Monday, January 30, 2006

sunday january 29th...

630pm
i'm waiting for the plane to take off.. the guy in the window seat across the aisle from me is sleeping... i am so jealous.

KT and i arrived from MD at about 1030 this morning. in true gormally fashion, our "ride" was unavailable. i was supposed to get us a ride to the airport on thursday, and KT was going to get us one for sunday morning.. how did i know that she'd be calling people from the airport? we ended up taking the silver line to the red line, and then a cab to her house. i walked into my house at 12. not too bad. i intended to sleep a little bit before i repacked, but after i watched the one and a half episodes of sopranos that i had, it was around 130 and i started to stress that i would have to shower while all of LKs family was eating her 3rd birthday dinner, so i forwent a nap and showered early, plus i was getting hungry.

i was able to celebrate a little with a majority of LKs family on their first trip all the way up to somerville. her mom makes a mean cupcake and swedish meatballs.

for the 2nd time today KT was ontime in picking me up, such a godsend!  i arrived at the 2 hours before the flight time, no problem getting thru security, or finding my gate. there was a little african boy with a strong pair of lungs on him. he cried for a solid 30-40 minutes while i waited to get on the plane. luckily he is not on his way to london.

this plane is pretty huge. its 3-4-3 i walked by a bar on my way in and the staircase to the upperdeck. each seatback has a television in it. my plans are to watch 40 year old virgin, the march of the penguins, maybe pride and prejudice, flightplan, oooh, crash is one of the available movies. maybe i'll watch that too. :)

i watched about 16 or more lady flight attendants board this plane while i was waiting to board myself. they all had LONG red wool coats. was it because they are british? or because virgins colors are red? because i have a US passport i have to fill out a card. they want to know stuff like family name, forename (first name perhaps?) and my address in the UK. good thing i know that. shiiiiit.

this planes seats are definitely smaller then the jetblue plane i was on this morning. jetblue was a nice airline except the plane we were on was too new to have working tvs. this plane, although it is large has smaller seats and the room between the rows is narrower. also...i am TOO fat to fit in the seatbelt. fantastic!! i hope that they don't really check, how embarrassing..

845pm
alright, great news.. in the 2 hours i have been waiting to take off and start watching those movies i managed to get the seatbelt fastened, but it kind of cuts off my circulation.

about 30 minutes ago the captain made an announcement that we are going to need to "get rid of some cargo" in order to take off from a shorter runway. i have a sick feeling that my luggage will be part of the disposable cargo. i had reservations about checking luggage with my history of bad luck, and i hope that my bad feelings are not realized.

some random observations...

  • i just walked all the way to the end of the plane. there are so many empty seats its crazy! i could probably move and have my own row if i wanted. i might.
  • they handed out these very curious pretzels a while back. they were potato pretzels that had been soaked in worcestershire sauce. very interesting.
  • since i have been waiting so long i decided i am going to have some baileys and some white wine. shiiiiiiiit.
nice, we are finally ready to go!!!! only an hour plus late!!!

730am (from now on i'll be on GMT so subtract 5 hours those of you on the east coast)
just heard from the pilot that we will be landing at about 810am. i was able to sleep about 25 minutes. the headrests in these seats bend outward so that even if you are not next to a window you can still lean your head on them. the guy next to me slept pretty much the ENTIRE flight. he must have taken drugs. i don't see how anyone can sleep on planes, let alone for 7 or more hours. bastard! good thing i got the seatbelt to squeeze on, when the seatbelt light goes on the stewardesses (or seatbelt nazis as i see them) come RUNNING down the aisle with flashlights, if you are sleeping, they will wake you up. so nice!

i watched the 40 year old virgin. not too bad. not as funny as everyone said, but i liked it. steve carrell is cute. i started to watch the march of the penguins, but morgan freemans voice lulled me to sleep for the 25 minutes i managed.

ive gotten some kinda neat free things from the seatbelt nazis, speak of the devil here they come......  they gave us eye patchy things, toothbrushes, earphones, toothpaste, and earplugs..

more to come...