Monday, October 13, 2008

Guten Tag, Ya’ll

This is my first international flight. I've flown to Hawaii, so I am acquainted with long flights, but I've never needed a passport before. I got mine, complete with the horrible photo and all.

The airlines and TSA all say to show up two hours before departure. I got to the airport at 8AM this morning (Monday). I checked in at the self-serve kiosk where I had to scan my passport. No special screening. No interview. I showed my passport instead of my driver's license at security just to feel more international. I'm guessing there'll be some kind of customs screening and passport stamping when I arrive.

The flight to Dallas left on time and arrived on time. Yes, Germany by way of Dallas. The flight to Frankfurt boarded on time but we sat at the gate for an hour. Maintanance had to fix a seat belt. Now we're scheduled to arrive at 8:00 am instead of 7:30 am. I got to the Nashville airport at 8:00 am Monday and I'll arrive in Frankfurt at 8:00 am Tuesday. I should probably be trying to get some sleep but it is only 6:30 pm Nashville time.

The flight from Dallas is nine hours--5137 miles. In my mind we'd head due east but I looked up at the flight tracker a few minutes ago and saw Thunder Bay. THE GREAT LAKES! What the? The flight plan arcs north over the Great Lakes into Ontario. I'm guessing we'll turn right any minute now.

At this moment we've got 3570 miles to go, traveling 640 miles per hour. 6 hours and 24 minutes to Frankfurt.

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