Tuesday 25 May 2010
Literally on a journey...to Hawaii...Aloha!
So I’m sat here at KCI again (that’s short for the Kansas City Airport). It’s very strange to be traveling not to a familiar destination, but to somewhere new. I’m off to visit my good friend Elisabeth in Kona, Hawaii. Who would have thought? Sat here in the hustle and bustle of the airport my heart is excited and expectant. I am looking forward to a holiday (or vacation as they call it here), and of course to see my friends. But I’m also excited to have some time to seek the Lord. I know that sounds weird. I mean, my life and job is to pray, talk to Jesus, listen to Him. I spend over 50 hours a week in a prayer room…but there’s always a schedule. Never really an uninterrupted amount of time to just be. And listen. And not have to remember the next thing on the agenda.
So here I am sat. Free WiFi lets me connect with the Prayer Room right here…which is also surreal…usually I’m there this time of the day (6 am). But today I’m not. Today I’m at the airport about to head out on a little adventure. Not the hugest of adventures, but it could become huge. Who knows? I’m excited. I just need to wake up a bit more.
Caribou coffee…a Perfect Latté.
The other day I was on the shuttle to one of the Awakening services and I heard someone mention how amazing (awesome I think was the exact wording) Caribou coffee was. I didn’t consciously make a note of it, but I think I must have made a mental note, because when I got here to the airport in Minneapolis, I saw the sign and thought to myself: “oh, I must try Caribou coffee, it’s supposed to be good”. I didn’t say it out loud (since I’m travelling alone that would be a bit strange, maybe someday I won’t be doing all this travelling alone…), it was just a thought which led to an action. So I got a Latté. This little Norwegian did get a tad confused when my order was called out as a “Perfect Latté”. I mean, I am glad my Latte was perfect, but I wasn’t sure if a “Perfect Latté” was the name of another drink or if the girl was referring to my latte, which it turned out she was. And I don’t know about perfection. Perfect is a strong word which must be used sparingly in my opinion, but it’s a good latte. Not decided on how it measures up with Kona Coffee and Seattle’s Best Coffee…but it’s definitely not bad. And it might help me stay awake for my next flight. Although, I’m not sure why that is necessarily something to go after…flights are flights…to me they are more a means to an end (or destination), not really a goal in themselves. But we’ll see. At least I have another 10 minutes to enjoy my Caribou Perfect Latté before heading off for my second flight of the day and getting closer to Hawaii. I’m excited!
…And on second thoughts, although the journey isn’t the end in itself, I intend to enjoy the journey as well…
L.A. first impression…but then the airport is all I’ll see this time round.
As I got off the plane (it was a beautiful flight from Minneapolis to LA- at one point I could look out the window and see the Grand Canyon and Colorado River…at least that’s what I think the person on the overhead system said…) I headed to the restroom (also known as bathroom, loo, W.C., toilet). And so my first impression was that things are a little more worn-down here on the west coast. It was far from clean and I decided to make as few visits to it as possible, no more if at all possible.
After that interesting experience I wandered around Terminal 5 of L.A. Lax for a bit. It’s a small terminal, but since my next flight leaves from here I didn’t think it worthwhile to start traipsing off to other terminals. I figured I’d just end up walking a lot and then having to hurry back to make my flight. I was looking to see if I’d get a bite to eat, but for a croissant (to be fair they were “creative croissants”) the price was almost U$9, which was a bit steep if you ask me. So I decided on a Pinã Colada smoothie instead which was only U$ 5.50. Oh well, I think the conclusion is that airports rip you off no matter what you get, and I am enjoying my smoothie, even if I do suspect the coconut flavor is just that, and artificial flavoring. And now my laptop is correcting my British English to American English, and I’m not quite sure how to fix that.
I am very pleased with my baby Acer (an Acer Aspire 1410 with a 11.6 inch screen). It’s quite nifty when sat on a plane, or like now, sat in a worn-down airport terminal killing a few hours before my flight.
