trip to Minnesota

(i realized that i still messed up on the posting times, but i will
have to fix that a bit later)

stayed up till 2am on friday evening talking and packing.. got almost
4 hours of sleep and then headed to the airport. got there 1.5 hours
before my flight, that should be enough right? wrong. i see the line
and i can't see the end of it.. and that is just the check-in one...
another line for the security check. madness.. i have no idea if that
was only my airline or what. i didn't even bother to go and see where
the end is.. i simply found one assistant there and said that if i
have to stay in line i will miss my flight for sure so what other
options do i have... luckily the line was mandatory just for
international travelers and i got to use the electronic check-in
(which did not work for me but i got to the front of the line for
assistance).. so that was quick.. but the security check line still
took forever... i better get to the airport 3.5 hours before my flight to Lima

anyhoo.. the flights were fine... did not have too long of a layover
and all went smoothly. on the second flight i sat next to a guy who
came from Iraq, he had been flying for 30 hours by now and was on his
last flight (he was originally from MN).. he got 2 weeks off because
his mother had passed away. we were talking the whole 1.5 hours pretty
much and he was surprisingly open when talking about the situation
there (as some of you know there is no end to my questions)... one of
the most interesting "flight talks" i've ever had.

once we arrived in twin cities (Minneapolis/St.Paul) Nikki was there
to meet me. it took us only about 15 minutes and 3 trips up to the
last floor and back down again till we found the car and then we
headed north. it was about 4h drive.. through Duluth (because we
missed an exit) and up till Virginia where they live.