En Route to Londontown

I’m on an airplane flying at 937 km/hr (or 584 miles per hour) 3430 miles away from Frankfort, Germany, at an altitude of 37000 feet. The outside temperature is -63 degrees Fahrenheit.

Already I feel out of my element. For one thing, the stewardesses serve me alcohol; a definite plus. This airplane is outstanding. I am sitting in a window seat at the front of one of the three sections in the plane, so I have ample leg room. The ceilings are high and each person has a personal television which folds up from underneath their seat. I’ve had some white wine and some Bailey’s, and a turkey dinner with mashed pumpkin. So far the trip is much to my liking.

There is a monitor directly in front of me which alternately displays a map of the world which shows the plane’s location, the distance to Frankfort, the time until we arrive, the local time in Frankfort and maybe a few other things I haven’t noticed yet. It’s interesting to watch the distance count down. About every three seconds, a mile/kilometer ticks off the total of over 3000 miles to go. It’s an incomprehensible distance, and I think for the first time I’m starting to realize I’m in for quite an adventure.

When I came through the security checkpoint, one of the TSA officers tried to speak to me in German and I just stared at him for a little while before telling him I was connecting to England and I didn’t speak German.

The flight is still scheduled to last another six hours and forty-eight minutes, so this is going to be a long letter.

I watched Wall-E, which was a very entertaining movie. I enjoyed it a lot.

When we were flying over Canada, I looked out the window at a landscape of hundreds of snow-dusted mountains. It was a beautiful view. Unfortunately, I’m seated on the wing, so it’s a little bit difficult to look at the ground from my window, but I’m doing my best. It’s dark right now, and the map shows that we are between the Hudson Bay and the Baffin Islands right now. I wish I could see what is below us. Earlier I was able to catch a glimpse of a frozen ocean, a sight which was probably the Hudson Bay.

I still haven’t grasped the full implications of my trip. I keep thinking that I will be in England for over five months, a longer period of time than the semester I just finished, in a land I know almost nothing about, but the effect of that knowledge still hasn’t hit me. I don’t know why. I feel only a little bit excited and apprehensive. It’s strange. I think it’s because I don’t know how to think about it. I’ve never been to Europe, or even out of the US very much, so I don’t know what to expect or look forward to. I have nothing to think about it because I don’t know anything about it, so the only thing in my mind is the vague excitement associated with adventure and mystery.

The plane has three rows; one in the middle and one on either side. All told, there are seven people in a row and three different classes, though you wouldn’t know you were seated in Economy Class if you didn’t have to walk through First Class to get here. It’s spacious and comfortable. Of course, we’ll see how I feel in about four hours.