3.7 and 8.2009 - mid air update

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I (Andrea) was contemplating whether or not to bring my laptop with me on this trip. I mean, there was absolutely no reason to bring it; Derry works for Autodesk and has full-fledged high speed Internet at his house. However, I’m glad that I have it now, not only for my newly populated iTunes (Friday Night Lights Season 1 and a chill music mix), but so I can start my blog early.

Right now we are about 5 hours into our flight. According to the little map on my screen we are above the Hudson River. I’m choosing not to think about the activities that recently took place over this body of water, simply for my own anxiety sake. I am doing okay, trying to keep my mind occupied. Erica is a pro at flying. Even if it’s simply shorter flights around the U.S., her tenor as a Stanford Women’s Soccer player gave her opportunity to travel a lot more than I have. She sits in the airplane chair with grace and ease, knows her movies, has those earplugs, and a bag of snacks larger than my head. She knows what’s up, and I’m glad to be traveling with such a pro.

Erica has also informed me that I will be in charge of the blog during this trip, which I am completely okay with and will do my best to capture each adventure in as much detail as possible, as to make everyone subscribed to it outrageously jealous. I am so lucky that she did pretty much all of the planning, so I’ll do my best to write this in both of our voices. For those of you who know both of us, you know that we sometimes react/adapt to situations very differently. Usually things that I deem to be a huge adventure and/or disaster, Erica doesn’t flinch at (very Chuck Norris like, she’s badass like that).

Already, I have watched Revolutionary Road (the first film back together for Leo and Kate!), and had I known it was not exactly a “comedy,” I’m not sure I would have chosen it for my right-out-of-the-gate feature film to get the flight rolling. Needless to say, by the time dinner came around, I had it on pause and was in tears eating my chicken, salad, vegetables and roll, re-collecting my thoughts and talking to Erica. Erica was watching “Twilight,” which for all of you Stephanie Meyers fans out there, was a recent box office hit. I mean, who can resist dreamy Edward Cullen? I can, I couldn’t get passed the first book. But, Erica just told me that that I had the ending wrong (apparently I interpreted it wrong in the book), so now I am actually intrigued to continue reading, as most of my friends are already on book 4. (That’s a shout-out to you, Kayla Kooyman).

Erica and I both got the luxury of sitting next to the loudest young child on the aircraft. However, I can’t pinpoint exactly where he/she is. All I know is that I have an earplug in one ear and a headphone (my favorite song just came on - “As” by Stevie Wonder) in the other one and can still hear the constant chatter and wailing of something. I couldn’t tell you if the kid is 1 or 6, male or female - it doesn’t much make a difference. All I know is that they will not shut up and in the words of Anjelah Johnson (for all of you Bon QuiQui/Nail Salon fans out there), “Seccccuurrriiittty. This guy has GOT to GO.” I told Erica I was going to make a move, maybe throw him/her off the plane (kidding, kidding….). She at least gave me a courtesy chuckle. I got up and even took a stroll down the aisle to see who the little culprit was that was keeping me from slumber (as it is 4:30am Ireland time right now), and no such luck. But, he/she is nearby and maybe with 10 minutes left in the flight, I’ll figure out who they are. Not that I would do anything, let’s be honest.

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We just got to Dublin, and I can officially say that there will be no children in my future for a good 10 years. Not a fan right now….not a fan at all. Nevertheless, we are sitting in the terminal for our flight to Cork right now, which has been delayed until further notice. It was supposed to board at 10:15am, so we were literally running through the Dublin Airport…they let us through the “Fast Pass” so we wouldn’t miss our flight, and then it was delayed. They said that they would notify us again at 11:00am (it’s 2:30am your time right now) to let us know what was going on. I’m trying to get on the Internet, but it looks like you have to pay, so I will just wait until we get to Derry’s to upload.

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