James Cameron's epic new film Avatar has gotten enough press to raise my curiosity to the point of spending my last night in Seattle for the year 2009 at the premiere of Avatar. Having not seen any visual or written previews of the film, I knew only that it was about some alien who tries to save a race he was originally sent to destroy, and that it is two and a half hours long. Don't worry, I won't give any details away. I will only say that it reminded me of a mix of Disney's Pocahontas, and maybe a bit of Tarzan and District 9. I thought parts of the plot were cliched, and as always, I noticed some of the same sound effects being used. If you recall the movie Jurassic Park and the sound that the velociraptors made when they first burst into the kitchen to hunt the two kids, be on the lookout for that exact same sound when you see Avatar. Overall though, it was a unique story that had stunning visual effects that must have taken years to develop. When you have nearly three hours to spare, go see it. I don't think you will regret it.
Bright and early the next morning (today), I rushed to Sea-Tac airport just in time to grab my 6:45am flight to Atlanta, GA, via Minneapolis, MN. I have caught a lot of flights in my 23 years, the first when I was around 6 months old. This was the second flight ever that I probably should have missed, but somehow was allowed aboard. Upon arrival at Sea-Tac, I rushed through check-in, security, and the train to a connecting terminal, not even bothering to wait in line to check my extra bag in. With sweat seeping through every pore in my body and my muscles burning from racing up multiple staircases, I must have looked like a pathetic mess at the gate. It may have been an advantage, because even though boarding had "officially ceased," I fed the flight attendants a sob story and was allowed to board.
My absolutely miraculous story of last-minute airplane boarding adventures occurred in June 2007 in Berlin, Germany. I had spent two days in Germany's beautiful capital city, staying with a Couchsurfer in the center of town. I departed for Berlin Schönefeld three hours before my flight was to take off to Munich, thinking that my two days of getting around Berlin on the metro meant that I knew it well enough to make it to the airport with any hitches. Not so. First, I caught the metro going in the wrong direction, and when I finally got aboard the metro going in the correct direction, I happened to hop into the car where the "ticket master" was checking for purchased tickets. Throughout my entire six month stay in Europe, I had never had my transit ticket checked, even though I had faithfully purchased one every time it was required. Of all the days, I failed to do this, it had to be that day.
Sure enough, the gruff ticket master was most displeased at both my lack of ticket and inability to speak a lick of German (although really, what ticket master in a touristy region like central Berlin wouldn't understand more than 5 English words?!). Our inability to communicate frustrated us both, and finally grabbed my arm and escorted me off of the train at the next stop, about to take me to some unknown destination, when I conveniently spied an ATM and extracted enough to pay him to leave me alone. At this point, it was less than one hour until my flight departed, and I was far enough from Berlin Schönefeld that the metro would not get me there on time. Fortunately, I was able to hail a cab; I tipped the man well for getting me there 10 minutes sooner than expected. As I sprinted into the airport, I was certain that I was going to be turned away, since it was five minutes until take off, and I was supposed to have boarded over 30 minutes ago. Amazingly, I checked in without a hitch, was escorted aboard, with the plane shutting its doors right behind me. It was as if they had been waiting exclusively for me to show up. Now that is one travel adventure I don't care to repeat!
Suzi's Photos of the Day
At the Berlin apartment of my German Couchsurfer, Arnas.
Parliament in Berlin
Outside of Parliament in Berlin with fellow Couchsurfers Kirsten from Cologne, Germany, and Jen from Canada.
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