Fabulous Flight

As I sit here, on my flight to England, only three hours in, I can't help but look around and notice all the people around me. Where are they from? Where are they going? When they land.. is that home? Are the married or single? Are they flying here for a wedding or perhaps a funeral? The girl sitting next to me, is here with her boyfriend, I believe that he is Canadian, and she is definitely british. She moved to Canada 12 years ago, after she graduated from an Art School in England. She fell in love with Canada, and her boyfriend, and now has her own business there. She is going back home to visit her parents and brother. When she asked what I was doing, I gave her the details. Moving here for 2 years, with a British Working Visa, to live my dream of being a Red Coat at the famous Butlins resort. I have never seen a stranger so excited. She knew exactly what my job was, and was excited for me to start my journey. I lucked out, and got a good airplane buddy to sit next to.

Although, Im not quite sure why flights trigger this curiousity in me. It could be such a simple occasion. You go to an airport, show your passport a few times, flash a boarding pass to the odd attendant, pass through security basically naked, god forbid you have a belt on, then sit at the airport bar, enjoying your last canadian rum and coke, and board your flight. Once on, you awkwardly shuffle down an aisle made for people Size 8 or thinner.. hoping to God when you find your seat that it is A) window or aisle, B) not next to someone that smells like they were just at the gym for 4 hours. Now you are told to keep your seat in the upright position and turn off your cell phones, laptops, and what little connection of the rest of the world / entertainment you have with you. Then sit uncomfortably with a stranger basically on your lap, as you barely pay attention to the safety procedures. Count your blessings that you aren't in the emergency door aisle. Sorry ma'am but I don't feel like saving this whole airplane from dying because I don't know how to evacuate this S.O.B.. After this, they put on a Brad Pitt movie about Baseball, and you can share this tv with the other 24 people in your surrounding area. Should you not want to partake in this film, you can switch between channel 3, 7, 8, & 10. 3 being brutally painful french music, 7 is some good ol' country.. until they play a french country song? Uhmmmm, no thanks? 8 will give you the Macarena to start, then Hakuna Matata, followed by 'A Dream is a Wish your heart makes', just your basic Disney hits. Lastly, 10 is soothing piano, followed by opera. Lucky for me, my laptop is sitting at just about 2 hours battery life left.. I'm sitting on this plane for at least another 5. Now as I type this, the person sitting behind me is I guess attempting to give me a lower back massage.. if not, hes just being a straight up pain in my ass. Also, two seats over a man is snoring like its his day job. I have all of 6 inches for leg room, and elbow space? Ya right.

As this flight is coming from Canada, I get to enjoy the bilingual experience, with every sentence in english, it is followed by French. The flight attendants I'm guessing are native French speakers, because they all gossip amongst the aisles in French. Not to mention they are bitchy.. I can't imagine being a flight attendant is a difficult job, the least you could do is be friendly. I'd like to now move onto what I like to call 'Airplane Ass'. Urban dictionary that, it is a real term. This plane smells so goddam awful. Apparently when you are so high up in the air, gas gets released.. When I read that, I just laughed to myself and thought it was gross.. Now being in an airplane, I legitimately want to puke.. It smells SO BAD. Like what the hell.. go to the washroom, you nasty bunch of animals.

On a good note, I am sitting next to dad, enjoy an international glass of vino, and laughing together at how awful our 'myspace style' pictures are, and "people watching" the flight attendent rocking the frosted tips.. NSYNC, are you missing a member? I just finished my book 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven'. It is a great read and recommend it to anyone really. My favorite part, is when Eddie meets his fourth person in heaven, his wife Marguerite. As they are discussing their past, and how Eddie has been since she passed away, Marguerite tries to comfort him. She says, "Lost love is still love, Eddie. It takes a different form, thats all. You can't see their smile, or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it. Life has to end, love doesnt." I feel that this goes well with me leaving. I am leaving so many friends and family behind, I will be gone for a few years, but although you won't see me everyday, we have the good memories that were made, to last forever. I tried to leave on positive notes with everyone in my life, and I feel as though I did exactly that. My last few days in Canada were spent with my amazing room mate, my co workers, my family, my friends, all good people. I had the best going away party I could have asked for, and found it quite difficult to say good bye to people. Although its not good bye, its just see ya later.

Its almost 11pm Canadian time, and I'm sitting here wide awake, as most people surrounding me are now falling asleep. My old subway shop, is closing in just about an hour.. and its probably dead slow, leaving whoever working, to their lonely thoughts, and awful radio station. Once closed, I would have headed over to the other subway to see Dustin and Tyler until they closed shop at 2am. Instead, I'm sitting here, en route to an experience of a lifetime.. Am I sad? Yes. I have truly enjoyed the last few months in my life, and although my nights were repetitive, I still loved them. I loved the people I was with, and the simplicity of sitting at H. H. Knoll. talking for hours, knowing I had to go home, but would rather stay out until 4am with someone more important than my sleep that night. Am I happy? Absolutely. Although sad to leave good people, I am so excited that in just a few short hours, I will be back in England for the first time in years, pursuing my life goals. This is crazy, and I can't wait.

While driving to the airport, my favorite song came on the radio. We're Here for a Good Time, by Trooper. That was the end of my sadness. I'm here for a good time, not a long time, and I'm going to have a good time, cause the sun can't shine everyday. I have 3 hours and 44 minutes left of my flight, and its getting a bit rocky. So i'm going to grab my paper bag, and enjoy whats left of this flight.