I drove to Hiawatha last night after work and arrived at Titus’s place about 9. Titus met me at the door and after chatting with his folks and beginning an interesting conversation or 3, we buttoned up some last minute prep, made sure the shoes and backpacks seemed ready (new backpack is awesome by the way. It’s an Osprey Farpoint 55, which has a built-in smaller daypack. It’s built to function as a carry-on with a personal item. Perfect for this trip.) then got one last nice night of American sleep. Kansas City airport was our destination for the morning, after we did the honors of wolfing a fantastic breakfast of bacon and eggs (thanks Mitch!) What an airport! Opened 3 days ago or so, MCI is a destination in itself. Our aircraft touched down around 2 in DTW after a slightly bumpy foggy flight. Met up with Chad in the Detroit airport, where he’d been patiently waiting since about 9. We newcomers got on the outside of some nice Shawarma at a Mediterranean place before creeping down the jetbridge to our abode for the next few hours, an Airbus A330-200 aimed at Amsterdam. We shall need deicing, apparently.