I won't be able to post this unit after I land in Frankfurt or Kyiv, but right now it is almost 11:00 on Saturday night in Georgia and almost 5:00 Sunday morning in Frankfurt. That means it is almost 6:00 Sunday morning in Ukraine (& approaching sunrise on Orthodox Easter).
This post is largely for readers who have yet to fly across the Atlantic. I realize some you have flown a lot and some internationally. I fact some of you are able to fly basically for free because your mom or dad works for Delta or AirTran (now part of Southwest). Given that some of my readers have never flown & many have never flown internationally, I think this is a good things to share on a blog obvious global education. :)
This is my seventh time crossing the Atlantic, and the first not going directly across from Atlanta. I'm not one for sleeping very much overnight on the plane. I just can't for some reason. Occasionally I doze an hour or so, but this flight that doesn't even seem to be happening. It's not like I've had a plethora of sleep this week or anything.
This is briefly what happens on a transatlantic flight to Frankfurt. First you need to know that all announcements are made first in English & then in German (origin & destination languages). On my way home it will be reversed since we will be departing from Germany.
Planes that cross the ocean are huge. There are nine seats across in the economy section (aka: normal seating) which is most of the airplane. Five in the middle & little rows of two on each side with an aisle & window seat. I'm in seat 21B, an aisle seat. While a view is nice, I'm much happier when I get assigned an aisle seat on such long flights. Besides we are above the left wing so their isn't much of a view. The one thing I find incredibly cool is crossing over the English Channel just before day break when you can actually see it!!!!
One other member of my group, Carlos, is also on my flight. He is u the seat i front of me. He is a high school SS teacher in Miami & a major soccer players & fan. He is really psyched about going to Ukraine just before the Euro 2012 in Ukraine & Poland.
Shortly after takeoff beverage carts serve the cabin. You usually get a small pack of pretzels with this. It used to be peanuts or even almonds when I was little. However, that has really changed dues to the rise in peanut & other nut allergies.
A little while later they start serving dinner. On international flights meals are still "free" - which really means it is included in the airfare (ticket price). You also are still allowed o check one bag for "free" on international flights. A flight attendant comes the aisle offering meals. Our choices tonight were beef or chicken. Usually it is a choice of chicken and either pasta, beef, or sometimes fish if it is a Friday. When my tray was placed on my tray table the first thing I immediately saw was the same orange low fat ranch dressing as we have get in the LMMS lunchrooms! One other observation is that on American owned airlines the utensils are typically plastic. On Lufthansa (German) the utensils are still in a sealed plastic sleeve, but they are "real" utensils. I hope my students will think about that with the environmental concerns.....think about the Coca Cola Light bottle concept.
Not long after dinner the cabin lights are turned off. The lighting is kind of like what it is when we use the LCD projector with the lamp on in class - only darker like in our temporary room. To read, you have to turn on your overhead light. It beans down directly at your seat.
Right now it is 5:30 in the morning where we will land (Frankfurt). Here on the plane many people are sleeping, some are reading, occasionally someone walks by headed to the lavatory (tiny restroom). They just turned the lights on in the front sections of the plane. I see them gettin greasy with the carts. We will be served a continental breakfast one hour before landing. Continental, huh???? ;-) Now all the overhead lights just flipped on & people are waking up/sitting up all around me.
The second showing of the movies had ended shortly before I started typing this. Since I can't watch the Braves (or news shows!), I wind up watching movies or watching the flight map when the lights are out. On most transatlantic flights now, each passenger has a small tv screen in the back of the seat in front of him/her. Otherwise screens are hanging from the ceiling every so often like on a charter bus.
I will end now because they are approaching my row with breakfast. Basically for myself & the other passengers we have "time travelled" forward six hours from where we took off to where we will land in roughly an hour or a little more.
LMMS Flat Eagle aboard Flight #1 from Atlanta to Washington, DC
LMMS Cafe' dressing on Transatlantic flight!!!
Middle of the night over the Atlantic:
Almost over the English Channel!
There is a small child sleeping in the arms of an adult with his/her little head flopped over to the outside aisle. You can see the white shadow in the middle of the picture if you look closely.
Continental Breakfast before landing: a danish & yogurt (plus a spork to eat the yogurt!):
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