Travels: July 2008

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Bon voyage

In August 2007, my dear sister Gloria was off to spend her junior year of high school in Belgium, thanks to a wonderful student exchange program sponsored by Rotary International. I had spent my junior year in France through this program, and my other sister Claire had spent her junior year in Poland, so my parents had experience sending their daughters off -- not that it made things any easier on them!

My parents, my brother Joe, and I accompanied Gloria on her send-off. Here we are, waiting for the bus to take us to the train that will give us access to the terminal:

And, on the train:

We got there a bit early, so we had some time to kill. Her flight went to Brussels through Amsterdam.

We stopped in the food court and had some ice cream.

Then we had some nice conversation, our last in person with Gloria for quite some time!

So excited and happy to embark on an adventure!

Joe and Dad posed next to a few signs that were appropriate to them in some way:

We wanted to make sure that Gloria got through security and to her gate on time, so the time came for final goodbyes. Here are pictures of Gloria hugging all of the family members that came to see her off:

Gloria didn't want us to stand with her in the security line, so this was our last glimpse of her.

Of course, Mom and Dad had to wait until she was completely out of sight:

We made it back too our car and pulled up to the window to pay for our parking.

It's hard to see from this picture, but we were one minute into the next level of parking payments, so we had to pay an extra dollar. Had the parking lot been appropriately signed, we would have made it out in time. No one was too upset about this since it was only $1; we thought it was kind of funny!

And then, one member short, we returned home.

Gloria had a wonderful time during her year, and Brian, Claire, and I went to visit her in May.

Joyeux retour

After spending 11 months in Belgium, the day for Gloria's return had arrived!

Before leaving the house for the airport, we reminded Alfie that Gloria was coming home. He didn't seem to understand and went on eating his nut.

In the car, Joe listened to his ipod. After a few minutes, he realized the rest of us (Mom, Dad, and me) were having such great conversation that he joined in.

Arriving in airport parking, we took this picture partly so we could refer back to the number sign we were near in case we got lost. Luckily, we didn't need it! What a beautiful day for Gloria's return to America!

Dad decided to race me up the stairs to the train. I'll leave it to your imagination who won!

In the airport, Dad was doing a bit of pacing. Gloria's flight was delayed by several hours. We knew before we left that was the case, so we spent more time at home than originally planned, but we still got there quite early -- we didn't want to miss her if the plane wasn't as late as they anticipated!

Less than an hour until we see Gloria again!

After we saw on the screen that her plane had safely landed, we went over to the gate where she would arrive. While waiting, we struck up a conversation with another family waiting for their daughter -- she had spent a year in Germany with the same program.

After what seemed like forever, a passenger appeared in view -- it was Gloria! First one out!

A closer picture:

And then, like when we sent her off, hugs for everyone!

Here we are, waiting for the train that will take us to the parking lot:

And on the train:

I couldn't believe how heavy her suitcases were! It was tricky for me to pull one behind me -- and I've been lifting weights! I have no idea how Gloria managed her suitcases!