Day Zero continued

We are waiting anxiously to board our plane and are awaiting the call for our row number.  Then the first call…Upper class (with 2 crew members greeting each passenger as they come through the line).  Next, comes World Class, then Gold class, Silver class, Bronze class…and we still wait.  I think the announcement was for Economy class, or No class, or We Know You Are Cheap Bastards class, in other words it was our turn.  And no, we could not enter through the same line as the other classes…we actually had a separate line with one person taking our passes.

As we walk on the plane, I am thinking to myself this is really nice, and then I keep walking…past the bar…past the leather seating…past the seats that actually look like an adult can sit comfortably in them…back to almost the last row.  Yes and in this row are 4 seats…so close together I think you actually become part of each others families by the time the trip is through!  We had drinks and meals…not much and not great.  Of course they “ran out” of things like red wine, and the beef meal by the time they made their way to the cheap seats.  The flight attendants were as nice as they had to be, it was almost like they felt sorry for us, crammed in our seats like traveling sardines.

I got some advice before I left, “Take a Xanax and have a glass of  red wine.  You will be relaxed and will sleep the entire flight.”  I thought that was great advice.  Not only did I have Xanax, I also had Melatonin ( a natural sleep aid that would not cause me to do all the crazy things you hear about with sleep medication, but just enough to give me the extra nudge to drift off).  Well thanks to what must have been some heavy wine drinkers in first class, they “ran out” of red wine and I had to take my Xanax with a gin and tonic. I have to admit I was a bit worried that I was going to o.d., and I waited for what I was sure was going to be some heavy duty effects….and nothing! I could still feel the elbow of the man next to me…event though we weren’t actually touching.  I felt like I was going to give the man in front of me a dental exam as he leaned his seat into my lap.  Awesome!

Next our tin foil encrusted meal ( I had overcooked pasta with mushy vegetables..the salad was actually pretty fresh and good) I had another gin and tonic and at this point took a few Melatonin to help get my sleep on.  I waited…nothing.  I was still as wide awake and as claustrophobic as ever.  So after a few hours it was decision time…possibly o.d. or spend the next 8 hours in my current situation.  Oh yeah…you guessed it… this time 2 Xanax.  I knew that this was too much, and that I was going to be a zombie the next day, but I threw caution to the wind and gobbled down the pills like they were candy!  Here it comes, delicious sleep,  I am going to pass out like a college student at a frat party!  One hour passes, then two, I am not passed out, I am awake and exhausted, and now even more hyper aware of my situation.  Realizing I am trapped on this plane for 5 more hours! Yikes! I took 2 more Melatonin…and no help. It was then that the delicious gourmet meal starting wreaking havoc with me!  Let’s just say the remaining hours were long and painful (feature me laying on the floor in the back of the plane…with a man asking me if I was okay or was I just praying).  Needless to say the flight was long and miserable! There was not enough Xanax in the world to help me!

But after a crazy transfer with killer lines at Heathrow airport, we got on our flight to Paris.  Russ, Reid, and I slept the entire flight, so I could not begin to tell you what it was like. But hey, we were finally in Paris!  We took a car to our apartment, and we were met by Christophe.  He lead us to this amazing little french oasis!  We all tried to stay awake.  We took a walk to a local store and bought some food to eat.  A ham and cheese tart, etc.. After some food and some wine, we all fell asleep and slept until the next morning!  YAY PARIS!  YAY FRANCE!!