Bright spot at least we are not one of the thousands that are stranded at the airports.  I am at least sitting on my couch in pj's instead of sleeping on the floor.  Get to enjoy the Christmas decorations a little longer  ;-p
As long as I actually get home on Monday...

Fur monster thing!  Don't think Nate loves him nearly as much as I do, but I think he is so cute!  He replaced a tree for me this year.  Figured I didn't need to buy decorations for him ;-p



Gnomes  ;-D

Check out all that snow  ;-p

Snow covering the skylights over my bed

View off my upstairs balcony.  It will be a white Christmas here :-)

Here's to safe travels on MONDAY... never spent Christmas away from all friends and family.  Not prepared to start now!  Miss you all so much! 

Home

Can't wait to see everyone in a couple weeks when I come home to visit for Chirstmas though  :-D

Diesel

You know at home how you get the little need fuel warning light you are like.. ok ok... i got a bit of time.  Maybe still like 45 minutes of driving (or more if it is my awesome little Civic).... well here it is not quite like that (especially in the tiny little Aygo)... that light comes on and the car is not messing around... you need fuel NOW!!!  We learned the hard way....
So smart us we managed to run out of diesel fuel while driving down the highway, at night (which is like pitch black here), in the middle of winter (so it is like in the 20's), and while there is lots of snow on the side of the road so we could barely get into the shoulder... yea that was an interesting night.  Oh and my phone was dead, and Nates was about dead so we were about to be stranded..

Luckily we convinced the roadside assistance people that they really needed to come save us as every time a car drove by our car shook... no exactly the safest place to be stuck...  So they said they will be there in 2-3 hours as there were so many people who were waiting for assistance since their cars wouldn't start in the cold... Hmmm.... seemed like maybe we were in a bit more dire straights if the others were in their homes. but who am I to say...  Luckily we got a hold of Steve before the phone died, and he came and tried to save us with some Diesel (but it did take about an hour before he was there since he was in Randers and we were almost home to Aarhus - about 30 mins away)... but the car didn't even care at that point.. she was pissed and would not start!!!

So I sat in Steve's car and tried to de-thaw from sitting in a freezing car for the past hour, and watched as the boys tried to figure out where the manual fuel pump is in our baby Aygo (which is near impossible when the engine is tiny and compact)... Eventually Roadside assistance came... he also had no idea what to do to get it to start... they kept trying for like 20 minutes... no luck... eventually we towed the car to the dealership. dropped her off with a note and keys in the drop box... and home we went... left work about 6 and got home about 9:30... yea... not ideal.
I will NEVER run out of gas again!!  That was horrible!!!  Now I think we are both paranoid and are going to be filing up the tank at half a tank every time  ;-)

Aalborg

It is kind of crazy how much I miss everyone.  When I went to Australia it was pretty much straight playing in the warm sun... but here it is work... and then hibernating from the cold... So it is really an effort to get out and actually do things.  But as I started totally feeling like a rat in a cage last weekend I ventured out of town with a couple of coworkers.  It stopped snowing and actually broke 0 degrees Celsius so we were having a heat wave!!!  We ventured a couple hours up north to a little town of Aalborg (which so happens to be the fourth largest town in Denmark.. at ~130,000 people).  We went to go see the Christmas market and just wander around the town for the day. (as of course I had to make it home by the beaver game in the evening.. hmmm.. which didn't turn out so well.. but could have been worse)

It is a really cute little city which really feels much larger then it really is due to there really not being any other large towns around so I think this one (the "largest" in area) just has gotten a bit bigger with shops and stuff.
Joe and Carol my coworkers from Australia who I was venturing with, are totally awesome.  We had a day full of laughs, and had a really amazing time.  I love the crazy Auzzies  :-)

I am totally drawn to fountains.. I am sure many of you already know that. But I am always a bit surprised just how much time I can spend looking at them.  Apparently even when they are not currently running.  There was this amazing frog fountain in the center of the walking streets in Aalborg and I LOVED it  :-D  Little frogs buried in the snow!

 Burrrrrrrr....

 I don't know what these cathedrals were but they were pretty neat looking  :-)

 Super old church in the middle of Aalborg.  I thought I read somewhere that it is the oldest still in tact church in use in Denmark... but I am starting to think I made that up...

 Hidden between buildings in the middle of the shopping streets was an ice skating rink... or two.. one for the little kids who were learning (like a bunny hill... but on the ground...and not a hill.. and for ice skaters not skiers... so I guess really not like a bunny hill at all. haha)... and then a bigger one for all the professionals to skate around on..

As I have never been ice skating before I know that when I do try to go this winter I am going to end up with all the munchkins in the baby rink. haha.

 Christmas market!!!  Like a little craft fair that comes out at Christmas time  :-D

And why not just throw in a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round in the middle of the mix.  Seriously was wedged between everything.. not totally sure how they even got it in there. Ha.

Was a great day though. And made it back in time to watch the game... which I guess went better then it could have with our on again/ off again team this year.  Hopefully it means that Quiz will come back and play next year with James though!  And Katz takes some time to grow up over the summer and not get so rattled when he gets hit. And our offensive line learns how to do their jobs... yea that would be nice.  maybe next year is our year.. I will still be staying up at all hours to watch the games.  So still a devoted fan, even from over here.  I watched all the train wrecks this year  ;-p