Bangor's banging! (till 1am when the bars close...)

First time in Bangor, and I give it a thumbs up.  It is small and quaint and yes, there are lots of Stephen King objects to be found.  We explored town and found a sweet comic book shop, several junk shops (apparently coin collecting is big here), and the awesomest friar-run pastry shop where I had amazing farmer market vegetable soup.  And the counter monk let us take a picture with him:

Later on we tested the nighttime scene, and we had a chance to hang with lots of local gents:

Most of them were lovely, though one bushy-faced pretty boy I will not show here was, sadly, not as proud of his hometown as we were, and dragged down the mood a bit.  And then I think Amanda kissed him, and Jen threatened to beat him up, or something.  I'm really not sure, because I was hiding:

I can't wait to go back, especially when the weather gets warmer and we can venture out into the country a bit more, maybe hit up Bar Harbor, or find some bridges to jump off of.  Yay!

Trip #2. Too short to do anything but sleep.

and take bubble baths.  I took 2.5 bubble baths during my 15 hour layover in germany.  The tubs at the hotel are nice and deep and the soap foams up superbly.  But I burned myself twice on the faucet.  D'oh!

Also awesome.... watching the northern lights from the cockpit.  We were flying past Greenland, all the army kids were sleeping in the cabin, and the night was perfectly clear above the clouds.  I wish I had a photo to share, but you really had to be there.

Things to do on a layover when all you have nearby is a Walmart...

Creatively use objects such as carts, helmets, hula hoops...

Create games, scavenger hunts, fashion shows.

Play "Indiana Jones" with the sliding doors

until you break them.  Then watch in amusement

as people try to exit the store.

Actually buy a couple things to make your time at the hotel

more festive and fun.

IOE trip: JFK-Dallas-Leipzig-Dallas-JFK

I have spent most of my life until now carefully avoiding the suburban sprawl that plagues much of our nation and the rest of the western world. I now realize that being a flight attendant means staying in hotels on the outskirts of cities, and possibly not having enough time or transportation to venture inward. This past week I traveled to Europe for the first time in my life, and spent exactly sixteen hours in Germany, hanging out at the mall. I had some cheap halal food. I went to the gym. My first thought upon landing in Leipzig was 'huh, it looks a lot like Texas.' I expected what google images told

me was Leipzig:

Instead I got something more like this:

Day One: Graduation