Budapest-Amsterdam-home

We had an early, early wakeup--at least that's what I call getting up at 1:30 am. Both of us had set alarms, just in case... Since we were nearly packed (okay--full disclosure: we pretty much slept in our traveling clothes), we just needed to finalize our suitcases and have them outside our door at 2:30 am. About twenty other poor souls on the ship were on the same flight from Budapest to Amsterdam, so a bus carted us all there--very nice. Viking even had staff at the airport to assist, should we be too groggy to print our own boarding passes, but all worked well. My luggage was 19 kilos, but Jane's was 26 kilos. Oops--3 kilos over. She needed to visit the cashier to settle accounts before they'd hand over her boarding pass. Had we known how heavy her bag was, we certainly could've shifted some stuff from her suitcase to mine. Oh well. Travel and learn. The flight to Amsterdam took about 90 minutes, and there we said farewell to some lovely fellow sojourners we'd met on the trip. The plane to MSP took off on time and we eventually were offered something to drink. Naturally we chose a bit of white wine, but after our European experience, we both felt it tasted a bit like vinegar. Too spoiled, I guess.

So my lunch today was a green salad, cracker with cheese, coconut chicken and an orange-chocolate mousse. Actually not too bad, but somehow when sitting in row 30 A at 38,000 feet, the ambiance just wasn't there, especially given yesterday's lunch on the ship.

I binge watched movies: Pitch Perfect 2 and Coco Avant Chanel ("Coco Before Chanel"--subtitled) and Far from the Madding Crowd. I only cat-napped and finally finished our book club book, Crooked Heart, as well as the latest Lee Child. Good ol' Reacher to the rescue again (and he has a new sidekick!).

Sister Anne was again super to provide airport-home transport, and we rolled into town around 4 p.m. to 73 degree weather. Lovely. We dropped Jane off and glimpsed her amazing new wood floors--beautiful. Worth all the wait, I think, Jane!

Pete and the pets were eagerly awaiting my arrival, and it was lovely to see them again--as I bent down to kiss Pete in his power chair, I was glad he could read the blog and live our adventure vicariously.

Dinner? Right--just what I wanted to tackle...but back to reality. Pete was content with eggs (and we actually had some in the fridge thanks to Ronda and her chickens), so Pete had fried and I had scrambled, a few grapes (but no wine) and voila!--dinner for the Johnsons.

Experience has taught me I had to stay up as late as possible...so I've unpacked a few things, tossed in some laundry, looked through the mail. After getting Pete ready for bed (an application of China Gel and lotions), I'm turning off the light at 8:30--no reading for me!