Jet Lag Doesn’t Have To Be A Drag

(I’m traveling from New York back home with my dad, stepmom, and sister. The travel consists of a card ride to the airport in NY, then a plane switch in Norway, and finally, back in Finland, I and my sis have to take a train to my home city since our dad and stepmom are leaving for another trip. We all know it’s going to be an exhausting travel between 25 and 30 hours and a time difference of seven hours. We’re standing in front of our hotel, waiting for the cab to the airport we ordered through the hotel.)

Dad: “The car should be here already but I don’t see any.”

Sister: “The only car I see is that limo and I doubt you asked for that.”

Dad: *chuckles* “No, I didn’t. Let me ask the hotel.”

(He goes inside to ask a hotel worker about our car. The worker comes outside, sees the limo, and smiles widely at us.)

Worker: “That’s your car, folks. We decided to give you an upgrade, no extra charge!”

(Stunned by this, we thank him profoundly and have a good laugh about it on our way to the airport. First time any of us had even sat inside a limo. We get to the airport and to the plane without a problem. The flight is long, but I find it really hard to get comfortable in a plane, so I don’t sleep a wink. We get to Norway where we wait for a good while and it’s taking all my effort just to stay awake. Finally, we get on our last plane where I do manage to get about 20 or so minutes of light sleep. I’m still exhausted by the time we land and don’t even want to think about the train ride we still have in front of us. When we go get our luggage, I notice my sister talking with a couple of men in their forties she sat next to in-flight.)

Man #1: “So where are you headed now?”

Sister: “My sister and I are taking a train to [City], where she lives.”

Man #1: “How are you going to get to her apartment from the train station?”

Sister: “Probably walk. It’s such a short walk it’d be ridiculous to pay for a cab.”

Man #2: “Hey, aren’t we going to drive that way?”

Man #1: “Yeah, we are. You guys wanna ride?”

(At first, we are a little hesitant. But we have a chat with our dad, and my sister has mentioned to the men that my roommate will be waiting for us within a few hours. So we agree and once we get our luggage, the men help us load them in their car and even ask if we need to stop to get some food. Once on the way, though we’re still tired, we have a pleasant chat with the two of them all the way to the city. They even insist on driving us all the way to my doorstep.)

Man #1: “You have a good night now.”

Sister: “You, too. Thank you so much for this.”

Me: *digs up some of the money our dad gave for the train tickets* “Here, to pay for gas and as a thank you.”

Man #2: “Oh, you don’t need to do that. It was our pleasure and the city was on the way.”

Me: “We’ve been awake for over 25 hours combined with the time difference of seven hours. You saved us time, an exhausting trip by train, and the walk from there to here. I insist.”

(They eventually took the money and drove away. In local time, it was barely an evening, so in order to not completely wreck our internal clocks, we stayed up until our total hour count for staying awake ended up being about 32 hours. It was an exhausting trip, but these people who helped us on the way made it so much easier. Thank you all so much!)