Thursday morning, April 26, 5:00 am. Yikes. We hadn't been up that early since Thailand. Our flight was at 8:45 and we needed to be at the metro stop, which was just a few blocks away, by 6:10. Everything went according to plan and we said good by to Barcelona, Spain and our grand adventure right on time.
We decided in order to get our internal clocks adjusted quickly that we'd sleep on the first flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf but try to stay awake during the flight from Dusseldorf to NYC and then to Denver. Two things happened on the way home that made me think of lessons learned on the trip. There will be more, I'm sure, but these stood out for me today. One was how much we counted on people to help us navigate airports, bus and train stations and the metro. And most everywhere we went, people did help and that made the impression we had of their country even more positive. So, in New York when we noticed an Indian woman woman trying to find which terminal to go to for her Delta flight, we paid the kindness back and helped her like so many others had helped us. Another happened at Customs in NY. We'd been away for two months and it was good to be back in our own country. We approached the customs desk. There was a woman frantically looking through her carry on baggage for her declaration slip. The agent in front of us shouted very pointedly to the rest of the us standing in line, "Please remember to get out your paperwork BEFORE you get to the counter." Nice that she thought to say "please" although her tone of voice negated any politeness she was going for. I wasn't sure if she was helping or supervising so I asked her if she was open. She said, "I am neither 'open' nor 'closed.' I am not a minimart." in the snippiest tone of voice possible. This is the kind of welcome visitors and U.S. citizens get? I asked her for her name and grabbed a comment card on our way out.
A friendly smile, a kind word, a welcoming tone can make all the difference. I won't dwell on that woman, though, instead I'll remember the man checking passports at immigration New York who said to us as he checked ours, "Welcome home."
We decided in order to get our internal clocks adjusted quickly that we'd sleep on the first flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf but try to stay awake during the flight from Dusseldorf to NYC and then to Denver. Two things happened on the way home that made me think of lessons learned on the trip. There will be more, I'm sure, but these stood out for me today. One was how much we counted on people to help us navigate airports, bus and train stations and the metro. And most everywhere we went, people did help and that made the impression we had of their country even more positive. So, in New York when we noticed an Indian woman woman trying to find which terminal to go to for her Delta flight, we paid the kindness back and helped her like so many others had helped us. Another happened at Customs in NY. We'd been away for two months and it was good to be back in our own country. We approached the customs desk. There was a woman frantically looking through her carry on baggage for her declaration slip. The agent in front of us shouted very pointedly to the rest of the us standing in line, "Please remember to get out your paperwork BEFORE you get to the counter." Nice that she thought to say "please" although her tone of voice negated any politeness she was going for. I wasn't sure if she was helping or supervising so I asked her if she was open. She said, "I am neither 'open' nor 'closed.' I am not a minimart." in the snippiest tone of voice possible. This is the kind of welcome visitors and U.S. citizens get? I asked her for her name and grabbed a comment card on our way out.
A friendly smile, a kind word, a welcoming tone can make all the difference. I won't dwell on that woman, though, instead I'll remember the man checking passports at immigration New York who said to us as he checked ours, "Welcome home."
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