Ah, the Airport. How Relaxing.

So here I am, facing the dread of every writer. A diary, or e-blog, as I have unearthed in our little tech-savvy world. Amazing how nearly all great things start with something you wanted to avoid in the first place.

Once I left school, managed to pry myself from the people who clung and cried ((and made me a wonderful surprise party, I love them all to pieces and WILL miss them dearly)), it was back to packing away. In the midst of folding the last bit of randomness for my airplane bag, it struck me just how much everything would be different.

Vancouver has what we call liquid sunshine. In Montenegro, you're lucky to find a liquid in the grocery store, maybe even the public market ((piaza)). Nevertheless, I'd miss my friends far more than I would the weather conditions.

Back to my dilemma of planning; the flight we originally had in mind finished the half circumnavigation of the world in about... a day. Due to new regulations and customs and airplane times, our travel time was now doubled. Two days. Vancouver to Amsterdam to Belgrade (Beograd) to Podgorica.

Well, do you know just how many people in the world are ready for a 48 hour long rendezvous with airports and planes and customs?... I'll get back to you on that. Their birth date isn't for the next hundred years or so, and I'd hate to assume.

Excitement kept me fueled like the sleep I needed so desperately. Coffee just didn't look that appetizing, even with half shut eyelids and slurred speech. The running and jumping after siblings and stray luggage was completely worth it, in the end, as I would soon find out.

Vancouver to Amsterdam ((the Schiphol airport. Pronounced Ship-hell.)) was the longest flight, 9 and a half hours of fun and games on a cramped plane. Once we arrived, dead tired and completely stressed, we had 6 or 7 hours to wait for our next flight. And our plan decided to be late. Sighing and grumbling, the last two planes of an hour or two each, were nothing compared to it.

History wise, this was completely normal and usual for the Skrijelj clan. Every two years, my family goes on a summer visit to Yugosla- former... Yugoslavia to visit relatives and to remind ourselves of our heritage and it's crumbling foundations, and this second year was to be no different. Even with a 9 hour time difference between Vancouver, and myself.

Food and siblings await me, and people who can properly pronounce my last name.

- A moody, sleep-deprived Mirela who dearly misses you all. :)