Paris Trip- Day 1 : The Airplanes
For all of you who said that flying wasn't such a big deal, SHAME ON YOU! I absolutely HATE flying. It was the most terrifying experience of my life! I left Saturday morning nervous as I could be and I was very thankful that Mom and Dani decided to stay a while and talk to us before the flight. It help to calm my nerves, a little. But when the jet (note: jet, not plane) pulled up to the boarding area I almost ran for cover for this thing was tee tiny. I knew the flight to Houston would be a short one that would be less than an hour but I was totally not expecting to have to deal with an Express Jet. Well needless to say, the clock ticked down and I had no choice but to board this very, very small jet. On the left of the aisle there were two side, on the right there was only one, and try as Catherine might to distract me, I could hardly breathe as we taxied. It was an excrutiatingly long wait before we left the ground and my nerves were shot, there was a blaze of noise and then ... take of. Oh my dear God, nothing could have prepared me for that. We went up, up at atleast a 45 degree angle. I had to clasp my hand over my mouth to keep me from screaming and thank God that Catherine was there because she held my hand and try to calm me for the whole time. One take off ended and we leveled out, the plane decided to rock itself back and forth. It was shaking everywhere. (It also didn't help that the guy across the aisle was coughing like crazy. Well anyway after about 15 minutes I was finally able to clam down and I was alomst okay, until that stupid pilot deciding to go ahead and descend. The was almost as unpleasant as the take off, but needless to say, I was very happy to hit the ground and get off that jet.
We landed in Houston at about 1:00p in the afternoon and the flight to Paris wasn't until 6:40p. Needless to say, a five hour lay over is not very pleasant. Catherine and I decided to get something to eat (hamburgers in a nice little diner) and we hung out in the Borders bookshop for a while but for the most part all we could do was wait by the terminal for the plane to arrive. I tried to read, I tried to listen to music, and I even tried to sleep (not at all an easy feat in a terminal chair), but for the most part all we could do was talk and try to get to know the other people in the program. Then at long last the plane arrived and the five hours had rendered me so bored that I was actaully "happy" to board the plane. Of course that feeling did last very long, because it mean that I would once more have to be in the air. The good thing about trans-Atlantic flights, however, is that you get lots of movies and drinks to keep you busy. I started with a nice solid round of "House" (three episodes) and ate dinner which was actually quite good (Chicken Parmesian, Rice, Bread, and Pepperidge Farm cookies.) Then I started to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and was fotunate enough to fall asleep. And the rest of the story is too be continued...
We landed in Houston at about 1:00p in the afternoon and the flight to Paris wasn't until 6:40p. Needless to say, a five hour lay over is not very pleasant. Catherine and I decided to get something to eat (hamburgers in a nice little diner) and we hung out in the Borders bookshop for a while but for the most part all we could do was wait by the terminal for the plane to arrive. I tried to read, I tried to listen to music, and I even tried to sleep (not at all an easy feat in a terminal chair), but for the most part all we could do was talk and try to get to know the other people in the program. Then at long last the plane arrived and the five hours had rendered me so bored that I was actaully "happy" to board the plane. Of course that feeling did last very long, because it mean that I would once more have to be in the air. The good thing about trans-Atlantic flights, however, is that you get lots of movies and drinks to keep you busy. I started with a nice solid round of "House" (three episodes) and ate dinner which was actually quite good (Chicken Parmesian, Rice, Bread, and Pepperidge Farm cookies.) Then I started to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and was fotunate enough to fall asleep. And the rest of the story is too be continued...