Well, that didn’t work… Apparently getting up before the roosters doesn’t really facilitate airplane sleep, at least not for me. The flight from Portland was fine, except that I was seated next to an elderly gentleman who was just a tad too gassy for any enclosed space. Other than that it went as smoothly as any 10-hour flight should be. But I just couldn’t get any real sleep. I dozen off a couple times but then just ended up doing those “jerk awake” moves, like when you’re falling asleep at school, or in church, or giving that speech to the UN.

So with no good REM sleep to the tally, I was more or less lurching around Schipol airport (in Amsterdam, doncha know) during my layover. Bad thing about Schipol is that there’s really no places to just lie around. I’m glad I only needed to be there for four hours. But on the plus side, I got to have some paprika Pringles again. Some of the flavors other countries have are just awesome. Have you ever had curry Pringles? You should; they are great. These paprika ones weren’t too bad either.

Did I say four hours in Amsterdam? Actually it was a bit longer than that. My flight to Kiev was delayed almost an hour. However because they had to do some seat rearranging after I got my boarding pass (in Portland, no less), I was bumped up to business class. An aisle seat, but even so, comfier seats and better leg room. I don’t know if it was the better seats or fatigue just catching up with me, but I slept nearly the entire flight. The real test as to whether my body knows what time zone it is in comes tomorrow morning, but I’m pretty hopeful at the moment.

Sleeping on the plane wasn’t the only thing that went awry. Nope, not the delay in Amsterdam either. Apparently the last weekend in May is “Kiev Days,” so lots of the downtown area was blocked off — including the street of the apartment I’m renting. The driver tried circling a couple of times, but it was no good. We ended up walking several blocks, against a huge sea of people going the opposite direction, to get to the apartment. The real capper would have been if the elevator was out and we had to walk up six stories, but fortunately we dodged that bullet.

I could tell you a little more about my first few hours in Kiev, but I’m pretty beat right now (yay!) so I’ll add that report next time. I will say that I’m sold on that Portland to Amsterdam flight; in my opinion, it’s the best way to get to Europe.