The Flight

So a lot has happened in these past 3 weeks or so since I've been out of the country. I haven't had a chance until now to start writing about them, and so people are thinking "I thought this bastard was going to write about his travels". I'm going to write a section on my flight over, a section on Prague, and a section on my school.. So starting with the first and foremost


THE FLIGHT

So I've never actually been on an international flight before and I had no idea what to expect. Do they put you in those big jumbo jets you always see at the airport? I usually get stuck flying in some puddle jumper or if I'm lucky, some marginally larger plane where their idea of service is throwing a bag of half eaten peanuts and a quarter of a can of pop your way. (And it is called POP by the way, you Southern folk need to get used to this) I'll also have to sandwich my 6'4'' frame into a middle seat and be stuck in between the 290-lb. man who eats the same way Cattle graze on grass in farms, and between the woman with a baby who cries for 7 freaking hours.

Anyways, I spent the days, minutes, and hours before my flight stressing over what I had to bring. I checked things over, checked them again. Checked them again. And once, I had checked them, had my mom check things to make sure I wasn't forgetting things. As my girlfriend could tell you, I could probably lose my head if it wasn't attached to me. Hell, I once couldn't find out where my eyeglasses were, and tore up my house looking for them, only to realize I had been wearing them the entire time. I am what I would refer to as an "intellegent retard". My parents drove me to the airport and we said our goodbyes. My mom was a wreck. She had to see her youngest son (her baby) off to college, which was hard enough. Now I was leaving the country. So naturally tears were flowing. I wished my parents farewell and got onto my plane with Lufthansa.

All I can say next is that this was perhaps the greatest flight I have ever been on. Amazing service. Absolutely amazing. What the hell have I been missing all my life? I should be travelling the world just to get on this planes! The Lufthansa crew services you which seems like the entire flight. Bringing food and beverages and hot towels. I don't know what the hot towels were needed for. I didn't use them. But I'm sure they were glorious nonetheless.

Each seat has its own touch screen video display, and you can watch up to 11 pre-selected movies, listening to music, and chart the flight as it happens. I ended up watching "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull", "Leatherheads", and a highlight video from Euro Cup 2008. Not too shabby.
Unfortunately, I didn't fall asleep during the entire flight.

As we descended into Frankfurt, and as I began to see the lights and landscape of Germany below us, I can only compare the feeling I had at the time to the feeling you got when you were 5 or 6 and you woke up that morning knowing Santa had left you something under the tree. I was absolutely giddy. Germans and everyone else on the flight were all ho-hum "yeah we made it big deal". I've got my face permanently glued to the window looking at everything outside.

The excitment from landing in Frankfurt was only short-lived though, when I realized that European airports and U.S. airports share one thing in common, they have HUGE layovers. Mine was a nice little 11 hour layover. My flight got into Frankfurt at 5:30am and my next flight didn't take off until 4:30 that afternoon. So I spent the ENTIRE day inside one terminal. I didn't have my converter with me, so I couldn't check my email or use my phone, or do anything.

I was also a bit hesitant to try and talk to someone or ask a question. My German skills are meager, so would they understand me? I felt that embarassing feeling you get when you want to ask someone something but don't have the nerve to do it. Later on, though, I would realize that just about everyone aside from the ripped-beerfest- looking security guard who frisked me (he was quite gentle) spoke English.

Finally, I hopped on my flight to Prague and my adventures in Prague officially began...