My first day -Flight to India

SUNDAY 6PM Sept 23, 2007

My flight was delayed. I was called to the desk and told there was a chance I'd miss my connecting fight from Newark to Dehli. Which means I'd miss my flight from New Dehli to Hyderabad. with no way of calling Brian to let him know I'd not be there when he sent the car to retrieve me.The flight from Dehli to Hyderabad is a different airway. a domestic India airline who maynot let me switch flights without a fee.

Commence anxiety attack. Foreign 3rd world country by myself on the wrong day with no one to know when to come. I think I almost cried. I did lots of deep breathing.



I board the tiny connecting airplane and can hardly breath. It is so small and I am in a window seat- which means trapped between the wall and man.I keep thinking about my inhaler. I try to relax. I hate using it. it makes me so jittery! I hate flying. It makes me dizzy. But I can usually sleep well. But it decreases my jet lag to have all that sleep. (I almost nevr have jet lag)

We have to wait at the end of the runway forever. I hate that too...stuck in a tiny airplane waiting for the delay to end.

We get up in the air and I have 1/2 a glass of orange juice and turn my little AC blower on high and right in my face. I start to feel better.Why is not called 'a plastic of orange juice'? I guess I could say I had half a cup- but that might make you think I had exactly 4 ounces. It was more like 2 ounces I bet. I slipped it slowly.

The stewardess handed out 2 little bags of peanuts to everyone. I think this is the first flight I have been on that handed out peanuts. It is always a pretzel mix. I wonder if they check the flight registry for peanut allergies before they decide which to distribute.

I settle in and observe the other passengers. most of them rip open the bags and eat by the handful, or even just dump the bag straight into their mouths. I sit and eat mine one at a time and think about it. I savor the honey coating before chewing the peanut to get the most of the flavor. The others are eating, but don't seem to even pay attention to their eating as they read or type away on their laptops.

They guzzle their juice with the same greedy speed.

I wonder how they can even taste their food when it barely has time to touch their taste buds before it's down the throat. I think part of eating

---- wind turbulance--



is enjoying the flavor as a complete eating experience.I think we often eat so quickly we don't have time to taste and smell, we are left feeling not fully satisfied. Then we try to hurry up and fill that void by stuffing more food - which still doesn't give us the complete experience.

As I have 3 peanuts left in my 1st bag, most the others have finished their second bag and their drink. Except the man reading a Tom Clancy book; the man who dumped the entire bag of nuts into his mouth at once.He has saved 1/6 of his orange juice. Not even enough for a whole swallow. I hate when I have just a partial swallow. It feels incomplete.

Hopefully there will be time for the restroom when my flight lands. You see, there was logical reasoning to only having 1/2 a cup of OJ.

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