bottoms up to babies, gamers, and saunas...

now, i am writing this blog on day 2 of ireland. it's saturday morning here. i am drinking coffee and completely thankful for the several hours of sleep. yesterday was a pretty unexpected rough travel day...

after making it through the 7 hour layover by eating lunch, walking all around o'hare, people watching, talking on the phone to family and friends, and catching up on seasons of the bachelorette...i was able to board the plane.

to my excitement i had an aisle seat fairly close to the bathroom and tvs. after making my way slowing back to my seat, my neighbor joined me. of course i said the usual hellos to be polite and friendly since we were about to embark on 7 hours of travel...or so i thought. unfortunately my foreign neighbor was not so friendly. i guess she was still holding a grudge against americans for the recent recession or who knows maybe even the american revolutionary war. no one will ever know. except we are still not friends.

know this is where it starts to get interesting...

after about 15 minutes of the plane not moving...heat starts to take over in the plane. at this point i am fanning myself and feeling my forehead for a temperature. i thought. oh no! am i getting sick? nope! the pilot came on overhead and said in a very monotone voice, almost soothing actually..."thank you for your patience, but we have turned off the air conditioners, so the maintenance crew can get to the correct area underneath to fix the plane."

okay in my head i'm thinking...7 hours of layover and i get to wait for this. i'm calm. it'll be okay i tell myself, with my unfriendly brit beside me.

now 2 hours later...i was either getting delusional or the airplane had turned into a sauna.

i forgot to mention earlier...i prayed before i got on the plane for safety, a good seat, and NO babies to be sitting too close. as the ride from nashville to chicago was full of whiny little kids. now i know i'm a teacher but i need a little break sometimes.

there was a baby...2 seats away. she was on the same row as me...just 2 seats over. i'm thinking. didn't i pray for no babies?? turns out this was the calmest, sweetest, never cried, little baby i've met. and sometimes i would look over at her, and she was smiling with arms waving all around in the air. it became my one delight except for the airplane food, of course. ;)

at this point of my story we are still on the ground, but sitting in the airplane on the terminal.

i look over at my english neighbor,and she is playing a gameboy. and i mean an old school gameboy...like the one that weighs about 5 lbs, in black and white. she is playing tetris. great, i sitting next to british gamer!

i decide to look around hoping for some else to distract me from the moment, and i definitely get something to look at. the kind, older lady who is sitting beside me across the aisle has decided to look for something under her seat. now, remember these aisles are quite small in width...her back end winds up backing in to my face. great.

with all this being said...the plane was off around 10:03 pm. not be exact or anything. only 2 hours and 48 minutes late.

i arrived in dublin with a slight headache, which was soon dissolved after a saw the countryside from my window and 3 housemates who greeted me with giant smiles.

thank you Jesus i made it!! almost.