As the Boeing 767 continued to ascend to its cruising altitude, I glanced around the small section of the cabin that I had been seated in. My eyes fixed upon two seemingly empty bulkhead seats. There were no entertainment center's in front of the seats, making me think that people didn't want to travel 10 hours without the in-flight movie. I had my laptop, my Ipod and two books making a viewing of the feature film a moot point. I picked up my gear, including the pillow, blanket and headphones that were shrink wrapped in plastic and scooted past the elderly lady. I wandered up about a half a row before I realized I had made a mistake. Even though I had thoroughly studied the seats before taking any action, they were in fact occupied by people, two very small people. It had been impossible to see their head's from my seat. Embarrassed, and finding myself standing in an aisle holding a computer and other paraphernalia with the "Fasten Seat belt" signal still illuminated, I once again scooted past "granny" who must have been annoyed with me.
She took it in stride, and after I settled back into the cubby-hole that was my assigned seat, I took a stab at speaking in Portuguese to her. It went OK. She spoke enough English to help when I made a mistake or didn't know the word. As the entertainment centers in front of us showed our plane approach certain cities, and at one point be above two very large cities at the same time, she would explain how beautiful this one was, or how hot this other one was. I showed her some pictures that I had on my laptop. I planned on watching a few episodes of ER, since me sleeping on a plane under the best of circumstances was a feat rarely accomplished. Unfortunately the low battery signal came on much sooner than anticipated.
The woman next to me was arching her back in pain and trying to use the one little pillow she had under her lower back and her shoulder blades at the same time. As I watched the circus act transpiring before me, I decided to do the only thing right in my eyes, seeing I wasn't going to sleep anyway, and offer the woman my still wrapped pillow. She graciously took it and positioned it under her shoulder, while the other pillow gave her the lumbar support she so desperately needed. It was getting late, and I decided to brush my teeth now rather than risk waking the woman later. I got my little baggy with the toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant that had been cleared by airport security and headed into the cramped washroom.
I took the time in the washroom to also complete the customs card that had been handed to me earlier. After finishing I went back to my row only to discover that the elderly woman had taken it upon herself to lie down in both seats and fall asleep. Holding my zip lock bag in one hand and my passport in the other, I glanced around the nearby cabin to see if there was another available seat. Not finding one I was left with no choice but to wake the poor uncomfortable woman and reclaim the throne of 18L. After she woke up, she explained that she thought I found another seat and asked if she could have the window seat so she could lean against it for her back. I thought that fate had turned my way and gave her the cubby-hole while I took her seat in the aisle.
The night went on, and as each hour passed my posterior side began to get sorer. Memories of waking up from surgery with a bright red bruise on my rear end flooded back. I was now in excruciating pain, but sleeping beauty next to me still had my pillow. The man in front of me, who for hours had been flailing around like a fish out of water knocking my laptop with the back of his seat, had finally drifted off to sleep. I opened my eyes from the pain in time to see the man's pillow fall to the floor. My sinister eyes watched closely to make sure he was still asleep, and I reached to the ground and collected the small white object. After placing it under me, I breathed a sigh of relief, both from not getting caught and from the subsiding pain. He woke up a few minutes later wondering where his pillow had gone. I pretended to be asleep, and there was no chance he was finding that pillow seeing as where it was hidden. He woke up his girlfriend or wife or whoever she was to explain to her that his pillow had been raptured and expressed deep concern for the safety of her own pillow.
While the rest of the trip was uneventful and still mildly uncomfortable, I arrived in Newark with just enough time to clear customs, re-check my bags and board the plane to Boston. I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, so I will admit to blatantly disregarding the instructions to turn off portable electronic devices. Nobody noticed and much to my surprise the plane did not crash. Jill picked me up and after carrying my 2 ton bags up the stairs I collapsed on the newly purchased mattress that was before me. The water bed was no more. My parents had worried about it not being enough support for Aaron, who had been staying there for a week, and his bulky frame, so they had got a new mattress. I just planned to sit on it to see how it felt and then get my bags and unpack a little bit, but I couldn't get up. I was too tired...
NOTE: I will still be blogging updates from Mark and Lori, so please keep checking in to see what is going on currently in Natal. Thanks for your support and for following my trip so closely. I had a great time and hope to go back in August if it works out. Thanks again!
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