Normally I don’t write about the flight home, because who cares, right?  But this time there were some noteworthy items.

I noticed in Facebook an old high school friend of mine was posting photos from Croatia and then Venice. The night I arrived back at a hotel near the airport I noticed my friend posted photos of Munich. Hey wait, I’m near Munich!  So I sent them a message. Turns out not only had they been in Munich, but they were staying at a hotel on the opposite end of the town I was in. Then we discovered we were both flying out in the morning. On the same airline. At similar times. Similar times, because…we were all on the same flight! What are the chances?  

We hadn’t seen each other in 27 years, so we spent our time waiting for the delayed flight catching up. But before we could properly do that, we were all sent through a security screening for the second time. I had some bike parts I was hauling back for clients. Just in case security took issue with anything, I had arrived at the airport quite early. There was no issue at the first screening aside from them inexplicably using their little bomb sniffer strips on my bike helmet of all things. The second screening was far more intense and completely unexpected. I’ve never been screened twice. They completely tore apart my suitcase taking issue with the special axle puller tool as being too long. Then they emptied the contents of my tool pouch. In the end they were persuaded to let me through with my tools. They then dumped everything in the suitcase for me to take care of. Sorry, but these security screenings are getting excessive. There would not have been time for me to walk all the way back to the checkin counter to check the bag and then get through security two more times. But enough complaining. Where were we?  Oh yes. My friend. We ended up discovering that not only were they on the same flight, but they were in the two rows in front of me. Crazy. 

The flight left late. I had a pretty tight connection already in Atlanta and was getting worried about making the connecting flight. I thought I had only 45 minutes, but upon reading more carefully, I discovered I had an hour and 15 minutes. Still tight, but possible. However, I needed to go through a third security screening. I was genuinely concerned that my tools would get flagged here resulting in me missing my flight. The security line was chaos. Everyone has to pick up their luggage and then recheck it. It’s a ridiculously inefficient process that is probably due to some law some self-important politician came up with in the alleged name of security. The First Lady managing the security line told everyone to have their passports out, but when you got near the front of the line, an exceedingly perky dude was telling everyone they didn’t need their passports. In the end this screening fortunately didn’t involve much. Shoes stayed on, all items were packed away in backpacks and suitcases. They didn’t even blink an eyelash at the tools. A lot of worrying for no good reason. My guess is these security people may have shared my view that it was pointless to scam people who had just spent several hours on a flight. It’s not like we could pick up any new dangerous stuff. 

I’ve been home now a few days. I’m still jet lagged, but I’m mostly caught up on the work I let go while I was gone. I’ve even started editing the video footage from my trip. The other night I dreamt I was cycling in Austria. When I woke up I decided I needed to use the restroom. However, I still thought I was in Austria in some dark hallway. I decided to pull out my phone and consult the gps. The gps told me I was home, which clearly couldn’t be correct. I mean, I was just cycling in Austria, right? And I really needed a toilet. I consulted the gps again. Still it claimed I was home. What the heck? It took several minutes before I came to my senses enough to realize I actually WAS home with my cats nearby and a bathroom right around the corner. Jet lag, folks. Great stuff. 

The few days after a trip when you decompress from all the decompressing is an interesting time. I’m glad I got to do this tour, but at the same time the things that make cycling appealing in Europe are the signed bike routes, at least for me. Those routes are not really where a velomobile shines. Yes, I definitely covered way more ground than I would have on my regular recumbent. It was nice to be enclosed during all the rain, but I’m genuinely not sure I will tour in Europe next summer. First, travel costs have gone up a lot. Getting through security with bike tools is getting harder and frankly the whole security process seems to be getting out of hand. Checking a bag simply because I’m carrying an axle puller seems a little expensive and excessive. Then there is the reality that roads are a much better place to ride velomobile. Roads in Europe are narrow and drivers are…well, a bit more in love with their gas pedal than in the US. I was disappointed in the behavior of several drivers. If you read the journal, you’ll probably remember those incidents. I certainly do. For countries supposedly so notes for their acceptance of cyclists, I didn’t always feel very welcome. I can have the same or better experiences here with drivers and at least here I can put together routes that mostly have roads with shoulders. I also had bad luck with the food. I didn’t pass very many bakeries and I had a harder time than normal finding vegetarian food. So we will see. Sometimes I come back already with the next trip planned. Other times I wonder why I bothered. Then a couple months later I realize how much I already miss it. Perhaps next summer I’ll opt to finally ride that big tour in Minnesota I planned a couple years back. We will see!