London Calling: Day One

When I was about eight, my Mom took my brother and I to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Idaho. I remember the airport and the plane taking off... and then the Dramamine kicked in. I have a foggy impression of Mom attempting to drag two big kids through Denver for a connecting flight and then waking up long enough to fall back asleep in the car. That was my commercial flight experience before Monday. Being the kind of girl that gets ill at the thought of a long car ride, I was worried. Fear of flying wasn't the problem; fear of throwing up was. When Mom, the boys and I reached the airport, we were really early. I was not noon yet and my flight was scheduled for two. Griffin starting getting clingy and was beginning to get panicked at the idea of a week without me (we have NEVER been apart for more than 48 hours) so it was decided that I would get through security and wait alone. Security was fairly easy taking about 30 minutes during which G and I made a game of waving to each other through the window. With one last big wave and kisses blown I stepped through the doors to await my first plane trip in over twenty years.

Wait I did. It was over 90 minutes until my flight boarded and another 45 minutes on the tarmac. By the time we were ready for take off I was SO ready to get it over with that I wasn't worried any more. The rain that had delayed my flight was all the way from Huntsville to Atlanta, so the pilot took what I describe as the Family circus route:


I think the Pilot was on cat nip... Anyway, after that I figured that if that didn't make me sick, nothing was going to! I ran - literally - through Atlanta to catch my flight to Gatwick-London. If Lou hadn't explained to me about the tram and what the airport looked like, I would have missed it. As it was I was the next to the last person to board and off we went... for nine hours.

The storm my first pilot was flying around... and around...

Thirty-two thousand feet! (The lowest temp I saw was -88F in the night)

Sunset over the world...

and sunrise.

This was the first time I really freaked out. Those are the lights of London just before day break...