Arrival to Portland, ME, Brought to You by the Squishables Trio!

Julius - This trip was awful.

Yulysta - Julius, you're so negative.

J - Am not. It's the truth.

Peanut Butter - It may be the truth but you're still pretty negative.

J - Yeah well this time I'm right to be negative. And how come you guys aren't more upset? We were stuffed in a bag for over 30 hours.

PB - I'll admit, that was a little uncomfortable.

Y - To be fair, Holly had it worse than we did.

PB - Holly arrived at the Munich airport at about 8:30am local time. Her flight wasn't until 2:00pm or so, but had to be there early because her host father had a flight at 9:15am-ish and there was not other way Holly could have gotten to the airport with all of her bags without injuring herself.

Y - The first problem was she had to wait until about 11:00am or so to check in because the departure boards weren't even showing her the gate number she had to go to.

J - When Holly did check in, she noticed her bags were tagged to be sent to JFK airport. When Holly asked if the bags would make it all the way to Portland, the lady said yes and Holly didn't think any more about it.

PB - The first flight was about 3 1/2 hours long to Iceland. Smooth flight and Holly got some great pictures of Iceland during the decent. (Pictures below.)

Y - From there, Holly had only one hour to go through the passport checkpoint and get to her gate which was also the place she was told to pick up her ticket to get from Iceland to JFK.

PB - Holly made it, of course, but she was carrying two fairly heavy bags plus a pillow that had her special blanket and the book her host family gave her before she left. At the gate the lady gave her her seat number and she got on the plane nice and safe.

J - It was a long 5 1/2 hours to get to JFK. Once there Holly had her first experience through American customs. There was a really long line but it went faster than she had anticipated. This is where things got rocky. Holly's bags were not sent all the way through to Portland. Instead, she had to collect her bags from the baggage claim, then take all of the bags (which probably weighed the total amount that she weighs herself) to the JetBlue counter.

PB - Holly thought that because JetBlue has an agreement with IcelandAir her baggage would just be taken in free of charge. Instead, she had to pay for her second bag because there was apparently no record of her transferring from IcelandAir.

J - By the time she made it to her gate, she was totally exhausted and overheated from carrying all the luggage. Even worse, her plane to Portland was late but she still managed to get to arrive just about on time.

Y - Her fiance had to work therefore could not be there when she was picked up but she was still picked up on time by someone. She finally arrived at the resort at about 1:30am Wednesday.

PB - Due to time changes and travel time, Holly didn't sleep well the first night and someone actually had suggested she work that day! She didn't have to and she did manage to take Thursday off (which also happens to be her fiance's day off) so she got a little rest.

Y - Holly hit the ground running starting Friday though and has worked every day and evening since, except Thursday again where she managed to get out with her fiance. All of this is why she hasn't posted a blog entry until now.

PB - It was a relief for all of us when we finally made it here safe and sound... and out of the bag. Holly actually will type a little summary below.

Y - Although we all had a rough trip, we are very grateful to be here, even Julius.

J - Yeah, yeah.

PB - We even were brought along to babysit!

Y - That was fun!

PB - Anyway, we'll let Holly talk now. Bye!

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Hey everyone,

So it's been quite the week and a half over here. I have included some pictures and descriptions below but first some basics on where I am:

1) There is barely any cell service here. It's choppy at best.

2) Maine produces 99% of the nation's blueberries. There's nothing like picking them fresh from a field.

3) Internet is a little weak. Not so easy for me to get on all the time.

4) I work A LOT here. Mornings, evenings, and nights... evenings and nights only when babysitting.

5) Pine trees are everywhere. Living in a forest means high oxygen content, high oxygen content means sleepy. I am very sleepy all the time.

6) Where I work people sing a lot. It's actually kind of nice.

My day off is Thursday, which means that most of the fun stuff I'll do will be then. I went to the Maine Wildlife Park which is full of wildlife only from Maine, did a lot of shopping, went to toy stores, ate yummy organic food... it's been pretty nice. I am planning on going to see the performances they show this week. VERY EXCITED!

