Toilets

It is 7:32AM on the island of Ponta Delgada in the Azores, Portugal, where I am currently sitting and typing this. For my body it’s 3:32am.

When I tell you there was much stress leading up to the friend trip it would be a gross understatement. Well, stress for me. For reasons that are unclear to me, my mental catastrophe planning is reaching epic levels lately. In preparation or this trip, I read reviews of the airline I’m taking, SATA Azores Air, and found horror stories about checked bags being lost, delayed and canceled flights, etc.

So far the hand-wringing has all been for no reason whatsoever, and frankly, I am not surprised. The airline has been perfectly fine. I had hoped to use only a carryon bag to avoid any chance of losing my luggage, but when weighed at checkin at Logan in Boston, it was just slightly over the limit, so it had to be checked. That said, because it was carry on sized, I was not charged which is actually a little victory which I will happily accept.

I took solace in knowing I’d packed a change of clothes in my carryon backpack should my lost luggage fear be realized.

When I arrived in the Ponte Delgada airport my first task after disembarking was to find a restroom. As I entered it my first thought, I am not kidding, was “Yay! I get to see how the toilets work!”

I know I have mentioned this “phenomenon“ in the past. Somehow, I feel I am officially traveling somewhere special when the operation of the toilets and sinks takes a moment to figure out.

They were actually not complicated.

I must be a world traveler now.