Flights. I know, exciting.

(Started around 3pm Austin time while at the Newark airport, 5/24)
whoa.... I am going to Morocco. Like *really* going. As in, very much on the way. Of course, there will be a stop in Lisbon, which should be lots of fun, but then, it's Morocco. My banks know to expect my cards to be used there, it must be real.

The trip so far has been fine. Austin airport - no problems, but there never have been so far. It was more crowded than I expected for a Tuesday morning, not long after graduation. Now I'll expect that. Still, made it to the gate in plenty of time before boarding.

Getting to Newark kinda sucked. I was going from one terminal, where all of the continental flights come in, and switching to another. Leaving the first terminal, I noticed that there were TONS of restaurants, and several looked decent for being in an airport. There was even a nice little map to show you where to find what food and shopping. I could only find a map for the terminal I was in, but figured another must be around. Must be..... and I left the security area. Only to very shortly regret it.

There was 'food' at the other terminals. Yes, I went to both of them. In search of something decent to eat. They both had fast food (Wendy's, Subway, some burrito place I didn't recognize) and one "restaurant." One of them had a Chili's, the other Tony Roma's. Yum. I actually looked at the menus, but there was basically nothing vegetarian so the only things I would have eaten were what I could get for cheaper at the fast food places. And couldn't get back to Terminal C inside security because, of course, I no longer had a valid travel reason to be that direction. Wanting better food didn't count. As one of the ladies at security pointed out, I could have caught a bus into Newark and gotten something better. Well, she said I could have seen the city, but since food was my main interest, that's what I took away from her input.

Lesson: If you ever have a long layover in Newark, stay at Terminal C if you start there!!!!!!!!!!

(Continued around 5:30pm Austin time)
Now I'm on the plane. It is surprising. Did you know that planes without individual screens still make transatlantic flights? I sure didn't. What a shock. I mean, I don't usually even get through a whole movie before falling asleep or getting bored, and I brought my netbook with a couple of movies on it, but it seemed like a bad omen for the trip. I do like it when they have games, though. And I read the in-flight magazine about entertainment, which says that they have sudoku on their little screens on other planes. I like sudoku. And someone near me smells funny. The air is on now and is helping.

Things are looking up, though. I guess they kind of have to! They passed out a little card with meal info (forgot to order a special diet meal, darn it! I hear they're better quality b/c they make fewer.) and it looks like it could be worse. They also passed out headphones for free. I didn't think to bring mine for movie-watching. Theirs have each audio channel in a different plug, but I expected that. It's only annoying because you can't hear as well. Whatever. Movie time.

(Continued again 11:00pm Austin time)
I decided to listen to more of an audiobook instead of watching a movie. The volume was better. They just gave us our breakfast. A sad little sandwich of dry dark bread (but didn't taste like much, so not sure why the color) with a piece of cheddar and turkey. And a funsize milky way bar. Catering to the American passengers? I dunno. I got Tine a funny little spoon that was most likely meant to stir coffee or tea. As long as it doesn't break in the next 10 weeks, I have her covered!

I'm kind of fascinated by sunrise and sunset from above the clouds. It's cool how the same thing looks so different. I took some of sunset that worked ok, but now that the cabin lights are all on, I can't get any of sunrise. Sorry. It looks kind of like a spreading dark orange stain on the edge of two shades of black. Like if Drox had some paint his favorite color, thinned it, then spilled it on a table cloth that is black on one half (the cloud side), charcoal blue on the other (the sky side), with a thin stripe of light blue. So where the spill shows is on the light blue.

My first impression of Portugal is entirely based on the flight crew and others aboard - everyone speaks English, American English even, with barely any accent. And if a word is the same in Spanish & French, it's likely to be the same in Portuguese. With a funny accent, of course.

I only got a few hours of sleep, so we'll see how today goes. It's only 11pm Austin time, which means it's just like a long day so far. We'll see how it feels in 15 hours when it will finally be a passable bed time in Lisbon. Yikes. I may take the time to post this, but there will be no typing during my 30 short hours in Portugal! (Unless I can't fall asleep or sthg.) So consider yourselves contented, as it could be Monday when I next get a chance. I'll stay with an American girl from Seattle on Thursday, then probably my host family starting Friday. And no promise of wifi there! At the school on Monday, though, I should at least be able to report that I am doing fine.