Airplanes: Continued

While flights may be quite wonderful for getting you to faraway places (relatively) quickly, they are obviously quite expensive, as I've already extensively complained about. Another downside, one that only becomes noticeable when you are actually on the plane, is the horrible discomfort that you find yourself in when seated. The longer the flight, the worse it is.

I did not fully realize this until I flew to London. I had flown on a plane before, but I was 15 and I was only flying to Michigan, making the flight about 4 hours long. Walk in the park compared to flying across the Atlantic. Flying to London had me on a nonstop, 13-hour experience. And let me tell you, the seating situation not only gets worse the longer the flight, it gets exponentially worse.

Before I got on the plane, I was very optimistic about the whole thing. 13 hours, please! I could totally entertain myself for that whole time without going insane, and I would probably be sleeping most of the time anyway so it didn't matter! And in-flight movies for the win! I was also strangely excited about airplane food. I suppose that would be because it's a novelty for me, since I don't fly often. You know what, just don't ask.

But then I got on the plane. And I got to my economy seat. And I said "oh." In a very small voice. Yeah, economy seating is just not that great. I say this as a person with a pretty small frame, too. Those seats are cramped! It's not even completely about the seat size; there is just no room to move. You are literally >thisclose< to the person next to you. You are often touching. You have no room to put the things you were going to entertain yourself with on the flight. There is no room to stretch your legs. You can't lean back enough to feel like you aren't sleeping upright. It is just so, so uncomfortable. So basically, all of this meant no sleeping for me. I'm not kidding. I only slept for a grand total of 2 hours on the whole 13 hour flight, which, might I add, was during the time when I would normally be sleeping in California. By the time I got to my hotel in London, I had virtually not slept for nearly 48 hours.

And let's talk about entertainment while we're at it. Not being able to sleep, or move, or do anything else somewhat productive, I found myself with a lot of spare time on my hands. Thankfully I had magazines and my sudoku book to look at, but two hours into that I started to become sleepy and, of course, was not able to actually sleep. So then I looked to the movies. At first I was really excited. So many options, I could just keep on going and it would feel like we landed in no time!

Ha. No. I could barely hear the movie over the engines, and my screen had awful glare so I could barely see what was going on either. It didn't even feel like I was watching the movie because all I could see were flashing figures and all I could hear were faint mumbles that sounded somewhat like English. It was a futile endeavor, to say the least. Still, I tried to stick with a movie or two just to keep me occupied. This failed miserably.

By this time, I was extremely bored and near-deliriously tired. I checked the flight panel on my screen to see how much time we had left.

6 hours. Great.

At this point I thought I would go insane. I actually started to feel a little insane. Thankfully I found out that the people I was sitting next to were actually very nice, a mother and daughter visiting London for the second time. We had nice little chats, and this helped keep me a bit more put together than I would have been. Lesson of the day: always take the opportunity to get to know people sitting next to you on a plane. You will most likely get along, at the very least because you are in the same miserable situation.

I finally made it off the plane and promptly slept for 12 hours once I arrived in my room. I was too exhausted to do anything else.

Considering my past experience with transatlantic flying, I think it's best if I start brainstorming ways to make my upcoming experience better. I'm supposed to be spending a bit of time with the guy I'm seeing before heading to my host family's place, and I want to make sure I'm at least a little bit more upbeat when he picks me up from the airport. And I just don't want to go through that badness again. I'll think on it and report my strategy back.

Strangely enough, even if every flight were like this, all of that badness does not deter me in my quest to travel all over the world. Masochistic? Maybe. But I prefer to think of it as adventurous.

London Calling

Ah, London. I had the very good fortune of going to London this past winter to do research for my thesis. It is what ultimately sparked my deep desire to travel, though I've always known that I would love it once I started. Yes, this was my first trip abroad!

Well, that's not entirely truthful. I've been to Mexico. But still.

London really is something else. I can't believe that I almost didn't go! It's all thanks to my thesis advisor, really. I had a meeting with her and we were discussing my application for undergraduate funding at my school, and she said that I should try and get money for travel so I could see the works of art I was writing about. She suggested London (surprisingly, since my thesis is on female Venetian portraiture). I hemmed and hawed. Wouldn't that be expensive?? They would never give me the money. There is no way they would take me, an undergrad, seriously enough to give me travel funds. 

Basically, I just gave tons of excuses. But she ultimately persuaded me to at least try. What's the harm, right? Right. And guess what?

They gave me travel funds.

And then I worked my butt off to fund the rest of the trip. But it was sooooo worth it. I can't believe that I almost didn't apply for the travel funding, and I cannot emphasize how much this trip changed my life, in more ways than one. I finally discovered the joys of traveling to a foreign country. I got to see my good friend from England, who I hadn't seen in 6 months, and establish an even deeper connection with her. I gained a new perspective on life. I experienced traveling by myself, and how freeing and wonderful it is. I gained more confidence in myself and my abilities.

I even found romance, in a way that you would only expect to see in movies. It was ridiculous and amazing at the same time, and I'm happy to stay that it's still going. You always find the greatest things when you least expect them and are not at all looking for them.

And now I shall post pictures, because who doesn't love looking at pictures of amazing places??

View from my hotel after waking up from a jetlag-induced coma. My first official morning in London!

The iconic red telephone booths.

The National Gallery, which houses a lovely collection of Venetian Renaissance paintings that I was studying. 

St. Martin-in-the-Fields, shortly before meeting an amazing person. 

Big Ben! 

Me in front of Buckingham Palace! 

View of the Thames. 

The London Eye on New Years' Eve. New Years is extremely fun in London, my friend and I didn't end up watching the fireworks show but we DID end up dancing the night away! 

St. Pancras. Goodbye London :(