Yesterday...

Airport Musings – 5/26/06; Dulles Airport, 4:45 p.m.

So, Pat dropped me off at the airport and I waited in what I thought would be a really, really long line at security – turns out that there are about 25 metal detectors and so the wait was only about 15 minutes. I finished my book Son of a Witch (the sequel to Wicked) which kind of sucks because now I have to lug the thing around Europe with me. Oh well. Maybe I’ll read it again.

I just watched our flight attendants walk onto the plane. They’re all wearing bright red uniforms. Even the woman with the skirt on has opaque red stockings on. Well done, Austrian Airlines, well done. After getting through security, I got on a tram and then walked down a really, really long terminal where I’m sitting right now. We’re right next to the “designated smoking area” which is basically a glass box where they make all the smokers sit. I suppose if you need a cigarette bad enough, you’ll do almost anything.

It’s about 4:45 and we are supposed to board our plane in about 20 minutes for a 6:00 pm take off. There are some interesting characters on our plane. Lots of kids. A surprising number of kids, actually. I hope I’m not too near the bad ones – two little boys who are sitting right across from me and are awfully active. It reminds me of a story that Nola used to tell me that when they would fly home from Singapore, she and her sister would do forward rolls up and down the aisles on the flight from Singapore to JFK and then fall asleep on the short flight from JFK to Indy. I hope these parents, as the O’Donnell’s did, learn to tranquilize their kids. We’ll see.

Side note – even the male flight attendant is wearing a full red suit with a blue scarf tied around his neck. This could get fun.

There are also some very large women sitting down the way. I don’t think I can handle 8 hours sitting between them. That would be awful. I think I might’ve picked a window seat, though. the nice thing is that we are leaving late enough at night so maybe I’ll be able to sleep on the plane.

Right now, I’m listening to a CD that Josie made me. It makes me miss her and Colgate, but it also makes me smile. Actually, I suppose I look a little bit like an idiot sitting here with a huge grin on my face. I almost broke out into song a minute ago… thank God I have at least a little bit of self control.

I miss you all already. We’re getting ready to board, so I’d best turn off my computer and listen to the announcement. Maybe from now on I should tell the people that I’m deaf so I can get first seating. ;-)

Have fun at the race tomorrow and I’m going to try to call when I arrive, so you know I’m safe!

Lots of love! Xoxo

Layover – 5/27/07, Vienna Airport, 8:55 a.m.

So, the eight hour flight is over – thank God. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I did end up with a window seat, which was nice, except for the one time I had to go to the bathroom and the two women sitting next to me were sleeping. Awkward. OH! There was also some sort of medical emergency on the plane. The flight attendant came on over the P.A. and asked if anyone was a doctor/nurse/had any medical training. The flight attendants were walking by me talking about it, but they were all speaking German. So much for eavesdropping. I still don’t know what exactly happened, but there was this girl in the bathroom and someone came up to the flight attendant and told her that the girl in the bathroom needed help. Then the announcement. This doctor got up and went over to the bathroom and helped her do something. I couldn’t really see. Then they brought her out of the bathroom and laid her on the floor in front of the emergency exit. It wasn’t that big a deal because she was able to make it all the way to Vienna in one piece. Although, she did not look good.

I watched Cars and The Prestige on the plane. Quality films. By the way, next time I fly Austrian Airlines, remind me to fly first/business class. WOW! Each seat was temperature controlled and almost laid out flat. It was high, high quality.

So I’m sitting in the Vienna airport waiting for my 10:35 flight to Athens. Ryan is supposed to be meeting me here. (Through a really, really random coincidence, he is flying in from London to Vienna and we’re on the same flight to Athens. Weird.) He should be here soon.

This was weird, though. I arrived in gate A-something. To get to the C concourse (where my flight to Athens is leaving from – both are Austrian Airlines, though), I had to basically leave the airport and come back. I didn’t have to go through a metal detector or anything, but I had to show my passport and get a visa stamp. And then, now, to board my flight to Athens, I have to show my passport again and get another visa exit stamp. I will have been in Austria for about 2 hours. Nice. The Austrian countryside (that which I saw from the plane, anyway) is gorgeous. It’s very flat, until you reach the mountains outside of Vienna. Then it’s all rolling hills/mountains and just gorgeous landscape. (I must admit that all I could think of was The Sound Of Music when the von Trapps flee the Nazis through the Austrian countryside.) Oh, and the other thing – I am currently sitting in front of a Starbucks. Yeah, you read it right. A STARBUCKS in the Vienna airport. Seriously. That’s intense. There are a TON of really expensive stores in this airport. I’m talking Versache, Dolce & Gabbana, Coach, Hugo Boss, etc… However, it is very weird to see a Starbucks sign written in German.

When I got here first, I went to find the bathroom 0 conveniently described and marked as WC (water closet) and they are literally closets. Unlike our bathrooms that are more stalls, these are closets. The doors have no opening at either the top or the bottom and you lock the door as if it were a closet. I just thought it was funny.

Well, I am going to go browse some of the random little stores in this area. Will have another update once I arrive in Athens at the Pan Hotel! We should leave here at about 10:35 and arrive in Athens about 2:00 p.m.

Until later! Love!