Well, as the song goes....
I'm leaving on a jet plane...
Actually, I've already left and have arrived in the good ole US of A.
Thought I'd share a few of my many thoughts of the flight here...
Well, we made it.
The trip to the airport wasn't as annoying as it could have been... Jeff decided that we were taking public transportation. Much to me endless irritation. I've done this before with just my luggage and a small child in tow. Now we'll have THREE people's worth of luggage and hand luggage and one five year old. A five year old who I needed to remain in a good mood for an eight hour flight. But hey... who am I to argue?
I think I must have developed some sort of inner zen. Some sort of secret place where I can go during less than positive moments. Whenever I felt a rising wave of annoyance, frustration, or irritation..... I just... went there. At one point on the tube, Jeff looked at me and asked,”What are you grinning about?” Don't ask me where I go and no, I'm not taking you with me.
So, train to Farringdon station, then on to Hammersmith, across the street to another ... tube which took us to Terminal 5. Heathrow.
We had checked in online so we just had to check our bags and make our way through security. Try explaining to Kate that her stuffed flamingo had to leave her hands in order to go through some scary looking machine. Oh, and take her shoes off.
Oh, and when her mother set off the metal detector, she was definitely trying to figure out why some strange woman was being a little too friendly... Ah well, we made it... didn't we?
Got a bit of lunch at the terminal in the form of some overpriced sandwiches... don't these people understand the beauty of McDonald's when traveling with youngsters? Then suddenly it was time!
Right. So, what is the point of pre-boarding if you're just going to be stuck on a bus like a herd of cattle and then all board en masse anyway?
Okay, I'll get the important stuff over with first. Food. I know you'll want to know even if it is airline food.
BA has always had pretty decent food in my opinion. (For airline food... I feel I have to qualify that.)
Kate's meal was awesome (in her culinary experience.) Usually the kids meals resort to pasta which is messy. This time they went with simple and simple is better! Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, peas. All good things in the world of Kate. The fruit salad was... well, pathetic. One grape, one slice of orange, one piece of pineapple, one piece (not slice) of melon, does not a fruit salad make. Though it did score higher on the Kate-meter than the chocolate dipped fruit from last time. In the world of Kate chocolate is chocolate and fruit is fruit and never the two should meet. Piece of cheese was devoured. Roll was nice, but she wasn't in a bread mood. Yogurt went untouched. Dessert was chocolate buttons.
The adult meals. We had a choice of cottage pie or chicken. Duh. No contest. The chicken was served in a red sauce over pasta with some grilled veg with it. (Ah HA! There's the obligatory pasta!) Taste was nice enough. A little.... dry (how can a sauce be dry? Oh, maybe pasty is the word I want. Pasty pasta!) Salad. What is it with weeds in a bowl make a salad? Dressing was rubbish. Roll was soft and not half frozen. Dessert looked nice. Chocolate mousse tort thing with an orange sauce. Jeff thought it was... very nice. I felt the chocolate was not strong enough and the overly sweetened fruit sauce overpowered it.
I've just been informed that I watch too much Master Chef.
And now I get to switch into movie critic mode. Yay!
First out of the gate. I decided to watch He's just not that into You. Not a bad flick. Mostly enjoyable. Ensemble piece with some interesting names. Jennifer Connelly. Drew Barrymore. Scarlet Johannson. Jennifer Aniston. Ben Affleck(who was strangely likeable in this.... though to be fair, I don't seem to have the dislike for Mr Affleck that some people do. Love him in Chasing Amy and probably anything he does with Kevin Smith.) And isn't Justin Long just as cute as the proverbial button?
It was a nice piece of mindless fluff with some amusing moments, some touching moments and some nice turns of acting.
Okay, next on my movie list was..... I Love You, Man. I tried. I really did. I just couldn't do it. I think I may have lasted a full half hour. I even made it past the part where the guy projectile vomited all over another guy. Paul Rudd was likeable enough. I just can't stand to watch when I know things are about to go terribly wrong.
So, why? Well, I just think I must be lacking something in the humour department. I just can't stand most of the grossly funny films out there and I DO want to be able to appreciate them. (I feel like some sort of freak because I don't!) Since I break out in hives when I see Will Farrel (with the exception of the movie Stranger than Fiction... but then I enjoyed cheering for Emma Thompson's character to kill him off... which... I must point out is the same reaction I had to Russell Crowe in Gladiator.... Kill him! Kill him NOW! Oh, damn, he's still alive ....) Paul Rudd seemed safe enough.
So, I switched over to Sunshine Cleaning. Billed as a comedy. Not a comedy in my book. Some wistfully amusing moments, but far too much angsty, down troddenness to qualify for a true comedy. Quirky. I did like it. Mostly. Just not what I expected or wanted.
After this was over, I was a bit at a loss. I had two to three hours before we would land.... I started to watch LOTR: RotK....but couldn't get settled enough to enjoy it. So, I popped over to the music section, chose a playlist and listened to music.
Kate was just great, by the way. She watched Ice Age 2 twice and Monsters vs Aliens. She's an absolute pro at traveling and I can't say enough about how great she is. (Though she was quite put out by the fact that she could not sit by the window.) She ate great. Sat quietly the whole trip and used the onboard facilities without any problems. I couldn't help but notice that she's not my baby anymore. She's growing up. I'm not quite sure if I should cheer or cry.
Eventually... we landed fine. Made it through passport control and customs without incident. Gretchen and Steve met us there... and was met by a Kate-o-saurus.
Well, that's the trip.
Next up.... Day 1.
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