The Routinity of Things

Episodes in which I comment on the routine nature of air travel are themselves becoming routine, and now I am looking out on a sunny afternoon in Amsterdam, with aircraft puttering around out on the tarmac. From here the taxiing airplanes seem oddly purposeless, like sheep drifting around in a pasture.

I’m traveling heavy this time, laden with electronics of various descriptions. My carryon includes two laptops, a very large camera, a wide-angle lens, and an external hard drive (complete with pirates). In my checked bag is another hard drive, various electronic gizmos used in the movie industry, cables and AC adapters. The brand-new MacBook Pro (never even started up) is pretty obviously a tax dodge, but luckily Czech customs cares not at all about things like that. (Watch this be the one time they do care.)

There was exactly one screaming baby on the flight from there to here, and that baby was seated directly behind me. She didn’t just cry, she wailed for thousands of miles, only to fall asleep just before the plane touched down. Fortunately my movie on demand thingie started working, and there was an option with subtitles. Pan’s labyrinth was pretty good.

There’s something about the breakfast snack served on airplanes that unfailingly gives me heartburn. The dinners I cope with all right, but whatever the mystery ingredient is in those breakfasts, it kills me, every time, on every airline.

And that’s about it.

9 thoughts on “The Routinity of Things

  1. There’s something about the routinity of things that informed some of our best 20th century writers. TIme to break out some orwell. I could sorta see him describing planes as sheep.

  2. And that is good to hear that you made it over the pond and my friend didn’t route you to Hong Kong by mistake (given she goes there every now and then on way to Singapore where she schooled).

    Hope all else is well. Did you get a chance to glance at the book?

  3. Something about their recent monumental collapses tells me you took in a Padres game or two while you were in town.

  4. Don’t even mention those games *sob*

    I have tickets later this month and wont tell Jerry til after I go which game it is.

  5. I think the best breakfast I’ve ever had on an airplane was the one served up by Czech Air on the way back from Fuego’s wedding — it included beer, which is free because on Czech Air, it counts as a soft drink.

    British Airways wasn’t too bad on the way to Prague, either.

  6. I did watch a couple of games on TV. Something about the first lead the bullpen had given up all year… then of course the 17-inning contest against the dodgers.

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