I love flying. There is something about being up that high that makes me feel so close to God and to Alex. I love the pressure that pushes me back in my seat on during lift off - and the final release when the wheels leave the ground.
When I was little, I would get sick while flying. When I finally aged out of that nonsense, I learned to enjoy it. The way the clouds form outside the windows make me want to jump out and bounce around on them.
On the way to the airport, Brad passed out our travel itineraries, and, much to my dismay, I realized he'd requested that we all get isle seats. ISLE. SEATS. So I could sit by a stranger that would probably have bladder control issues, and would need me to get up and out of the way every half hour or so which meant no sleep for me. Not to mention how many times my elbow would get smashed by drink and food carts.
Not that I was bitter or anything.
ISLE?!
Luckily for the safety and well being of Brad, I was then informed that I would have NO room mate this week. JACKPOT! I saw the evil glares of the jealous, but they barely registered through my haze of happy calm that was flowing through my body. My elbows could take the bumps because I could nurse them in the privacy of my own room. AH!
Getting through to the terminal was easy enough - we didn't freeze up any systems this time. The ticket agent told us a horrific story about a cat that made it into her owner's bag (that was a checked bag) but luckily survived a 16 hour flight was India. Regulations state that animals not claimed be put down on sight, but the cat was saved by a kind soul, though very traumatized upon exiting the airport with her owner. Crazy!!
The security line was long, and the air was humid, and I was sweating by the time I got up to the "hold your hands up and smile while you get your body scanned" line. I got through without a hitch, put my shoes back on, and headed to the terminal.
When I finally got to my isle seat, the glorious haze wore off quickly when I realized that my seat mate was built like a professional basketball player. He was very nice - he was from Morocco and tried to teach me Arabic words out of his Arabic to English handbook for about 30 minutes. I was so exhausted, and I tried to keep up, but it didn't work so well.
To top it off, Lufthansa airlines has the SMALLEST seats I've ever flown in. I couldn't cross my legs without smashing my knees on the seat in front of me. My back was killing me. A back that has had four surgeries doesn't fare too well in cramped spaces.
And on top of THAT, I kept getting butt-ed by everyone that passed on their way to the bathroom. Seriously. Multiple rear ends touched my elbow. Forget the carts - that would have been a blessing compared to the behind bumps I kept catching. Oy.
By the time we got to Frankfurt, I was ready to bust off that plane. I had watched The Grand Budapest Hotel, the second Hobbit movie, and The Lego Movie. I thought that the Hobbit movie would put me to sleep, but it only gave me 12 minutes or so. 12 glorious, but oh so short minutes.
In the Frankfurt airport, I slept just long enough to put me in a foul mood. A 6 hour layover with no leaving was rough. I did spend $25 on a sandwich, bottle of water, and bag of chips though. Gracious.
We flew Egypt Air to Cairo, and it was wonderful compared to the Lufthansa plane. The seats even had footrests. When boarding, I was pushed out of the way by an older Egyptian man who was too impatient to let me put my bag up. While I remained polite to his face, inside I was infuriated. It was a swift reminder of what I would be faced with in Egypt. It is a difficult thing to stomach for a loud, blonde female such as myself, and I tried to remind myself that THIS was one of the reasons I needed to be there. To teach children that there is equality among the sexes, and that respect should be given, not just expected.
Luckily, I was able to get an hour or so of sleep, and I woke up feeling much better. My seat mate this time was an Egyptian man that looked to be around my age, and once he stopped bouncing his leg up and down, he was quite enjoyable. He has family in Texas, and his English was very good.
When we got to Egypt, Brad handed us our visas to put in our passport. It was so satisfying to know that it was my third Egyptian visa. I love the way they look in that little blue book.
We got our bags loaded up with the least amount of effort on any of my trips (the Egyptian security can be nosy), and got on the big tour looking bus to go to the hotel. It may have been 9 o'clock at night, but the Egyptian traffic was in full swing. I don't know why they bother to paint lines on the roads - nobody stays in them. It took almost an hour and a half to get to our hotel. During this time, I was informed that I did have a room mate - some girl named Heidi that was working for Healing Grace.
I almost started crying.
I dropped my bags off and decided to find Reina and Gloria so we could find some food. It's almost 11pm and I'm starving. Low blood sugar and lack of sleep means a grumpy Lyndse. Yikes.
Much Love,
*L*
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