Flight

Atlantic Ocean...........................CROSSED.

So, the flight from Charlotte. I'll begin there.
Seven hours and 26 minutes of sitting later (No seriously, I didn't even get up for the bathroom. Bladder of steel, I know), I arrived at 6:45 a.m. CET at Charles de Gaulle airport. It was around 5 something p.m. EST when I left.

 The flight was not tortuous. Even with my middle seat.

I was next to a woman who seemed to be on some kind of "Eat Pray Love." journey with her band of middle-aged gal pals (she was reading a Sandra Brown book. Sorry, no mercy). But she also had a pretty nifty coloring book of common French sayings.

Respect.

I like when people actually try to learn the language of the country they're traveling to. She was on my left. To my right was an empty seat, but a man reading a book about French cuisine sat in the fourth seat. I wondered if he was studying in Paris too.

Sleep was not happening. Of course. Just tossing and turning while wearing a hood over my head to keep all the cold out. I skipped dinner because I was trying to sleep. Bad timing on my part because they gave complimentary wine with it.

Welcome to France (almost).

After my failed attempts at finding a comfortable sleeping position, I decided I should try to watch TV or a movie.

The last time I flew on a plane it was to Jamaica. And the seats didn't have a bunch of mini TV screens. I was impressed, but honestly, it's a bit superflous, and I'd rather pay less and not have them. Then again, it's a seven hour flight, so it definitely works for some people.

In fact, if it weren't for my "no English" rule, I probably would have enjoyed it.

I absolutely refused to do anything in English on the flight except for thinking (can't help that), so I avoided the English speaking movies on the screen attached to the seat in front of me. I turned the language selection to French only to find out that they provided the same movies, just dubbed in the French language.

I was this close to watching the French version of "Silver Linings Playbook" when I decided that made no sense because it's meant to be in English (and a great movie nonetheless). So I decided to break out the French jams on my itouch.

Stromae ftw.

On the little screen in front of me I could turn to a GPS section, where it showed a little picture of a plane crossing the Atlantic Ocean. I decided to spend my time watching the plane make its way to Charles de Gaulle.

I thought about how large and wide the Atlantic Ocean is. How I've never been across it before. I felt like a traveler. A pioneer.

Then I remembered I'm on an air-conditioned plane with a pillow and a blanket.

Throughout the flight, a voice came over on a speaker, first speaking in English, followed by French.

After breakfast (no wine this time), the voice said we would be descending soon.

As the plane descended, so did my heart. I realize the connotation. But it was a happy drop, not sad.
It was excitement. I couldn't help but smile, at least for a second.











P.S.

I did end up bringing that damn Kindle.
"Excuse my French, but I’m in France. I’m just sayin'."