All My Bags Are Packed

A few weeks ago I flew to Washington DC, the first time I've flown in well over a decade, and it was great. A quarter gram of Xanax (no more than I would take on an average stressful day) and I was casually stretched out across three seats, listening to music on my phone and munching on free potato chips. Not once did I check to make sure that the wings were still firmly attached to the plane. Somehow I've overcome the worst of my fear of flying. I've known of other bad fliers who have overcome their fear of flying later in life after avoiding it for a period of years. Maybe it's just the realization that my death is closer than it ever has been before and that it's not likely to be from a plane crash.

Seat that I will not have.

Of course, stretching out across three seats requires three seats to stretch out on. On the way up to DC I was fortunate enough to have the whole row to myself and on the way back I was in first class. I will be in neither of those situations on my flight to and from England. I paid extra to pick my seats ahead of time and although I won't be sandwiched in between two people, it will definitely not be as comfortable as I was on the DC trip. For the trip to England I chose the very back row by the window. I read on "Seat Guru" that this seat had extra leg room and the drawing of the seating layout looked like there was a lot of space between the seat and the window. However, since then I saw a photo of the seat and it looked like it was a tight fit, I didn't see any extra leg room. I'm hoping that I won't be completely miserable, trapped in a window seat for eight and a half hours next to someone who is trying to sleep despite my having to get up a dozen times during the trip. The trip back should be more comfortable, I chose the aisle seat in the first economy class row behind a bulkhead. According to Seat Guru it has extra leg room and there is no one in front of me and I won't be trapped in my seat since I'm on the aisle. My main hope now is that I won't die of boredom during the nine hours I will be in that tube in the sky.

Escape Dreams

As long as I can remember, and quite often in the last few years, I've had escape dreams. I either get in a car and drive or I get on an airplane or I walk somewhere very far away and find paradise. Paradise usually looks something like a combination of Manhattan, Key West and a small town in Maine and the watery borders of this perfect place are shaped very like Long Island. In any case I am far, far away in a magical, perfect place. In real life, escape has not been so easy and in very bad times I looked forward to sleep every night and to my escape dreams.

This May I am flying away to look for the places of my dreams and I am not going to let anything stop me from escaping, if only for three weeks. I am going to Europe when the semester ends and I am hoping to have the best time of my life. I have never been out of the country and have only seen a few of the states, mostly on the east coast. I have always wanted to see Europe, particularly the places where so many of the characters in my favorite children's novels lived: England, Scotland, Switzerland, Sweden and so many more. This will be a three week trip and my finances are limited so my destinations and accommodation styles will be likewise limited, but I'm hoping for a very satisfying and liberating experience. The plan is to record my great adventure on this blog through pictures, movies and writing about what I do each and every day. We will see if this happens. My partner Jeff is staying home and will be able to follow me online through this blog and this will be our main way of communicating when I am unable to contact him by Skype or other method. I'm going to try and get used to keeping up with blogging by regularly updating this blog with the exciting news of my trip planning progress. The first step is deciding on the exact travel dates and cities of arrival and departure and buying my airplane tickets. Did I mention that I am afraid to fly? That's another blog entry right there...