It’s all part of the journey. And it’s been a good one so far.
So I’m sat here at KCI again (that’s short for the Kansas City Airport). It’s very strange to be traveling not to a familiar destination, but to somewhere new. I’m off to visit my good friend Elisabeth in Kona, Hawaii. Who would have thought? Sat here in the hustle and bustle of the airport my heart is excited and expectant. I am looking forward to a holiday (or vacation as they call it here), and of course to see my friends. But I’m also excited to have some time to seek the Lord. I know that sounds weird. I mean, my life and job is to pray, talk to Jesus, listen to Him. I spend over 50 hours a week in a prayer room…but there’s always a schedule. Never really an uninterrupted amount of time to just be. And listen. And not have to remember the next thing on the agenda.
So here I am sat. Free WiFi lets me connect with the Prayer Room right here…which is also surreal…usually I’m there this time of the day (6 am). But today I’m not. Today I’m at the airport about to head out on a little adventure. Not the hugest of adventures, but it could become huge. Who knows? I’m excited. I just need to wake up a bit more.
Caribou coffee…a Perfect Latté.
The other day I was on the shuttle to one of the Awakening services and I heard someone mention how amazing (awesome I think was the exact wording) Caribou coffee was. I didn’t consciously make a note of it, but I think I must have made a mental note, because when I got here to the airport in Minneapolis, I saw the sign and thought to myself: “oh, I must try Caribou coffee, it’s supposed to be good”. I didn’t say it out loud (since I’m travelling alone that would be a bit strange, maybe someday I won’t be doing all this travelling alone…), it was just a thought which led to an action. So I got a Latté. This little Norwegian did get a tad confused when my order was called out as a “Perfect Latté”. I mean, I am glad my Latte was perfect, but I wasn’t sure if a “Perfect Latté” was the name of another drink or if the girl was referring to my latte, which it turned out she was. And I don’t know about perfection. Perfect is a strong word which must be used sparingly in my opinion, but it’s a good latte. Not decided on how it measures up with Kona Coffee and Seattle’s Best Coffee…but it’s definitely not bad. And it might help me stay awake for my next flight. Although, I’m not sure why that is necessarily something to go after…flights are flights…to me they are more a means to an end (or destination), not really a goal in themselves. But we’ll see. At least I have another 10 minutes to enjoy my Caribou Perfect Latté before heading off for my second flight of the day and getting closer to Hawaii. I’m excited!
…And on second thoughts, although the journey isn’t the end in itself, I intend to enjoy the journey as well…
L.A. first impression…but then the airport is all I’ll see this time round.
As I got off the plane (it was a beautiful flight from Minneapolis to LA- at one point I could look out the window and see the Grand Canyon and Colorado River…at least that’s what I think the person on the overhead system said…) I headed to the restroom (also known as bathroom, loo, W.C., toilet). And so my first impression was that things are a little more worn-down here on the west coast. It was far from clean and I decided to make as few visits to it as possible, no more if at all possible.
After that interesting experience I wandered around Terminal 5 of L.A. Lax for a bit. It’s a small terminal, but since my next flight leaves from here I didn’t think it worthwhile to start traipsing off to other terminals. I figured I’d just end up walking a lot and then having to hurry back to make my flight. I was looking to see if I’d get a bite to eat, but for a croissant (to be fair they were “creative croissants”) the price was almost U$9, which was a bit steep if you ask me. So I decided on a Pinã Colada smoothie instead which was only U$ 5.50. Oh well, I think the conclusion is that airports rip you off no matter what you get, and I am enjoying my smoothie, even if I do suspect the coconut flavor is just that, and artificial flavoring. And now my laptop is correcting my British English to American English, and I’m not quite sure how to fix that.
I am very pleased with my baby Acer (an Acer Aspire 1410 with a 11.6 inch screen). It’s quite nifty when sat on a plane, or like now, sat in a worn-down airport terminal killing a few hours before my flight.
It’s all part of the journey. And it’s been a good one so far.