Day Uno: Uno? Yeah, yeah, I should know Arabic numbers by now – I’ve spent a solid 15 hours on Lufthansa today, but apparently those video language lessons I’ve been trying on the screen in front of me aren’t helping much so far. I’ve got 2 hour 16 minutes ‘til we touch down in Abu Dhabi (the big AD!), so I need to start studying hard…
Hopefully by the time anybody reads this I’ll at least be able to say a meager “hello”, “thank you” or “please pass the dirty socks with ice.” Yeah, I’m expecting a few cases of “lost in translation” throughout the next couple weeks. Part of the adventure, right?
Ok, so the highlights thus far:
- The Business Class seat on Lufthansa is about 57x more comfortable than my god awful little Ikea couch back in Seattle (Lisa knows the pain). You’d think I would’ve slept more than two hours in my 20 or so hours of travel today. Guess I’m just a bit excited :)
- Speaking of Biz Class, it’s quite unfortunate I’m not honeymooning or just graduating college because I’m pretty much having to endlessly fend off alcohol offerings every seven minutes. I did learn from the riiiich, leopard-printed, faux-furred orthopedic surgeon’s wife next to me (who WILL be on Housewives of Idaho, if that ever becomes a show) that a multi-round blend of wine, Jack Daniels and Hennessy is a very strong sedative….maybe that’s why my steady diet of water, coffee and Diet Coke only allowed for a short cat nap, opposed to her 80 proof coma.
-One last note about Biz Class and booze – the lounge in Frankfurt offered plenty of treats, but the highlight had to be the serve-yourself Franzikaner and Becks beer on tap. No, actually the highlight was seeing a 60-something grandma stoutly fill up her pint glass on the tap…at 9:47am. A bit different culture than where I’m about to arrive – no alcohol in Abu Dhabi unless you have a special permit or choose to hunker down in one of the 12-star international space station hotels (see YAS Hotel)
It might be finally sinking in…I just looked at the “flight progress” screen and we’re currently flying over the area between Bagdad and Tehran – a nice little place called Kirkuk, apparently.
On that note, I think it’s time for me to get ready for the big AD. Stay tuned…
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