Long day
Something I knew but didn’t think of in time:
It hurts a lot to put shoes back on after they’ve been off for seven hours in a plane. It’s almost impossible.
Also, I’m totally intolerant of people travelling with children. If they’re screaming and kicking the seats in front of them, kissy kissy mommy loves you kissy kissy doesn’t work — at least try to ask them to be quiet instead of further ignoring them to watch the in-flight movie.
And don’t planes have anywhere to change diapers other than on seats?
Berlin is lovely, so far, which isn’t very far. I feel horrible not knowing any German, though.
My day:
12:30 Tuesday (EST) — leave for the airport. (after two days of little sleep, too)
1:00 reach the airport (no traffic!)
2:45 fly to Raleigh-Durham
4:15 arrive, after having slept the entire flight.
6:45 fly to London Gatwick
7:00 am Wed (GMT) arrive in London, after having slept 40 minutes
8:00 make it out of customs
8:55 catch the 8:30 bus to downtown London
11:25 reach London, after having nodded off about an hour
11:35 catch the 11:55 bus to London Stansted
1:05 reach the airport, after having slept the entire time, and with a very painful neck
2:10 - 2:35 keep hearing desperate announcements that if the missing passengers for their flight to Dublin don’t appear right now, they’re going to have their luggage removed and miss the flight, really truly this time
2:38 watch the flight to Dublin finally leave, without two passengers
2:45 get onto my flight to Berlin
5:00 (GMT+1) arrive in Berlin for the world’s easiest customs
5:25 get my luggage and take out some Euros
5:35 finally find the appropriate S-Bahn
6:05 reach my stop
6:20 reach the hostel, after having to limp the entire way. |Get pleasantly surprised: tonight I am the only person in my triple.
6:30 rest and change out of grimy clothes
7:15 take a walk to see the East Side Gallery, take some photos, touch it, and think wow, I touched the Berlin Wall
8:50 get back to the hostel with some poppyseed pastry thing, surprised by how hungry I am.
9:20 email my parents to say I’m here and alive.
Now, I am going to go lie down, intend (truly truly intend) to figure out what I’m doing tomorrow, and fall asleep instead.
April 21st, 2004 at 4:32 pm
Man, wimpy parents on long flights - ugh.
Crying babies I can stand; they are too little to know better, and food/sleep/diaper usually takes care of them. And I have great sympathy for the clueful parents responsible for a colicky, unhappy baby who will not be comforted.
Ill-behaved older children I blame on the parents, to the degree that they fail to bring toys, prepare the child for a long flight, act to prevent or constrain or punish anti-social behavior, etc. (Not to mention the failure to be instilling politeness and social manners long before the child is on the flight in the first place.)
I understand that there are days when there’s little you can do to get a cranky child to be quiet and behave, but the “kissy kissy” approach you describe is useless.
April 21st, 2004 at 8:50 pm
Some German:
Carry a coffee cup and say “Prosit!” to everyone you meet and drink your coffee. They will love you.
If someone sneezes, say “Gesundheit!”
If someone talks too much, say “Shutenzi up!”
In a restaurant, say “Oh, just gimme some of that snitzel stuff.”
I have lots more….
-Cougar :{)
April 28th, 2004 at 1:33 pm
I have yet to be on an airplane with a diaper changing station in the bathroom. Sorry about doing it at the seat, but it is safer and faster.
May 3rd, 2004 at 10:49 pm
Fair enough about the changing babies. I will forgive it, but only if the parents take their squalling infants into the bathrooms (when it’s safe to do so — and I know a number of people who do this), and then, later, they are adequately prepared for their children. (Snacks, drinks, gum for takeoff and landing, toys, and effort towards keeping children quiet and not kicking. Being unsuccessful happens, but ignoring it is just wrong.)