Just got off the plane here at Frankfurt and are now waiting for the leg to Almaty. Glad to be off that plane!
Although we're flying Lufthansa, we were on a United plane for that first part of the trip. Let's just say that United is NOT Lufthansa. Uggggghhhh. We were on an old old United 747. It's not at all clear to me that plane should still be in the fleet. We were packed in like a herd of human cattle--very small amount of space for such a long flight! Not only that but Brent and I landed middle seats in the second to back row (61). And the flight was packed! Not an empty seat in the place. In order to make a little more room for myself I took the magazines out of the seat pocket in front of me and was glad for the 1/2 inch that afforded me.
The plane, which was scheduled to leave at 6:30pm, left nearer to 8pm. Dinner reached the back rows of the plane at about 10:45pm. They ran out of hot dinners so handed me a stone-cold plate of pasta. I'm guessing they thought maybe I wouldn't notice. When I reported that my meal was cold I was informed that I could wait 30 minutes while they heated it up or I could just eat it cold.
The plane, which was scheduled to leave at 6:30pm, left nearer to 8pm. Dinner reached the back rows of the plane at about 10:45pm. They ran out of hot dinners so handed me a stone-cold plate of pasta. I'm guessing they thought maybe I wouldn't notice. When I reported that my meal was cold I was informed that I could wait 30 minutes while they heated it up or I could just eat it cold.
I waited.
The guy next to me took a dose and a half of sedative (he showed it to me proudly right before he took it on the runway). He was out cold for the entire trip. Not necessarily a bad thing except the medication seemed to induce some kind of muscle spasms in the guy. He flopped around like a fish about once every 45 seconds the entire time. He seemed to be trying to rub his nose with his elbow... It was weird and not a little disconcerting. There were several points at which I was even tempted to tell the flight attendants that he had OD'ed.
The *single* screen on which the movie was projected was at row 40 (some twenty rows ahead of us) and seemed to be broken--out of focus and in black and white. Ah well. I wasn't interested in watching National Treasure II anyhow.
At about 11:30, after being served a barely warm pasta, we tried to sleep. Aside from being awakened by the occasional kick from the flopping fish next to me I managed to stay asleep for the remaining 4 hours of the flight.
The upside of all this is that we're halfway now. And what's even more cool is that as we were getting off the plane we heard the couple sitting right in front of us explain to their seat mate that they were going to Kazakstan to adopt a child! So we've made some new friends--Lisa and Todd fromKentucky Frankfurt chatting with them and waiting for our flight to Almaty, which will be about a 6 hour flight.
The guy next to me took a dose and a half of sedative (he showed it to me proudly right before he took it on the runway). He was out cold for the entire trip. Not necessarily a bad thing except the medication seemed to induce some kind of muscle spasms in the guy. He flopped around like a fish about once every 45 seconds the entire time. He seemed to be trying to rub his nose with his elbow... It was weird and not a little disconcerting. There were several points at which I was even tempted to tell the flight attendants that he had OD'ed.
The *single* screen on which the movie was projected was at row 40 (some twenty rows ahead of us) and seemed to be broken--out of focus and in black and white. Ah well. I wasn't interested in watching National Treasure II anyhow.
At about 11:30, after being served a barely warm pasta, we tried to sleep. Aside from being awakened by the occasional kick from the flopping fish next to me I managed to stay asleep for the remaining 4 hours of the flight.
The upside of all this is that we're halfway now. And what's even more cool is that as we were getting off the plane we heard the couple sitting right in front of us explain to their seat mate that they were going to Kazakstan to adopt a child! So we've made some new friends--Lisa and Todd from
Wow, that brought back memories I had hoped to repress. :-) Similar story, 'nuff said. Glad you finally got away from the flopping fish. That made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteHow cool is it that you met up with fellow travelers?!