Friday the 13th?

parting view from our Icelandic crib

Hah, no fears here. I’m safely home in Valhalla and now close to my second home (MGH). The flight home wasn’t even as annoying as anticipated though having  a window seat would’ve been lovely. I like to look down as we pass over Greenland, Newfoundland and New Brunswick. Of course, it was dark out – could I have seen anything? At least the person in front of me didn’t do a claustrophobia inducing full recline.

I think there are two kinds of people who fly – those who are aware of the ultra limited aisle room AND the amount of space they’re blocking as they stand in it, oblivious to others who are say, trying to get to the loo, and those who don’t. I’m not patient with the selfishly clueless types. I offer one bright, smiling, perfectly audible excuse me. If they move great – if they don’t, well I push past without regard for their possibly delicate personal space needs.

speeding by the lava fields on the Keflavik bound bus

It brought to mind my, years ago, experience on a packed Milan to Rome train.

"All the aisles were jam-packed with people and luggage. None of them seemed much up for moving to let me by. I bumbled my way through “scusi,” “perdóneme,” “Entschuldigen Sie mir, bitte,”  and plain old “coming though!!” to no useful effect. At that point I just leaped into the crowd, riggling my way northward, thankful for my mosh pit experience.

I eventually wiggled and jiggled (pass the baby oil please) my way to the right car, found a seat and dove, not ran, straight into blessed napville and hoped for a day or two of lower adventure levels."

Hi Honey, I'm HOME!

Travel, in tight quarters, is a showcase for humanity’s self-absorbed, feeble-minded, doofusy assholian qualities. It’s also where you can witness thoughtful, considerate, helpful and even saintly acts. These folks, sadly, aren’t in the majority. 

Last night there was a woman who noticed, as she came down the aisle, that I’d dropped my nice bookmark (I was unaware). She stopped, picked it up, made an effort to gently get my attention (not so simple as I was wearing an eye patch and, on yeah, deaf here) and returned it to me. Such a simple thing and yet, to me, she stood out as a a creditable example of the human race.

The other thing that made the trip home FAR less annoying? The staff at Keflavik in Iceland and here at home at Logan, whose job it is to help us folks who need extra assistance. They were AMAZING. The woman at Keflavik in particular. I struck up a convo – she’s originally from Algeria (so exotic!) and has five kids who love to call her at work. I would’ve enjoyed hearing the story of how she ended up in Iceland – a different language and culture and 3,000 miles away but the transporter van had pulled up to the airbus. It was time to begin the final leg back home to Ten and Coco.