Necessary Body Contortions, Spicy Indian Food and “Marty in the Morning”

 We arrived late this morning at my brother-in-law’s family home on the west coast of Ireland. I’ve been fortunate enough to come to both this cozy home (we have a peet fire burning already!) and this country multiple times and the loveliness of both always astounds me. 

But the trip to get here was fraught with problems including too little airplane room, encountering 20-something space hogs, a near concussion suffered by my sister when she practically hit her head putting her carry-on in the overhead and the significant need for more Motrin than usual. My first lesson of this trip is that I am not sure that my body can handle traveling in “coach” for too much longer, particularly when the trips are long. 

I am not a prima donna, but between the ever-shrinking seats that require some creative limb contortions for finding a comfortable position and those fellow passengers who seem to have convinced themselves that their coach seats can and will recline just like those in business class, it’s all becoming too much! In the past, my go-to sleep position in a plane has always been the age-old “head on the tray” position but it no longer is a viable way for me to catch some shut-eye. At 62, I know that I haven’t grown taller in the last few years, but I can no longer fit my head on the tray. I tried last night and half my head wound up leaning into the aisle! The situation only got worst when the 20-something passenger in front of me AGAIN jerked her seat backwards (clearly thinking it could recline just a bit more) and hit that part of my head that was still teetering on the tray.  The result? I got 30 minutes of sleep, a sore head and eventually a crick in my neck. 

I don’t like to complain about airplane food mainly because there’s nothing much to complain about as it’s rarely ever offered any more but we did have a meal last night and it was a doozy. I would like to know which United Airlines employee thought it was a good idea to offer only spicy Indian food on a plane-full of people headed to a country consisting mainly of winding roads? I was hungry, I ate the dinner and then remembered the three hour drive we had from Dublin to the rural west coast.  I was a bit nervous, particularly since the taking of Tums has become a regular part of my post-dinner evenings, even after the consumption of a somewhat bland meal.  Fortunately, my Sea-Bands (I never travel without them) were at the ready for any gastronomical issues that might have taken place as we traveled west! 

For the entire journey, my sister and I listened to “RTE Lyric,” one of Ireland’s national radio stations and for an American, it was quite the treat.  Evidently, “Marty in the Morning” prides himself on offering his listeners an eclectic group of music, which this morning, included a Bach concerto, Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass and the theme from Indiana Jones.  This was all sprinkled with “local” news from all around the island.  And so, I would like to personally congratulate the two men (one named John) from Donegal town who have finally decided to take a well-deserved retirement and Happy Birthday to the one-year old little girl whose mother said loves to dance to Marty’s musical choices! What a country! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joe Montana and the Bloody Weather

 There used to be a commercial after major sporting events that would say something like, “Joe Montana, you have just won the Super Bowl for the San Francisco 49ers, what are you going to do next?”  And Joe, like so man big winners, would say, “I’m going to Disney World!”  I think it’s fair to say that I have absolutely nothing in common with Joe Montana, but in the last month, and particularly the last seven days, I, like Joe, have been asked a similar question, because I am now officially retired.  I can’t tell you how many people have recently asked me, “You’re retiring? What are you going to do?”  I didn’t feel the need to outline for them my short-and-long term plans on how best to fill my days or to remind them that “retirement” usually means cutting back on work and relaxing more. Instead, I just told them, “I’m going to Ireland!” And thus, my one and only similarity with Joe Montana— we provided others interested in our future with a short response that  seemed to say it all.  
Read more

Dublin: A Brawl, An Arrest and Pat’s Excellent Adventure!

 Besides the anticipation of journeying to and arriving in Ireland, there was a bit of excitement along the way—and it started while in the plane. We were just minutes from landing when a fight broke out in the back of the plane.  A woman behind us started yelling, “Your child has been kicking my chair for the last six hours.”  The parent’s response, “Well that’s not my problem,” was not an acceptable to the woman, who then proclaimed, “Well, it’s not my problem, he’s your child!” The scuffling went back and forth a few times until we heard, “Mind your own business!”  Apparently, someone nearby tried to unsuccessfully intervene. We don’t know this for a fact as we couldn’t turn around due to the newly acquired “kricks “ in our necks from lack of sleep as well as our sardine-like positions in seats 27 A,B, and C.  None of us could understand why anyone would pick a fight at the end of a journey but maybe, between the kicking and feeling like a canned fish, she had had enough. The other
Read more

Air Travel: It’s Every Man (Woman) for Himself!

 As I continue to age, I am realizing that air travel is not for the faint of heart. No question, this is a young man’s (or woman’s) game.  Nearly 40 years ago, I remember on our honeymoon flight to Europe, wearing a lovely skirt and blouse set, coordinating heels and carrying on a toiletry bag that matched our checked bags.  This was all before my skin had yet to really age, and now, I can’t for the life of me remember what I needed or included in that cute little case.   The whole experience seemed so civilized.  Now, I’m wearing comfortable jeans, a scarf, regardless of the weather because of the varying airplane temperatures, running shoes for my inevitable sprint from one gate to the other for my connecting flight, and of course, carrying all my bags on the plane with me because standing near those luggage carousels waiting anxiously for my bags at the end of a long journey is often too much for me to handle.   This morning was no exception.  Even though I retired at the end of la
Read more