And We're Off

                          

     My oldest son, 15 and I, were headed out on a whirlwind trip to see some of the fine art of Europe on a 12 day spree. I have flown a few times before and I love it. Clay, on the other hand, had never flown and was pretty apprehensive. I was hoping he'd share my love of the air and I didn't want to give him any nerve calmers to make him too groggy to remember it. We did a lot of talking and deep breathing in the airport prior to boarding. He was happy to see that the first plane was, what I call, a puddle jumper. I prefer the larger ones. I just feel safer, I guess. Anyway, the first flight was just a quick 2 hour from Nashville to New York's JFK. He did pretty good. 

We barely had enough time in JFK to grab a bite to eat and hop on our jumbo jet to London. I'd never even been on a plane this size and I was excited! I thought surely there would be enough room for me to stretch out for a little snooze on the 6 hour flight. We were leaving New York at 4PM and landing in London at 6AM and hitting the ground running with the tour. After getting comfy, the flight attendants came around with beverages and informed us that dinner would be served soon. Great, then I could settle in. I lifted up my own personal tv screen and scrolled through the movies, deciding on The Lego Movie! I put in my earbuds and waited for supper. My "seat mate" did not have it in his mind to settle in as quickly as I did. He was up and down 3 times before the plane ever took off, and he had the window seat, while I was on the extended aisle. The whole time the flight attendants were going back and forth, they were bumping my armrest. One of them jokingly said I would need a drink before the flight was over. 

   Finally, some grub. 

It wasn't too bad. I went with the chicken over the pasta. It was BBQ, I think, over mashed potatoes with a small salad,  roll and a cookie. I finished it up, handed my trash to the attendant, used the restroom, checked on Clay who wasn't far away and settled back in with my airline provided pillow and blanket. Who decided to get up as soon as I was comfortable? Mr.Window Seat. When he comes back, the flight attendants are making more rounds with beverages. This time, he's serious and gives me that free drink. 

Now, a little relaxation. Mr. Window Seat is snoozing, my movie is over and I'm ready for a nap. No sooner do I feel like I've gotten a tiny bit comfortable (don't let the size of the plane fool you, there's no more seat room than the smaller plane) than the flight attendants are back around with breakfast! 

At least the croissant was fresh. I slathered it with my strawberry jam, downed my juice and waited for the landing. It was a smooth landing, much smoother than the flight, anyway. Stay tuned to see where all we ended up on our European journey.