Day 1 -- On the Airplane

(This is, of course, not actually from that day -- as internets are not available on airplanes -- but is just a summation of thoughts and events.)


16 AUGUST | Airplane Flight: Over the Atlantic Ocean

Hi! It's me! I'm on the plane, headed across the Atlantic towards the UK. We were served dinner and a 'breakfast' of sorts (more like lunch), I watched Next (the new movie with Nicholas Cage and Jessica Biel), skipped 300, and Pathfinder (also a dud, I hear) was not working well enough to watch. So, was a little disappointed that Lord of the Rings wasn't actually playing on the flight (:D), because that would have been a perfect way to spend nine (9) consecutive hours, stuck on a metal craft hurdling itself through the expansive of sky at thousands of miles per minute and confined to a seat no wider than me, without any hope of being able to fall asleep. *smiles*

I read a little. Bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the Houston airport bookshop before I left. Was feeling a little sentimental, I think, and needed something I knew I would enjoy. Plus, the book is -what- 800+ pages? Plenty for a trip across the seas. Ended up reading the first few chapters. :) All by the light of my dimmed t.v., for felt that turning my overhead light on, whilst everyone else on the plane was trying to sleep, would be very rude of me. There were a couple people up, but they were on the sides of the plane, and not in the middle, like me. I felt it was very clever to use the t.v. :)

The flight itself was good. No bad turbulence, no bad food, an empty seat next to me, and that sort of enjoyable calm that comes with flying at night, the cabin lights off, and the whole plane 'asleep'. It's wonderful to be awake, and just be surrounded by sleeping people -- quiet and relaxing. There was a man across the plane who was up reading too, his wife asleep next to him, and he was trying to read just by the general light in the cabin. He glanced over at my special 'night light' and yet kept reading in the dark. Maybe he didn't want to copy me. :)

There weren't any memorably handsome, single guys on this flight, but the flight attendant (a guy, obviously), was cute-ish (for the first half of the flight, then he sort of got less cute the longer I had to stare at him) was very nice. He brought me coffee before we'd had our 'meal' (followed by the designated 'after-dinner-beverage' time), because it was what I'd asked for (not water or soda), and he made the pot just because I asked. It was tremendously nice. I was very appreciative. :D More coffee after dinner, and dinner was yummy. Don't remember what I had, but I remember it really hitting the spot. Was watching Next when they brought the tray, so I don't think I paid much attention to anything else. ;)

We eventually arrived at Gatwick Airport around 11:00am or so, the following day. I was supposed to gather my things, go through customs, buy a Gatwick Express ticket (an express-train for direct travel from the airport to London Victoria Station -- a hub for outer-London travel), pick up check-in luggage, and find the train. It all worked out well enough. My biggest complaint would be the roll-y suitcase and the small box of books I agreed to take for a friend who just moved out to London. I was about to take my Arc'teryx pack (soooo much easier to travel with), because it's a backpack-oriented pack, top-loading, and easy to run with it on (to catch trains and such). But I'd over-packed, of course (:D), in retrospect, and also had that box of books that would've been a really big nuisance after about 10 minutes of carrying it in my arms. Executive decisions. :) Anyways, next time I'll definitely take my pack and just keep myself from packing too much!

Well, since this day is really 'over' and the rest of this entry belongs on the 17th, I'm going to end here.
Glad to be here. :)

Love y'all!