Airline Adventures

Airline Adventures KLM Dutch Airways... I would like to begin this post with a disclosure: I am running on 1-2hrs of sleep since I got up at 12:30 Sunday afternoon. I'm 33000ft in the air with 7 hours and 10 mintutes left in plane ride part one. I have been attempting, since takeoff, to fall asleep but this keeps getting put off by slaps in the face with my seat neighbor's blanket, the woman in front of me opening her window every 3 minutes (no exaggeration), blasting me with unnecessary sunlight OR she knocks my feet off the back part of her armrest. So expect cynicism and please bear with me.

I arrived at LakePointe 21minutes after the set time to meet but 9 minutes before we were scheduled to leave. Upon opening the door to my car I was hit with heckling from our wonderful city councilman, Michael, and our friend Randy. No surprise there. We prayed and hopped on the bus to head to DFW airport. I sat with my roomie for the week Shannon, and Peyton, a fun chica I met at the Joe Willy's fundraiser night.

There was a little bit of traffic but hey, it was Dallas during the afternoon. Again, no surprise. The line at the airport was short until our massive group arrived to choke up not only the line, but the computer systems as well. Two-thirds of the group made it through with no problems, but then we overloaded the system. Something kept freezing up and telling them we were too much (or something to that effect). This too was blamed on me. I would like to say it was just 'wrong place at the wrong time' but that would be ridiculous because it implies that I might not have received the blame if the situation had been set up differently. Again. No surprise. :)

**I feel obligated to interrupt here and let you know they just fed us, it was good, and I'm hoping it will help my blood sugar levels and my mood. I know that is a lot of pressure to put on a pasta dinner, but I believe it has the ability.**

So, after standing at the ticket counter, waiting to get my boarding pass and watching the attendant behind the counter (Andrew) do his job while constantly being barraged by the other attendants asking him the same questions repeatedly. Andrew stayed strong and got me my boarding pass so Brad sent me to the security checkpoint thing so I could get to the gate. An older gentleman was in line behind me and he kept muttering about how unnecessary all the security rules were. My thought is this: Yes, it takes an outrageous amount of time. Yes, taking off your shoes in the same place thousands of other people take off their shoes is gross. But guess what? If it stops ONE person with bad intentions - IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT.
I was a little bit bummed when it was my time to go through because I didn't get to do the fun body scan thing. The last time I did it I smiled REAL big when they pushed the button to take my picture. :) This time, I didn't even get my pouf patted down. :( I'm sorry to admit it was very generic, extremely routine, and nothing exciting to report whatsoever.

I bought a neck pillow on the way to our gate (grey because it goes with pretty much everything but doesn't stain like black) and it is wrapped around my neck and shoulders as I type and I'm very pleased with my first purchase of the trip.

The flight was already boarding as I approached the gate and I was excited to learn I would be sitting by my friend Faith. I adopted her and her little brother last year in Egypt because I was "strict" like their mom and so I call them my babies and they call me Momma Dos. 

When we boarded, everything went to poo. I got to my seat and put my bag in the overhead compartment. Jon, Faith's dad, was talking to two flight attendants in an attempt to get their family of four seated together.  I was told (I SWEAR!) to go switch Rena (their real momma) or Andy (the youngest baby) for their seat in the next compartment. Happy to switch an isle seat for a window seat, I grab my bag out of the overhead compartment and move to where Rena and Andy are sitting. They moved out of the way, I put my bag in the new overhead compartment and took my new seat. Less than 30 seconds later Rena comes back, telling me that they told them to go back to their seats until they got it figured out. Then, one of the same flight attendants comes up and tells me that she had NOT told me to switch them, but to move to the window seat right next to where my original seat had been. And then she laughed at me and made some remark about how she couldn't believe I thought I was going back to where I was currently sitting. I stood up, let Rena and Andy back in and then she starts saying 'we can put you here, or we can put you here, or here..." until I finally cut her off by telling her I would go wherever she put me because it wasn't that big of a deal. That's when she almost kissed me. She started smiling real big and saying, "Oh thank you! You are amazing! Oh, I wish all the people were people like you!" 

So...I got my window seat. Next to an older Ethiopian woman who speaks no English. Which, I thought would be fine since all I wanted to do was sleep...until I found out that she has no boundary issues, and she throws her blanket wherever she sees fit. Oh well. What can you do? :)

Right now we're flying somewhere over Canada (ay!), only 6000 and something miles away from our final destination. Oy vay.

I need to get up and walk but I'm currently stuck. Both dinner trays are down and she's passed out. Plus, the seatbelt sign is on because of turbulence so it wouldn't matter anyways.

My biggest conundrum right now is whether or not to get tea or coffee for my post meal drank (yes, I know the correct word is drink, but I like the way drank sounds more). The coffee smells AMAZING but it may keep me up...but then again I could get the tea and stay awake anyways. 
Oh heck, I'm gonna live on the wild side - coffee it is.

Man, it's a tough life. :)

2hours and 20something minutes left! I just looked out the window and realized we're chasing the sun. It was setting as we were leaving America but it's beginning to rise on this side of the world and I got to watch a sunset become a sunrise without ever being separated by the night. 
I was able to get up and walk around for a bit and stretch my legs so that helped a lot. So did the medicine I took an hour and a half ago. I've been able to get some more sleep but nothing spectacular. The movies available on this flight are extremely impressive. In fact, one that I rented thru iTunes yesterday morning is on the list - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I'll probably start a movie on here instead of the ipad because I'll have to shut this bad boy down before we land - the on flight tv screen I can leave on. The earphones are good too which is funny because that is NEVER the case with ANY other airline I've ever flown on. Dinner was yummy too - I had the choices of beef or pasta - I chose pasta. It was nomnomnomnom. I don't think I've ever been that pleased with an inflight meal either. I've had more decent dinners than bad ones, but this one was GOOD. I also just remembered that I didn't eat sushi before I left. That is a MASSIVE bummer because while they have sushi in Egypt we are discouraged from eating it. Maybe I'll do something crazy...

Looking out the window the wing of the plane obstructs roughly 50% of my view, the clouds we're riding on are a dark purple - the kind that is so dark it could be mistaken for dark grey or dark blue. But it's purple. Peeking up behind the purple is a magnificent red. The red fades into a sliver of pink before slipping into a light apricot-y/peachy color. There is a very thn line of the clouds above this, blurring the lines between orange and sea foam green. The sea foam green is a small sliver like the pink and it gives way to a simple baby blue that gets darker as it goes on up to the top of my window.

I love flying. I always feel close to God when I fly. Like I'm in this steel bird and we're gliding over the sidewalk that is outside of His front yard. In turn, I feel close to Alex and I can't think about it too long because it is the most intense mixture of happiness and sadness a person can feel at the same time.

And yes, for my final movie of the flight, I am watching The Fox and the Hound.
Like a boss.