![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
estiroseMy folks live in Sweden, and I don't even live in the same continent, so it's a bit of a trip to see them. This year, I went for Christmas. It was an experience!
The plane trip over went smoothly, and the train trip went more or less smoothly. We didn't get to go around much, even in town, because it snowed. A lot. 50% of my trip, I swear, it was snowing. So, I got to spend a lot of time with my parents, who are night owls to the max.
The downside of having parents who are night owls, plus 4-5 hours of sun, is that I never adjusted to the time change; as far as my body was concerned, my regular, several-hours-off sleeping schedule was fine.
Anyway, the highlight of my trip was getting to discuss things with my Mom face to face (as well as snag things from her extensive library), discuss things with my Dad face to face, spend a lot of time hanging out with my folks, and get to see my half-sister and her family. My nephews are incredibly shy and don't know what to do with their English-speaking Aunt, especially at Julbord (that's a Christmas smorgasbord).
I might mention that I discussed life at work (my mom and I worked at the same place in different parts before she retired) as well as theology with my mom, who seems more-or-less supportive (if a bit amused) at the prospect of me going to grad school in a couple of years to become a chaplain. (Which reminds me, I need to read through "Build Your Own Theology" book one and catch up with the rest of my Adult Ed class.) My Dad and I discussed compiling Linux kernels, hardware issues with Gentoo, and which version of the bootloader is best. (Dad prefers Grub 1; I don't have a preference, but I tend to use Grub 2.)
My parents got me various and sundry gifts. My mom bought me clothing, which totally doesn't surprise me; three of the things I picked out myself from Drapers and Damons, two nice shirts for work and a pair of emergency flats. She also got me something that I can't decide what it is, but I think it's a light coat. And two pair of pants that I have to lose weight to fit into, as I'm currently a size above what I should be. My Dad got me a gift certificate and a book on Linux commands and programming, this being him. Which is great, because this not only replaces the college handbook that I've been using forever, but goes into shell programming, which would be nice to learn. Together, they got me Project Zero 2 Wii. (Yes, that *is* Fatal Frame 2. Yes, I do have Fatal Frame 2 for the PS2. I am a complete sucker for British accents and additional cutscenes, even if it means modding my Wii and getting an older controller so I can use Gecko OS.)
Now, I feel like I didn't do enough, because I got a gift card from Amazon for each of them. Oops.
Got to see the traditional 3:00 Christmas Eve programming, and New Year's fireworks, which is not something I'm used to as they don't do that where I live. The fireworks, that is, and rockets to boot!
Getting home? Stayed in one of Arlanda's two hostels because the first leg of my flight left at 6 am the next morning. (One is Jumbo Hostel, the other is Rest and Fly. I stayed in Rest and Fly.) It would have been nicer had I not been practically next to the reception desk, and had people actually obeyed the "be quiet, people are sleeping" signs. Therefore, I got two hours of not-restful sleep before I finally gave up, read in bed, and hauled myself out at 3:45. It wasn't great, but at least it was a place to stow self and luggage for a few hours, even if it was only slightly larger than my cubicle at work. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for sleeping, but it is a good place to stow yourself and your luggage (or just your luggage) for a few hours between flights.
The not-sleeping wasn't good, because when I got to Copenhagen (second leg), the flight was delayed for ten hours due to mechanical problems and delays. This was on top of the four and a half I was already spending at the airport as I didn't want to run through it like I did last time. Needless to say, I was very, very sleepy by the time we boarded our flight, actually slept on the plane (this never happens), except for meal service and a few times inbetween in which I spent too much time staring at Sato Takeru.
Then I got to arrive in Washington D.C. And go through immigration. And then have a hotel room that I got to stay in for like two hours, because we got there around 4 by the time we got through with customs, and I had to get up at 5:45 to pack for a 6:30 shuttle to get through to my 8:30 plane. Which I barely made, because the idiotic screener couldn't screen my backpack properly to save his damn life. (The BDO, or at least I think she was a BDO, was the nicest person I met all day and really made my morning! Though it was obvious that I was suffering from sleep deprivation.)
I flew to Denver, slept on the plane (the guy next to me was nice and had a similar taste in iOS games), and then took another, tinier aircraft home, even if it meant some backtracking. The lady next to me was very nice and I enjoyed talking to her (I was too awake and the journey too short to sleep).
With all that above, let me say that while the airplane mechanical problem wasn't SAS's fault, I wasn't happy at the 10 hour delay or the fact that they couldn't seem to communicate with us about it. I've always loved SAS, but I think I'm switching airlines next time.
Fortunately, I had a bigger issue with just being sleep deprived than actual jetlag, though I did take an extra day off because I couldn't get anything done because I was busy making up sleep. Fortunately, I have the world's most understanding boss (and the world's most helpful co-worker).
Next up, I mail my gifts to a coworker like I promised. But that's for another day. Also, I need to send my mom back her mini-USB cable that I accidentally took with me.
Not having to do with trip, but I updated Dots with the rest of the Earth: Final Conflict fic, am proceeding through the Fatal Frame fics (skipping "By Ghostly Ear", because it's nowhere near done and because of its subject matter), and wrote a guide on the locations of Final Fantasy 2. I'll be expanding it more, but it's at least there. It's a response to all the searches I see of people trying to find locations in the game. (Though I still can't help the people who can't get Cid to bring up Sunfire....)
