Why is Yoga so good for my soul?

---

Geo: 51.0451, -114.063

Off to the airport. Ha's mom was driving them, so they swung by to pick me up since I'm so close to the airport. The airport was surprisingly dead - a sharp contrast to last Christmas (see Cruise 2006 blog entitled "The Amazing Race Begins ... "😉 There was no Amazing Race this time!

We checked in separately, then met up after to get some food (we're on different flights). Chinese food - crappy pepper chicken, and kung pao chicken. All veggies and no meat! Way too salty. Mediocre fried rice. It's sad that this will be my last taste of Asian food for awhile. The Tim Horton's French vanilla coffee made things more bearable.

My frickin' camera batteries are completely drained! Both sets! What the heck? I just charged them the other day! These frickin' Nimh batteries suck! There's no way it should drain on their own that quickly. I picked up some new alkalines at a gift shop so that I'll have something to use when I land.

Chase and Lisa were flying home for Christmas - I always seem to miss them when they come back, but there was a VERY small chance that we'd be able to catch them in the airport just after they arrive, and just before we board the plane. But this was only likely if their plane landed early and they breezed through customs. At best, it'd only be a quick "hi" and a hug. But it was all for naught - their plane was delayed a few hours.

We went through security and I was off to the departure gate. I heard my name getting paged over the intercom and had a flashback to the previous summer's trip to Spain (see Euro 2006 blog entitled "Ay Caramba!"😉 - I thought I might get bumped again!!! Luckily, they just wanted to see if they could move me to another seat. Us single travelers are no more than chess pieces to the airlines, sticking us wherever they see fit, without any regard for our feelings!

I've noticed a new trend for travelers - many fit young women seem to be wearing yoga pants to keep comfortable as they fly. I'm all for the comfort of lovely young ladies, and I feel that they all should wear yoga pants as they travel. But only because they don't restrict circulation and make it less likely that they will suffer from the effects of DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) while flying. There is no other reason for me wanting more women to travel in yoga pants ... none at all ...

In fact, one of the reasons I always travel to Spain is that I have noticed a terrible lack of yoga pants worn by Spanish women. I'm spearheading a task force to increase yoga pants awareness. If more Spanish women wore yoga pants, the world would be a better place. It's for the good of humanity, people!!!

I was feeling a little strange today - there was no excitement. I usually become extremely excited a few weeks before a trip, get burned out by it, don't really care for a few days, and then become extremely excited again a few days before leaving. But not this time.

The seats on board were extra cramped and narrow. Dinner was crappy - the tuna salad (with lettuce, tomatoes, and cukes) was the only good part. Cheese and crackers, chocolate cream puffs, and dry chicken with tomato sauce. Frozen veggies - carrots, peas, and fried potatoes were the accompaniments. I was craving cheese cake from Carver's Steakhouse after having a few bites last night. It was the only good part of last night's meal - they serve their steaks on sizzling iron plates for presentation. This totally dried out and overcooked my t-bone. There's nothing worse than a ruined steak!

Another less-interesting development - on board, I noticed new types of air sickness bags. It's like an envelope made of wax paper, complete with a stick strip to seal it. But why? Perhaps somebody would like to mail home their puke as a souvenir?

They showed an episode of Top Gear on board for entertainment - hilarious! Each of the three hosts had to create a limousine - one was a giant convertible, one was two front halves of cars welded together (so it could drive either way), and one was an extremely long van (complete with a sliding-floor on pulleys to shuttle passengers from the front to the back). The extra long van was actually deemed too long for UK roads, so the road authority made them cut out a few feet of it. While driving the shortened limo, it actually broke in half! Too funny. They also had a competition - each host was to drive a recording star to the Brit Awards, and whoever got the most photos in the tabloids would be declared the winner. They all got lost, stuck in traffic, etc.

The first few hours on the flight passed by quickly, but the last few seemed to drag on forever. I tried sleeping across three seats, but it was impossible to get comfortable. Sometimes I wish I was shorter, or that I had some crazy yoga-like flexibility.

---

Photos

a
Desperate for Asian food, I ate the crappy offerings at this Japanese place just before boarding my flight to Europe this past summer.

b
Desperate for Asian food this time, I ate the crappy offerings at this Chinese place just before boarding my flight to Europe.

c
Mmmm ... Tim Horton's ... nothing like a taste of Canada before heading out.

d
Ben, doing his best "I haven't eaten vegetables in a week and am terribly constipated" face. He was practicing for Spain, the land where people consume absolutely no vegetables whatsoever. Does anybody know how to say "Metamucil" or "Raisin Bran" in Spanish?

u
I normally don't take pictures of my crotch and post them on the internet (well, at least not for my travelblogs ...) but I had to here.
My zipper broke on the plane and I couldn't zip it down more than halfway. Luckily these jeans were from my much larger days, but it still did lead to some rather uncomfortable moments while using the bathroom that I'd rather not discuss ...
I later managed to rig something with a safety pin that got the job done.

W
Ben and Ha, so happy looking before leaving for the trip. Could they maintain this happiness after nearly 3 weeks traveling with me? Only time will tell!