A Long Day of Traveling

Early this morning (or I guess yesterday morning) I drove to SeaTac Airport for my first trip across the Atlantic to Europe. Everything went surprising well at check-in, despite the fact that I had two bike boxes, because now a day checking bikes can almost make anyone cringe. I arrived at D.C. with a few hour lay over, so I got a sandwich and sat by a group of very excited Flemish speaking people. Of course I couldn't understand a word they were saying but it was entertaining to listen to them.

Kit Karzen, one of the other juniors I will be racing and living with, waved me over to where he, Danny Heeley, and Ian Moir were sitting (all four of us will be racing the track in Apeldoorn Netherlands). We all talked for awhile until we were finally able to board, which seemed to take foreverrrr. The second flight seemed as if it would never end, considering I didn't sleep for more than a half an hour, but because of my inability to sleep I was able to enjoy some quality movies. Marley and Me, Yes Man, and oh yes... Mall Cop. After six hours of great movie entertainment we finally landed in Brussels where we met a few more people that would be staying in the house in Izigem.

Later, after an hour and a half drive, we arrived at the house and found it one hundred percent packed! We didn't even have rooms at first because the U23 riders were leaving for Luxemburg, so instead we built our bikes and went for an easy ride with a good sized group. We enjoyed the sun as we rode into Kortrijk were we all enjoyed coffee and pancakes. I chose the pancakes, or pannenkoekens in Flemish, with a little jam on top.

The rest of the day has been pretty chill. We have just hung out at the house and enjoyed calamari and chicken for dinner. I am super exhausted now from the past two days, so I will be going to bed very soon.

More updates tomorrow