I didn't realize how picturesque Iceland is. I would really like to take a vacation there someday.

The rivers are also beautiful there. I'd really like to visit someday.

Turkey vulture! The best part about the Maine Wildlife Park is they only have animals that would not otherwise survive in the wild. I find that amazing.

This picture proves that frogs are not the only animals that hang out on lily pads. Turtles are fans too!

Black bears! Roar! They had a special dispenser for bear food so we got to throw food to them!

Wild blackberries here at the resort I work at. They're not quite ripe, a bit bitter, but they will be delicious in about 2 weeks or so!

Wild Maine blueberries! Their season for picking is about over; the low-bush variety is about finished for the season, but the high bush season still has a week or two. (The high-bush variety is sweeter and very tasty!)

This is Lake Kezar with the White Mountains in the background. I get to see this every day I maid.

We have an abundance of red squirrels and chipmunks here and I found this little guy in a blueberry bush snagging the ripest blueberries and stuffing them in his mouth. See his fat cheeks?

I happen to live in a forest at the moment. It's pretty crowded with pine trees.

When I clean guest cabins, sometimes they leave things behind for us (the chambermaids). This week I got a bottle of sparkling apple cider and these pretty sunflowers! (At least I think they're a variety of sunflowers... I'm not really sure.)

I think that's it for now. I'm going to try to post once a week. It'll be easier when August is over!

Talk to you soon!

Holly's Terrific Traveling Tips

Welcome all to Holly's final blog post during her 2012 Munich stay! Holly is presenting to you all today:

HOLLY'S TERRIFIC TRAVELING TIPS!

1) Bring your own food! Yes it's allowed! As long as it's not in liquid or paste form, bring whatever you'd like. Apples, bananas, energy bars, cookies, candy, pretzels... the possibilities are endless and the best part: you know what's in your food and you don't have to touch airline entrees!

2) Know how to kill boredom! Let's face it, bringing a book is fun and all, but it doesn't take away that feeling of being in an airport or airplane. Movies are good too if you have decent battery life on your computer or iPhone/iPod, but personally I suggest anything pencil and paper oriented. Crosswords, word searches, sudoku, nonograms, coloring books, anything that will stimulate your mind with more than just your eyes.

3) Sleep? What's that? Here's another thing that most people don't do: sleep enough. This is especially difficult before and during long flights. If you can't get enough sleep beforehand, and I know it is difficult, don't fortify yourself with coffee or sugar. Take little walks around the airport or airplane to get blood flowing or get yourself some whole nuts or dried fruits to snack on. Or, if you want to try to sleep, bring your own pillow! No one cares. I can't sleep on moving objects but it does help me to feel relaxed.

4) Carry-ons are great! Sure, they're a bit annoying sometimes, but think about it: feel like your checked-in bag is over the weight limit? Your carry-on bags have no weight restrictions (probably because no one wants to carry 50lbs. of stuff) so this means you can pack to your heart's content... as long as it all fits in the required size dimensions. Plus, you're only carrying it from place to place... the rest of the time it's on the ground or in the air.

5) Patience is more than a virtue. It's a way of life. It's the way to help the time pass smoothly. Anxiety can be a problem for some people, but stressing about something you can't control will only make things worse. Just take a deep breath and relax. Everything will be fine.

6) Airsickness can be avoided. If you're truly prone to it, take a Benadryl or Dramamine beforehand. Otherwise, just don't eat within two-three hours of take-off. And before that time, eat something with pro-biotics like yogurt and possibly pre-biotics like oatmeal. Avoid eating or drinking on the plane. Long flight? Desperate? Nibble, and I mean nibble, on crackers or pretzels (both contain baking soda which helps the tummy) and sip, yes I mean sip, water.

7) Stretch! Even if you want to stay seated, just push your legs out a bit and stretch your arms. It will prevent you from knotting up.

That's all I've got for today! I have to leave around 6:30am tomorrow morning, a change in my schedule because of when my host father leaves to go to the airport. It's almost 11:30pm here and I have to get up at 4:30am or so! I have to get some rest!

The Squishables Trio will relay travel information when we return home!