The plane trip over went smoothly, and the train trip went more or less smoothly. We didn't get to go around much, even in town, because it snowed. A lot. 50% of my trip, I swear, it was snowing. So, I got to spend a lot of time with my parents, who are night owls to the max.
The downside of having parents who are night owls, plus 4-5 hours of sun, is that I never adjusted to the time change; as far as my body was concerned, my regular, several-hours-off sleeping schedule was fine.
Anyway, the highlight of my trip was getting to discuss things with my Mom face to face (as well as snag things from her extensive library), discuss things with my Dad face to face, spend a lot of time hanging out with my folks, and get to see my half-sister and her family. My nephews are incredibly shy and don't know what to do with their English-speaking Aunt, especially at Julbord (that's a Christmas smorgasbord).
I might mention that I discussed life at work (my mom and I worked at the same place in different parts before she retired) as well as theology with my mom, who seems more-or-less supportive (if a bit amused) at the prospect of me going to grad school in a couple of years to become a chaplain. (Which reminds me, I need to read through "Build Your Own Theology" book one and catch up with the rest of my Adult Ed class.) My Dad and I discussed compiling Linux kernels, hardware issues with Gentoo, and which version of the bootloader is best. (Dad prefers Grub 1; I don't have a preference, but I tend to use Grub 2.)
My parents got me various and sundry gifts. My mom bought me clothing, which totally doesn't surprise me; three of the things I picked out myself from Drapers and Damons, two nice shirts for work and a pair of emergency flats. She also got me something that I can't decide what it is, but I think it's a light coat. And two pair of pants that I have to lose weight to fit into, as I'm currently a size above what I should be. My Dad got me a gift certificate and a book on Linux commands and programming, this being him. Which is great, because this not only replaces the college handbook that I've been using forever, but goes into shell programming, which would be nice to learn. Together, they got me Project Zero 2 Wii. (Yes, that *is* Fatal Frame 2. Yes, I do have Fatal Frame 2 for the PS2. I am a complete sucker for British accents and additional cutscenes, even if it means modding my Wii and getting an older controller so I can use Gecko OS.)
Now, I feel like I didn't do enough, because I got a gift card from Amazon for each of them. Oops.
Got to see the traditional 3:00 Christmas Eve programming, and New Year's fireworks, which is not something I'm used to as they don't do that where I live. The fireworks, that is, and rockets to boot!
Getting home? Stayed in one of Arlanda's two hostels because the first leg of my flight left at 6 am the next morning. (One is Jumbo Hostel, the other is Rest and Fly. I stayed in Rest and Fly.) It would have been nicer had I not been practically next to the reception desk, and had people actually obeyed the "be quiet, people are sleeping" signs. Therefore, I got two hours of not-restful sleep before I finally gave up, read in bed, and hauled myself out at 3:45. It wasn't great, but at least it was a place to stow self and luggage for a few hours, even if it was only slightly larger than my cubicle at work. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for sleeping, but it is a good place to stow yourself and your luggage (or just your luggage) for a few hours between flights.
The not-sleeping wasn't good, because when I got to Copenhagen (second leg), the flight was delayed for ten hours due to mechanical problems and delays. This was on top of the four and a half I was already spending at the airport as I didn't want to run through it like I did last time. Needless to say, I was very, very sleepy by the time we boarded our flight, actually slept on the plane (this never happens), except for meal service and a few times inbetween in which I spent too much time staring at Sato Takeru.
Then I got to arrive in Washington D.C. And go through immigration. And then have a hotel room that I got to stay in for like two hours, because we got there around 4 by the time we got through with customs, and I had to get up at 5:45 to pack for a 6:30 shuttle to get through to my 8:30 plane. Which I barely made, because the idiotic screener couldn't screen my backpack properly to save his damn life. (The BDO, or at least I think she was a BDO, was the nicest person I met all day and really made my morning! Though it was obvious that I was suffering from sleep deprivation.)
I flew to Denver, slept on the plane (the guy next to me was nice and had a similar taste in iOS games), and then took another, tinier aircraft home, even if it meant some backtracking. The lady next to me was very nice and I enjoyed talking to her (I was too awake and the journey too short to sleep).
With all that above, let me say that while the airplane mechanical problem wasn't SAS's fault, I wasn't happy at the 10 hour delay or the fact that they couldn't seem to communicate with us about it. I've always loved SAS, but I think I'm switching airlines next time.
Fortunately, I had a bigger issue with just being sleep deprived than actual jetlag, though I did take an extra day off because I couldn't get anything done because I was busy making up sleep. Fortunately, I have the world's most understanding boss (and the world's most helpful co-worker).
Next up, I mail my gifts to a coworker like I promised. But that's for another day. Also, I need to send my mom back her mini-USB cable that I accidentally took with me.
Not having to do with trip, but I updated Dots with the rest of the Earth: Final Conflict fic, am proceeding through the Fatal Frame fics (skipping "By Ghostly Ear", because it's nowhere near done and because of its subject matter), and wrote a guide on the locations of Final Fantasy 2. I'll be expanding it more, but it's at least there. It's a response to all the searches I see of people trying to find locations in the game. (Though I still can't help the people who can't get Cid to bring up Sunfire....)
