Getting Started

Well, the big day is finally here. Today we fly to Europe to begin our vacation. Shortly we'll be heading to the airport to fly from Pittsburgh to Amsterdam by way of Chicago. Yes, that's right - by way of Chicago. Now if you look at a map, you'll notice that Chicago is not exactly situated between Pittsburgh and Amsterdam. I am totally NOT in favor of flying west to go east. As a person who doesn't like to fly, I consider any extra mileage to be unwelcome. When I raised this issue with the powers that be (i.e., those who profit monetarily from making these decisions), I was informed that it wouldn't really take that much longer. The explanation involved something having to do with flying over the Arctic Circle, the curvature of the earth, and the second law of thermodynamics. Okay, maybe not that last one. But the point is that we're going to be in the air for a very long time. We are scheduled to arrive in Amsterdam at 8:15 Sunday morning. That would be 2:15 a.m. Pittsburgh time. In all of the areas of Europe that we are visiting on this trip, we will be exactly 6 hours ahead of Pittsburgh time. We will be spending Sunday night in a hotel in Amsterdam, and sightseeing around the city on Sunday and Monday. We will board the ship, the Viking Lofn (pronounced Loafin' - they seem to be lacking a vowel), sometime Monday afternoon or evening to begin our great adventure on the high seas - sorry, I got carried away - our great adventure on the three rivers. Adventure on the high seas sounds better.