Tuesday, November 5, 2002

bears backs were entertaining, too

"All travelling becomes dull in exact proportion to its rapidity."
John Ruskin

I have breakfast, check out and head to the U-bahn. The trip goes fine to the airport. I am way early. The trip took about 55 minutes and I think I just missed a U-bahn train and a bus. I buy two small bottles of water and sit near the gate and watch people outside the window on the sidewalk and read my book. (Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahari. An excellent collection of stories with no connection to Berlin. I like to read things with a connection to the place where I am. But I've already finished a little book with all kinds of excerpts from memoirs and literature with Berlin connections.)

I am not looking forward to the flying. I take some decongestants and drink some water. I am relieved that I won't have to go back to work as soon as I get home. There is that. I can get un-jetlagged on my own schedule.

And so the flying begins. My flight to Heathrow is uneventful. The change of terminals there is uneventful. I get a boarding card for my Chicago-Austin flight there, but I'm hoping for an upgrade. I'll check in Chicago if there is time. My layover there is a little tight, but it's long here. I buy more water. I snack out of my pack and drink. I buy a book, a novel published in England that won an award. It's fun to read something set in London...to get in the middle of the use of language, the customs, what's different.

The flight to Chicago is completely full. I watch some bad movies. Part of The Bourne Identity and something else I've forgotten. I eat the meals, drink water, pump up on decongestant.

Finally we are in Chicago. I rush as fast as I can to get off, walk to the passport control, get through quickly and then to luggage. But my bag...doesn't come in the first wave or the second. I'm sure it's lost. We've arrived early, though, I still have time to make it. Then I see it. I swing it off the belt. There's no line at customs. I recheck the bag and take the train to the regular terminal and go through security again and find the gate.

I check and get an upgrade to first class. When we take off I ask for Jack Daniels and water and fall asleep. I wake up to see a big glass of water and a big glass of ice and Jack. I take a sip of each, refuse food and go back to sleep. I wake occasionally to sip. As I exit the plane, the flight attendant says, "I hope you enjoyed your sleep!"

"Yes, I did," I think.

I stop at a phone and call FFP to come get me. I stop at the restroom. When I get downstairs my bag is there. I wait what seems like a short time on the curb and FFP is there. I'm home! And I'm exhausted. I don't unpack. I just shower and doze off.

JUST TYPING
Flying.
Flying.
Fleeing.
The foreign.
To feel uneasy at home.