Traveling from Sarasota to Chicago in the wee hours of the morn on Delta proves what I have been hearing in the news – EVERYONE is traveling again. Flights are full, lines are long, yet some things have improved. Like at SRQ you can mobile order from the Starbucks before you go through security and then just pickup your drink. Nice!

The video screen on my Delta flight to Atlanta is being updated. So they give us the safety information the ‘old way,’ the cabin crew showing us how to hook a seat belt, oxygen, etc. Amusing. I did not remember the new list of No Smoking devices now includes e-cigarettes, vaping and chewing tobacco (?!) not allowed on airplanes.

In Atlanta, not too busy in the airport but the plane is full to Chicago. I had a lot of time to kill in Chicago before the flight to Bergen via Stockholm. Turns out my flight from Atlanta arrived in the International terminal so I did not have that hassle of switching from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5 via shuttle. The Delta Sky Club in Terminal 5 is brand new and very spacious and modern. A good place to recharge, have some lunch and then meet my sister back at SAS to go through security once again. The SAS lounge not so nice.

We stood in line to get a small amount of Krona and Krone. A woman in the front of the line spent 30 minutes changing thousands of dollars into British Pounds because she didn’t want to use a credit card in Scotland- nuts! We met a few people in line while waiting which made the time go by.

Once on the plane, you know the drill – drink, eat dinner, sleep (or try to sleep), eat breakfast and then you arrive. The Customs checkpoint was backed up taking us almost an hour to get through. No gate set for our Bergen flight and we have almost 4 hours to spend. Luckily, we have found an American Express Platinum Pop-Up Lounge. A respite before the next leg of the journey also allowing me to write this blog post.

Some other observations – did I say EVERYONE is traveling? Tattoo people everywhere in the U.S. Bathrooms in Europe are co-ed and only show a man and a woman, no trans! In the Stockholm airport are small rooms that remind me of a phone booth only for smokers. Vodka Purity 51 from Sweden is quite tasty as is Kullamust apple juice. My sister and I appear to look very Swedish as the crew on the airplane and at the airport are speaking to us in Swedish – which neither of us know how to speak except Hej, Ja, Nej.

The next leg of our trip – Stockholm to Bergen and then embark the Viking Cruise Ship Neptune for 15 days. We reminisce this trip will be our first time traveling together since the summer of 1986 when we drove to Colorado with our children!