Take off. I am in the air, and have been for 16 minutes. We are going in a North-eastern direction with the setting sun to our backs. We are flying over Columbus, Ohio at 26,000 feet and the temperature outside the plane is -10°C. We are going to have 2 movies on, the first is “The Chronicals of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and the 2nd was “21” followed by some bad TBS tv shows. Once again I find that I have been sat on the wing. I have flown on 3 separate occasions and all of them have me sitting on the wing, with no exceptions. We are having bad turbulence though right now though. The girl sitting next to me is a German native and her English is perfect. Goodness knows, if she hadn’t told me and I hadn’t noticed the simple stylistic differences (I know that a guy wouldn’t have noticed) I wouldn’t have know. They have also told us that a free glass of beer or wine will be served with dinner. I wonder if the flight attendents will serve and American that’s under the legal drinking age? Don’t worry Mom I had apple juice. I’m sitting on the left side of the plane with the aisle to my right. Next to the aisle is three seats, then an aisle and either 2 or 3 more seats I can’t see which. The setting sun is to my left. Also, we were supposed to take off from Cincinnati at 7:35 PM. We didn’t take off until 8:45 PM, because the flight was over booked and they needed 15 “volunteers” to give up their seats and when they finally got all 15 we had to wait for their luggage to be unloaded.
Now the plane is holding steady at 30,000 feet and 10°F. We are currently over Pennsylvania. Mom and Pops won’t reach there until after I have landed in Frankfurt (Main). (The whole Staubach family is going to Phili. for my cousin Daniel’s wedding.)
It’s nearly midnight now we just finished watching Narnia, it wasn’t bad and we are now flying over St. John’s Bay.
We are now over open water earlier during the film I looked out the window and just behind/to the left of the wing was a large storm cloud that was being lit up as though it were day by the lightning. The image of a dark blackish- blue being turned a bright white with hints and tints of yellow, orange, and red was breath-takingly, unexpectedly, beautiful. The water guy just came around after 4 hours of being on a plane with no reprieve. I’m just a little thirsty and the movie “21” just came on. It’s based on a true story, and the documentary for it was very dry. Any-who, it’s about this group of M.I.T. students that team up and try to beat the Las Vegas casinos. I have no interest in watching the movie. Mom said she wanted to see that. She won’t make it through it. She will be sawing logs before the opening credits are over. It’s going no where fast. Also, the earbuds/headphones have hurt my ears past endurance. The silence on this plane is eerie and the noise from the recycled air and the engine turbines is a roar that is both monotones and interminable. During all of this time I have yet to sleep, not even a wink. I have sat here for 4 hours straight and haven’t moved yet, not to stretch, not to use the bathroom, none of that. I don’t think I will be able to sleep either, but everyone else is sound asleep. I don’t recall a time I felt so alone in such a clostraphobic space. Every time the plane rises and falls or hit a pocket of air I look up and around and expect to see Pops doing 90 on the way to the way to Philadelphia, but I’m not with them. I don’t see Mom or Justin, or Tony; I don’t see a familiar face at all. Normally during my travels I have some face to latch onto, some one from home. I have no one; the group is spread throughout the cabin too far ahead or behind for me to see. I am on a plane with roughly 200 people and I haven’t felt this alone in many years. Also, the changes in pressure and the unnatural air are making me very uncomfortable. Right now the moon to my left is my only friend. The air line food was pretty bad, but I ate with a gusto- that I don’t know where it came from. I also finished the tea cookies that Donna bought for me. I am very grateful for those. I do believe everyone has slept on this plane at least once, but me. Even the music I have on my iPod and in my head are of no comfort to me. With 3 hours left to go in the flight I have just looked out the window and discovered a sunrise, a blood red sunrise in the distance that becomes a rainbow that fades into the black that engulfs the plane for one more hour. I can’t begin to elaborate the beauty of the sky and how intimate it feels. Also, those bathrooms are so God awful that there is little possibility of anyone joining “the mile high club”. It seems to me as though we are constantly turning right and loosing altitude. We are finally coming close to Europe. I can not begin to tell you what this means to me because I scarcely know it myself. All I know is that I will learn something here; I will find and discover something beyond my current experiences. Whether or not it is for better or worse- I guess I need to land to find out. As it stands we are at 34,000 feet and the temperature is -11°F and we are still over the Atlantic Ocean and when we first and finally fly over land it will be Ireland. Our speed is 575 mph. The rainbow sunrise is more subtle now with the yellow and pale blue being more pronounced. Also, we have traveled 3,000 miles. I have never gone through a faster sunrise. It only lasted a half-an-hour start to finish rather than 3 hours. Also, I can’t begin to elaborate the oddity of having a blanket of clouds 10,000 feet beneath your feet. To see the endless ripples and fluff is very odd indeed. My watch says its 2:07 AM my iPod says its 8:07 AM. I hate being on the wing. When you hit rough air you feel it twice as much as anyone else and its far more exaggerated because you can see the wing bend and shake. Also, I can see the condensation that has formed on the wing as well as the rusting of the bolts and the up and down motion of the flaps. I would have much preferred to see the clouds and the sunrise. They’re going to start serving breakfast soon. Again the food is going to suck, but believe me it will get eaten!
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