Goodbye Amsterdam!

I lied...this is one last blog post from Europe. Walter and I said our
characteristcally tearless goodbyes as he put me on the bus to the
train station, where I caught the train to Amsterdam.

While walking to my gate, I passed the Hyderabad flight that we took
to India for a conference last December...and my first thought was
that I was so glad I wasn't getting on that flight. While the flight
to Memphis that I'm currently on is stuffed with some of the worst
examples of Americans abroad (including some dude whose gut and ass
were both hanging over the top of his athletic shorts, ugh), at least
I'm not on a flight full of pushy, personal-space-ignoring Indians,
with my ultimate destination being the crushing, fury-inducing chaos
of the Hyderabad airport. That sounds like vicious stereotyping on my
part, but I challenge anyone to take the Amsterdam-Hyderabad flight
and not feel the same way. One flight attendant told me on my last
India flight that the flights to India were among the least popular
for the attendants because of how demanding and willing to ignore all
announcements/regulations many of the passengers were. So while I
would love to go abroad again, I need to remember this feeling so that
I don't do something stupid and sign up for another stint in Hyderabad
anytime soon.

I'm getting on my flight, sadly stuck in coach since my charm wasn't
enough to get an upgrade. But I suppose I'll survive. By tonight I'll
be in America! And hopefully I'll never set foot on Dutch soil again
:)