Adventure, But First, Sleep

>written in real-time<

Here I am on a trans-Atlantic flight. Adventure awaits. I am very excited. Oh, so excited. I am also very uncomfortable. Oh, so uncomfortable.

This is one of those overnight flights where you understand the importance of getting some sleep. Hahahahahahahaha. Our flight left at 8pm. We will arrive at our destination at 10:30am. As soon as we touch ground, my traveling companion and I will be engaged in a full day of exploring and adventuring. Thus, the need for sleep on the plane. Again, I say, Hahahahahahahaha.

At the beginning of the flight, it was dark outside and dark in the plane. After settling in to my seat; and...

+Watching back-to-back-to-back episodes of the video series that I often catch on flights (it's hard to remember what was happening from the last time I watched, but it's entertaining, nonetheless); and... 

+Eating a few bites of a very unappetizing in-flight meal (where I unintentionally created a fuss by asking the attendant if the food contained peanuts or sesame seeds and he recoiled and gasped 'allergy??!' and stopped all service, rushed to the back of the plane, grabbed the food service instructions which he thrust in my face and told me to read the ingredients list, which I couldn't because I didn't have my reading glasses on, and, besides, I couldn't reach my glasses stored behind the drop-down serving tray, which made him take out his phone to shine light on the paper in front of me as I held the paper and he read out the whole list of ingredients while everyone behind me waited for their food); and...

+Gladly accepting and downing my glass of complementary wine (which was by all of my estimations, a double); and...

+Arranging my travel neck pillow, my airline blankie, my airline pillow, my eye mask, my seat reclining angle, my seatbelt, my jacket, and then repositioning all the various parts of my body for most comfort.

After all that, I have squirmed and shifted and rearranged repeatedly, but I never could get comfortable enough, dang it, to fall asleep. So I am doing what any self-respecting blogger would do. Pulling out my trusty phone to capture my thoughts and type them up using the Notes app on my device.

I realize, now, the advantage of having a window seat on an overnight flight. The people across the aisle from me are leaned up against the window snoozing away. Heck, one guy with an empty seat beside him is even laying down between the two seats. And here I thought I was smart by choosing an aisle seat that would make it easier to pop up for a bathroom run or a necessary stretch. 

I have long suspected that I have some kind of upper cervical anatomical quirk, which makes it hard for me to adjust my body in confined spaces. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's always about the headrest.  Let's do a quick experiment for a minute ...Sit up straight and tall. Now, tilt your head forward about 30 degrees. And hold it there. Keep holding it. That's what every headrest I have ever encountered always does to me. That's how it forces me to sit, with my head pushed forward. It's quite a strain. No matter if I Iift the headrest higher, push it lower, or shift my body up or down. Doesn't matter how I try to adjust, headrests always hit me wrong.  I don't know if my torso is too compact or too elongated, if my neck is too short or too tall, or if my skull is irregularly shaped. I just know that seats with headrests are extremely uncomfortable.

This airline seat with it's headrest jutting into my head is very annoying. You cannot imagine how much squirming and wiggling and readjusting I have been doing over the last 3 hours. The pressure is on because I have looked at the flight tracker and I know that we are inching closer and closer to our destination, and I haven't slept a wink. Oh, what's to become of me?!

I guess once we land, I'll suck it up, and the adrenaline will kick in. I'll squeeze out every bit of adventure that the day has to offer, then call it an early night so I can finally get some sleep. Let's hope that the Airbnb is decently comfortable. Wait, I was so busy rattling on about the airplane seating that I haven't even told you where I'm going. But, that's for another blog post. You can read all about it. Alright, let me put down the phone, pull up the eye mask, and give this thing another try. I mean, it can't be that hard to fall asleep, can it? Can it? 

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The rest of the story: No, I never slept, not one minute. But, a funny thing happened as we exited the airport. My traveling companion (my daughter) and I were with crowds of people walking through the airport following Exit signs which were translated into English. At one point, we suddenly found ourselves, just the two of us, walking with our luggage down a narrow passageway, questioning if we were going the right way. Suddenly, a group of flight attendees merged in front of us, pulling their luggage and walking like they meant business. We fell in step right with them as we all bustled down the passageway, through doors and along various corridors. And soon, here came the pilots right behind us, towing luggage, checking their schedules. We were sandwiched between the two groups and they were talking up a storm in their native language. We just kept going. Finally, a fork in the path led the crew to a door translated 'Employees Only', so my daughter and I continued alone. Signs were getting smaller and further apart. We were very uncertain of our location.

Eventually, we made it back into the busy part of the airport, where many people milled about. A little while later, after navigating a few more stops in the airport, we found ourselves walking alone again, heading towards the exit. And here came the flight crews again, stepping right up to us, walking briskly and with determination. Once again we merged into the group. It was like the scene in Leonardo DiCaprio's movie Catch Me If You Can when he pretends to be an airline pilot, surrounded by Pan Am flight attendants.  (Another good movie--you should watch it.) As we hustled through the airport, we were getting so tickled with ourselves. It was extremely hilarious.

Before long, the crew veered off towards their professional destinations, and we finally made it out of the airport. We shook off our sleepy eyes. And, then the real adventure began...

Read about it here. A Place To Go - Amsterdam.