Back in the States

Hey Everybody!

It's just after 3pm here in Montana. It's a beautiful day - sunny, high 80s. The sort of day a person ought to enjoy from outside, but that would require more energy than I have today. It was such an easy transition from here to Australia that I am not prepared for the difficult transition back. I am tired! Of course, I didn't sleep on the 13 hour flight back from Sydney (except for about 30min right at the end) & didn't sleep on the second flight to Denver. And the Billings segment was the most restful, but not long enough for a sleep.

I am hopeful that this exhausted feeling will pass in a day or two....I got stuff to do! Laundry, booking flight to S. America for the quickly!!! approaching Antarctic trip.... Just want to sleep!

Still, I think I can find the energy to tell you about the long flight back. First, the turbulence during the second half of the flight was unpleasant. It wasn't the worst I've experienced, but it felt different & made different sounds out there over the Pacific. TWICE I thought I heard the landing gear go down... that was not comforting!! And the wind just seemed to howl against the plane. About 30 minutes out of Los Angeles the woman in my row said she thought we were goners; I thanked her for keeping that to herself during the night. What else could I say? I'd been trying hard to stay hopeful....

Secondly, we had the most dysfunctional flight attendant crew I have ever seen. It was both funny and ridiculous. They seemed unable to keep up with the work, couldn't agree on how best to distribute beverages & then collect the trash, and openly complained to each other about each other. This went on for 13 hours!!


Having said that, I had no problem with any of them at all. However, the dude wearing purple/pink polka-dot pajama bottoms, a long-sleeved pink dress shirt, and slippers when not barefoot (nicknamed Barney by the crew) did! He was constantly in their way, kept asking for more drinks, and kept going up/down aisles shaking hands. Somehow, I avoided him the whole flight! When one person said "no more drinks" he'd just go ask another: "She told me no more drinks. Will you get me one?"

Here's the crew's take on Barney: young, loser kid on a trip to America and trying to pick-up chicks on the plane. With some success, I might add. Crew figured those girls were desperate! Here's my fear about the dude: not so young, but maybe mid30s; not visiting America b/c he already lives here. Just a middle-aged "man" - LOSER - coming home from one big Aussie hangover!!

Nevertheless, when a woman collapsed about 7hrs into the flight (putting us right in the middle of nowhere on the map!) the crew was instantly on the ball - grabbing oxygen and defibrillator, found a doctor on board, and the person lived. I wasn't certain of that till morning because I couldn't see everything going on, but it looked bad early on.

So, that's all the excitement for now. I probably will be off the blog for a few days since I have nothing to report. I have to recover from this trip & get ready for the next one; what was I thinking?! :-)

Thanks for travelling along! I will be in touch.... And thanks to MB for the airport service, Mitch for the dinner run, and Sharmi and crew for a place to stay!

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