Blues
They call it winter blues, or winter depression. A mood disorder otherwise known as seasonal affective disorder - or, more brilliantly, SAD. I'll leave it up to you, beloved reader, to read more about it on various websites but if anyone is looking for a cure, there are special light therapy lamps that help battle the accompanying mood troubles.
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And so it was, a couple of weeks ago, I went on vacation to Iceland. Yup, first time I ever went to Iceland for a vacation. And how great it was. I met up with a ton of family and friends, ate a shameful amount of food and cursed the crisis. A normal day in the life of an Icelandic person. I find it hard to describe the visit to my country as it blends together a bit. We did try to do some shopping but unfortunately the prices in that bloody country have just risen too high. Even with American dollars under the belt.
Flor had left Jeddah a week before me as she was doing the bi-weekly rosters for the cabin crew and chose to use the chance to do them in Brussels where we have a small outstation. A friend of hers is working over there, one who we met in Brussels back in November, and Flor could stay with her there. This also allowed her to jump over to Paris for a weekend to meet another Argentinean friend who is working there. I traveled up to Iceland alone but as luck would have it, my flight from Brussels to London was delayed so I missed the Icelandair flight home. I therefore had to spend one night a the Renaissance close by Heathrow which, incidentally, was smack full that night due to three weddings. Not a quiet night. As I had worked quite a bit in the week leading up to it I was absolutely dead which could mean only one thing. Oversleeping. Add to that some confusion in my head about the time difference so when I finally woke up I was certain I had missed the flight. I rushed to the airport and found out that check in had closed. I pleaded with the lady to let me check in who reluctantly agreed after the sobbing story of mine that I had been away from my beloved country this long. As the economy seats had filled up during check in she was forced to put me in business class. I didn't complain but she felt compelled to let me know I didn't really deserve it since I was this late.
As mentioned before, the trip was made up of events of eating. I can't even imagine how much I ate, all I know is that I added some kilos to my belly. I did also manage to hit the gym a couple of times and go for two runs or so - more to enjoy that part of my old life there than to actually exercise. I spent a couple of days in the studio, updating the computers there and catching up with the arty people. Met up with most of my friends and the major part of the immediate family. Took a quick trip to the movies, to see Inglorious Basterds - a movie my father, my brother and me enjoyed quite a lot while Flor was hindered to enjoy it as much due to Icelandic subtitles and foreign spoken languages. She did get a nice nap out of it though! The one thing I couldn't do was take a quick drive in my old car, a dearly missed friend.
Towards the end of the trip I was lucky enough to get a couple of shifts covered so I could add two days to the trip. Much needed although it meant I had to travel again through Heathrow (horrible airport now a days), wait there some 8 hours and finally travel on Saudi Airlines in monkey class for the nearly 7 hour flight down to Jeddah. Added to that I was homesick as soon as the aircraft took off from Iceland. Can't wait to go again, whenever that may be.
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As for SAD, I wish there were lamps that brought on a little bit of SAD when desired. Call it a mix of being homesick and a masochist.

Labels: day2day, english, Jeddah, Saudi-Arabia, travel

as written by Tobbi G. at 12:19 AM GMT