I'm Probably Gonna Explode

So, several months ago when my mother looked me straight in the eye and told me that she would be taking a trip to London and that she was bringing me along...I never truly felt like the moment would arrive.
I have had a long time love affair with England.
And I knew that as soon as it did arrive...it would soon be over.
Anticipation leads you down such a strange path.

When the day did finally arrive, it didn't feel as if it were happening to me.
But soon I was in the air, looking down over the Colorado landscape.

Mom is a funny travel partner, but she's a pro because she travels A LOT.
Her carry-on was the size of a boat and she whipped out a crossword the moment the flight attendants started the spiel.

Me? I was just trying to drink it all in.
And by "drink it in"...I mean all the free champagne everyone was trying to pour down my throat.

Mom's in-flight set-up.


My in-flight set-up.


First class and business class travel is the way to go, by the way.
I think it has something to do with the fact that first class and business class travelers are a bigger pain in the ass to flight attendants than economy folks.
So, they grease them up with lots of booze and food and then they fall asleep and cease being annoying.

We, however, did not stop being annoying...we were too excited.



We had our own monitors...which was great because I didn't have to watch what mom was watching.

Deli tray snack.


The airline gifts you with all kinds of sweet stuff too.
Free newspapers, socks, eye masks, toothpaste, toothbrush, breath mints, lotion, ear plugs, etc.
I felt like I should read an English paper to make sure I knew what was going on.


Alas, when you could read an English paper OR drink piles and piles of wine and watch several episodes of 30 Rock...it's hard to settle on the former.


The food was fucking great.
Airline food gets a bad rap, I'm pretty sure, but what I can tell you is that I ate the BEST cheese!

Mom had a chicken parmesan thing while she watched Slumdog Millionaire.
I forced her to watch it, as she had no idea what it was about.
She liked it a lot.

Me? I got the steak - which was sort of a mistake.
It wasn't good. But I'd eaten so much other crap that it didn't matter.

Dessert! Yeah, Europeans know what they are doing!
A cheese course is seriously the smartest thing ever conceived.



So, I sort of hate to admit it, but...they were showing "Twilight" and I had to watch it.


Twice.
I'm in love with Robert Pattinson.
No shame - I'm trying to embrace it.


Sadly, for me, I couldn't sleep on the flight.
I don't know if it was excitement or something more common to people who don't travel internationally very often, but I was screwed.
I ended up watching Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
The soundtrack was decent and I love Michael Cera and Kat Dennings, but MEH.

It's interesting to keep track of where you are on this giant planet as you hurtle over ocean and land.

It's surreal and hard to fathom completely.

And when I finally arrived - I had no idea what to do with myself.
It was 6:00 AM and I left Chicago at 4 PM.
I was a total mess.