Rhone River Travel Journal—Day 1

2014-08-09 21.15.07
Ann & The Wife

Those who have followed GSB may recall I don’ t travel well. It’s ironic because I love to travel; I just don’t travel well.

Whether it’s enduring the violation of my Fourth Amendment rights by TSA agents or flatulence-filled cabins created by peanut-fed passengers, I just haven’t learned to adapt.

The flight began with a twenty-minute wait on a hot Houston tarmac without the benefit of air conditioning. I would peg the temperature in the cabin at about 110 degrees Fahrenheit, seriously. Fortunately, the flight attendants hadn’t started feeding the passengers peanuts.

Like other passengers, I fanned myself with a magazine, but at some point the body heat created from fanning overrides the cooling affect of the fanned air. We finally got in the air and were informed by the captain that the media services didn’t work: no movies, television, video games, or music on a nine-hour trip to Germany. So, people did what they do when they can no longer be entertained—they slept . . . they being everyone but me.

In Frankfurt, Germany we had a 7-hour layover before our flight to Marseille, France. Fortunately, we had the benefit of the Lufthansa lounge for the duration. Still, all the free food and wine in the world doesn’t make up for a lack of sleep and two days in the same clothes without a shower.

After 22 hours of travel we finally arrived at our hotel near Avignon. We walked to the village nearby, where we had dinner in the courtyard, accompanied by French wine from the region, and all was right with the world.

I promise not to complain anymore. GS

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