Saturday - Sunday, December 13 and 4th
The international flight!
As Debbi and I scrambled to pack on Saturday morning the 13th, we still could not believe we were going to France that day. As we feverishly finished the intense requirements of Fall term 2008 classes and the Integrated Business Plan (IBP) project for school, the trip was one of the last things on our mind.
We loaded the car, drove to my parents place and migrated the luggage to their vehicle. After a quick breakfast and last minute logistics we were off to the airport. Traffic was great until Foster road on I-205, then the slowdown hit. It took us at least 30 minutes to go the last 10 miles. Thankfully we budgeted extra time and planned to be to the airport 3 hours before our international flight departed. Our luggage consisted only of carry-on luggage. The plan was to only take items that would fit into a couplebackpacks, a messenger bag and a tote. Standing out like tourists with rolling luggage was not our idea of intelligent.
The flight from Portland to Amsterdam, albeit almost 10 hours in duration was quite pleasant. Newspapers were available for passenger enjoyment and we delved in the the "Financial Times." America is not alone in bailing out auto manufacturers. Governments around the world are providing assistance to various companies.
Each seat in the Airbus A330 had a personal entertainment system consisting of a monitor in the headrest, a small rectangular controller and a linux based computer. We made good use of the system by competing in a fierce game of Reversi, collaboratively playing Bejeweled and viewing all the inflight information. My geekiness thrived on all the data about the plane such as speed, our flight progress, outside temperature, ground speed, outside air temperature and wind speed. The tail wind averaged 80mph in the jet stream and pushed our ground speed up to 680mph! The plane can only reach 545mph with the engines. The movie and TV selection of the entertainment system boggled my mind! At least 30 movies were available and 15+ TV shows. Debbi enjoyed Hellboy 2 while I kicked it with the stupid comedy of the new Dukes of Hazard. To finish out our movie run, we watched "License to Wed". If you like romantic comedies, give this one a try.
Many of us think airplane food is bland and while I am not usually thrilled with it, this trip altered my thinking. First we started out with the usual light snack of mini pretzels and a beverage, ginger ale in my case, orange juice for Debbi. I selected the "low fat" option when we ordered our plane tickets and did that produce great results. I was served food before the usual time and dinner was comprised of: a small chicken breast over white rice, a green salad with lemon vinaigrette (delicious), bread, grapes and red wine. Debbi got a sort of chicken teriyaki, roll, cheese, crackers, rice, and a little salad. Low fat breakfast included scrambled eggs, potatoes, yogurt, banana, orange juice and a fruit cup. Regular breakfast was an egg sandwich, a fruit cup and potatoes (we think).
Debbi and I met a man on the plane that lives in Corvallis and attends OSU! His final destination was a different country, but interacting with him illustrated just how small the world really is. He stopped by our seats to keep his little girl entertained during the long flight. This trip would be her first time meeting the grandparents in Poland.
Sadly, neither of us slept on this first flight. More to come as we get time to write about it!
Pictures can be seen here!
Au revoir!
