As much as I can look on a map and work out how far it is from one place to another and how long it should take, the actual act of getting there is still something that my mind cannot fully comprehend until I have done it.
At the moment, I am sitting in seat 36D on flight MH020 with Malaysia Airlines just coming into airspace above the Ukraine. I have slept, eaten, slept again, played a game and watched part of an episode of Big Bang Theory on the AVOD, slept again, been for a walk up and down the aisle a few times and am now writing this…don’t get me wrong, I love to fly…but having never flown so far in one go before I must say I am now getting a little bit over being surrounded by people coughing and sneezing and snoring…mostly though the people who cough without covering their mouth, repeatedly, I mean really, did they never learn basic hygiene and courtesy…
The screen in front of me is advising that we have a bit over 3 hours to go, wich will have us landing in Paris at at Charles de Gaulle Airport at around 6:30am…I wish I had a window seat so that I could look down on Europe, but nevermind… The passengers with window seats on the right side of the plane have their window shades drawn anyway as the morning sun has caught up with us and is streaming in glaringly. Looking to my left though I can see a delicate purple haze…the lady in my row with the window set is French and has made this journey several times before…she is watching a movie, behind her the lady is sleeping and I cannot see the gentleman in front properly, but from the angle of his head I don’t think he is looking out his window either… Someone on the right just opened their shade and it has sent a stream of golden light across the tops of the heads of the people in front of me.
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I am feeling quite awake, though am a bit worried that fatigue will catch up with me later in the day…hopefully the excitement of the experience of seeing the french countryside will allow me to hold it off until we reach Luxembourg. Amanda was so tired last night when we boarded the plane that she was asleep before we were levelled out in the air and could not be woken enough to eat more than one nibble of her bread roll, she, like me I think we be tired later today. Dave seems to have taken a few naps, so hopefully will be refreshed enough to cope with the day ahead. Court on the other hand seems like her ‘french’ side has kicked in easily…she managed to stay awake for several hours, until around midnight France time and then slept more this morning…I hope it will be enoug though, as the chance of getting much more sleep now will be limited as I can smell our breakfast being heated, so by the time it is served, eaten and cleared away it will be getting close to the time to start our descent into Paris…noise and anticipation may make it hard to sleep during that final hour…
The lights have just come on and the breakfast trolley is rolling up the aisle….see you on the ground!