revisited Finsterau

    I got back from a week in Finsterau Germany for a World Cup, last Wednesday. I flew Delta..well, Horizon to Portland, Delta to Amsterdam, and KLM to Munich. I met the rest in Munich. I had to meander (with assistance thankfully) to Terminal 2 from 1, and wait an hour. -Room for growth there- How does one kill one hour, whilst not leaving four bags unattended? I sat there. I did roll with my teetering cart to the restroom. I also chatted with Klebl as they were organizing to go to their hotel way-point. When the rest of the US arrived,(Andy,Oksana, Joy, Mia ,Farra, D$, Eileen, & BA) we had a meal in the airport, then loaded a small bus for the 2hr jaunt to Hohenauer.  We stayed in the Hohenauer Hof, along with Canada, VI Russians, France, & Germany. Andy and I roomed together. Breakfast was delicious, dinners were great, lunch was at the venue in a "beer tent". Hohenau was about 20 min from the venue in Finsterau. The commute was mostly pleasant as we toured the German countryside near the Czech border. The beer tent was also an athlete lounge, as well as where all the fans ate and mingled. It got crowded once or twice, but mostly worked out well. Two bathrooms, accessible, for everyone. There were lines occasionally. Not ideal, but again worked for the most part. We had a nice dump of snow the night of opening ceremonies, then three days of rain, and rain like weather before we got back to some regular winter weather. On one off day, we took a ski tour, to the Czech border, where there was a memorial to the iron curtain. The trip home started with everyone in a van. The US guys were dropped at the airport, and I was taken to a hotel nearby to wait for my flight the following day. -another area of growth, as i sat in the room and rested all day- I flew KLM out of Munich, supposed to be 7am . It snowed 1cm, so Munich had to clear runways and such, which delayed me an hour, changing the schedule for the day. I was supposed to fly to Seattle then Spokane. Instead, in Amsterdam, I was rerouted to Minneapolis, then Spokane. Instead of a 4pm arrival in Spokane, it was midnight.
      I had a good time. I miss the fun. I do not miss the stress I feel before and during travel. Im not a very good traveler. And I dont do well with unknowns. And as I stated, when given an open schedule, I choose to do nothing, squandering opportunities. I felt I did not have the ability to use my time in a different way due to Low funds, and inability to budget time left me to inactivity. Still, to hang with the youngins, and to be in the environment of people pushing their limits was invigorating. At times it depresses me, as I am shown how little I do. But in all, it is a bit of an escape from the real world, into a world that is a bit more hopeful. Next for me, is a trip scheduled to Mammoth CA to help coach some new participants to adaptive Nordic.