Our Chariots of Fire experience

We're here! And safe and sound too, although for a while I didn't think it was going to happen. Actually, it started out too well. We made it to the airport in record time, got through security in no time. In fact, the only problem we were having was finding low salt food in the airport. I was determined to to limit my salt intake so I didn't have to go sightseeing in Europe with swollen ankles. Leaving the restaurant without ordering anything but drinks was the biggest problem, but I could live with that. When we got to the gate, though, we found out that our 1:30 flight to Newark was being delayed until 6:00 by the weather coming out of Alabama. That was a problem since our connecting flight to Brussels was leaving at 6:10. Continental offered to move us to a US Airways flight going to Philly, but we had to go back to ticketing and start all over and get our luggage rerouted. That didn't sound good. We got everything taken care of, though, and got back to security. This time, however, there were double Disney lines for us to go through. It wasn't pretty, but it was going to get worse--much worse! Ann was getting pretty aggravated having to take her shoes off again, but at least she didn't have to go through the full body scan like I did. Not only that, but they had to call someone over to do a pat down on me because I forgot to take off my handy dandy Rick Steves money belt. Meanwhile, it's getting later and later. We did make the flight, though, but we weren't sitting together. As it turned out, it would have been quite enjoyable because we both made BFFs. (Ann counseled a nice widow, talking her into a Rick Steves tour and into moving to Sarasota from Philly. I talked to a really nice guy who needed to go on dialysis but wasn't going to until he talked to me.) The bad part of the flight was that the plane was really, really late! By the time we landed, we only had about 15 minutes to get from one end of the airport to the other for our flight to Belgium. The pilot said he knew lots of people had connecting flights but asked us to please wait until the two people who needed to catch an international flight for a funeral got off first. Ann and her new BFF were sure that it was me who came up with that story. I wish I had, but it wasn't me, so we had to wait until the plane emptied and had to run like maniacs to get to our other flight. Now just picture Ann having to run for this flight. I told her I'd run and would hold the plane until she got there. And then the Chariots of Fire race began. I never ran so hard in my life. After I got there, I was coughing so hard. I gotta hand it to Ann--she wasn't far behind, but she was not happy when she got there. She told the woman checking us in that she was having a heart attack, but she didn't, and we got on. The rest of the trip was fine. Our luggage made it (probably had a much easier time getting there than we did!), Corrie and Stanley were waiting for us, and we started sightseeing right away. We went to a beautiful midieval city in Brussels called Gent. We bought pastries from a street vendor and had coffee and tea in an outdoor cafe. Afterwards, we went to Corrie and Stanley's for a great dinner before calling it a night in our cute little B&B down the street. We're having a great time, and the best part is that, after our Chariots of Fire experience, Ann feels like she can handle anything on the Rick Steves' tour with no problem at all! Check out our pictures below!

We have our first story before the plane ever leaves the runway.  Just as I was getting ready to leave for my last day of work before leaving for Europe, Robin comes up to me with a mangled granola bar wrapper with a little bit of bar still inside.  My suitcase was packed but still open on the floor with a stash of my favorite chocolate mint bars tucked in every spare inch of the suitcase.  Boomer!  Didn’t he know that chocolate is toxic to dogs, especially a little five pounder like him?  The vet said a half teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide down his throat would make him vomit.  Well, that didn’t happen.  I had to get to work, so Robin took over.  After more calls to the vet and additional doses of hydrogen peroxide, he still did not vomit.  The good news is that he was feeling well enough to outrun Robin any time she tried to get near him for the rest of the day.  I told John to keep on eye on him as I wanted that dog to be alive when I got home.  John, not being Boomer’s biggest fan, just said, “Don’t worry; I’m not that lucky.”  So far so good, though.  Boomer’s still kicking—and still trying to get into my suitcase!