09 January 2013

Flight from Seattle to Amsterdam

Flight One:

Danae (one of the girls on my team) and I had the distinct pleasure of being called to the gate desk to check our visas for Kenya—which we don’t get until we arrive in Nairobi… This minor set-back put us in the last 20 or so people to board the plane, but PTL (Praise the Lord)—there was space in the overhead for both of our carry-ons!

I was fortunate to get a seat next to Danae, but that meant that I was crammed like a sardine in a can on the inside of the row or four seats.  My rotund Eastern European friend quickly asserted armrest dominance, and I spent the majority of the 10 hour flight doing my best imitation of a sleeping bag in a compression sack.  A few times my EE friend got up and I jockeyed for position before he returned.  However, a wrong reach for entertainment or food stuffed me back in my sack.

About half way through the flight I reached for my water bottle.  Funny thing about high altitude—it pressurizes air, and normally this isn’t an issue with my wide-mouth bottle, but the one I had with me has a straw… Suffice it to say, Danae and I were doused with a fountain of water.  I’m grateful we received the majority of the spray instead of the people around us.  You should also note that at the beginning of the flight Danae had detailed her experience with the EXACT same problem—glad I’m a good listener…

Another interesting element on my flight was a gentleman with Tourette’s and his expression of this syndrome was fairly typical with uncontrollable noises and twitches.  Most of the other passengers responded kindly to the gentleman, but the German speaking guy sitting in front of him didn’t understand the gentleman’s noises/actions.  One of the flight attendants found someone who could speak to the guy and moved him to another seat.

Otherwise, the flight was uneventful, filled with movies, gross food every few hours, and organizing educational iPad apps.  I’ll tell you more about the rest of my travels in a later blog—it gets exciting!

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