On My Way to the USA

I said I would pack two days in advance of my flight. Patrick smiled and called 6am the day of the flight. I wish I could be that person, the one who is perfectly packed and ready for anything at a moment’s notice, alas, that is not my life. In reality, I packed my bag (yes just one) around 10:30pm the night before departure and left it open for a few early morning additions. Inevitably, I’ll hate all of my clothes when I unpack and I’m sure I forgot something of minimal importance. Packing does not agree with me, whether it be for a week long business trip or a relocation, I’m just not good at it. Maybe I should rephrase that because I am good at squeezing a lot of stuff into a little space. As I finished packing for this trip, I could feel my heart beating fast. I couldn’t sleep. All I could do was think about what I may have forgotten – USD, a dress, pants, shoes, pills. These things were on my mind but I knew if I got out of bed to pack them I’d never get to sleep so I fought off the urge and tried to make mental notes for the morning. I sit on the plane now, hoping I have everything, knowing it is too late to go back and counting on a bit of shopping time to make up the difference. I’m on the plane now with about 5 hours left in my flight. The flight attendants are picking up our lunch trays and serving Bailey’s or another aperitif. As I sit here with my second glasses of wine and water and add Bailey’s I wonder why people complain about airline food. I just ate chicken with vegetables and rice in a mild curry sauce with a roll, small salad and lemon meringue with strawberry sauce – all in economy. I’m not dissatisfied. Maybe I’m spoiled as I’m flying Lufthansa but I’ve had an equally enjoyable experience on Virgin before my Lufthansa days. The last intercontinental flight I took was miserable. The plane was full to max capacity and I was sitting in a middle seat next to a woman who continuously farted. I couldn’t sleep a wink and I was flying east. This time I was able to choose my seat when I booked the flight and I got 55J. If you are ever flying on a (Lufthansa) 747 in economy, pick seat J55. It’s a window seat but you have about a foot of space between your seat and the window which is great for storing your carry on and gives you some room to breathe. I was not as lucky on my return flight. For India being a developing country there are always a substantive amount of Indians on every transatlantic flight I’ve been on.

Buzz Buzz

I have a bee problem. I spend most of my days working from the "Winter Garden" for the sunshine. I usually open at least one window from the top and at various points in the day I hear the buzzing of a defeated bee. Much like in Bee Movie, one lone bee flies in the window and then can't get out. They always try to fly out through the other windows and then fall down and get stuck on their backs. Eventually they get up and I get up and open the window the bee keeps crashing into or teh one next to it so i can coax him to his exit becasue I'm sick of his buzzing. I could just squich them but the worls needs bees and they're already dying out so I help them along and send them on their way. This has happened so often in the past week that Patrick refers to the bees as pets - and he's only sees half of them!