Saturday 20 October 2007

The joys of travel

So, no need to pop down and give the bull a tickle for Kim after all. She gave birth to a 7lb 10oz - as yet unnamed - baby boy yesterday. I got the news via text last night when I landed back in NY after my 3day business trip to Florida. I'm looking forward to meeting the little fella when I'm back in England for Christmas in a couple of months time. Speaking of which, can you believe my sister emailed me this week to ask if there's anything in particular I'd like for Christmas? Um....hello, it's still OCTOBER!!!! Honestly!

The business trip went well, although I am happy to be back in New York. We were all a bit worried that we might get stuck down there an extra day, due to the heavy storms that had been forecast for the north east. The weather types seemed very concerned that the storm which caused a freak tornado in Pensacola would travel up to the New York area and cause problems for our flight, but thankfully we dodged that particular bullet and only had a couple of hours delay.

It's hard to believe these days that air travel was ever considered glamorous!! The flight home wasn't too bad, but the flight *to* Florida was not the most fun I've ever had. There were some...um...interesting
characters, including the actor Joe Pantoliano - Sopranos, Memento - who I noticed making himself very much at home in the front seat of business class while making my way through to economy. You couldn't miss him in baggage claim at Fort Lauderdale; he was wearing a HUGE stetson. Clearly trying to travel incognito, so that no-one would recognise him ;-)

We also had the full complement of screaming babies - 4 of them, all sat very close to me. I sympathise with the poor little mites I really do, but my God it was quite a cacophony. I almost lost the will to live when they didn't calm down for even a second during the flight. The older guy across the aisle from me dulled the pain by drinking heavily and cranking up the volume on his iPod, occasionally singing along at full volume - Petula Clark's 'downtown'
seemed to be a favourite - clearly oblivious to the fact that he was shouting over his headphones. I think even Joey Pants all the way upfront must have heard him roar his drink orders to the flight attendants. And then there was the woman behind me who thought it perfectly acceptable to put her feet up on my armrest so that her toes - not the prettiest - were inches from my face. Um...hello! Manners!! She then huffed and puffed her annoyance when I asked her to move them.

Unbelieveable!!

After that experience on just a 3hour flight I am seriously considering prescription drugs for my 16hour flight down to Chile in a few weeks.

17 comments:

Amel said...

HURRAY again for Kim!!!!! You're going to England for Christmas? That's GREAT! ;-D Take pics of England for me, will you? He he he...

HA HA HA...well, then you can write down a LONG list of X-mas presents that you want. *wink*

Glad to hear the business trip went well...but EUUWWWWW about the flight to Florida. YIKES!!!

On the flight to Bali on our honeymoon, there was a small boy who kept on screaming while crying, "I WANNA GO DOWN!!! I WANNA GO DOWN!" And he kept on yelling the whole flight. Thank God it was a short flight...otherwise I would want to go down on the ground myself hi hi hi...

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Amel,thanks for the well wishes. I'm waiting on the baby pics now :-)

I'll be in England for 2weeks at Christmas, so I'll try and take lots of pics for you while I'm there :-)

It's no fun on a flight when kids are screaming, but what can you do other than buy ear plugs :-)

alcoment said...

Congratulations to your friend!

I flew for the first time a couple of years ago. Luckily I had no screaming children on board, but did have rather obnoxious adults. Including a woman sat in front of me who decided it was perfectly fine for her to recline her seat right back, so she was practically lying in my lap!

Valium is the way to go in my opinion!

Amel said...

Another friend of mine had a baby a few weeks ago, so I can understand your anticipation. Baby pics are CUTE he he he...

YEEESSS!!! THANK YOU!!! I'll be looking forward to seeing your pics. Never been to England before, but I wanna visit it someday. ;-D

Yup, you're right about ear plugs he he he he he...After all, the parents didn't want the kids to scream, but kids are...kids. ;-D

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Alcoment, thanks for the congrats. Some people have no consideration for others eh. My God I sound like a right old grumps saying that, but I feel it's true :-)

Hi Amel, congrats on your friend's baby :-)

Blur Ting said...

Oh man, so much drama on your flight. But seriously, I wish I could go to places without having to endure long hours on a flight. It's always the worst part of traveling!

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Blur, thanks for stopping by. I feel for you, I would hate for long haul flights to be my only option. That's one thing I miss about living in England, in just 1-2hours and you can be so many different countries :-)

Amel said...

THANKS, Fish!

Yeah, talk about long flights...it took me 30 hours to get to Lapland from Indo last March. My back felt SOOOO sore he he he...

The thing is, I had to go by car to Jakarta first from Bandung...it took 3 hours...then as usual I got to the airport 2 hours beforehand, so it was already 5 hours before taking off. Then there was the 30 minute stop in Malaysia, then the long flight (17 hours or so)...then I had 3 hours to change the flight and all that in Holland, then in Helsinki I had to wait for one or two hours for my flight to Rovaniemi...then at Rovaniemi Arttu picked me up and it was around 1.5 hour drive...Phew!!! I was SO happy to be able to sleep on a REAL bed that night he he he...

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Ugh Amel, I don't envy the length of your trip. I certainly wouldn't want to do that so often ;-)

Ha Ha Sound said...

Congrats to your friend Kim for having her baby. And sorry to hear about that flight. I'm always amazed at how rude people can be on airlines, especially when it comes to not making their children behave.

And BTW, your suggestion for your flight to Chile is a good one. When I fly internationally, I take two Valium and have one vodka and tonic. It knocks me out for most of the flight. =+)

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Ha Ha, thanks for the congrats. I'm seriously considering the Vodka and Valium combo for Chile. It would be nice to crash before take off and wake up when I reach Santiago ;-)

Amel said...

He he...yeah, gladly it was only once...and I don't think I'm gonna be repeating it again soon he he...

About crashing off before taking off and waking up just when you reach Santiago...YUMMY!!! That'd be nice! ;-D

Anonymous said...

You're coming back to England? That's fab news. You must be so looking forward to it ~ even if it is only a flying visit.

My ma goes back to the US tomorrow, she's been here for almost 3 months now, it's going to be so odd without her.

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hey Pawpads, yes I always come home for Christmas to see the family and stock up on goodies from M&S :-)

Hope your Mum has a safe trip home. Fish

Anonymous said...

I don't blame you ~ Christmas just isn't the same when you're away from your family.

Heather said...

HAHAHAHA...I almost lost the will to live...that made me laugh out loud (and nod my head in total "i feel for you" fashion as my last flight was eerily similar minus the actor in the Stetson). Actually, the seats on my last flight were so small I feared I might be carrying the baby of the man next to me....

congrats on your friend's new addition!

Unknown said...

Fellow passengers babies included! - well one person's ceiling is another person's floor as they say in Retail...I reckon there should be a law against Pod-Thugs...and Franke-Phoners and I'd love to meet the surgeon that performs their 'empathy-ectomy' This stuff gets me hot under the collar so much I created a blog...even got the UK Olymic Ice Skating team opposite me on the train for 50 mins the other day babbling on about 'b@gg*r all' - Inside Track fyi :)