Well, the day is finally here! Weather permitting (today's Houston weather is cloudy with a chance of showers at flight time - just hope it's not too heavy to cause any flight delays!) I should be starting my next sojourn overseas. I shall keep you all posted once I arrive at my half-way point. I tried to fly Emirates 212 non-stop to Dubai but sadly Emirates has priced themselves out of the market. They wanted over $8,500 for a round-trip business class ticket as opposed to Lufthansa who is asking for $5,900. What with all the economic bad news around the world and our company's recently imposed restrictions on international travel, I chose to be a 'good corporate person' and have selected the "cheaper" air fare - which means I must break the trip up with an overnight stay in Europe. Ah well, as long as the Europe weather is A-OK, I can put up with the extra hassles (changing planes, etc.), I suppose.
One of my biggest gripes about long haul flights is that I cannot sleep on board an aircraft! At all! I wonder how many of you readers encounter the same problem I have?? No matter how hard I try (I put on blinders, use ear plugs, recline the seat, etc.) I simply cannot nod off to sleep. The result is that these terribly long international flights become rather debilitating for me. I usually arrive very tired! Fortunately, after a good night's rest, I am usually "go to go" for the remainder of my onward journey. Someone once said that "getting there is half the fun". Well, to that all I can say is "Baloney"!!! For me, the fun only starts AFTER I arrive, get some badly needed rest and THEN I can start to enjoy myself in my new surroundings.
Sometimes I find myself sharing the thoughts of a fellow blogger, Cheryl, who writes in her blog, Confessions of a Twenty Something Year Old, the following passage which I shall repeat here (if that's OK with you, Cheryl?):
"Being an expat rules. Granted, I pretty much live out of a suitcase all year round, spend more time in hotels than hookers, experience food poisoning more times than I care to, and can never really buy anything new because having an overweight suitcase at the airport is just a huge pain in my ass, and not worth the struggle at all; but for the most part, it's awesome. Who doesn't love traveling, learning new things, eating new foods, getting kicked by donkeys ...
But the best part about being an Expat is the opportunity to meet people..."
But, I must confess, although these overseas flights and all the associated hassles may not be that truly "awesome", being able to travel around to new places is a definite bonus to my life. (Not counting the jet lag, separation from home, family and friends, etc, etc, etc.)
Ah well, off I go again .... Wish me luck and a smooth and on-time journey!!!!
One of my biggest gripes about long haul flights is that I cannot sleep on board an aircraft! At all! I wonder how many of you readers encounter the same problem I have?? No matter how hard I try (I put on blinders, use ear plugs, recline the seat, etc.) I simply cannot nod off to sleep. The result is that these terribly long international flights become rather debilitating for me. I usually arrive very tired! Fortunately, after a good night's rest, I am usually "go to go" for the remainder of my onward journey. Someone once said that "getting there is half the fun". Well, to that all I can say is "Baloney"!!! For me, the fun only starts AFTER I arrive, get some badly needed rest and THEN I can start to enjoy myself in my new surroundings.
Sometimes I find myself sharing the thoughts of a fellow blogger, Cheryl, who writes in her blog, Confessions of a Twenty Something Year Old, the following passage which I shall repeat here (if that's OK with you, Cheryl?):
"Being an expat rules. Granted, I pretty much live out of a suitcase all year round, spend more time in hotels than hookers, experience food poisoning more times than I care to, and can never really buy anything new because having an overweight suitcase at the airport is just a huge pain in my ass, and not worth the struggle at all; but for the most part, it's awesome. Who doesn't love traveling, learning new things, eating new foods, getting kicked by donkeys ...
But the best part about being an Expat is the opportunity to meet people..."
But, I must confess, although these overseas flights and all the associated hassles may not be that truly "awesome", being able to travel around to new places is a definite bonus to my life. (Not counting the jet lag, separation from home, family and friends, etc, etc, etc.)
Ah well, off I go again .... Wish me luck and a smooth and on-time journey!!!!
RECENT UPDATE (Monday, Feb 16): Well, I made it half way. So far, so good! I arrived Sunday morning on time - German efficiency rides again!. This Monday morning - after a reasonably pleasant night's sleep with badly needed rest - I awake to find a light cover of snow (about 1 - 2 cms depth) and very cold temperatures - about 30 deg F. I hope this little snow does not delay my onward flight. Lufthansa's WEB site lists my flight as still being "on time" so I shall keep my fingers crossed! Breakfast here on the 9th floor "Tower" lounge at the Sheraton Hotel (adjacent to Terminal 1 at Frankfurt Airport) was complete and very satisfying - getting me ready for the final leg of what I hope will be a smooth flight to my destination.
3 comments:
Apropo Emirates ticket price. The rumor says oil is going to be cheaper than water. If there's any grain of truth in this, then oil based countries will have to grab now as much as they can in terms of money to make up for future income losses.
Hi Chemist,
I do have a hard time falling asleep on long hauls. What I do is read a very boring book or watch the most dragging movie. Better still, take half tab ambien. But the most effective of all is not sleeping well before the flight. That way, I'm asleep before the plane taxi off the run way.
Happy trip!
You may be the ONLY blogger who shares my thoughts, haha
I hope you had a good flight!
I have trouble falling asleep on planes too- it's the worst when the flight is 18hrs long.
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