A Myriad of Thoughts

Wow is all I have to say. After a day of travel and a night of rest all I have to offer is "wow". Last year I made two traffic laden trips to the airport in order to leave the country. This year, one trip traffic free. Last year I sat on a plane with a broken arm-rest covered by a blanket and flew ten hours to Moscow. This year we had personal TV's and free movies(I watched the Hangover again and Angels and Demons (missed the ending of it due to landing, not that upset)), free booze, and a travel companion*.Last year I paid a fortune to have a smelly man in a taxi drive me around moscow and get lost to find my apartment. This year Marina** picked my up in her new BMW 1-series hatchback, which is an awesome car and should increase production in America. LONG LIVE THE HATCHBACK. Needless to say this seems like the dream life to me.

My layover in Heathrow was long and awkward. For no reason other than, for the most part,the massive terminal was entirely empty. We crossed through security at 4:00 am London time as the last flight in for the night. Security there wouldn't let me bring a drink I got on the plane through, even though it was unopened. I was pissed. Until I walked through the medical detector and the little old man on the other side said...and I quote... "pop the cap off ye knoggin' me old mate...lets grab a look see there." That one quote and the joy it brought to me makes up for the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. I was ecstatic.

From my egg-shaped chair at the round-the-clock Starbucks of Terminal Five I had the opportunity to watch two distinctly unique phenomena occur. One was the opening and filling of a giant airport terminal in the morning. The other was the sun rising over all of Heathrow Airport. The east facing wall of terminal five at Heathrow is almost entirely glass and faces much of the rest of the airport. Hundreds of yards wide and a few stories tall it provides a tremendous view for a sunrise. Unfortunately, it also precludes almost all sleeping.

Fortunately the DutyFree shops in Heathrow give out free samples of booze. I made friends with the Bailey's Gold girl...solid decision made on behalf of my morning coffee. According to Beth we were good "mates" since I helped her throw some "rubbish" in the "bin" (no joke she said that, it was awesome). Every time I said and Americism she would look at her friend, the Patron girl, and laugh and repeat whatever I said with a giggle. (I'm sure many of you are wondering how I turned down the Patron girl for the Baileys girl. However it was 5 am so Baileys seemed like the responsible choice for free booze.)

Food is good and Бабушка/Хозяйка is great, especially when I brought her gifts from mom. There's something about gifting dishtowels from Marshall's that just gets some people going...beats me. I'm off at noon for a first round sight-seeing tour of the city...and so we begin.


*Elizabeth Rattey, Colby '08, and I, through random chance, wound up on the same flight. She lives and works as an English teacher here and figures to be a fixture in my blogging of adventures

**One of the heads of my school/program.

Quote courtesy of British Airways employee: "Now boarding all zones for British Airways flight 878 to Leningrad...I'm sorry I meant St. Petersburg" Miss the Motherland much?