So this thing might start getting resurrected.
Hunty and I both got through the last two-going-on-three months with nervous anticipation. And I swear, time slowed to a trickle as I closed in on my departure date.
I finally flew out from Denver International Airport on July 9th. It would be a long trip, with three flights and two layovers.
First of all, I booked the flight on a budget airline website. And then found out that budget airlines are...well...budget. On my first flight, the drink cart came around once shortly after we lifted off. They served water two or three times after that, but no food--you could get a meal, but you had to pay extra for it. I chose not to, and so spent the flight getting increasingly hungry.
The flight went without incident, and I arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland for my first layover.
Of 19 hours. Urp.
To be honest, I was excited. Iceland is high on my list of places to visit, so I was quite happy to be able to mark it off the list. On the other hand, I wasn't able to do much due to both time and budget restrictions. The layover was from 6 AM to 1 AM the next day, so I'd basically have a whole day to look around the city.
I had a great time chatting with a retired couple from the States, rode a tour bus around the city (it's that red hop-on/hop-off bus that some of you might have seen in other touristy cities), and visited the city's two big architectural highlights (a domed building with a museum and a restaurant, and a cathedral with a spire and clock tower).
By this time, I was starting to feel the sleep debt. Whenever I sat down, I started to doze off. I visited a modern art museum and found a secluded library area inside it, but dozing off while trying to read a book in there. After looking around the museum, I decided I had seen about as much as my time, mobility, and money would allow me to see, so I tried to head back to the airport.
Of course, the next bus wouldn't leave for almost 3 hours. I dashed about the city trying to catch the tour bus again (the city center was surprisingly small and easy to navigate), and eventually got on it about five minutes before it stopped for the day. I then sat and dozed in assorted public areas--while doing my best to keep my possessions securely on my person--until I could get the bus back to the airport.
I think I slept for about half of the next flight, then woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Had I stayed in that library, I probably could have slept there for three hours straight, but that's just how this stuff goes.
The next layover was in Stockholm, Sweden. Nothing much eventful happened, since it was only about two hours.
The next flight was similarly uneventful, but I didn't even try to sleep--I busted out a book of puzzles and worked on them until we touched down.
After I grabbed my bags, Hunty and I had our long-awaited glorious reunion. She had to put her phone away first, but even so I couldn't stop grinning for several minutes.
We stopped for coffee at a mall (she needed it, I didn't want any), and drove an hour and a half back to her hometown. The first thing we did was get some lunch, because I hadn't had a proper meal since Reykjavik almost a day earlier. It might have been the best thing I'd ever eaten, but I'm not quite sure.
Since then, we've mostly been lazing around. I met Hunty's parents--her mom works days, but her dad is away for two weeks and at home for two weeks and just got home yesterday. We've explored the town quite a bit, and pictures will probably happen at some point.
Of course, what I really want to get to is a bit odd: a series of agreements, that we've been calling Pacts. Hunty brought up the first one back before our road trip, and since then we've modified and added to the list. Broadly speaking, the Pacts are guidelines for our relationship--things that we know will be useful to remember, and ways to deal with situations. Just this evening, we finally got around to writing the Pacts down formally. This was a surprisingly fun process that itself spawned the last two pacts currently on the list.
Pact 0: There is no punishment for violating a pact, we should talk over a conflict and move on. Either party can point out a pact violation, but acting aggressively because of it (to force an apology, enact retribution, etc) is counter-productive.
Pact 1: We shall avoid using "always" or "never" to criticize the other person. Any criticism involving "you" should also involve "I." For example, the construction, "When you ____, I (feel) ____."
Pact 2: We WILL get hungry, tired, and generally grumpy. We should try to be aware of this, and understand the underlying reason for the grumpiness. We acknowledge that any inadvertent lashing out is not the fault of the victim.
Pact 3a: The car keys go in the purse.
Pact 3b: The fridge will always have coffee cream.
Pact 4: Whenever we get stuck in a negative routine, we will do something to shake it up.
Pact 5: We will each try to visit our families at least once a year. This includes having the family come to visit us.
Pact 6: We will not get stuck on semantics unless it's fun.
Pact 7: Don't expect the other person to read your mind. If something bothers you, or if you need/want something, talk about it.
This isn't a complete list by any means, and we'll probably add to it as time goes on. And of course, most of these got discussed all over the place (hence Pact 6).
