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3.22.2009

Travel Highlights

So I flew from Miami to Frankfurt to Bremen, Germany today. . . yesterday? . .  arrived today. . . whatever.  Don't take the following as bitching, I'm well aware that I might be in for the most grueling experience of my life anytime I travel.  And this trip wasn't nearly that bad but it did have a lot of firsts.

My flight from Miami to Frankfurt was delayed by, get this, a faulty power line for one of the kitchen heating units.  An hour and a half later Lufthansa got the crisis under control.  Super.  Predictably I missed my connecting flight in Bremen by about 5 minutes (I watched the plan pull away from the jetway) and had to spend about 5 extra hours in the Frankfurt airport.  Time flew.  I tried to work, I dozed.  I tried to read, I dozed.  I tried to doze, I dozed.  Sometimes things just work out.  Thought I had my second wind getting on the flight to Bremen and read through take-off and even got some water before I put the book (and my arms) down on the tray table and really went for a world class snooze.  (Ed. note:  I can never sleep on planes, not even that one time when JG got us hooked up with 1st class seats from SFO to Newark. . . but that might have been because we were too busy being giddy with our champagne, screwdrivers, multiple choices of breakfast and, of course, hot washcloths.)  So I doze off and then apparently REALLY tune out. I didn't wake up till the wheels of the plane first touched the ground and you know what? my tray table was still down. . . probably because my arms where completely covering it.  Don't know if they tried to wake me but all I know is I beat the system, I landed in a plane with my tray table down and everything was okay.  Aaron 1 - Airline Rules 0

Other highlights from my flights:
-- I had an aisle seat. The guy to my left was about half my size and asked if I'd be willing to take the inside seat so he could put his extra carry-on bag under the seat.  To use the vernacular:  WTF?  This kid had no clue what he was doing.  We all waited 5 minutes while he tried to wedge a rolling carry-on under the 2nd seat in before he asked me to switch.  After I refused a kindly stewardess helped him find some room in an overhead compartment.  Bizarre.
-- I read one book and watched about the last 5 episodes of LOST on my Archos.  Talk about passing the time. . . if it wasn't for my seatmate it would have been a great flight.
-- My seatmate (the same kid/younger guy/Indian dude with no concept of personal space) decided that my waist was obviously a great place to store his right elbow during the flight.  Nevermind the luv handles takin' up space there, dude. . . go right ahead and stick that bony elbow about 4 inches over the armrest. 
--  I handled the bony elbow in it's more innocent form but later in the flight I was treated to the same elbow crashing down on my shoulder.  I can only assume that he dozed off and awoke with a start but when I looked over at him there wasn't so much as an acknowledgement coming my way, let a long a courtesy, "My Bad" from him.  Guess I'm overly sensitive. . . or severely bruised.

Well, I had planned to make those short but that didn't work so I'm cutting myself off.  Bremerhaven seems like a nice German town and I walked around a bit today.  It's about 40-45 during the day, mostly cloudy, but it'll be nice to work in this weather instead of the Bahamas.  My lids are drooping so I'm off to bed.  Got a week of receiving trucks, loading containers and trying to keep track of everything on a massive spreadsheet before the ship pulls in Friday night.  I hate spreadsheets. . . which is odd since I live to collate.  Good night.