5/26 Layover: New-ark, New-ark

Long layovers in airports aren’t so bad. When you’re traveling on vacation, they can seem like benches and hallways of eternal waiting and discomfort (no math class comments here kiddos). When you’re traveling for reasons other than lounging on the beach, they are not a bad way to spend a day just taking it all in. It's all about the mindset. 

Sometimes there is a little bit of home that sends you off…

Thank you PWM! World's greatest airport.

Sometimes there are scary things you just need to accept, like mass exports of yankees hats (foreground in image below) or changing all of your hard earned american dollars into currency that is colorful or has holes in it (background below: Currency Exchange). Time to load up on some Norwegian Krones…the current rate is 1 Dollar = 7.75 Norwegian Krone.

Finally, it is just a fact that you are going to eat airport food at some point and you might as well because it whets your appetite to embrace foods from cultures that are foreign to your delicate Maine palette. This leads us to today’s literary/historical quotes portion of the blog. 

“The proof is in the pudding”

Tommy's famous black pudding, center, an Irish favorite

This quote is one you may have heard before, thrown around when someone is trying to get you to do something and you may be slightly reluctant. The full saying is actually an old proverb that says “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Its origin lies in the fact that what we know as pudding (chocolate? vanilla?) was not always so. Rather, “pudding” consisted of assorted meats thrown together in a sausage like bundle cased in animal intestines. Back in the times of this original saying, one might never be really sure of the “pudding” contents, or its integrity, so to see how it was going to sit…well…you just had to jump in, try it, and see what happens, which I think is an excellent metaphor (not a simile sophomore English?) for successful international travel. Almost time to eat like a Norwegian..gotta catch a flight...

Clean Plate Club Member (trust me, always leave the sauerkraut before a flight)